What Happened After

Chapter 8

"You told me he couldn't walk!" 

Chapter 8.

          “Wait. What?” Taryn’s eyes widened considerably as he gaped at me. Anna only stared. “They’re both dead? Shit, why didn’t you tell me? I feel like a huge asshole, I totally dogged on your boyfriend, I just—you made it seem like—“

          “No, no, it’s fine. You didn’t know and it was my fault, not yours. It’s not something I usually bring up upon first meeting somebody, you know?”

          “Yeah…” he still looked skeptical.

        “Wait a sec, but your boyfriend’s dead too? The one that I completely dissed, saying you were too good for him? I’m such a bitch!” Anna finally shrieked.

          “No, you’re not! Look—can I just explain the situation to you both?” They nodded, and shut up. “Alright,” I started. “So last June—June 11th—I was set to graduate, right? I was the salutatorian—“

          “Hey, congratulations. That’s huge,” Taryn interrupted.

          “—And Kale, my boyfriend, was valedictorian…”

          “That’s adorable!” Anna said. I just shut my mouth and looked at the two of them. Taryn made a zipped lips gesture, then zipped up Anna’s lips as well, before the throwing the invisible key over his shoulder.

          “So anyway, on June 10th, I was sitting in my bedroom, finishing up my speech, when the doorbell rings. It’s my best friend in the whole wide world, Lauren. Or Lo, as Kale and I called her.” Taryn’s eyes widened a little as he recognized the name. He knew “Lo” was the name of the person who kept calling me a few weeks before. “She wanted me to go on an adventure with her, her boyfriend, Ruesso, and Kale. So of course I went. I needed a break from all that writing and editing, you know?” They both nodded in agreement. “So we’re driving along, having a great time, all our worries behind us, because we’re graduating tomorrow, right? Anyway, at some point during the trip, a semi driver loses control, or doesn’t see us, or God knows what, but the next thing I know, I wake up in the hospital with my arm in a cast and a black eye. A nurse comes in and tells me the news. Kaleb and Lauren are dead, and Ruesso’s never gonna walk again. ‘You’re a very lucky girl,’ they said to me. Yeah. Lucky. Because only ‘very lucky girls’ lose their best friend and their boyfriend in the same moment, then find out they have to live without them for the rest of their lives.”

          Towards the end of the story, my voice had grown bitter. I had never told the story to anyone else, ever. Not even my parents. So telling Anna and Taryn was huge. They were both staring at me with wide eyes. Anna reached over wordlessly and grabbed my hand. She looked like she was about to cry. “Rayn…” she said. “I am so, so sorry. Nobody deserves to ever go through that. Especially not you. God, you missed your graduation and everything? After you and your boyfriend worked so hard to get those titles…”

          Now she was full-on crying. Shaking and everything. Taryn reached an arm around her shoulder and pulled her close. “That’s so messed up,” he said to me. “I understand why you didn’t tell us. There’s no way I would ever be able to talk about something like that happening to me. You’re way stronger than I could ever hope to be.” He gave me a weak smile.

          “Thanks, you guys. It feels good to tell somebody, you know? Have somebody to talk with about it.”

          “Well,” Anna sniffed. “Don’t you have Ruesso?” I froze.

          “What?”

          “Ruesso. Your friend’s boyfriend? That was his name, right? I don’t really remember. But he lived through it too. Do you ever talk to him about it?”