The morning after the funeral, Samantha’s mother came in to wake her up. 

“Sammy?” Her mother spoke softly, sitting on the edge of her bed and shaking her gently. “Sammy, baby, wake up.” 

Samantha turned over, not wanting to get up. She couldn’t remember why, though. Something was off. She muttered something incoherent to her mom. 

“Get up, or you’ll be late for school.”  Her mother stated. Samantha sat up, looked around. Everything hit her again. 

“I’ll go another time.” Samantha muttered into her pillow. 

“No, Samantha, come on. Get up and come downstairs.” Her mother said, clearly unamused. 

Samantha glared at her, but didn’t bother to fight. She got up and looked at her mother, waiting for her to leave. Her mom took the hint and left the room.

Samantha’s chest felt hollow. There was an odd emptiness. It was official. Grandma Mae was buried. Gone forever. She stared at the wall for a few moments before standing and changing her clothes. She pulled on a black tank top, jeans and boots. She grabbed the sweater she always wore. She sniffled, thinking of the time her grandmother always went through to make these for her whenever she grew out of her last one. Now, there would be no more.

She grabbed her bag and walked out her room. She walked slowly out of the house, barely able to bring herself to move. When her father called for her to eat, she gave him no answer. She couldn’t bring herself to speak. 

She walked down the street to her house, barely aware of the cars passing by her, of the people walking by her. Samantha found herself at the school. As she walked, her steps began to become shaky. She walked in, moving through the people in the halls. She was later than normal, so it was difficult to get to her locker. When she did, she opened it and closed her eyes. She was ok. She was alright. 

Her heart began beating in her throat as people walked past. There were too many people. She felt her palms get sweaty as she shoved her bag into her locker and grabbed her books. She closed her locker and leaned against it as the other students walked past her. She couldn’t do this. She wasn’t going to be able to. She wasn’t safe, something was wrong. She felt like everyone was staring at her. A target on her back-

“Samantha?” Someone grabbed her shoulder. She yelped and pulled back, eyes wide. It took her a moment to see that it was Aberham. His face was lined with concerned. “Are you alright?” He asked. She nodded.

“Of course, yeah, sorry. You startled me.” Samantha said, trying to keep her voice steady. Her hands were shaking and she couldn’t seem to get her heart rate to a normal amount.

“Are you sure? You don’t look alright...” Aberham’s eyebrows furrowed. Samantha nodded once more and looked down the hallway. There weren’t as many people now.

“Let’s go to class,” Samantha muttered, walking down the hallway, trying to ease her nerves. Aberham stopped her, holding her forearm. 

“You’re doing good.” He whispered. She nodded and pulled away. 

When they got to their classroom, the teacher tried to pull Samantha to the side. Whatever the teacher wanted to say, Samantha didn’t want to listen. She moved away from the teacher, muttering that she was ok and to leave her alone, before walking back to her desk and sitting down.

“There’s a new girl, by the way,” Aberham said, trying to heighten the mood. Samantha made a sound to show that she was listening as she opened her notebook and put her pencil down. “Yeah, she came on Tuesday, and she’s really nice. But she’s kind of closed off.” Aberham said. Samantha nodded. Closed off. Weren’t most people, nowadays? Hiding what was happening in their lives, in their minds.

But then again, maybe it was just her.