Train// Zonah

15

Dear Corbyn,
I know we don't talk much but I needed to tell you that by the time your read this, I will be dead

No, this isn't a suicide note. Corbyn, I have cancer. Thank you for being kind to me, you will never know what a difference you made to my life.

Thank you so much. Love..

Corbyn stopped reading a x he put down the note.

"whose it from?" Zach asked, noticing the manner in which the letter ended. Corbyn sighed, sitting back down.

"that's the thing, Zach. I can't get the bloody guilt out of my head because I can't remember a stupid name. He remembered mine, why can't I remember his?" Zach heard the squeakiness of his voice and upon deciding that he was crying, wiped the tears from his face.

"did he finish the note?" Zach asked.

"No," Corbyn replied in something less than a shaky whisper. "He had a heart attack. No one was in the room, no doctors were near. They found him dead."

"Oh." was all that Zach could utter. One simple word.

"and I can't even remember his name!" Corbyn screamed, more frustrated than ever. He didn't understand how his brain worked, upset by his short-term memory problems that constantly limited his life and made everything so much harder for him.

It took twenty minutes for Corbyn to calm down and be able to continue with the story. "A couple of months after the boy died, along came another. His name was Daniel."

Corbyn paused for a minute moving into a more comfortable position. "Everyone immediately fell in love with him, as much as they tried to hide it. He was just so... Innocent." he smiled  fondly. "Daniel had autism and OCD. At first, people tried to ignore him. They thought that it would be easy, as most kids who were classified as being-" he held up his fingers, making quotation marks with them. "-different would sink into the shadows after a few attempts, but this kid would not stop trying."

Corbyyn looked down to his feet. "He didn't understand the torments made by other kids, because of his disability. He'd have horrible melt downs and get teased about it for days, but would laugh along. Everything was funny to him, you see. He was so nice to anyone and always felt the need to be liked, so almost everyone fell in love with him, in the end."

"what do you mean almost everyone?" Zach asked, Causing Corbyn to sigh.

"Well, remember the perfects?" Zach nodded. "they all kind of disbanded, I suppose. They stayed friends with the people closest to them, and some of the outcasts. They were never scared of diversity; they were scared of Jake and Logan. Of course, them and their now little gang still tried to run the school. (managing successfully, but with a struggle.)" tears were running down the older boy's already wet cheeks once again.

"he used to go around thanking everyone for being nice to him, but one day I just hadn't seen him, until.." he paused, almost ashamed. Zach put a comforting hand on his thigh, urging him to continue. ".. Until a girl, someone in my class came running up to me. She sad something about Jaje and Logan following Dani into the bathroom, and all she could hear was screaming." Corbyn sighed, his voice breaking. "I didn't do anything. I was too scared to intervien, instead I pulled my phone out of my pocket and started recording."

Zach now had his arm wrapped round Corbyn's shoulder, tears running down his cheeks as well. "it had happened before, but none of the teachers believed me when I told them, but I had proof now. I called to one of the passing boys to get a teacher, which he did as I screamed, aimlessly at them to stop. The teacher got there, but they acted like he had just had a melt down and we're comforting them."

Corbyn's voice darkened." I didn't tell anybody for about a month, and I just kept happening, but one day Daniel came up to me,he was crying and beghinf me to make them stop. His eye was black, he clearly had a broken arm and a limp. Jake and Logan were laughing."

Corbyn was crying uncontrollably by now, and shaking slightly as he explained the end of the story. "We walked hand in hand to the office and I requested to see the head of year. He gave up fifteen minutes to explain, which we did so, showing the video as proof. Logqn and Jake ended up getting expelled, but that didn't stop them from herring poor Daniel. He was found dead during the holidays after the boys..." he made air quotes with his shaking hands. "Accidental killed him. The beat him so much, he bled to death. I have to pass his blood stain every now and then, but I'm happy that they got justice. Life in prison, with no bail."

Zach was shocked. He didn't know what to say, so ended up comforting his friend. "How did you stay so... Strong?" he asked.

"my blade." she said ashamed. And suddenly the tears came rushing to Zach's eyes as well.

Because now, he understood,

Because now, he could relate.