Oh, me! Oh my, Ella!

Keep your eyes closed.” Zach whispered harshly into my ear after I wiggled and squirmed, trying my best to get out of his grip.

He tied a hospital bandage over my eyes, so I couldn’t see where he was going and held onto both of my wrists, pulling me into an unknown direction. I nearly tripped several times, due to the fact that Zach’s number one priority was to not let me see. And he forgot to pay attention to the fact that since I couldn’t see, I had the possibility of running into random objects.

“Zach!” I yelled, as I nearly fell to my death…again. He caught me just in time.
“Don’t worry, I’ve got it.” He scoffed.
“Obviously you don’t because I feel like I’m going to fall off a cliff at any moment. Let me see...?” I pouted as I attempted to remove the bandages over my eyes.
“No.” He stated, bluntly, quickly covering my eyes with his hands.
“But, but...I don’t like to not see. It’s scary. How do I know you aren’t going to hand me over to a group of bikers full of sperm?”
Zach laughed. “And why would I do that? If I wanted to have you raped, I’d do it myself. But since you want me so bad....I guess that would be out of the question.”
“Stop being corny or I’ll bite your thumb off.” I said, attempting to move my mouth upwards and bite the hands that covered my eyes.
“You know how silly you look right now?”
I growled, frowning in my loss.
“Did you just growl at me?” He laughed.

I bit my lip and replied. “Maybe...”
“Well just so you know, that hurts. Really...made me die a little inside.”
I laughed. “And you deserved it, cootie king.”
“So mean.....” He taunted, tightening his grip around me and pushing me against his chest. “So mean that I just might not let you see your surprise.”

This time I really did pout. I stuck out my lip as far as I could, hoping that it was convincing.
But just as I did this, his grip loosened and he spun me around, stealing a light kiss.
“Kiss-rapist.” I said poking at his nose as a wide smirk wrapped around his face.
“Only for you.”

With that said, he turned me around to face the orange and coral sunset that laid on top of the hills. Magnolia trees framed the entrance to the direction in which we got there. The place seemed oddly familiar to me, yet, I couldn’t place my finger on exactly why.

I walked around, looking in every direction - Zach watching my every move as if to see when I would catch on. I turned to look at him skeptically.
He only smiled back as if thinking “For once, I’m ahead of you.”
I ignored his smirk and took a closer look at the ground, picking up a magnolia from off the ground. The sweet scent of the flower intruded my nose, bringing me into a deep memory.

--—————————————————————————————————————————

I walked down the stairway, nearly getting knocked down by two kids running by in excitement.
People crowded the entrance into the auditorium, chatting amongst themselves as if there was some untold secret that no one could find out.
But there was no secret here. Carissa May Donahue was dead.
They all passed mournful looks as if she meant the world to them.
I grimaced at their expressions. None of them knew her; in fact, after having me at the age of 16 they threw her to the side and made us work together to survive.
No, they had no right to have that expression.
I did. She was all I had.

As if responding to my glares, everyone began to leave the entrance of the foyer and took their seats, becoming quieter in their conversations, yet still whispering among themselves.

Once they all sat down, I walked slowly down the aisle, staring at my feet the whole time, only looking up to notice a boy with dark brown shagging hair, staring at me oddly from the second row.
I looked back at him quizzically. Who was he and why was he here?
I shook my head as I took my seat away from everyone else, at the end of the row opposite from the never-before-seen boy.
Why just ask why he’s here, when I should be asking why everyone else who didn’t care for my mother is here?

An unshaven man dressed in a long black robe walked to the front of the room.
As soon as everyone noticed his presence, the room fell silent. I crossed my arms in front of my chest, waiting for the day to get over with already.
He began talking about things that concerned my mother and how she was entering heaven as we spoke.

I scoffed.
My mother would’ve disapproved of this. She always told me to live for my own beliefs. She didn’t lean towards one way or the other, rather focused on being a good person, which she mentioned was the most important accomplishment in life: To know that at the end of the day, you are honestly a good person.

I got so wrapped up in this argument that I failed to realize that the man had moved on to talk about my mother’s personal life. I was awakened from my thoughts by a wail from the first row.
I glanced up to see a woman I recognized from photos as my grandmother blowing her tears away into a tissue.

“Oh, Please...” I scoffed, not realizing I had said it louder than I was intending to.
Everyone’s attention in the room fell on me all of a sudden.
“Excuse me?” The man questioned.

My cheeks burned with embarassment but I quickly regained my composure, standing up.
“I said “Oh, Please.” I confirmed.
My “grandmother” glared at me from the side.
“Care to elaborate?” she hissed.

“Yes. Yes, I do! I haven’t seen you my whole life, in person. And I see you now, and you act like you’ve been there for my mother and my this whole time, but you haven’t! You ignored us!” I yellled, my eyes stinging. I brought my hands up to my cheeks to come in contact with a wet, sticky substance.
I didn’t want to cry.

Here, these people were acting as if they actually cared, but they didn’t.
They didn’t even deserve to be in this room with her.
I did.
She was all I had.

