13 Reasons why // The 14th Reason

// 24 //

I opened the door, walking into the house and shrugging off my jacket.
"Hello?" I called out. There was no reply. I frowned and walked into the kitchen. Sitting on the side was a small slip of paper. I recognised my mom's handwriting.
Gone out for dinner. Leftovers in the fridge.
I smiled to myself at the thought of my parents going out. They hadn't been out since...
I hurried into the living room and turned on the tv, keen to distract myself before my thoughts became impossible to ignore. I turned the volume up louder than necessary and lay on the couch with my head resting on a pillow.

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My eyes snapped open as I heard the key in the door. I yawned as I sat up slightly before slumping back on the couch tiredly. The tv had turned itself off.
"You didn't say much on the way home." I stood up as I heard my parents talking.
"I wasn't sure what to say."
"I didn't lie to that woman. I still have two daughters."
"Should we move?"
I covered my mouth with my hand as I tiptoed across the living room, leaning my back against the wall to listen.
"What?"
"Should we move? Should we go somewhere and start new?"
"And... give up the store? What about Melanie?"
"I'll give up the store, give up the house, everything... And you know she's not happy here. That damned school... As long as I have you both."
"But you do. You do have us. Me."
"Ok. Good."
They made their way into the kitchen and I slipped round the corner, darting up the stairs trying not to make a noise.
I dashed into my room and jumped onto my bed. I was restless that night and my dreams were filled with memories.

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The door shut behind Hannah as she dumped her keys on the table.
"I thought you had that poetry workshop thing tonight?" Mom said as we struggled to stop laughing. She had just knocked over and smashed a glass in a spectacular way and I had snorted before bending over with laughter.
"I'm never going back." Hannah muttered as she walked into the house. "And we need to move."
"Again?" I asked incredulously. Suddenly dad walked in,
"Four hundred and thirty a month, and that's before the false alarms, which they charge you for even though it's their fault."
"But you should have told me you cancelled. I was on hold with them for an hour!" Mom complained. I sighed and walked out of the kitchen, not wanting to hear their squabbling.
"You know we need to cut expenses."
"We should have discussed it first."
"We live in the safest town in America."
"That is not the point." Mom argued.
"Honey, I'm just trying to make ends meet." He consoled her but she retaliated.
"And I'm not? We're either in this together, or we are not. We can't be penny wise and one foolish."
"Right now we can't afford to be penny foolish."
"Okay, I don't even know what that means, honestly. "
Hannah and I shared a worried glance as we both stood behind the wall, overhearing our parents 'conversation'.
I motioned for her to follow me upstairs and we both sat on my bed in our room, leaning our backs against the wall.
"You seriously want to move again?" I asked her quietly, stroking her hair. She sighed and shrugged her shoulders.
"School sucks."
"Doesn't it just." I chuckled. "But Han, we've already moved once. I left that awful 'smart people' school and you left your school. We actually are having the same education for once." I chuckled quietly.
"What do you mean awful? You loved that school." Hannah said, moving on the bed to face me.
"It wasn't the school that was the problem." I muttered. I groaned as our parents shouting carried up the stairs.
"Come on." I shoved at her to get her off my bed. She laughed indignantly before falling off the bed with a thud. We both stopped laughing and I looked at Hannah as she looked up at me in shock.
Then we both burst into laughter. I wiped my eyes as tears gathered there and I gripped my stomach as I had a stitch.
"Sorry." I managed to gasp out as Hannah stumbled over to her own bed.
Once our giggles quietened down I called to her.
"Hannah Banana?"
"Melanie Smelanie?"
"No matter what. Promise me, if we move or if our parents fight so badly that they split up... promise me we'll stick together."
"Always." She promised.

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Sometimes the future doesn't unfold the way you think it will. Shot happens and people suck. Maybe that's why I stopped writing... and eventually started making tapes.

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I watched as Clay walked into the shop. He walked up to the counter and handed something to my mom. I couldn't hear what he said but I recognised the cover of the magazine. Clay had shown my mom Hannah's poem.

.