September 7th, 2:45 pm, sixth period Algebra II, Charles Van Dyke High School. A piece of chalk scratched along the black board as Mr. Warren tried to make his voice audible over the roar of student's voices conversing throughout the room. I scratched down the notes onto the margin of paper I had been doodling on for most of the period. A balled up piece of paper sailed over the head of the person next to me and landed on my desk. Bursts of laughter came from a group of friends that usually sat around me in this general area. A tall, thin girl with lightly tanned swimmer skin approached me and picked up the ball off my desk, suppressing giggles as she did so.
"I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to throw that at you." She apologized honestly, her dark hair draping over shoulder. I looked up at her and smiled. She smiled and nodded back and returned to her seat. I looked back at Mr. Warren who had written the homework assignment on the board finally and sat down to gather his things. I pulled my phone out of my pocket and looked at the time: 2:48... The bell was about to ring... I grabbed my satchel off the ground and, after closing it, shoved my notebook in and closed the bag. I fished for my headphones hanging from my shirt and stuck them into my ears. I pressed play on my phone and placed it back into my pocket and leaded back into the desk's chair tiredly.
'Another day of school finished.' I thought to myself, glancing up at the clock again. 'Thirteen seconds...' I put my bag over my shoulder and walked to the door, guiding my way through other standing students. Just as I reached the door the bell rang and I slipped soundlessly into the hallway. The music blared in my ears in a kind of unexplainable soothing way as I rounded the corner and headed down the stairwell. Students pushed down the stairs and I struggled to hold balance until the last step. With a huff, I squeezed into the overly crowded hallway and sped through into the commons and out the gates. The walk home was hot enough to force me to remove the baggy jacket I had borrowed from Erik.
Erik is my next door neighbor and my best friend. His family moved to Reddington the same day my family did. His eyes were a pale grey, such a pale grey that they looked fake. His hair, a dark brown and cut short which now reaches his shoulder, unlike it had been when we'd first met. He usually walked with me home but he didn't go to school today. I was guessing the reason why and deep down, I knew it was the truth but I didn't want to believe it.
I turned down my street and headed for the mail box. I pulled my lanyard out of my jacket pocket and retrieved the mail like usual and shoved it into my backpack. I planned to stop by my house before heading to Erik's so I jogged up and across the grass then pushed open the back gate.
No one was home, no one ever was. Mom was probably with some guy and pretending to be at work. Dad was probably at a bar or a strip club also pretending to be at work. I walked in through the back door and greeted my husky pup, Apollo. His jumped wildly around in excitement and gave a cute bark a few times. Kneeling down for a second, I rubbed his head and kissed him on his nose. After standing back up with a calm Apollo next to me, I placed the mail on the table without looking at it. I knew they were all bills by the envelopes. I flew up the old vintage spiral staircase with Apollo close behind. Once I was at the top, I walked down the hallway and pushed open the last door to the right and went into my room.
Apollo jumped up onto my bed and laid down on my teal sheets, his tongue hanging out of his mouth. I pulled my headphones out and tossed my phone and satchel next to him which he sniffed and I turned to look in my mirror of my very old and vintage vanity table. I looked at my outfit with a small smile on my face. It was my favorite outfit consisting of a "Being as an Ocean" band shirt Erik had bought, teal skinny jeans, black slip-on Vans and Erik's black and white letterman jacket that was two sizes too big and covered in band patches. We often shared clothes since we liked the same stuff. One of the bracelets had my name which was Erik's as well and I had a matching one with his name on it. I raised the jacket's sleeve up to my nose and inhaled Erik's familiar and sweet scent. The thought of Erik's jacket reminded me of his absence at school today which lead me to our 'conversation windows'.
When we were nine, Erik came up with an idea so we could talk to each other from our rooms since we didn't have telephones. He'd learned about tin can phones at school and decided to try it out. The older we got the better we've designed the contraption. I walked over to my permanently opened window (it hasn't been closed in, literally, years) and pulled one of the strings on the intricate pulley system connected to the phones.
I heard the bell at Erik's window ring but a response didn't come nor did the black curtains rustle. I rang again and still no answer. I bit my bottom lip out of nervous habit and rang again. Still, no answer. Apollo whined and I looked over at him, my eyebrows knitted in concern.
”I don't know where he is, baby..." I said softly, "I think I'm going to go check on him, okay?" I walked out of my room and flew down the stairs and to the front door. After closing the door on my way out, I walked across my lawn and hopped the fence to Erik's porch. His father's car wasn't in the driveway so I knew it was safe to go inside. I looked at the porch floor for a moment and counted the tiles, lifted the seventh one and removed the key from the small hole in the ground that had been made to accommodate it. I replaced the tile and rose to unlock the front door as silently as possible. Just in case Erik was just asleep, I closed the door as softly as possible and tiptoed up the stairs and continued to do so down the hall to the third door on the right. I placed my ear on the door and listened for any sign of life on the other side.
After a bit of waiting and hearing nothing out of the ordinary, I opened the door as silently as I could and squeezed into the room. Erik's form was easily recognizable to me underneath his comforter which rose and fell in a slow, constant pattern. I tiptoed toward the bed with my arms up to my chest, biting my lip to slow my loud breathing. I leaned over to see him and froze in pure terror as soon as my eyes met his face. A tornado of emotions wreaked havoc within my heart as my numbed brain slowly registered the image before me and I knew things hadn't changed... not in the slightest.
