Death Wish

The First Day

I ran downstairs to answer the door.

I knew exactly who it was; she always rang the bell twice.

I could hardly contain my excitement as I unlatched the door and twisted the rusty old knob.

"Hi, Lily!" she gushed, a wide smile on her face.

"Hi!" I replied, giddy with joy.  She was the first real friend I had to visit my house.

I moved out of the way so she could step through the doorway.  She smelled of flowers.

"You have a really nice house," she complimented, and spun around to view it at all angles.  Her waist-length black hair swirled around her as she spun.

I blushed. "Thanks.  You're the first person to actually see it, so..."

"I am?" She looked surprised.  "But you're such a fun person.  I thought you had loads of friends."

I laughed.  "Actually, no.  I'm not really a 'people person'."

The confusion on her face was still evident, but she did a good job at quickly hiding it.  "Oh, cool.  So, where's your room?"

We talked and laughed as we made our way up the stairs.  I led her through the hallway and into my room, then sat on my bed and watched as she admired the place.  She stood in the middle of the old, ratty, faded purple rug I still had, and again spun around, taking it all in. 

"It's beautiful," she breathed.

I wondered why she was so astonished to see a typical teenager's room.  And there was certainly nothing special about mine.  The walls were painted an ugly lavender color, something from one of my childhood phases.  There wasn't much furniture except for a kitchen chair tucked under an office desk, and my bed.

"Have you never seen someone's room before?" I laughed. 

She turned around, the same look of confusion on her face.  "No, not really." 

I highly doubted that.  She was the type of person who looked like they had a ton of friends.  I mentally giggled at the fact that just moments ago, she thought the same of me.  And with her drop dead gorgeous looks and exotic accent, I simply didn't believe that she didn't have friends.  But I also didn't understand why she didn't tell me.  I mean, having friends isn't really something that's usually kept a secret.  So of course she had friends.   

And she did a great job at hiding it.