Out Of Our Control (High School Shoey)

Ch 12- Scarlet

~THE NEXT DAY (TUESDAY)~

 “Joey?” Shane asks, sitting next to me in the back of the bus.

 “Yeah, Shane?” I ask, tearing my gaze away from the window to make eye contact with him.

 “Can I read your journal?”

 Has he gone crazy?

 Has he lost his mind?

 S: no I’m not crazy nor am I losing my mind. I’m just really curious.

 J: you know it’s very graphic and detailed, right?

 S: I’ve touched so many dead bodies, Jay. I think I can handle it.

 J: Well you better brace yourself. It’s very intense.

 I pull the black leather notebook out of my bag and hand it to him. He opens up to a random page and starts reading. I look over his should to see what entry he’s reading. It’s one from about three months ago. I guess I can read it with him even though I already know how it’s going to end.

 “Joey, come on! The water is warm!” the brunette girl shouted from the pool. I lay on the lounge chair, soaking in as much sun as I could get.

 “I think I’m cool here!” I shouted back to her. We’re the only ones here at this public pool, which is not so unusual for some reason. I guess a lot of people just don’t like swimming in our neighborhood.

 “Oh come on! It’s so nice out!”

 “…Fine.” I sigh and get out of the lounge chair. I put one foot and the water and jump back. “You lied! This water is freezing!” I yell at her.

 “You’ll get used to it! Just jump in!” I take a deep breath and step back to get running distance. I charge at the pool and jump, pulling my knees up to my chest to form a ball.

 “CANNONBALL!!!” I shout right before I land in the water. It splatters everywhere, including in her face.

 “JOEY!” she squeals. I splash more water in her face and laugh hysterically at her struggle.

 “NINE IN THE AFTERNOON! YOUR EYES ARE THE SIZE OF THE MOON! YOU COULD ‘CAUSE YOU CAN SO YOU DO! WE’RE FEELING SO GOOD JUST THE WAY THAT WE DO WHEN IT’S NINE IN THE AFTERNOON!” we hear Brendon Urie’s voice coming from one of the lounge chairs.

 “Scarlet, I think your phone is ringing.” I state.

 “I know,” she sighs. “It’s probably my mom.” She climbs out of the pool and walk towards her phone lying on top of her towel but she slips and falls.

 “Scarlet! Are you okay?” I shout while jumping out of the pool to help her.

 “Yeah. I just scraped up my leg pretty bad.” I look down and see the concrete ground turn red from the blood coming from her injured knee.

 Blood. I…I can’t. Scarlet is a good friend of mine. We’ve known each other since fourth grade. I can’t hurt her.

 “Here I’ll help you up.” I grab her hand and help her off the ground. I walk towards the lounge chair to grab her phone but it has already stopped ringing.

 “Just leave it.” She says. “It’s probably my mom telling me to order pizza or something because she’s going to work overnight and she won’t be home to make dinner. I know the routine.”

 “Do you want to eat with my family again tonight? My mom has to go to a therapy session tonight to see if she's relapsing back into alcoholism but you know John can make a badass casserole.”

 “I know. He’s the best cook but I don’t want to be a burden.”

 “You won’t be a burden. You’ve eaten at my house millions of time. This won’t be any different.”

 “…Okay. I’ll be there.”

 “Great! Let’s get back in the water now!” I shove her and she falls sideways into the pool.

 “J-Joey!” she screams. While struggling to keep afloat. Oh shit. I forgot she couldn’t swim that good.

 And I just pushed her into ten-feet deep water.

 She usually just swims on the shallow side. The deepest she’s ever went is five and a half.

 “SCARLET!” I dive into the water and swim towards her. I grab ahold of her arm but struggle to keep my grip with her flailing her arms and legs in every direction.

 Oh no. It’s time again.

 No. I can’t do it to Scarlet. She’s a really good friend of mine.

 But I don’t get to choose who dies next. Fate does.

 I place my hands on her shoulder and push her deeper into the water. She grabs and claws at my hands, trying to get me to let her go but I’m stronger than her.

 I bare my teeth and just watch her struggle to get air to enter her lungs as her self-defense becomes weaker and weaker. I pull her to the edge of the pull and slam her head onto the concrete edge.

 BAM!

 BAM!

 CRACK!

 I let go of her and stare at her lifeless body float in the red stained water as great amount of blood leaks from her cracked skull.

 “Joey…” Shane says, looking up from the book. His eyes are dilated and filled with fear.

 “Shane, I told you it’s very intense. You’re lucky you haven’t read any of the really bad ones.” He just stares at me with shock frozen on his face. “Are you okay, Shane?” I ask. I place my hand on his shoulder but he pushes it off and scoots away from me.

 “Don’t touch me!”

 “Shaney?” I ask. I can feel my heart drop to my stomach.

 “How could you do this to these people? This is monster like stuff, Joey.”

 “So now I’m a monster?” I ask with tears forming at the brim of my eyes. He just stands up and files off the bus with the rest of the students as we stop in front of the school building. I get off and walk straight to the bathroom.

 This is exactly what I was afraid of.

 Now Shane knows the true me and he hates me.

 He was right. I am a monster.

 I slide down the bathroom wall and cry on the floor.