You Are Not Alone (Sequel to For Forever)

Moving On

A few weeks passed.

Evan didn't say a word to Connor; respectively, Connor ignored Evan. In fact, Connor ignored everyone. He was rarely at school, and never rolled up his sleeves anymore. He had stopped drawing. 

Evan didn't even talk to Jared, Zoe, Alana- or anyone else. He mostly kept to himself and read books. Books about trees. But when nobody was looking, he would put on a pair of headphones, vanish into the woods, and sing Without Me by Halsey for hours on end, crying and crying. 

Everyone worried about Evan. Connor? Not so much. Zoe tried to talk to him, but he just put on headphones. Cynthia tried to hug him and cry with him, he pushed her off. Larry tried to yell at him and get him to yell back; Connor accepted the insults silently, more submissive than an abused dog. He never came downstairs very often anymore; he never ate. The milk cartons were always full now. Often, Zoe longed for the days when there was no milk at all. But Connor never drank it anymore. He never ate anything, as far as anyone could tell. 

Evan became anorexic. He didn't eat much of anything for a few months. He cut and cried and spent all his time reading, singing, and sleeping. But eventually, he pulled himself together and decided to enter the talent show. Then he joined a choir, and started an online foundation called Save The Trees, dedicated to protecting and planting trees. He entered for several scholarships to afford college, because senior year was drawing to a close. The Heathers, Veronica, JD, Angelica, and everyone else was long gone. Evan was a senior. Connor was a senior. And Evan never went a day without thinking about Connor. The love that they shared. How stupid he had been to let Connor go.

Connor beat himself up for everything. He almost never showed up at school anymore. He went to a counselor, and didn't ever talk. He drove to the orchard and punched the trees, screamed, cried. He almost wrecked his car. He slept most of the time, and smoked. His room always smelled of weed now. When he opened the door, smoke would float out. He was practically suffocating himself in there with the smoke. Secretly, he still drew pictures of Evan, and hid them. He carved little Evans into his skin and never told anyone. He thought about Evan all the time. How stupid he had been to let him go. What an asshole he had been.

He didn't try to kill himself anymore. He didn't have the will to even get out of bed.

Senior year was drawing to a close. Connor knew Evan couldn't afford college, and Connor would never get accepted into college. So he wrote a note, begging his parents to give Evan his college money. Then, he took off into the woods with a bottle of pills.

Nobody even saw him.