Breaking point

The Voicemail

I retrieved my phone from my bedside table and went to my missed calls. There was one from earlier when I declined her call. I hesitated before I hit play and listened.
"Hey Tyler, it's Elizabeth. I need to tell you something." There was a long pause. "We were always really close when we were little and we stayed close through school. Around sophomore year I started to catch feelings for a boy. I told you about him."
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We were both 15 years old. Elizabeth didn't look like a little girl anymore. She had been telling me about this boy she was totally infatuated with. He had curly brown hair and had "the prettiest brown eyes ever." She called one night in tears. "He'll never like me! How could he? I'm a mess!" I listened to her appalled. She ranted on and on about how no one could ever love her because she's not pretty enough. She was so beautiful though. The way her brown eyes sparkled when she talked about her passions, or the way her hair always looked so perfect, lying over her shoulder. How her full, cherry-red lips pouted so perfectly. I told her that she was perfect, but she just dismissed it because I was just saying it because we were friends. I wanted to punch him for hurting her.
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"... Anyways, he started to catch feelings for this one girl and he would chat to me about her. My smile was a facade when I gave him advice on how to get her. My recommendations worked, he began to date the girl. I told you I was over him because it was vacuous to fancy a boy who was in love with another girl. I never got over him. The latest girl he dated, her name was Madison. She was beautiful, but her personality wasn't as much. Madison Greenwald became my nightmare. She would constantly treat me like I was less than nothing."
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I walked into school and saw Elizabeth. She was crying and there was nail marks on her arm that were bleeding.
"Are you alright? What happened?" Concerned laced through my voice.
"Nothing, I'm fine," sniffled Elizabeth, wiping the tears that were rolling down her face.
I didn't believe her but my attention got pulled away from my friend by Madison. Madison and I walked away from Elizabeth and started talking.
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"... I put up with her harassment because she made him happy. You're probably wondering why I'm telling you all of this. It's because you're the boy. The boy with the beautiful curly chestnut hair. I've been in love with you for two years now. I needed to tell you that. You have broken my heart with every girl you've dated," Her voice broke, "I wondered why I was never good enough for you. Why couldn't you love me the way I loved you?" Her deep breathing could be apprehended, she clearly was distraught. There was a second of silence. A sudden scream and the sound of wheels squealing could be heard through the speaker. A loud thud and the sharp sound of shattering glass echoed out. The call then ended and my room was filled with an eerie silence. Elizabeth, my childhood best friend, was permanently gone. I gazed at my wall, doe-eyed, jaw dropped. She loved me and I never knew. I want to cry but I can't, the tears wouldn't come, the twinge in my chest rapidly increasing until I couldn't breathe. All I think about is when we were young.
---
"Ready or not, here I come!" Elizabeth's high pitched voice screamed. I was hiding behind a bush holding my breath.
"Elizabeth," her mother called.
"Yes Mommy?"
"It's dinner time, go find Tyler."
"Okay, Mom!" She walked a little bit. "Tyler!" Elizabeth screamed, stretching out the end of my name. I popped my head up and she started giggling. "It's dinner time."
---
I continued to think about Elizabeth. How she didn't seem like a little girl anymore in 8th grade.
---
It was a week before summer vacation ended and Elizabeth was coming home. I hadn't seen her all summer because her family had gone to Australia. My mom, dad, and I drove to the airport to welcome her and her family home. When I finally saw her my jaw dropped, she was so gorgeous. Her tan skin matched her dark hair perfectly. She looked more mature in a way, maybe she got taller.
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I continue to gawk at the wall, a tear slowly rolling down my cheek. I loved Elizabeth. Why had I not noticed before? I can't live without her. I quickly texted Madison telling her that we needed to talk. I then went to bed.