The school was my new favorite place to be, it was boring, monotonous, and absolutely perfect. I didn’t have to think about anything and everything was planned out for me so I was able to just move from one room to the next as the bells signaled without having to make any choices of my own. 

After I gave up on everything some of my teachers and fellow classmates attempted to engage with me but thankfully that didn’t last. As long as I was putting in a minimal amount of effort with assignments and copied everything the teacher said into my notebook they left me alone. 

Being at school was much easier than when I was at home. When my family was around I had to put more effort into acting as if nothing had changed, as if my entire world hadn’t come to an end resulting in me being left behind. Dealing with them had become easier as time went on and soon my entire life was running on autopilot.

Three weeks and four days. The fact that it lasted that long before hitting a major snag was both surprising and disappointing. 

“Ry” someone called from behind me as I left the school at exactly 2:42 on Tuesday. I ignored the call and continued walking relying on my headphones, which I wore without plugging them in, to deter whoever was trying to talk to me. 

I only made it five steps though before a tug on my arm pulled me out of the stream of students leaving the building and bringing me to a stop underneath one of the trees that lined the path. My headphones were yanked off of my head causing me to wince automatically at the pain and when I tried to keep my eyes firmly on the ground in front of me a firm hand pushed my chin up until the face of the person responsible for this unwanted interaction came into view. 

“Ry what the fuck is wrong with you?” he said his voice barely above a whisper as his eyes narrowed though I couldn’t tell if it was in anger or confusion. I also didn’t really care what emotion it was. 

When I said nothing in response the hand on my chin tightened uncomfortable eliciting another involuntary wince from me. 

Liam looked like he was putting as much effort into his looks as I was currently applying to my life. His blonde hair was a wild mess that looked like he had just woken up while the circles around his blue eyes revealed that he probably hadn’t slept in a while. Even his skin looked to have paled a few shades since the last time I had seen him though I couldn’t even remember how long ago that had been. 

“So what your not going to talk to me now?” he asked the narrowing of his eyes obviously the result of anger now. 

Silence. 

“That is really fucking messed up Ry” Liam continued when he realized that I wouldn’t be participating in this conversation. “You’re not the only one fucked up by all of this shit you know. We all lost him and you just shutting us out is a fucking ass-hole move.” 

More silence. 

His fingers tightened once more, his nails digging into my skin as his eyes roamed my face. When he finally let go I looked down again finding the same spot on the ground I had been looking at before. 

The continued to linger between us until it was too much for Liam, he shoved my headphones at me before turning around and disappearing into the crowd of students heading home for the day.