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Day 2: Your Least Favorite Song

Day 2: Your Least Favorite Song

"Pompeii" by Bastille

And the walls kept tumbling down
In the city that we love
Great clouds roll over the hills
Bringing darkness from above
How am I gonna be an optimist about this?

The late-May wind whips my hair about.  A chill creeps up my spine as I look down, straining my eyes to see past the fog, to look at the jagged rocks below.

Black, sharp, and deadly.

Lots of people have gone this way, throwing themselves over the cliffs that Maine harbors.  I wouldn’t be the first, nor the last.

I wonder how my brother would take the news.  Or how long the news would take to get to him.

He got busted for drugs in January with a group of friends and is spending a two year senence in prison, which I guess would be the beginning of the downfall of my life.

“We the jury find the defendant, Thomas Williams, guilty of class C drug possession.”

My eyes fill with tears and my hands shake as I raise them to cover my gaping mouth.  The lawyer said he had it under control.  He said that Thomas could get by with a hefty and probation!

The judge reads off his jail time and finally I start sobbing.  My dad stands up and starts yelling at the judge and my mom joins him.  The judge bangs his gavel on the wooden block.  “Order!  Order in the court!  Mr. and Mrs. Williams, if you cannot keep yourselves under control I will have you detained!”

A couple months after that, Dad was let go from his job.  Finding a job was becoming discouraging and finally he kept coming home drunk, spending what precious money we had left. 

“The bank’s threatening with foreclosure and you’re out drinking?!” my mom screeches at my dad.

“Back off,” my dad slurs, and then begins calling Mom some choice words.  That soon leads to a shouting match between the two.

I squeeze my eyes shut and like a little kid, burrow under my covers.  Thankfully it’s early spring and the night weather is pretty average.  My parents had to lower the temperature in the house to save money on heating and cooling.

And then I realized I wouldn’t be able to get away from this nightmare that is all too real.

“Did you get yours?!  Did you get yours?!” I practically scream into my phone to my best friend.

“Yes!  I’ll be over in ten minutes!” Olivia replies and promptly hangs up.

I stare at my letter from the University of Southern California and take a deep breath.

My dream school.

Ever since Liv and I were in the eighth grade, we’d dreamt of going to the same university together. I wanted to major in film and she in architecture.

“I’m here!” Liv yells, barging into my house without even knocking.

I hurry out to the living room and give her a bone-crushing hug.  After pulling away we give each other grins so big we must’ve looked like lunatics.

“On the count of three?” I suggest.

She nods.  We begin counting down together, each of us ready to tear open our letters.

“Three.  Two.  One.”

Olivia and I tear open our letters and begin reading them silently.

Dear Ms. Kaitlyn Williams, the University of Southern California Acceptance Committee informs you will sincere regret that we are not able to offer you a place in the Class of 2019…

My hands begin shaking and I can feel tears forming at the back of my eyes.

Liv squeals.  “I got in!  I got in!  We have to decide what our dorms will—Kait?”

A sob escapes me.  “I d-didn’t get i-in,” I choke out.

Liv wraps her arms around me as I sob into her shoulder.

I was stuck with one of my second-choice college.  The one I decided to go to was located in Cleveland.

I take a deep breath and hold it before releasing it slowly.  My palms are slick with sweat and I wipe them on my jeans.

I have nothing to live for.  My parents are filing for divorce, my brother’s in jail, I’m not going to college with my best friend, I didn’t get accepted into my dream school, and I have no steady boyfriend.

What else do I have to live for?

Nothing.  Absolutely nothing.

The sun is just about to set, melting into the sea.

I can’t decide if I should run and jump, like off the diving board, or just step off the edge.  I decide on the former, why not have some fun before I die?

I begin backing up quite a few paces.  I look up at the sky and admire the last beauty I’ll ever see before looking out at the water again.

“Last chance!” I yell to the sky.  I don’t believe in God, but I believe in fate.  If something’s suppose to happen it will happen.

Silence.

I take that as my go ahead.

I begin sprinting and as I do, the ringing of a cell phone tears through the air.

I stumble and fall, landing on my stomach with such force that it knocks the breath out of me.  I lay there before looking up.

I’m only a foot or less from the edge of the cliff.

I take a shuddering breath before standing up on shaky legs.  The air is silent and I realize that my phone has received a text.

But I could’ve sworn I turned it off before I left the house.

My car is parked some ways away and anyone who’s driving on the road that passes this part of the cliffs can see it.  Once I get to my car and throw open the door, I grab my phone and turn it on, opening the text message.

It’s a quote from Olivia.

People cry, not because they’re weak. It’s because they’ve been strong for too long. -Johnny Depp.

That’s when I break down crying.

I shakily dial Olivia, the screen blurring from my tears.  “L-liv?” I hiccup into the phone.

“Kait?  What’s going on?  Where are you?!”

“B-by the cliffs we used to hang out after s-school.”  My sobs drown out Liv’s answer.

I curl up in a ball while leaning against my car, crying into my knees.

Before I know it, I feel arms wrap around me and pull me into a hug.  I cry into Olivia’s shoulder as she rubs my back and somehow I know it’s going to be okay.