Theories of Global Warming

~Daryl~

 It took me awhile in the bathroom since I had to wait in a long line. Also, I had to convince a couple people I was a dude. What made me forget to wash my hands was the murderous racket I heard from outside. I immediately thought of Arum.

"Excuse me," I approached a man with a long, white beard, like Santa Claus, "have you happened to see an albino girl around here? She's my friend." The man's jaw dropped, and he gave me a look of sympathy.

As we stared at each other, I felt a cold substance drop onto my skin. At first, I thought it was someone splashing water on me to get back at me for going into the men's bathroom, but it kept coming, and it was light. My arm had specks of white little drops on them... It was snow. The last time it snowed was when I was four years old.

"Your friend decided to take a dip in the pond. I tried to stop her but-" his voice faltered as he gestured to the body of water. There was a lump sticking out halfway at the surface. It was difficult to tell what it was, but I knew. My best friend had drowned, and I wasn't there to save her. No one was.

Without even thanking the man, I dashed towards the pond and prepared myself to jump in. A police officer grabbed my arm and said that the firemen would take care of her.

My insides burned and tears threatened to fall, but I wouldn't let them see me cry.

I wasn't sure if I was angry or upset. I just felt numb, and it was so lucid that it felt like a blinding dream.

"When have the firemen ever taken care of us? When have they ever arrived on time?" I hissed, referring to all the fires and lives lost in our town lately. I took a deep breath before continuing, "I need to call her mom." He nodded at me, as if granting permission for me to do so, which would've made me even more peeved if I didn't know that I had to get a hold of some people.

Instead of calling her mom first, which probably would've been the better idea, I called Lee since I had his number.

When he picked up, I explained the whole situation, not missing out on any detail. He stayed quiet in response. I knew he was still there because of his heavy breathing.

"You guys have to get over here," I stated quickly, knowing that I would have to hurry to call Arum's mom.

There was a long moment of silence before Lee said, "I can't." I groaned loudly.

"Put Provence on the phone," I commanded. I was getting impatient.

A few seconds later, a more feminine and eager voice sounded through my speaker, "Hey, Daryl, how's it going, my dude?"

"She's dead," I informed her, trying my hardest not to break out in tears.

"What?" she yelled, hurting my eardrums. I sniffed, my nose was turning numb from how cold it was. I quickly explained the whole situation to her. This time, towards the end of my explanation, my voice broke and started to cry softly.

"She wasn't supposed to do that yet," Provence sounded like she was in a trance of disbelief. I wasn't 100% sure what she meant by that, which made me uncomfortable, but at that point in time, my best friend had just died and I really didn't feel like putting up with this girl's crap, so I hung up.

I hovered my finger over the call button on Arum's mom's number. This shouldn't of been something the woman had to worry about. She trusted me.

Just as I was about to get the courage to call her, a different police officer, with long, black hair approached me.

"Hey, Daryl," she greeted me softly, "can you tell me a few things about your friend?" I quickly wiped the tears that were silently crawling down my face. Without a doubt, this police officer was showing me sympathy. Did I blame her? No. Did I want her to act like this towards me? Also no.

"Like what?" I spat, accidentally coming out as rude.

"Her full name, your relation to her, where her family lives, what she was doing here, and if she has any records of any mental illnesses." she tapped her pen on her clipboard and gave me a small smile. I sighed for the what seemed like the hundredth time in the past ten minutes.

"Her name is Arum Lee Smith." Tears came flooding out of my eyes once again. I had remembered that she had been born in the same week as Lee. Since their parents were friends, they decided to make Arum's middle name Lee, and Lee's middle name Arum. I always thought it was weird, but now it just made me upset. "I'm a... family friend," I gasped for air. "We live in a sub-division... I took her here to show her around, and her mental illnesses are none of your business."

The truth was, doctor's weren't really sure what sort of physical and mental illness Arum had. Even if they did know, it was no one's problem but her's. I wouldn't expect her to tell anyone, even me.

The police officer was about to open her mouth to speak, but I held my hand out and pressed the call button on my phone. She left as soon as I put it to my ear.

I told Arum's mom about what happened. She cried as she assured me it wasn't my fault and not to blame myself.

On the way home, I cried all the way, blaring some happy and upbeat music to drown out my own noise. It didn't work. I still heard myself.

I decided to stop by the park and ask Provence some questions. I assumed she and the rest would be there since that's literally the only place they hang out at in the evenings.

When I pulled to the curb, I spotted the three of them in odd positions. I've seen the way they sat on the bench before, but this definitely wasn't like them. Terry was in the middle of the bench, hugging his knees closely to his chest, Provence was pacing between the bench and the swingset, and Lee was sitting criss cross on the ground, his face in his hands.