JanTom: Complete Opposites

Chapter Nine- Help

Filler chapter

After I smacked him, I scurried off, leaving my mat in the process.

I couldn't be bothered to pick up the darn mat and roll it while I was a ticking time bomb. The nerve of that jerk! How dare he say such embarrassing things.

I don't know if he truly meant what he said or he was messing with me. I mean I don't even understand him, let alone trust him. He's shady, that's right, I'm suspicious of him.

I grunted as I marched onto the hallways with my backpack slung around my shoulder. I decided to lay low towards the restroom since Tom wouldn't possibly enter the girl's bathroom, and just going back to the classroom would make me prone to him teasing me.

I closed the cubicle door and sat down on the toilet seat, clutching onto my bag as I sat there like a stupid idiot, hearing the closing of cubicles, the shadows of feet passing by and the running water by the sink.

I fished for my phone and unlocked it to see the time; 12:40. I still had 20 minutes left before I would return back to the classroom. I might as well scroll some posts from Reddit while I sat here all alone.

Being here reminds me of the old days. It wasn't good memories, but I could never forget it. I sunk bottom and lost all confidence I had for myself. I didn't belong anywhere and I always sat inside the cubicle, eating my lunch with tear-stricken eyes as I wished for a better tomorrow.

Somehow that never happened. I continued eating my lunch here whilst scrolling my phone, silently laughing as I watch the memes on my feed. Eventually, I got used to the silence, the isolation.

Being alone won't make you a burden, no one would bat an eye if you're gone let alone if you died.

You didn't need to meet their expectations and they didn't have anything on you.

Until I found that the school's garden was vacant; it seems that no one found such a beautiful spot with flowers around you, cool fresh breeze and the right amount of sunlight. And I started eating there, my own spot, my haven.

I snap out of my own flashbacks when I hear a sob from the other stall. It wasn't my business and I didn't want to barge in because it wasn't my problem. Sometimes people need to deal with their own problems.

Then the sobs gradually got louder and eventually it lead to the person coughing and sniffing hard. I supposedly didn't want to care, but deep inside me I worried.

What if she's choking? What if she decided to kill herself or try to choke herself? Thoughts like that weighted my conscience, up to the point I couldn't take the guilt anymore.

I may be rude and cold, but I was still human. I still had the feelings of empathy deep inside me. And so I did any person would do.

I opened my cubicle door, glancing around as I try to find the source of the sobs. Then my feet carried me to the stall where the crying resonated from. I reluctantly knocked on the door.

"A-are you alright?" I say, worried.

The person doesn't answer but just keeps on crying. I sigh, trying once more. "Do you need help?"

Then silence suddenly lingered upon us. I was sweating by now, thinking if she'd drown herself with the toilet water or managed to successfully hang or kill herself.