Bet On It | H. Styles

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Six Years Ago

The month of July was probably the worst of Wendy's entire life. It was slow, tedious, and extremely exhausting.

The amount of lawyers Wendy had to encounter was unimaginable. Every little aspect of her family's lives was discussed in meetings where Wendy wanted nothing more than to sleep in her bed.

But then came the question as to what Wendy was going to do with everything she had inherited. Obviously it was never Wendy who was well-off, it was her parents, but now she had everything that was once theirs, including the house, the cars, the money. But Wendy didn't want it.

After long consideration, Wendy decided she was going to sell it all, for it was no good for her. It would be too much of a painful reminder of what once was, and Wendy didn't want that. So when her friends were gone and summer would come to a close, Wendy was moving out. She was going to live in the city by school, just to make her life easier. She wasn't going to dorm originally and it was far too late to tell college that she wanted a room, so she figured she would buy an apartment in the city to tend to her needs. It was going to be hard to leave it all behind, she would admit, but she couldn't handle it all. And the most painful part of it all was losing Jenny and Diana. Jenny was like a best friend and Diana has been there practically since Wendy was born. The pained look on their faces when Wendy broke the news to them crushed her. They weren't gone yet but the buildup to their departing day was going to be a tough one none of them wanted to face.

So when July was over, Wendy took a huge sigh of relief. The rest of the year could only get better from this rock bottom. Right?

Wendy sure hoped so.

So today, on this first day of August, Wendy wanted to make the best of her day. Not that she really had anything to do anyway. But she didn't want to remain cooped up on her house any longer. So, her and Patty made plans for a full on girls day out. They were going to go to a spa, then get their nails done, then go shopping, and then whatever else they wanted to do.

Normally they would never do anything like this, but they figured it was much needed. Patty pulled up in the driveway, Wendy immediately running outside at the sight of her friend.

"Thank goodness you agreed to this," Wendy breathed, buckling in her seatbelt.

"Of course. This day was much needed," Patty smiled, taking the two to their destination.

A silence longed over them, neither really knowing what to say. Patty was still nervous to strike the wrong nerve that would set Wendy off and Wendy could tell. She didn't mean to be so. . . overbearing: So much so that her friends were scared to talk to her. She went to a therapist for the past couple of weeks every, Monday and Thursday, to help coax her back into living a normal life and how to handle social situations.

Being around people after staying away from them for this past month made Wendy a little anxious. She felt like every one was always watching her, judging her, making her feel small all because of what had happened. She had this recurring nightmare when everyone she saw would start spewing hateful words about how she should've been the one to die, that her family didn't deserve it but she did. That only added fuel to the fire she called anxiety.

It also didn't help that when she did venture outside and see people she knew, that all they did was coddle her with condolences and 'helpful' words that made her want to shrink back into the hole she came from.

But today, on this sunny day, with few clouds lingering in the sky, Wendy was determined to face her fears and go out in public again. And Patty was determined to help her.

Patty cleared her throat as she pulled into the parking lot of the spa, trying to the ease the looming silence. "How– how are you?"

Wendy took a deep breath, knowing this question was coming. It was a simple question but it held so much power. "I'm good. I'm getting better, I'm. . . I'm okay." And Wendy meant it.