lacuna = thirteen reasons why

Nine

Chapter Nine:

Edited: ✔️

The next few days were a write off, Ophelia stayed home from school telling her mom she was sick. Her dad knew she was lying, but said nothing to her mom who kept checking in on her.

She was curled up in her bed, scrolling through random apps to fill the time. Clay kept messaging her, yet she kept flipping them up ignoring them. They were asking if she was ok, that he was sorry if he crossed the line and that he wanted to make it up to her, the next few messages were more apologies.

Ophelia sighed, tossing her phone onto her bed. She rolled over, burying her face in pillows. Soft footsteps approached her closed door, before it even opened she knew who it was.

"Go away."

Clay slipped in, closing the door quietly. "Look, I'm—"

"Shouldn't you be at school?"

He said nothing, only handed her a small tub of ice cream. "It's skor."

Ophelia sat up, reaching her hand out. She grabbed it and smiled, "Thanks."

He sat down next to her, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah." She nodded, "Are you?"

"Yeah."

Ophelia sat the tub on her nightstand, "Thanks for the ice cream."

"Yeah, well, I'd rather be out buying you ice cream than at school."

"Very true."

Clay snorted, "Sorry about the basketball game."

"It's fine."

"I'm sorry."

Ophelia flopped back down, pulling the covers over her head. "Stop saying you're sorry. But, in all fairness, you should have told me about the tapes."

His eyes widened and she snorted, "What, you thought I forgot?"

"I was hoping." He told her, "I'm meeting Tony soon, so, I should go."

"Have fun."

He smiled, walking back to her door. "You have fun being sick, ok?"

She said nothing, only waited until he slipped out the door for her to be alone, letting out a breath she didn't know she was holding.

*~*~*

Eventually Ophelia migrated down to the living room where she was sprawled out over the couch, burying herself in blankets. The tv was on, some random program filling the silence of the living room. Ophelia's mother slowly inched closer, sitting down next to her daughter, a bowl of popcorn in her lap.

"How's school?"

"Terrible."

Tammy sighed, "Are you doing okay?"

"I'd be doing better if you gave me some popcorn." Ophelia sat up, reaching for the bowl only for it to be drawn away. "Hey—"

"Ophelia, I'm serious."

"It's the same, mom. The people suck and so does the homework."

"What about Hannah?"

Ophelia frowned, staring at her mother. "What about her?"

"How have you been handling it?"

"You can say she's dead, mom." Ophelia huffed, laying back down. "There's no getting around that part of it."

The park was empty, a park which Ophelia had no clue so many things had happened to her best friend at. The sun was in the midst of setting, the sky a mass of pinks and oranges all blended together with the clouds. Ophelia rushed towards a swing set, Hannah trailing behind her. She leaped onto the seat and pushed back, wanting to see how high she could go. When she looked over, Hannah was already swinging higher. Ophelia slowed, not wanting to flip the set out of the ground and have Hannah fly through the air.

"Don't hurt yourself." Ophelia said her, "Or go so high, I guess."

"What if I don't care?"

"What?"

Hannah fell silent but still pushed higher, the set bounced but Ophelia stayed on her swing.

"I hope I go to heaven." Hannah said, "I think I'd fit in up there."

"Don't talk like that."

"Why not? We're all gonna die anyways, why not say out loud where I'd like to end up?"

Ophelia pursed her lips, worry bubbling up within her. "Why do you wanna go so high?"

"Because the higher I go," Hannah smiled, "The closer I am to heaven."

Ophelia went to say something but Hannah's smile quickly faded, and it seemed she was frozen mid air. "Why didn't you see coming?" Hannah's voice echoed, but her lips weren't moving. "You could've stopped this!"

Ophelia blinked and she was no longer in the park, but in Hannah's bedroom.

"Hannah?" She called out, glancing around. Ophelia made her way into the hallway, the sound of water flowing echoed all around. She rushed to the closed bathroom door, her hands wrapped around the knob but it wouldn't budge. "Hannah!"

A few more tries and the door swung open, Ophelia stumbled in and gasped as the sight. Hannah's body in the tub, blood running down both her extended arms. "It's your fault." Hannah's voice said, "Look what you did."

Ophelia let out a scream.

Ophelia jumped from the couch, falling onto the floor with a thump. Sweat trickled down her forehead, she shrugged off all the blankets and sobbed loudly. Tears rolled down her face, she could hear her mother running down the steps towards her but nothing was loud enough to erase Hannah's voice echoing in her mind.

"Ophelia!" Tammy yelled stumbling to a stop, "What's wrong?"

Ophelia shook her head as her mother sat down next to her and pulled her into a hug, "It's okay, hun."

"It's my fault!" She cried, "I killed her."

"What are you talking about?"

Ophelia took a shaky breath, "Hannah. I'm her best friend, I should have noticed something— I should have helped her. This—"

Her mother said nothing, only hugged her daughter tighter as she sobbed into her shoulder. There was nothing more to say.