When I looked back up, an older woman was walking towards me with arms open.
“It’s okay, dear.” She said pulling me into a hug. I hung awkwardly in the stranger’s arms.
She then turned to everyone else, saying, “I’m terribly sorry. She must be so upset. She doesn’t even know what she’s saying. Isn’t that right?” She questioned holding out her arms again.
This time I slappened her away.

They all stared at me bewildered. I’m certain they thought I was an unruly child. After all, I was only nine at the time.

“No, I know what I’m saying!” I yelled back at her face. “You’re horrible. All of you...And I...I can’t be here anymore.”

With that said, I did the only thing I knew how to do when I was upset.
I ran.
I ran away from the people in the church building.
I ran away form facing the fact that my mother was dead.
I ran until I had no clue where I was, content in the fact that no one was around.

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I finally stopped to regain my breath, and slid down a tree, letting my hair fall loosely over my face.
I took the tips of my hair in-between my fingers staring at each strand as if they were a foreign object. My hair would never be neatly pulled into French braids again. My mother never taught me. She said it would be later...we just didn’t know there would never be a later.

Tears fell down my cheeks as I realized I was finally alone and could cry.
I thought about everything all at once, trying to let go of everything, even though I knew the feeling wouldn’t go away for awhile. I knew that everything would remind me of her.

Then, I heard a snap that quickly brought me out of my thoughts as I jumped, startled that there was someone around while I cried.
I threw my hands up to my face, wiping away my tears in shame. “Who’s there?” I stuttered.

The boy from the church peeked from behind the tree, his shaggy hair falling over his scared eyes. He looked at me as if I was an alien.
“Me...I-I’m sorry.” He replied his eyes growing wide.
I slouched against the tree again.
“Oh. Why are you here?” I asked, glumly.
“I-I know that I don’t know your mom. And I saw you run out of the building...” He began, but stopped as I threw him a skeptical look.
“Why were you there, then?” I questioned.
He shuffled his feet against the floor. “Mom made me go.”

I rolled my eyes at his response. But he began to talk again before I could throw an insult.
“Our moms were good friends, you know? They worked together when they were pregnant...” He laughed a little. “You know, with us.”

I smiled a little but, then, let it fall.
He continued, sitting down beside me. “You see...I didn’t know your mom. But my mom did.”
“What are you trying to say?” I asked, looking up to his light green eyes.
“I don’t know…I guess, one, that not everyone in that room didn’t care for your mom. And two,” he said picking up a magnolia and placing it in my lap.
“You aren’t alone.”

I looked up at him again, picking up the flower and placing it under my nose.
He shrugged. “They ditched us, too. Didn’t want anything to do with us...but you know what?” He said, smiling and nudging my arm.
“What?”
“We’re better off without them. I mean, imagine how today would’ve been without you telling that old woman with blue hair off. A whole lot less amusing.”
I laughed at this, but then my smile fell once again.
He nudged me again. “What’s up now?”
I threw him a half-smile. “It’s just that my mom was my best friend.” I said, glancing up at him. “And now, I don’t have one.”

He laughed, throwing his arm around my shoulder. “I’ll be your best friend.”
I laughed as well. “I don’t even know you.”

With that said, he moved his hand from off my shoulder to in front my face.
“Well, what’s your name?” He asked, beaming a smile.
“Ellaya. But you can call me Elle.” I said taking his hand in mine to shake. “And yours is?”
“Zach.”
“Zach?” I questioned, letting go of his hand and lifting the flower up to my nose.
“Yep,” he answered. “But you can call me “best friend.”
I laughed harder than I thought I would on the day of my mother’s funeral.
“Okay. “best friend.”

—————————————————————————————————————————

I turned towards Zach, dropping the flower as tears filled up my eyes.
I ran up to pull him in a tight embrace.
“Awe, Elle, don’t cry...”

“I forgot that it’s that day.” I said, clinging onto his shirt.
“No, you’re just beginning to move on. Plus, we’ve been busy with the drama patrol we call “Robin and Geno” lately.”
I laughed.
“Yeah...” I trailed off.

“Plus, I didn’t bring you here to be sad..”
“You didn’t?” I asked, pulling away from him.
“Nope.” He shook his head. “This is where we met.” He smiled brightly. “And I found it again.”

I laughed. “Yeah, and this was a great surprise.” I said, sitting down on the ground as the sunset died down.
Zach sat down next to me. “Plus..” He began, leaning over me. “We’ve had noooo time alone lately.”
I laughed as he dragged out the “no.”

“Figures that this would be your scheme to get me to yourself.”
“What do you expect?” He smirked. “And would you rather be here or at home listening to Robin and Geno throw stuff at each other or I mean...“discuss matters?”
I laughed.
“Here.”

He smiled. “And guess what, Elle?” He asked, inches away from my lips.
“What?” I nearly stuttered from his breath sending shivers down my spine.
“I kept my promise.”
“Huh?” I asked, drawing back a little.
He laughed lightly. “I’m still your best friend.”
I acted like I was in deep thought. “Hmmm. Nope.”
His face dropped in an instant. “Wha?”
I laughed pulling him into me once more, “You’re much more.”