A Letter Before Death

4

It had been a month since the bonfire. Everyone had went back to normal. Everyone but myself of course. It's only been a month and everyone has already erased Taren. Mia took her captain position on the squad. The clubs she was in have already replaced her as well. No one even talks about her or that night. Nate acts like nothing happened between us that night either. Part of me hopes he was too drunk to remember. At least then I'd know he wasn't just avoiding me.

I became invisible again which doesn't surprise me. The only reason anyone paid attention to me even the slightest was because Taren brought attention to me. Within this last month, the police had plenty of suspects one including myself, but they haven't gotten close to figuring out who did it or why. Seeing as how the party was in the woods, it doesn't limit it to just the people who attended it. Anyone who knew about the party could have done it.

I walked over to my locker and opened the door. I grab the edge of my English book loosely. I felt a sharp point hit my leg as I pull my book out. I look down to see the letter with Taren's name on the front. It was the letter with the coffee stain in the top right corner. I bent down and picked it up. I opened it and read the note that was inside. 'Taren, Here in the forest, dark and deep. I offer you eternal sleep.'

How strange is it that the day before Taren is murdered, someone sent her this letter pretty much foretelling her death... What if this letter was a warning? Surely not. But what if it was. What if whoever killed her, wanted her to know she was going to die. What if this was telling her to stay away from the woods.

I folded the paper up and put it back into the envelope. I placed the envelope in my purse so I could examine it later. I ran toward class, late just as I have been this past month. I was about there when I noticed an envelope with someone's name on it. I picked it up to see it had Michele written on the front, there was a similar coffee stain in the top corner with hearts that looked like red liquid had been dripped to color them in.

I turned it over and looked inside. There was a note that looked as if it had been torn out of a notebook. I opened it to read, 'Michele, Here in the forest, dark and deep. I offer you eternal sleep.'

It was the same note Taren had received. It even had the same scratchy writing. Who was giving these out... I need to find Michele. I ran to the guidance counselor office which dueled as the receptionist office too. The older gray headed lady looked up from her book she had been reading to watch as I walked toward her. "Aren't you supposed to be in class miss?" She asked a little hastily.

"Oh, my teacher gave me permission to come up here. She had written something for Michele Jordan and she was wanting me to deliver it, but she wasn't sure which class she was in so she told me to come up here to find out. Could you help me?" I lied. I had to get to the bottom of this. If this note was a forewarning, then that could mean Michele was in trouble.

The lady nodded, satisfied with my lie. She turned to face the computer and started clicking on different things. "Miss Jordan is on the soccer field with her Gym class."

"Thank you so much!" I said as I hurried out of the office. I rushed down the hall and out the back doors. I rushed to the end of the sidewalk to look down the hill about a football field length away to see if I could see her. She was facing someone who was kicking a soccer ball toward her. The ball went straight over her head into the woods. I started walking towards her, hoping she could help me explain this note. She started running toward the ball, disappearing into the trees.

I casually started to jog toward the field when a loud shriek sounded from the woods. Panic seized through my body and I started sprinting towards the woods. A couple of classmates just stared while others curiously began to walk toward the shriek. The person who kicked the ball had disappeared. I darted past Michele's class mates and into the trees. A couple of people followed me, including the coach. When the soccer field was out of sight I finally saw a large figure laying on the ground. I rushed toward it to see it was Michele. Her body laid sprawled across the ground, blood oozing down her head from where she must of hit it.

I knelt down beside her and removed her thick curly black hair from her pale face. "Michele?" I asked in hopes that she would respond some how. I rolled her onto her back, and laid her head in my lap. I noticed a dark red circled forming around the top of her stomach. I looked up to the coach and a couple of students who had gathered around. "Call an ambulance right now!" I ordered someone. I took off my jacket and placed it on top of the wound. "Cat, apply pressure to her wound or she might bleed to death." I ordered one of the students.

I took the sleeve of my t-shirt and ripped it, bunching it up and placing it on the large gash on her forehead. I applied pressure to it. "Michele, wake up, please." I whispered the last word.

The coach bent down and placed his two fingers on her neck, checking for her pulse. After a minute he looked over to me and shook his head. "I can't feel her pulse. I think she's dead."

Tears began to stroll down my cheeks. "Michele, you can't die! Not today, not now. I need you!"

"I called the ambulance, they should be here in a couple of minutes." A kid said as he rushed to our side.

Five minutes passed before the ambulance arrive. Those five minutes lasted what seemed like hours as I held her in my arms. Her body, limp and desolate of any form of hope. When the men arrived with a gurney, the had already assed that she was dead leaving us to wait another ten minutes before the police arrived. I hadn't moved, still hoping that by applying pressure she'd come back to life, knowing deep down she wouldn't.