SHORT STORY

Untitled Part 8

STORM

♦

It was kind of amazing and surreal when I woke up the morning after to that tinny sound in my alarmclock.for a moment, I had forgotten the events of yesterday. They suddenly came rushing back.Today, however, I took them without complaint. I was not going to waste complaining on what might have been my last day on earth. It's funny how things like this happen. Something big happens in your life, but the world around you keeps revolving. Yes, after today I think that world will still be turning, but will my heart still be beating. Didn't waste anytime thinking about that. I had to convince my mom to let em go to school. If I couldn't do that, the plan would have to wait until tomorrow, and it COULD NOT wait another day.

"Hey mom?" I drift into her room.

"What time is it hun?" she rubs her eyes, and spoke again in her croaky voice,tired from the early morning.

"You're not thinking of going to school today, are you? The principal is giving you three sick days."

"Yeah, I know." Frantically I think of an excuse, any excuse that will lead to me going through those doors in an hour and a half. Finally, I find one.

"I was just thinking that if I went to school I could keep my mind off Lindsey... and I don't know, I just think I could focus better if I continue on the same routine." Now I have to wait, and see what she decides. My mom now holds the balance of the universe in her hands. Whatever she says will either send me to my probable, and possible death today, or to my probable, and fully possible death in three school days.

"Well", she starts uncertainly," I think that it should be your choice. I don't want you here all alone today with nothing to do but think about that poor girl, but are you sure you're ready to go back there?"

"Yeah mom, trust me, I think this would be the best thing possible for me today." So one hour, and a half later, I climbed into the front seat of my mom's blue lexus sedan, and she drove Tom, and me to school. Students stare at me in the hallways. Everyone whispers about the girl that found their dead friend, and school sweetheart Lindsey. Some even speculated that I had killed her myself, and just wanted attention. I was starting to feel like I shouldn't have come here. Then, I saw Crystal. She was at school today. The girl that never bothered to come opens her locker. Why wasn't she there to support me? I stare at her back, willing her to run around and just look at me. I have had no calls, texts, and she has not bothered to stop by at all. The hallway seems to close in on me as kids try to push past me and make it to their first hour. I am a fish fighting to go upstream, the current constantly dragging me back down. Finally, finally she turns and looks at me. Our eyes meet for a few seconds, and see a flash of something in them. She mouths the words we need to talk, and gestures to the lunch room. I agree with a tilt of my head. We are definitely not going back into the room that Lindsay was found in, but I still need to talk. Sometimes when everyone is talking, and everyone's listening, no one is able to hear you. It was the next best place to private that we'd ever get. I walk to the lunchroom, in not a run, but not a slow pace either. If you go to life to fast you don't notice little details, but if you stop at one place too long, you miss the beauty of experiencing some new things. Life is a game in this way, you trying to see how many places you can go, and how many things you can see before the end comes. I am not ready to die, but I will. I have not seen all the things, I want to- have not experienced hardly anything yet. But I will still lay down my life for the greater good. Maybe there is an afterlife. No matter what it is, it has to be more peaceful then this. The villains sometimes win. At least if I die I will know I did it bravely. My short life did have meaning. I reach the lunch room. Scanning the room, I finally find her seated at a table near the middle of the room. She waves shyly, and I saunter over to her.