It Was Just a Dare

Scott

Life after Anna is, in all honesty, quite hard.

All in one day I lost my best friend, my smile, my laugh and my mind. I never would have realized that the girl I knew for only seven years would have made this much of an impact on me even after an entire decade.

I guess I should have realized that we were growing up together, or so until her abduction, we were pretty close; as close as seven year olds can be with one another. We knew each other quite well and I completely lost it when everyone gave up on her only after a year of looking.

She is worth every minute of searching. She is worth more than just a year. She is worth it because she would have done the same if I were in her position.

Anna is still alive.

I grab my backpack and quickly stuff my binder and pen inside just before heading out the door for school.

Jesse sits in his rusted up piece of crap car waiting in annoyance for my arrival, "J, what's up?" I startle him hopping inside and throwing my back in the backseat right beside his.

I grab the seat belt and buckle myself in and not long later, we arrive at the building of where we gain knowledge, although I consider myself to be pretty intelligent already, "Why must we waist more years of learning unnecessary skills when I know I am going into a long-time career at McDonald's?"

Jesse looks over at me as he grabs both his and my backpacks from the seats and locks his car up, "You're not working at McDonald's, Scott, you are going to be the best doctor in the world because you're just smart like that. Me, on the other hand, am going to be homeless by the time graduation comes around."

As we walk to first period all I can think about is Anna and what she would be if she were still with me, still at school. She'd probably be getting straight 'A's, perfect attendance and would still manage to be on two sports team and be president of five clubs; she was smart and patient and a hard-worker, or I can assume that's how she would be. She was always caring over her brothers maybe she could have been a doctor or a teacher, she loved to play school with me.

"Scott, you okay?" Jesse asks as he nudges my elbow.

I nod, "I'm fine, it's just that today is--"

Jesse's face goes pale as realization hits him, "That today is Anna's seventeenth birthday."

Once again, I nod, "Yeah, it's always the hardest day of the year for me."

"I understand," he says in response, "I'd feel the same way except I barely knew her, but she seemed like a really cool girl from the stories you've told me."

"She was amazing," I smile.

He looks at me in confusion, "What about me?"

"You're also amazing, just not as amazing as her," I explain while trying not to bust out laughing.

"I'm only letting you get away with saying that because today isn't a good day, but if this happened a week ago I would've pummeled you to the ground in the middle of class."

"Jesse? Scott? Do you have anything to add to our discussion?" Mrs. Eckleson asks the two of us: she was an elder white woman nearing the age of seventy-two with silver brittle hair that appeared to be half falling out and her eyes consisted of a dull gray-blue color just as if she were as bored with teaching this class as everyone was with learning it.

Jesse turns his face to mine and we burst into a laughing fit.

*    *    *

Just two classes later and the annual bell sounds off alerting the entire staff and students that today is a memorable day for Anna and how we should all be respectful of her family and friends and the thing that bugs me the most is that everyone goes all out saying how they were her best friend and shares stories on Snapchat and Facebook to get attention from her abduction; they're all messed up.

Everyone knew the truth about the day of Anna's kidnapping, it was no longer a private story that was supposed to stay between just the police and the witness. I overhear the same phrases every year and the most popular I've heard were of "I'm sorry" and "They'll find her," to "She was a waste of space, anyway" and "She's better off dead."

"Scott!" Jesse calls from behind me as the final class of the day ends, "How was your day?"

"Better than last year," I respond, "And you?"

Jesse shakes his head, "Stop letting them get to you, you know that Anna is alive, so why let them put you down year after year?"

"Because what if she isn't alive and all these years I've built up evidence of somebody else's abduction? What if she really did die the year they had her burial? What if she actually was the little blonde eight year old girl that had her face smashed in a billion pieces? What if I really lost my best friend?" I scream at Jesse, not even realizing I had tears streaming down my face until he pulled me into a hug.

"Scott, listen to me," he whispers as the crowd around us gets larger by the second, "she is fine, you and I both know it. The little girl in the ground right now isn't her, she's alive. Scott, she's alive."

*    *    *

"You'll be fine?" He askes me.

"I'm fine, Jesse, I just had a little meltdown. I'll be fine by tomorrow." I say giving him the hope that I am actually okay.

Jesse drops me off at my sidewalk and waves goodbye while waiting outside until he sees me walk into my house completely.

I sigh and drop my bag at the front door and kick my shoes off, where one lands in the kitchen and the other halfway under the couch.

Hours pass and it's almost midnight when I hear the lightest knock I have ever heard in my life.

"Scott?" Mom knocks on my bedroom door, "Are you in there?"

I nod my head, "Yeah, come in."

"I have news," I hear her say as the door just opens, revealing her face of concern.

In worry I bite my lower lip and step away from my board to sit on my bed, "What's wrong? What happened?"

"Karen called me just a few minutes ago and told me some shocking information."

"Mom, what is it?" I say my heart beating rapidly.

"It's Anna," she says, "The police say they've found her."

And in that instant I could feel my heart shatter into a million pieces; she was alive this whole time and I was the only one to have faith in her, me and Jesse, while everyone else backed away and assumed she died after her kidnapping.

They were wrong. They were all wrong.

Anna is alive.