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Months had passed since Jeff's death and Terry hadn't spoken one word to not even one person since he passed. She was a dead man walking. Everything she did was routine. Wake up. Eat. Get dressed. Go to school. And on the weekends, she would simply lay in her bed all day until school began again.
It had been officially one day since the infamous Hannah Baker had suicided. She seemed to be the talk of the town. Everyone knew about her death, even the neighbors' dog. But, there was one person that hadn't been listening to anyone, or anything for that matter: Terry Dempsey.
She was completely unaware of Hannah's death, although even if she did, it wouldn't have affected her much. She had already been toughened up to the idea of death by the excruciating pain she had endured when Jeff died.
The only person that was truly willing to inform her about Hannah was Tony, a schoolmate. Hannah had delivered him a box full of cassette tapes, there were thirteen of them, and left a letter asking Tony to deliver them to each person on the tapes. Despite Terry not being on one individual tape of her own, she was mentioned multiple times throughout the recordings— so Tony found it fitting that Terry listened to them first.
Tony spotted her standing still at her locker in the wide Liberty High School hall with her usual blank face. He pushed through the sea of students to near her, the box tightly gripped in his hands. Terry locked her eyes on Tony once she noticed his presence in front of her. Without a word being exchanged, Tony discreetly handed over the box to Terry.
Terry curiously grabbed it, and began to open it— however, Tony stopped her. "Listen to them when you get home. It's what Hannah would've wanted." He spoke lowly. Terry curtly nodded and shoved the box into her locker until she could retrieve it later to listen to it.
* * *
The moment Terry was alone in her bedroom, she began to play the cassette tapes on an old radio she found at the back of her closet which supported the media. She popped each tape and listened. The more she listened, the more she realized that Hannah was gone too, though, as expected, she was not too phased.
Terry's name was scattered around in a few tapes that Hannah recorded. Though, Hannah only spoke highly of Terry— and thanked her for befriending her when no one else seemed to be on her side. Terry listened and listened. She learned about all of the people that hurt Hannah and all of the bad things people did. Terry was truly shocked at the insight.
Once Terry reached Tape 6, Side A, Terry realized that Hannah was speaking about the night that destroyed her life and ended Jeff's. She paused the tape, gulping. Terry didn't want to relive the events of that night, she didn't want to feel the same pain she had felt in that horrible day.
Nevertheless, curiosity overcame her, and Terry pressed play once again. "Terry, I know you're probably listening to this right now... and before I begin retelling the events of the night of Jessica's party, I want to say I'm sorry. I'm sorry that I pushed you away. I'm sorry that I didn't allow you to be my friend anymore. But, mostly, I'm sorry for killing Jeff." Hannah's soft voice echoed through Terry's bedroom. Terry was taken aback. She assumed she hadn't heard Hannah correctly, so she reminded the radio and played it again, however, the playback sounded just the same as before.
A sudden bubbling rage washed over Terry, but quickly subsided when she realized that whatever Hannah did must've been an accident— and she must've been drunk, just as she had been that night. She listened on, and she realized that Hannah had nothing to do with Jeff's death. She simply witnessed the domino effect take place.
Once Terry finished all of the tapes, Hannah, somehow, had put Terry at ease. Since the day he died, Terry had beat herself up because she allowed Jeff to drive, thinking that he had lied to her about not drinking— but now that it wasn't her fault that Jeff died, she could relax. She could finally accept his death and finish grieving, though she would never forget him— because she knew that he was her soulmate, and they would forever be bounded by the love they shared.
