The Letter, The List & Everything Between

Chapter 2

"Are you ready to go?" Maggie asks.

"Yeah. People have been asking me that for the past three weeks and you'd think I'd be able to answer that question already," I reply from the passenger seat. I'm still not allowed to drive yet, so Maggie has been. That is one reason she is my best friend. "Yes, I am though. Can I try without the crutches for walking in?"

"If you think you can. I'll carry your stuff."

"You can try to walk short distances, but I don't want you to feel like you need to. You shouldn't push yourself especially because you are going to school," She looks like she's serious, so I nod. "Good. Use the crutches at school, but you can practice without when you're home."

Before I know it, I'm standing in front of the school's front steps. Maggie hands me my crutches and I hop up, follow with my crutches. I follow the same thing up all ten of the steps. Maggie claps at my success. I shake my head, a frown still covers my face. It has been there everyday and if I smile, I will cover it up because I know that Ben should be here too.

"Cher, it's good to see you back. How are you doing?" Principal Wed-worth walks up to me in the hall.

"Um, I'm getting better at walking with metal in my leg, but still, I am getting there."

"If you need anything at all, don't hesitate to ask any of the staff and teachers. We've all been told to keep an eye out for you after the accident. I'll see you later, girls," He turns on his heel and is gone just as quickly as he was there.

"If you need anything you probably should ask a teacher or something," Maggie says, leading me to my locker. "Are you still going to sit on the bench with the soccer team?"

"I was thinking about managing the team, but I have to talk to coach later today. Where's Tim?"

"Running late, but I'm here!" I hear his voice behind us and I slowly position myself for a hug. He hands stuff to Maggie and wraps me in a bear hug. I've missed his musky scents. (He's always trying out new scents to "Attract the girls" as he says.) "I've been waiting very impatiently to see you again. It was almost torture on my behalf."

"I missed you too, Tim. Glad to see you again," I say putting my arms back around the crutches Maggie is holding out to me. "Thank you." She nods in response and heads toward my locker which is covered in cards and pictures from when I was gone.

"We can take these off," Tim says, already pouncing on them and taking them off. "I'm going to put them in the front pocket of your backpack. Okay?"

"Can we take care of Ben's after school?" They just nod in response. I don't think they are quite used to the situation yet. The only reason I am is because of the funeral. They couldn't come because of a school thing going on. I couldn't go to the school thing because I had just gotten out of rehab.

School seems to go by slower than normal. By the time lunch rolls around, I am sick of the crutches and want to walk of my own. Maggie agrees to eat outside so that I can walk around a little bit. I'm wearing shorts today, so the air feels good on my leg that isn't covered with a sleeve and brace.

"I will help her walk first," Tim says, letting Maggie sit down and eat her own lunch. She smiles, obviously grateful for him thinking of her first.

He takes my hands in his and leads me around. I follow him around, slowly. I'm a lot slower than I used to be. I used to be the best player on a soccer team, now I can barely walk across the soccer field.

"I hate this. I really, really hate this. I miss running across the field and kicking the ball. I can't do it anymore and it isn't fair," Tears roll down my cheeks.

"Cher, you could litterally do anything. You could be a soccer superstar. You could work with quantum mechanics or anything you wanted. You're smart enough," Ben says on the other side of the door. I'm sitting on my bed and crying.

"Just go away!" I shout.

"Okay, talk to me later if you need anything," I hear him walk away.

"Cher, you can work back to soccer. Just put your mind to it."

"Thank you, Tim."

***

Later that day, once school gets out, I am standing in front of Ben's locker. Being a twin was one of the best things ever, and it was ripped away from me. It was pried from my hands in the hospital. He was taken. There, then he wasn't. None of it was fair, but it was.

"Are you ready?" Maggie says after a short silence. I take a breath and nod.

I step towards the locker and take the first few things off the locker. I put them all in a plastic bag that I will take home and show my parents. I open his locker with the combination that is identical to mine and start looking through it.

I grab the first stack of papers on the bottom and pull them out. They're envelopes. "Cher" "Maggie and Tim" "Ashton", and "Mom and Dad" are their titles . I hand the rest to Maggie and Tim and open my own.

Cher, if you are reading this I'd better be dead. I wrote this in case I died in high school so you have to read carefully. . .

So I know I'm a few days late and I am totally sorry. I had Christmas stuff with school to get ready for and I feel horrible for not getting this done in time. Since there was a push back, I might not have all the chapters I promised ready. I am trying to make sure they are good to go. I am almost done with tomorrow's, but it will be a little shorter than the rest of my chapters. I had a white elephant gift exchange with people from school and I got 2 boxes of 12 Ramen Noodles so I am loaded and you can all guess what I'll be eating for a while. (That was totally a long run-on sentence.)

Schedule

Monday, December 24, 2018 - Chapter 3

Tuesday, December 25, 2018 - Chapter 4

Tuesday, January 1, 2019 - Chapter 5

If I get ahead of schedule then I will post more often, but it is rare that I will get that far. 

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVE EVE!!