Homecoming

Grace

    "Whatever, let's just go"
    They started to sprint, Ollie hated being late to school. As the three were running Lacey saw a faint outline in Ollie's backpack. It was curved and seemed to barely fit. Her eyes grew wide. The Homecoming poster she thought. Today was the day, Ollie had finally picked someone. Looking over, she saw Grace. Who looking back at her, just saw the same thing. They both turned their heads away, excited, but knowing that this could be the start of an argument. They ran for a mile, through the bright water spring, around that forest where the homeless guy lived, and stopping at the stoplight on the other side of school.
From across the street they could see that the students were rushing inside. The school bell just rang. Ollie looked over and grabbed Grace and Lacey by the shoulder, pulling them into the street. They ran, the light in front of them was still green. Once they had gotten across Ollie let go, immediately getting hit with a book.
"Are you crazy Ollie! We could have been hit by a car!"
"Sorry Grace, I didn't know you were so scared"
"I wasn't scared!" Grace said continuing to hit him in the head.
Lacey just watched from a few feet back, waiting for the scenario to finish playing out. Eventually Grace stopped, leaving a large bruise on Ollie's temple. He touched it and winced.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to hit you that hard" Grace whispered concerned.
"It's fine I deserved it I guess".
Ollie smiled, and they smiled with him. For a second Lacey got caught staring by Grace, but it didn't matter, she was staring too. They carefully walked up the stairs, they were known to be slippery in October. The three went to Illes High, a small school, for a small town. Homecoming was the one highlight of their slow school year. The people there were usually dim and dull, but that didn't stop the three from enjoying each other's company. School always went by quickly, their school day was only four hours long. Illes was cut off from most of Montana, so everyone had jobs to do. School couldn't last all day, there was work to be done.
Lacey got out first, her teacher always had to leave early. Stepping outside she saw something was off, kids were gathered around the door of the school. She could spot over the crowd, the hat of a police officer, and a paramedic. For some reason people were whispering, spreading rumors.
"I bet she fell, she was always was a clutz"
"No way, she was probably murdered by homeless John"
    "There's no way, he's out on the docks today"
"Well something happened."
Lacey walked up, seeing Ollie right next to her.
"What's going on?" Ollie asked the girl in front of him.
"Didn't you hear? Look!"
She pointed right outside the door. Looking over they saw something, hair, laying across the ground. She made her way through the crowd, up to the door. Pink. Pink and blue.
"No... no there's no way"
"Who is it Lacey?" Ollie stared at her for a moment.
Lacey stared in disbelief, it felt like she was there for hours. Suddenly, she fell to the floor, and wept. Ollie immediately knew who it was, he got down on his knees and hugged Lacey. Almost cutting off her breath. She wrapped her arms around him and cried, whimpering, and cried. As Lacey looked up, she could see that he was crying too. Not as bad as her, but she could see the streaks of old tears down his pale cheeks.
They held each other there until the bell rang, the doors opened, and they could see Josie sitting on the swings. She was weeping, we knew then, it was her. It sunk into Lacey a second time, she ran over to Josie and jumped onto her. Both of them crying in unison. After a while the tears started to dry, and they began to talk.
"I'm still so confused, how could this
happen?"
"Grace, she... she wasn't prepared for the
stairs. They hadn't cleaned them! And she
fell!"
She sniffled and yelled, so the principal could see. He turned his head, to see the janitor finally cleaning the stairs of the soda stains, leaves, and throw up. Josie went on all the way home, yelling and arguing. About how the school should be cleaner, and about how Lacey should've been there. She couldn't even look at her after they ate dinner, she slunk to her room, trying not to make a fuss. But, as soon as they were all in their rooms, you could hear everything.
As Lacey awoke, three days later, she decided that going back to school wouldn't be the best idea yet, so she invited Ollie to go try again at the old creepy house. She still couldn't let Grace's death sink in. Ollie agreed, and Lacey got ready to go out. Stepping outside, she noticed that Josie's car was gone, and driving in she a saw a newer looking car. She didn't get a good look because she was walking away, but she knew that it was a bluish color. Darker than sky blue. Josie walked in the door, not saying a word, not  even acknowledging her existence. Same treatment for the last three days.
She sighed, knowing that nothing would ever be the same. Ollie met her on the street across from her house, just a short walk away. They started toward the park behind the school. Everyone knew what had happened, so no one seemed to care that they were absent. They walked there in peaceful silence. When the two got to the park, it would be more grieving than hanging out and having fun.
    Everything for that one moment seemed peaceful , calm, like she wasn't gone. It was perfect for Lacey, and Ollie felt it to. But it was ruined, by unimaginable screams. They walked around that same corner from a few days ago, to see the most horrific sight. Principal Wrath, was hanging outside his window. He was three floors up, laying  and bouncing off the brown brick walls. His eyes were bloodshot, still having the glint of fear. He was hung from a rope, no, Lacey saw a cord. Made of rubber or plastic. Everyone was gathered around the door, at least 10 people on with 911. There was nothing they could do, it looked like he'd been dead for hours. Lacey couldn't handle this again. She turned and ran, ran as fast as she could, even leaving Ollie behind her. She was so afraid, that she couldn't stop.
She woke up, finding herself in field. She recognized it. She was in Mr. May's field. She was two miles from home. Lacey walked around, sitting and waiting. She knew that no one was coming, but she waited anyway. To Lacey's surprise, Ollie slowly approached her, looking up and down to see if she was ok. Once he got to her, he sat down, staring up at the sky. Which was now a dark gray almost like the weather could sense tragedy. Lacey was strangely calm.
"Did you stay back long enough to see what happened?"
"No, I ran after you. But as I went the police started to cover the scene"
"It's only been three days, what is happening here? We haven't had a public death since before we were born."
"I know, but we have to accept it, and carry on. C'mon let' go figure out what happened."
Lacey was pulled up by Ollie's hand, suddenly standing straight. They walked out the the field, checking for ticks and grass. They made it past the first mile with ease, but as they approached mile two, Lacey began to be tired. It was only noon, but to them it felt like eleven already. Eventually, after about an hour of walking, they could see Josie's house. Josie was gone, she had decided to take up therapy. It was supposed to help her with her grief. We had held Grace's funeral yesterday, and it was hard because we had to finally accept that she was gone. She would never go back to school, see her mom, take the top bunk, play on the playground, or go to Homecoming. It was tonight, and Lacey had no one to go with. She wasn't even going. Lacey only had two hours to decide.