The school bell rang, and everyone scurried out of the classroom. But I remained still, just staring down at the blank white lined piece of paper that I have yet wrote a single letter down for the whole LA period.
"Annabelle it's time to leave. Everyone has left for the day." Spoke Ms. Clara.
I glanced up to see her in her rain coat and ready to leave also.
I turned around and looked out the glass window to see rain pouring down like buckets.
"Sorry." I said while getting my bag together.
"Do want a ride home?" Ms. Clara questioned.
"No I'll be fine." I said as I put my hood on and walked out of the classroom.
I didn't stop and wait for my teacher. I didn't smile and say good bye, I just left.
••••••••
It was dark and cloudy out. I was the only one walking on the sidewalk.
A car full of snobby high schoolers sped fast causing the water from the puddle to splash up on me. They rolled down their windows and laughed at me, but I kept walking.
After that I didn't care about the rain getting me soaked because I already was.
I just kept my head down and counted each step I took. "One." Another step. "Two." A step after that, "Three." I kept counting until I reached my neighborhood.
••••••
As I was walking through the neighborhood I saw a women dressed in a pencil skirt and in high black heels nail a "FOR SALE" sign in the ground.
•••••••
I wonder who is moving in?
Whatever that didn't matter.
Maybe if Vanessa was alive maybe we would sneak over there and act like we were spy's, like we did when we were five. Maybe if it was a boy our age we'd dress up and walk past his house a billion times. Maybe.
•••••••
I remember that night like it was yesterday. Vanessa's family invited me to go with them to their grandparents house for a mini vacation in Maine for the long weekend.
We decided to leave around 5pm; so a little after her dad got home from work.
We were only on the highway for about 30 minutes. And out of nowhere and drunk driver came right towards us.
Vanessa sitting on the left side of the car and me sitting on the right. The drunk driver smashed right into the left side. Right where Vanessa was sitting.
It all happened so fast yet in slow motion. Vanessa's and I song came on the radio "Be My Baby" by Ariana Grande. Her mom turned it up and we were laughing and singing though we weren't that good.
Vanessa's straight black hair whipping back and forth, her dark brown, almost black eyes glowing. Then, suddenly my mouth opened wide in shock. Vanessa stopped singing then whipped the other way towards the window and then- CRASH!
The drunk driver's car banged into our car. Causing a giant dent and then Vanessa's head went still.
Her parents were screaming because we had skidded off the road. I grabbed Vanessa's head and turned it to face my way.
Blood trickled down her head and her eyes where rolled back. And the shattered glass had left an "x" mark on her cheek and her smile that faded away quickly disappeared into the night sky.
I remember screaming a dry scream. I felt like no one heard me- that I was invisible. Her parents turned around and screamed.
Not just because of Vanessa but also because a fire had started in the front of the car.
Her dad hurled Vanessa on his shoulders and her mom grabbed my hand and pulled me out.
After we escaped the car Vanessa was bleeding, not just a cut she had many cuts from the glass and her head had banged up against the hard window.
I also remember seeing her dad try to give her CPR. The screaming of her mother when he lifted his hands from her chest and how they were covered with blood.
Their reaction when the peer medic arrived and said "I'm very sorry but she didn't make it- we tried everything."
After that I didn't know what else happened. I fainted onto the hard concrete.
But I remember how the drunk driver came out of his car repeating that he was sorry and that he had to much to drink. Then her dad wiped his tears and before hopping into the Ambulance with his wife and daughter who was on a stretcher covered in a white sheet he punched him.
I felt like no one noticed me- just laying on the tar.
Like I was nothing.
But the peer medic ran over to me and started to give me CPR.
During that period when I fainted I remember waking up in a white room. Thinking that I've died and would be with my best friend.
Vanessa walked up to me and said "This is the way it's suppose to be, I'll always be there with you, Annabelle. Stay strong."
Then I woke up to the beeping of the hospital machine.
But the words "Stay strong" echoed through my mind.
•••••
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Truyện NgắnAnnabelle goes through some tough changes in her life once her best friend unexpectedly dies. She then tries to learn to forget the past and live in the present.