Struck By Lightning

Part 8- Time Had Stopped

Austin's Story

     My last few hours with her were amazing. Now she's gone... She's really gone.

     I sat on the couch with my knees to my chest, trying not to cry. Luckily, nobody bothered me. My dad would come in to check on me once in awhile, but besides that I was alone to my sorrows. I should have told her how I feel. I was going to at the end of the party, but... UGH! I grabbed the lamp next to me and threw it across the room.

     My dad came in to check on me again. He gasped at the broken lamp, but never asked about it. He sat down next to me, "Listen... I know it's really hard right now... but it will get better." I shook my head, tears were rolling down my face, "Austin... I'm sure she cared about you and just know that she died for something good. She saved her brother you know." "Can you please leave?" I asked my dad. Once he was gone, I started recalling what happened. Maybe it would make me feel better.

     Yesterday morning I texted Sienna and asked where Eileen would be that night. She told me that she was planning her brothers birthday party, but she might stop by the humane society first. I had a plan to find her and tell her that I missed her. All day at school I was so excited I couldn't stop staring at her. First I went to her house, but she wasn't home. So I stopped by the humane society. Her Aunt Gwen showed me to the back, where the puppies were, and there was Eileen. I wanted to tell her right then and there, but I knew I had to wait. She almost looked frightened to see me, but her kind self welcomed me in anyway.

     We played with the puppies for a couple minutes. Her eyes sparkled every time she looked at them. It reminded me of how much she cared for the world and everything in it.

     Then we heard a scream coming from the front room, and her aunt was lying on the floor. Dead. I knew it when I saw her. Eileen looked horrified, I didn't know what to do. Then she burst open the doors and ran back home. I tried to follow but she was running too fast.

     Her aunts customer seemed extremely suspicious and by the time the ambulance and detectives showed up she was out of sight. We later found out something poisonous had ended up in her drink. I'm suspecting the customer but no one will listen to me. The customer is no where to be found.

     When I arrived at Eileens house her mother told me she was upstairs in her room but looked upset.

     She still looked beautiful. Even with bloodshot eyes from crying and a runny nose, I wanted to hold her and tell her that I loved her. I just grabbed her, and we stayed like that for awhile. I feel bad for lying to her, about her aunt. I couldn't tell her that her aunt was dead yet. She still had hope.

     We played in the pool for a couple hours and it was so amazing to hang around her again. I almost forgot how much fun she is.

     After that was a blur, one second she was at the table eating strawberry cake, the next second she was gone. Elliot ran inside soaking wet, yelling at Liam, "WHY DID YOU LEAVE ME OUTS--" He was cut off by the sound of Eileen's blood-curdling scream.

     My heart stopped when I got outside and saw Eileen's body, twitching with electricity. She was almost dead. I crashed on top of her limp body and held her one last time. "I love you..." I wanted to tell her later, give it time. But now she was gone. I remember my vision getting foggy and I was crying over her for what felt like hours until the ambulance showed up. It felt like time had stopped.

     This morning I visited her in the hospital. They said she was dying.

     I look down, I was fiddling with her bracelet again. It was blue and green, she made it for me in an art class she took in the beginning of summer. I slid it off my arm and slid it onto hers. It's like a piece of me will be with her forever.

     I couldn't think about this anymore. I was fully sobbing now. I looked at the broken lamp across the room, then to the picture of Eileen and I on the table next to me. It was one of our dates at the community pool, she looked so beautiful that day. That was the day we had our first kiss... Oh no.

     I had to get away from this. I need to do something to take the pain away.

     I knocked on her door. "Oh hey, Aust-" I stopped Meghan mid sentence as I grabbed her face and kissed her.

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