Au Revoir

24

"Jess wake up!  You're going to be late now."  My eyes adjusted to the light flowing in from my curtains.

"Wait what?"  I rubbed the crust off my eyes while sitting up.

"It's eight o'clock."  My mom said slightly peaking her head in my room.

"If you can get ready fast I can give you a ride."  She offered.  I immediately went into panic mode.  I must've not set my alarm last night.

"Shit!"  I yell jumping up from my bed and into the hall.

"Language Jessie.  I'll be waiting in the car."  The door opened and shut while I was in the bathroom trying to change my shirt, brush my teeth, and comb my hair all at once.  I skipped breakfast and didn't check my phone.  When I got outside I basically dived into the backseat of the car out of breath.

After my mom drove to my school I sprinted to the building and tried to tell the poor office lady why I was late to school.  I missed some of first hour, but it wasn't a big deal.  The day went pretty smoothly after that whole fiasco.  I had just gotten in fifth hour when Dan was already by my side talking.  It normally wouldn't have concerned me, but when I heard him talking about a certain someone I couldn't brush it off.

"Jess, have you heard from Alex this morning?" 

"I haven't gotten the chance to be on my phone yet.  Why?" 

"Because he texted our friend group something last night, and hasn't responded since.  Becky said he also wasn't in class." 

"He's probably just with his mom.  Last night he said she got pneumonia."  I tried to stay calm, but everything in my body was telling me not to be. 

"This is what he sent.  Do you know what it means?"  Dan held out his phone for me to see his messages.

A-Heazy:  Adieu

Me:  What?

Me:  Alex what do you mean?

Me:  Hello??

It almost felt as if my whole body got drained of emotion.  Dan noticed, so the feeling must have also showed externally. 

"What is it?"  His voice sounded panicked.  I couldn't breathe.  This couldn't mean--

"Can the following students please come down to the office:  Jessie Elette, Daniel Lock, Philip Micheals, Becky Hains, and Lilith Spade."  The loud speakers announced.  I couldn't move.  This wasn't happening.

Dan had to help me up to get to the office.  He kept asking if I was alright, but I couldn't respond. I felt numb..

Wait.  Numb was an understatement.

I felt dead.

We reached the office where a nervous looking Phil sat.  The office lady told us to take a seat, so Dan gently helped me sit.  I heard Phil speak, but I couldn't understand what he said.  It felt like my body was shutting down.  My vision was a haze, but eventually I saw Becky and Lilith walk in.  We waited for another five minutes before the principal asked us to come in his office.  In there sat Kiki.  She was sobbing in a office chair, but she did look up at us.  When I had made eye contact with her she must have noticed I figured out what happened. 

Kiki broke down again while standing.  She headed right in my direction and gave me a tight embrace.  The principal sat down in his chair and started to speak, but I didn't want to listen.  I didn't need to.  The 'I'm sorry''s that Kiki was repeating in my ear was enough to understand.  That's when it actually clicked.  Alex was gone.