On my way back I saw Emily leaning against the wall in the corridor, she seemed upset. Someone was mumbling further away from where we used to sit, I couldn’t hear who it was, but it didn’t matter. Emily noticed me and started walking towards me.
“You okay?” I asked her, she shook her head as she looked back towards the tables, “what’s wrong?”
“It’s nothing… My friend was just being annoying,” we kept tracing along the corridor as she told me about Ashley. We stopped by the lounge, but she didn’t seem to notice. Emily was engulfed in the conversation, “she keeps talking about frat parties and college and just… everything related to sleeping around. And I don’t care about that stuff, at all. It doesn’t tempt me, I’d rather just stay at home, but even then…” Her facial expression began to fade, almost as if she went into a trance. I waved my hand in front of her eyes to get her attention, but she didn’t react. It felt kind of surreal, I hesitated to do anything else, but after a few seconds, I nudged her. Emily snapped back and looked around confused as if she didn’t know where she was.
“Sorry, but you have to talk to Harley. He’ll let you go home.” I told her, she prepared to knock on the door right as it opened, and our teacher stepped out.
“Mr. Harley…!” She was not prepared for him to stand there..
“Ah, Miss Nourie. Mike told me that you weren't feeling good. What seems to be the problem?” Mr. Harley asked, he seemed to have had a few too many cups of coffee, yet he didn’t seem to be that energized.
“I have a migraine, and it’s really terrible. I took painkillers earlier, but dad usually wants me to go home whenever I have them…” Emily replied and looked up at him with pleading eyes.
He looked at her before shifting his gaze towards me, mumbled something to himself and turned his focus back to Emily, “let’s call your parents then if that’s what they want. Wait outside, I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
We sat down on the bench by the faculty door while Harley went back inside to call Emily’s dad.
“Thank you. I know that we don’t talk much. But you’re really nice, I appreciate it,” Emily said while she looked up at me and smiled.
After a while, Harley came outside and told us that Emily’s dad agreed to let her go home so she could rest. We exchanged phone numbers in case she needed anything, I went to the next class along with our teacher who probably was on his fifth cup of coffee. When she got home, I received a text from her stating that her dad told her to stay home from school for the next day. I thought it was great, she would be able to calm down and relax. I kept in contact with her during that day, just so she wouldn’t do it again. Ashley kept being a bother that day and the following one, she wouldn’t leave me alone until she knew everything I knew. Each time she approached me she had a new plan to gain information, though most of the time it involved her trying to flirt.
“Hey Mike,” she smirked as she approached me, somehow, she really must’ve thought that she was great at what she was doing. Unfortunately, she wasn’t, at all.
I waved off her words and kept looking at my phone, “what do you want this time? I told you, she’s at home, she’ll be home tomorrow as well.”
“Yeah, I know that,” she snapped back, “but why is she home? Did you do something to her?!” At this point she invaded all my personal space with just her stare.
“What? No, of course not! She just… She didn’t feel well, alright?” I put my phone away and leaned back on my chair, trying to get some form of distance from her, “why don’t you text her, you have her number, yeah?”
She huffed something I couldn’t hear before pulling up some text messages on her phone. She poked at her screen for a bit before shoving it into my face, “she won’t answer me. Look, she likes you, alright? She talks to you, so just tell me why she’s home, for real!”
I scoffed at her, “I’ve already told you everything! Maybe she doesn’t wanna be your friend anymore, ever thought that’s why she isn’t responding anymore? Because you are kinda pushy, not gonna lie.” Ashley glared at me before she swiftly turned her back to me and went back to her seat some rows behind me. I had definitely not made a new friend that day, but I wouldn’t wanna be friends with her either.
Saturday
During the weekend, me and Emily went out on a walk around the town park, I noticed on her that she wanted to say something, but she was completely quiet. She kept making small turns towards me, but each time she turned back and kept walking.
“Uh… Are you… Are you really okay?” I asked Emily, she glanced up at me before looking down at her feet as she kept walking.
“What? Oh, yeah. I’m… I’m fine.” She replied quickly and looked in another direction.
“Alright, just making sure.”
“Okay.”
"I'm here if you need to talk." She nodded, I didn't press her to open up about herself, I knew better than that. She started fidgeting with her hands and picking at her nails. After some time I could hear her sniffle, she kept her head down when she started talking.
“It’s… It’s nothing, I just… I miss someone, he's… a close friend…” She dried her face with her sleeves and looked at her arms, “it’s kinda ironic, I thought he could help. But even when he was there, they still kept pressuring me…” I stood beside her, she was at least half a head shorter than me. I had no idea what to do, it felt too early to do anything. All I could do was stand there, I felt bad for not doing anything to help. Emily laughed quietly before she sniffled once more, “I’m sorry, didn’t mean to bother you already.”
“No no, it’s okay. I’m here if you need to talk,” I shook my head, “you don’t have to apologize simply for venting.” She smiled slightly before we began walking home again. On the way back we didn’t talk too much about what she had said, instead, we talked about everything else, hobbies, cultures, school.
When we arrived at her house, I was baffled, it was impressively giant. Though they could’ve been a huge family, I wasn’t sure of how many they were. I started walking back home when I could hear someone usher Emily to close the door. On my way back home I answered mom’s question regarding food, I didn’t feel hungry, but it was better to eat than to starve the next day. After eating, I walked into my room and crashed on my bed, I had almost fallen asleep when Emily sent a text. I reached for my phone and opened it.
E: You there?
M: Yeah, what’s up?
E: I’m sorry for not talking much today. There’s just a lot going on and we’ve kinda just met and stuff…
M: Hey, it’s fine. It’s not easy trying to strike up a conversation with someone you know nothing about.
E: I guess, I’m still sorry.
M: You don’t have to apologize, it’s fine.
E: Oh. Okay.
I was asleep when my phone buzzed some hours later, with blurry eyes I checked it and saw her name pop up, she was calling.
"Mike..? I did something… Please help…"
"What's wrong?" She didn't answer, but I could hear her breathing heavily, "hey!"
"J-just meet me outside… Trophy bridge."
"What did you do? Emily?"
"He-" The call broke off.
This was serious, she could’ve done anything. The first thing that went to my mind was her being hurt, or someone following her. I had to hurry, I rushed to the kitchen where we had our first aid kit. The clock was probably 11 p.m, mom had fallen asleep on the couch, as usual, she didn't hear when I rushed around like a maniac, panicking over someone I barely knew. I threw the kit into my backpack along with rags and napkins, but the rubbing alcohol was gone.
"Goddammit… where is it?" I didn’t have time to find it, I went to the small cabinet mom stored her alcohol in and grabbed her vodka. 96% was supposed to work well enough as rubbing alcohol, and she wouldn't miss it either, she got it as an unwanted gift. I went out the front door and locked it carefully in case mom would hear me, I ran down to the bridge above the train tracks where I saw Emily. She was leaning against the guardrail, wrapping her arms around her stomach, she was coughing. I got more terrified the closer I came, but I couldn’t just turn around and run away. It felt like a nightmare, she'd still die no matter how hard I'd try.
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