We could never quite figure out why Amelia was gone. She had a simple life, two parents happily in love with a house in the suburbs, an older brother who teased her, a small group of friends by her side. But as she had written, they didn't know the whole story.
Her parents were never happily in love. Maybe they were at first, but once Amelia and Joseph came about, everything faltered. They fought under the cover of darkness, though they weren't as slick as they thought, as the girl often laid in bed, listening to her parents hurl insults at each other. They never laid a hand on each other, or the kids, but just knowing they despised each other broke their little girl down. She saw them make violent gestures as they fought, swinging their arms about and clenching their fists. The images flashed through her almost camera-like memory, knowing her parents wanted to hurt each other.
Her brother despised their father, often talking about him behind his back. Joey made it obvious he despised the man, and since they shared a room, Amelia heard the blunt of it. She saw him flip their father off, saw him drawing their family without him. The images hung around their room, impossible to avoid.
The few friends she had often talked about her while she was right in front of them, gossiping about what made Amelia cry that morning, or who pulled her hair last. She listened as they made plans, whispering, "Don't tell Amelia. No one wants her ruining our fun." Her 'friends' were all she had, but not one of them cared, or made an effort to help her. She saw them out together when they had said they were busy, saw them sitting farther and farther away at lunch.
Amelia had seen all these things, heard all these atrocities, but not one person saw her pain or took the time to listen to her. She hid her pain with pants and sleeves, teaching herself to cry silently late at night. She tried to reach out for help, tried to stop, make herself better, but it all seemed to worsen.
We never knew the whole story, but once we understood, we pretended like it never happened, like she'd never existed.
After all, who wanted to talk about the dead girl?
