They said it happened on a Monday, exactly one month ago today. They told everyone that June committed suicide, that she walked into the lake near her house, and drowned herself. I was left in shock and disbelief. She was my best friend, and I knew her better than she even knew herself, or at least I thought I did. June was always happy — nothing ever really made her sad. She had a great life, with a loving family, good grades, and a soccer scholarship to her dream school next year. She seemed so happy and content with how things were going that I couldn't help but think what happened wasn't true. After a month of trying to figure out why she would do something like this, I decided to find out what really happened.
My long, blonde hair furiously whipped in the wind as I made my way towards the lake where she drowned herself. I live in a small town in Nebraska surrounded by woods on three sides, and to get to the lake, you have to walk through them. About halfway to my destination, I found a broken bracelet on the ground by a particularly tall tree, and realized it was June's. I had never seen her without it on since I gave it to her on her fourteenth birthday — for three years she'd never taken it off, until now. That was the first clue that something about this whole situation was off. I then began to think about how she had to walk through the woods to get to the lake. June had never liked the woods — she always thought they were creepy, and wouldn't go in them alone. She was also deathly afraid of spiders, and these woods had plenty of them lurking around every corner. The circumstances surrounding her death weren't adding up, so I decided to turn around and go to her house to see if I could find anything.
I reached her house and was immediately welcomed in by her parents, who also said it'd be okay if I took a look around her room. I headed up the stairs and stopped in front of her bedroom door, hesitantly pushing it open after a minute of just standing there. I was met with her lilac walls and tidy-looking room. the first places I looked for clues about what really happened and why she did it were the obvious ones -- under her pillow, in her closet, and in her desk drawers. After coming up empty-handed, I checked the one place no one else knew about but us. she had a floorboard under her bed that came up, the place where she hid her deepest and most important secrets.
What I found confused me. She had a map of Delaware, with the town of Lewes circled, and the same date as her death written next to it. She had also written the name of an apartment complex, with the cost of rent. I looked around her room one more time, and found nothing. Thinking this was the best thing I was going to get, I decided to travel to Lewes the next day, and take a look around to see if anything there could possibly lead me to an explanation.
After telling my parents that I was going to stay with my friend, Elise, for a couple of days, I set out. After a twenty-two hour drive, I arrived in the town and headed straight to the apartment complex that was written on the map. I talked to the woman at the front desk in the lobby-like area, showed her a picture of June, and asked her if she'd seen her. She told me that she doesn't remember anyone matching June's picture coming to rent an apartment, so I thanked her and went on my way. I found a small coffee shop around five minutes from the apartments, and decided I needed to refuel, so I headed in. As soon as I walked in and looked up, I was met with a sight that, at one time, I thought I'd never see again. Standing behind the counter, at the register, was my best friend June. Her black hair was now a platinum blonde, but it was definitely June.
In the hours that followed my discovery, I began to understand why she did what she did. She told me that, although her like looked and seemed perfect, it was nothing of the sort. Unbeknownst to me, June's parents were really abusive. She told me about how her father was an angry drunk who would beat her with no hesitation when he'd had too much to drink. Her mother turned a blind eye to the whole thing, and wouldn't even acknowledge what was happening. Sure, she knew about it, but she did nothing to help June. The physical abuse was escalating, and June couldn't take it anymore, so she faked her own death and ran away to Delaware without telling anyone about her plan.
The next day, I had to return home because school was about to start up again. With the promise to keep in touch through letters and not tell anyone about what happened, I said goodbye to June, and left. Over the years, we've remained close and I've gone to visit her a couple of times. Next month, I graduate from college and plan to move out to Delaware so we can be closer together.
