swear • r.w

prologue

- yo so i wrote this really short story and was like "aye might as well upload it to wattpad" so here you go lol sorry. -

She had an obsession with medication. Not as in consuming them, just the concept. She had said, while she sat on my basement couch playing with pills, that they confused her. And she was intrigued. She thought that something so small, that was the size of a finger nail, and could hold the power to affect your body in countless ways, was beautiful.

Her favourite side effects were numb, and sleepy. She felt free. Her mother and father didn't know about it, so that's why she always did it in my basement. Gina and Bronson, my foster parents, didn't mind. They used to be hippies back in their day, so maybe that's why. Maybe they were once in the same place.

Her snake bites, as in the piercings, were meant to mean something to her. She never told me what. I sometimes wonder if it meant that she thought herself as a snake. A snake that would swallow others whole, burying them deep into the pit of her stomach, which never saw the light of day again. She'd done that one time that I knew of, to her ex-friend Andrea.

Two weeks ago, on the day of the news, Elizabeth came and told me. I didn't believe her at first, because Elizabeth is known for constantly lying. They're just small, white lies, like "My grandfather's going to Paris at the end of the year. He said he might bring me". Lies that would make others jealous, but she was smart about it. She always said, "Might" or "Maybe", the lies were never definite. That way, we couldn't accuse her.

"She's dead". Elizabeth spoke, that day in the hallway.

"Who?" I said, not taking my eyes off the inside of my locker.

"Who do you think, Matt? Who wasn't at your bus stop this morning? Who's not standing with you right here, at her very own locker?".

I know who she meant, of course. I just couldn't bring myself to believe it.

They thought it was me. They all thought it was me. I didn't kill her. I didn't kill her at all. I swear.