Two Years

2.) The Beginning

Two years earlier:

"I'm so late" Maya thought to herself in a panic as she pulled her black sedan into the school parking lot in haste. She forcefully turned the wheel and swerved into the first available spot that caught her eye.

The morning had begun with a broken alarm clock, spilt coffee, and a strand of Maya's hair getting burned to a crisp. She was so late that she debated even showing up for school, but missing yet another chemistry class was a great way to guarantee a C-, or worse.

Getting out of her car, she couldn't help but notice the unusually scarce amount of other vehicles in the parking lot. On a normal school day, almost every space contained some sort of vehicle, mostly cars, but occasionally a motorcycle or moped.

She decided to ignore the empty lot, but only due to the increased sense of urgency flowing through her body. Walking the familiar paved path that approached the main entrance of John Adams High School, Maya was shocked to see the various groups of people all leaving campus at once. Many walked towards the parking lot in groups of two or three in a rushed manner, frightened expressions on their faces. There was even a small group of girls sitting together on the front steps of the school comforting each other. The inevitable rush of curiosity began to halt her motions and before she knew it, she had become temporarily paralyzed. The curiosity was now plastered across her face like a banner as she stood directly in front of the main entrance.

"Maya!" A familiar voice called out to her from underneath the large tree to her left.

"Shawn, hey," she said, concern present in her voice, "what's going on? Why aren't you guys in class?"

"Schools cancelled until Monday." The dark haired girl to the right of Shawn stated bluntly, looking down as she picked apart blades of grass one at a time with her long fingernails.

"What? Why?"

"Lena Dixon got murdered last night." The girl replied with an expressionless face. There was no trace of emotion in her voice.

"Not just murdered," the second boy chimed in, "completely gutted, body parts everywhere. Like some kind of gruesome fucking horror movie."

"Ryan, you're such a creep," Shawn spoke again, with a disgusted look on his face, "you're even less empathetic than Jade."

Maya couldn't even comprehend the gruesome news her friends had just delivered, "Oh my god, do they know who did it?"

She put down her book bag and sat Indian style between Ryan and Jade. The thick branches of the oak tree encased the group in a gloomy shadow.

"They arrested one of her neighbors, some sick freak. Apparently he had been watching her for awhile." Jade spoke again, with a slightly more sympathetic tone in her voice, "So yeah, we have a long weekend."

Lena Dixon wasn't exactly a friend, more like someone you'd occasionally mutter a quick, "hello" to when passing one another in the hallway, but hearing of her murder affected all of them. Even Ryan and Jade, who chose to hide their emotions under an unsympathetic facade.

"Well, I'm gonna bounce," Jade said impassively, tossing her long braid behind her shoulder, "being here right now is creeping me out. Meet up later tonight though?"

"Give me a time and a place, I'm there," Ryan responded as he stood up and quickly brushed dirt off of his jeans, "I should probably leave too. If I'm not home in fifteen minutes my mom will probably call the cops."

He jogged forward, catching up to Jade, and soon the two were engaging in a conversation of their own.

"Hey, you alright?" Shawn asked, scooting closer to Maya.

"Shawn, someone we know just died, isn't that shocking for you? Not just died, murdered! I don't understand how you three could be so nonchalant about all of this."

"Well," Shawn began, "You know how Ryan and Jade are."

"What do you mean?"

"Ryan uses bad jokes as a coping mechanism, and Jade acts like she doesn't care about anything, even if she's dying on the inside. She's been like that since her dad died."

It was all true. Ryan had been labeled a goofball from an early age, but in reality the jokes were just a diverse way of handling the pressure constantly put onto him by his family. His mother was a first generation American, but his father had relocated to The United States from China when he was sixteen. Mr. Lin was just as hard on his son as his father had been to him, and Ryan's only way to release the frustration was humor.

Unlike Ryan however, Jade had adopted her coping mechanisms later in life. The emotionless and unsympathetic charade had began one year prior, after her father's death. For months after the accident Jade constantly saw people searching for emotion on her face and in her actions, and before long she learned how to conceal it. Then eventually, it became habit.

"Maybe I could understand why they're acting this way," Maya stated making eye contact with the blonde boy next to her, "but it doesn't seem like you. Like you almost don't even care"

Shawn sighed, it was a sigh of exasperation, but also frustration at not being capable of finding words to describe how he truly felt.

"I've never lost anyone before," he began to reason, "I wasn't exactly friends with Lena but it's still pretty fucked up to know what happened to her. Every time I walk into history and see her empty desk it'll only be a reminder of what happened. I'm only in shock Maya, and believe it or not everyone grieves differently, so stop getting on Ryan, Jade, and me for how we're handling this."

"Shawn, I didn't mean it like that. I just-"

She was interrupted by the sounds of Shawn abruptly zipping up his book bag and standing up.

"I'll see you tonight if the plans work out Maya."