Dear August

|Thirty-Two|

Quick A/N: This chapter is gonna be told in Finley's POV, I tried writing it from Riley's but it just wasn't really doing it for me. So I found the best way to write this chapter was a different POV. But after this chapter it'll go back to Riley's POV 😊
-
-
-

"Riley?" I call out as I knock for the thousandth time on her door.

It's been four days since we last heard from her. No one knows what happened, we tried asking her mom but she has no idea either. But she did tell us that she's barely eating or getting out of bed at all. So I took it upon myself to bring her some Wendy's. I mean yeah it's not the best nutritious option for someone who hasn't eaten in a few days but it's good enough.

"Riley?" I call out again. No response, as expected. I grab the doorknob and turn it, and to my surprise it's unlocked. "Okay I'm coming in, the door was unlocked. I'm not someone coming to kill you. Sorry that makes this sound even more suspicious. Um, it's Finley!"

Once again, no answer.

"I brought you Wendy's. I know you like their bacon burgers."

I knock twice on her bedroom door and crack it open. "Riley?" I whisper. She shifts in her bed. "Hey I got you a burger." I shuffle further into her room.

"I heard," she softly says.

I set down the paper bag down on the foot of her bed and sit down next to it.

"You should eat something," I say as I pat her leg awkwardly.

To my surprise she sits up and gestures for me to hand her the bag. I hand it to her and she takes out the contents, and eats it slowly.

I hesitate to ask any questions, not wanted to upset her.

"So um," I cough awkwardly. "What's going on?"

She looks up at me, munching on her burger.

"Nothing much."

"No Riley, I mean what's happening here? We literally thought you were kidnapped or something! We had to call your mom to make sure you were okay! Do you know how worried we were?" There goes trying not to upset her.

She just stares blankly at me. No other emotion on her face except pain and sadness. She hesitates a moment to say anything, but then takes a breath in.

"I saw her again."

"Again? Riley why didn't you tell me. You could've talked to me about this."

"No. I couldn't have. I can't even talk to my myself about this you think I could've talked to anyone else about it?" She throws the burger back into the bag.

I stay silent. To my surprise she stands up from her bed and begins pacing the room.

"It's like she's fucking taunting me or something. Like she wants me to remember that day."

"What do you mean?" I furrow my brows.

Tears begin to well up in her eyes and she begins pacing a little quicker.

"I mean, why wouldn't she want me to remember that for the rest of my life? I'm a terrible person, I'm a fucking terrible person Finley." She laces her fingers into her hair and roughly rugs at the roots.

I've seen this too many times, in all of my friends. Not this exact situation but the anxiety. Wanting to pull all your hair out, scream at the top of your lungs. Want things to just go back to normal.

I quickly stand up from her bed and grab her hands from her hair.

"Riley you need to just breath," I try to soothe her. She stares back at me, wide brown eyes pooling with tears. They begin to stream down her face in little droplets.

"I can't! Not when I'm being reminded of this!"

"Of what, Ry?"

"I was mad at her!" She tugs her hands from the grip of mine and paces over to her desk. She turns back to look at me. "I was fucking mad at her Finley! She thought I hated her! And for what a FUCKING T-SHIRT?" Her volume increases with every word she says, every word lined with the pain and suffering.

"I DIDN'T EVEN SAY THAT I LOVED HER! WHY COULDN'T I HAVE TOLD HER I LOVED HER ONE LAST TIME?" She begins grabbing things from the surface of her desk and throwing them every which way around the room.

"Riley," I try to stop her but she just yanks her arms from mine.

"Don't even try! Don't! You won't get it! You won't fucking get it! She thought I fucking hated her! I'M THE REASON MY SISTER IS DEAD."

She grabs one of the glass jewelry dishes from the desk and throws it with full force at the wall, shattering it into tiny little pieces. Blood begins to gush from her hand as she falls to the floor, a crying mess, loud sobs escaping her mouth.

I rush to the bathroom and get a wet towel to clean up her hands, and rush back into the room. She remains where she was when I left, and I kneel down and take one of her hands and dab the wet towel on it.

Her sobs dialed down to little sniffles and gasps as I bandage her hands up and clean all the splattered blood and shattered glass from the floor. The dish left a hole in the wall that was beyond my power to fix. I cringe when I hear the front door open.

"Riley?" Her moms voice echoes through the apartment. "Hey Ry?"

I stand up from my squatting position and walk out of her room.

"Finley? Hi, I didn't know you were coming over," she says, greeting me with a smile.

"Hi. Um, I kind of just dropped in to check on Riley. There's sort of a situation going on in there."

Her face drops as well as her bag as she makes her way to Riley's room.

"Is she okay, is she hurt?"

"Well she will be okay, but her hands are pretty cut up."

Her mom enters Riley's room where Riley remained kneeling on the floor, tears streaming down her face like a river, a ten years stare occupying her face.

"Riley, honey?" She takes her daughters face into her hands and forces her to look at her.

Tears well up in my eyes at the sight. Having to see your daughter like this, especially after your other one took her own life must be extremely difficult to handle.

She gets Riley back into her bed, leaving a cold glass of water and some Aspirin by it. She shuts the door softly and sighs, wiping her own tears away.

"I'm uh, I'm sorry. About what just happened. I tried to stop her I really did."

She looks up at me, a slight smile on her tired looking face. "It's okay Finley. I know you did. You're a good friend. I appreciate what you did today."

"Of course," I smile and nod. "We love Riley almost as much as you do."

"I don't know what's going on with her," she sighs stares at her hands.

"I think she just needs some closure about this whole situation," I say. And just like that, the idea pops into my head.