Dear heart, why him? (#WATTYS2018)

Chapter 12

Ordering another round of Coffee and Tea. Zack sits back and waits for me to tell Alison's story. 

"Alison was a year older than me. She was beautiful with long wavy blonde hair and the brightest blue eyes. She was my best friend, always looking out for me and cheering me up. We may look alike but we were so different. She was confident, bright and stupidly smart. Everybody loved her and wanted to be her friend. She could brighten anyone's life." 

Taking a quick drink of my tea, I look up to Zack to receive a comforting smile. Reaching across the table he takes my hand in his and gives it a little squeeze. 

"Take your time Nor." 

Giving his hand a little squeeze back to show him my appreciation. 

"We were so different. She was popular and did drama club were as I kept myself to myself. She always tried to get me out with her and her friends but partying just isn't my thing. A lot of people didn't believe we were related because we were so different. Her so called friends turned against her, I don't know why but they did. Everything was fine and then everything went wrong. I didn't notice at first it started out little. Her appearance slowly started to change. She wasn't her dolled up happy-self. No, she started wearing baggy jumpers and kept her hair in a messy bun. She started to lose motivation for everything. She quit drama club and her grades started slipping. She locked herself away in her room every day after school."

The good thing about Zack is he just listens. He doesn't but in and ask questions, he doesn't try to rush me. He waits patiently for me. 

"I tried to speak to her, ask her if everything was alright but she would just cut me off and say she was fine. I should've pushed her more. I should've tried harder to get her to open up to me. But I didn't and I let her down. My parents made things worse, they weren't happy with the fact her grades were dropping. They kept going on and on. How could they not see she was suffering? How did I not see?" Bringing my hand up I wipe away the tears that have started leaking from my eyes. 

I hate crying but that seems to be the only thing I'm doing lately. 

Taking a deep breath I carry on with the rest of the story. 

"I started to notice how her friends were acting differently towards her. They stopped hanging out with her and would laugh when she walked past. So when I confronted Alison about this she got a little pissed. Told me to stay out of her business and get my own life. Now here's the thing, me and Alison never fought. We never said mean things to each other. So when she snapped at me It hurt, it hurt so much that I did what she said. I stopped asking her if she was okay, I stopped taking notice of her around the school. I even didn't bother speaking to her at home." 

How stupid was I? 

"Then one day just as school ended for the day, things took a turn for the worse. I was walking down the hall when I heard the laughing. Near enough the whole school was surrounding someone's locker. It wasn't until I pushed past everyone that I saw what they found so funny."

 Taking a shaky breath, I wipe away the fresh tears. 

Now, this is where things get difficult for me. 

"Posted on Alison's locker were pictures of her. P-Pictures of her with some guy in an alleyway. She was on her knees. The next picture was of her at a party in nothing but her underwear dancing on top of another guy.  The last picture was the worst. She was passed out at another party and people had written all over her body. You could imagine what they had written." 

Zack moves his seat closer to me, it's his turn to bring me in for a hug. Resting my head against his chest me whispers to me "It's okay Nor, I'm here. Take your time."