Tragic the Way People Pass Her By

“Really?” I asked. I felt so happy inside to hear him say those words. Since last night, I’ve been much more comfortable with them. I feel like everything will be okay. It’s like all old times. Almost.

Cameron smiled. “Yeah. We aren’t going on tour again for a while, and we have nothing to do. So we’re staying. Sorry.”

In the background, Nathan put some hipster music on the stereo. He started humping the air, and swiveling his hips in time.

I watched him for a while, laughing my ass off. “Okay, one rule. He’s not allowed to do that anymore.” I laughed, and pointed at Nathan.

“Don’t fight it, honey. You know you like this!” Nathan screamed over the music.

I rolled my eyes, and leaned into Cameron. He pulled me in tighter, and we laid like that for a while, sitting on the beanbag chair. After a while, I fell asleep in his arms.

Hours later, I woke up. Cam’s head was on mine. I could hear him quietly snoring. An awkward snort on the inhale, a faint whistling on the exhale. It was hilariously cute.

Slowly, I removed his arms from around me, and slipped out of his grasp. I left him on the beanbag, and went up the stairs. My mom was in the kitchen, cooking up some fajitas.

“Hi mom,” I greeted her cheerfully. She gave me a weird look, but said nothing. I grabbed an apple off the counter, and skipped up to my room.

I opened the door, and to my surprise, I found three weirdos sprawled over my floor.

“Hey sleepyhead,” Nathan greeted me. I felt myself blushing, and walked over to my bed. I flopped down, and grabbed my laptop. I had to catch up on school before class later.

“What you doing, girl?” Michael yelled across the room.

“Homework,” I replied. They all started laughing at me. “Shut up. Not all of us already have successful jobs.”
They kept laughing. Groaning, I pulled out my headphones, and plugged them into my laptop. I put on the playlist that had all my favorite songs, and started typing my paper.

…

I got into my car, and threw my bag in the passenger seat. It only took twenty minutes to get to campus. I stopped at a coffee kiosk, and got myself a frappuccino. I walked to my classroom, and sat down ten minutes early. There were only a few other people in there, including my professor. He gave me a weird look, and walked over to me.

“You seem chipper today, Ms. Clark,” he said curiously. His hairy eyebrows twitched. There was a wart on his nose, that seemed to be growing bigger every time I saw him. He was an older gentleman, but easily my favorite teacher I’ve had.

I smiled at him. “I had a good weekend.”

A look of confusion pass over him. “That’s good…. Did you complete your assignment?”

“Of course, I did.” I replied. I opened my bag, and pulled out my freshly printed essay. I handed it to him. He pulled his glasses out of his shirt pocket, and put them on. He adjusted them several times, before reading the paper.

“The Power of Friendship,” he read. He took it back to his desk. I watched him read it, and he looked pleased. He nodded the entire time while he read the story.

After a few minutes, the class started filling up. Soon, everyone was in their seats. My acquaintance, Lily, sat down next to me.

“Hi, Sarah. Good weekend?” she asked.

I smiled. “Fantastic. What about you?” I asked. She looked surprised.

“I’m glad to hear that! I had a pretty good weekend.” We continued in conversation. I pulled my phone out of my pocket, and set it on the desk. After a minute, the screen lit up. Cameron was calling me so his beautiful face appeared on the screen.

“Whoa, buddy. Who’s that? If he was there, I bet your weekend was good,” she laughed. I blushed, and turned my phone off.

Just then, my professor stood up, and asked everyone to be quiet.

“How was everyone’s weekends?” he asked. After everyone murmured a response, he continued. “I have something I’d like to read to you. A student in here turned it in a few minutes ago, and it is easily the best thing I have ever read by a student. It is inspiring in its own ways and beautifully written. I’m sure you’ll be surprised to hear what this girl has to say. It certainly surprised me.”

I inhaled quickly, as he started to read my paper.

…

When he finished, the entire room was quiet.

“I’m not going to say who wrote that, but she is sitting in this room. I hope you all think differently about your lives now. Class dismissed. Please turn in your papers on the way out.”

Everyone quickly gathered their stuff, and gave the professor their papers. I turned my phone back on. I got a text from Cameron.

“I miss you. Hope you’re having fun in class.”

I rolled my eyes, and replied back.

“Oh yeah, because class is always fun :P”

“I guess, I wouldn’t know. Come back soon. ;)”

I put my phone into my purse, and packed up my things. I was the last person in there.

“Sarah, can I talk to you again?” my professor asked. I nodded, and walked over to his desk.

“I hope you didn’t mind me reading your paper out loud.”

“Of course not. I’m glad you liked it,” I answered.

“I did a lot. I was pleasantly surprised. Keep it up.”

“Thank you.”

I walked out to my car, and drove home. I was greeted by Nathan.

“SARAH, BABY. YOU’RE HOME.”

“Nice to see you too, Nate. Thank you for screaming in my face.” I smiled, and brushed past him into my house.

The smell of fajitas was everywhere in my house. My stomach instantly rumbled. It’s been a while since that has happened.

“Mama, I’m hungry!” I exclaimed. She gave me a weird look.

“Well, that’s good, because I have food. Just a minute left.” She stirred a pan, before dumping it into a bowl. “BOYS!” she screamed.

They all came running down the stairs, and poured into the kitchen.

“FOOD,” they all said in unison.
…

We spent the rest of the night watching movies, and just hanging out. It was like old times. I loved it.

…

The next morning, I was woken up by screaming.

“HOLY CRAP.”

“WHAT?”

“HOLY SHIT.”

“HOLY.”

I was awake now. I grabbed my glasses, and put them on. I ran downstairs to find out what the screaming was about.

I was greeted by more screaming.

“SARAH, WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL US ABOUT THIS?” Zach screamed at me.

“About what?” I asked, so confused.

“THIS.” He handed me a newspaper.

“What?” I asked again.

“Just read it.”

I scanned over the paper, until I saw a headline that I recognized.

“The Power of Friendship by Sarah Clark.”

“How did this get in here?” I whispered. I continued reading. It was my paper.

“Some people say that friendship is the most important thing in life. It could lead to more than one could imagine. Love, happiness, hope. You don’t know what could happen. Friends can change your life. They could turn you from a sad, hopeless person to a happy optimistic one. That’s what happened to me.

A few years ago, I met four guys who changed my life. They gave me hope. They made me happy. They provided so many opportunities to me, that I would never have gotten elsewhere. You never know where life can take you.

One day, when I was out with those boys, I was kidnapped. I was taken by this man. He kept me in this tiny room. I got food once a week. I was raped daily. Sometimes four times a day. I was beaten until I was lying in a pool of my own blood. So many during that, I was thinking about taking my own life. It was miserable there. I couldn’t take it. However, the only thing that got me through, that gave me hope that one day, I’d get out, was those four boys. More specifically, this one boy. I am going to call him Joe. Joe was the nicest man I had ever known. He is so talented, sweet, and all around a nice guy. I would not be here if it weren’t for him. One of the things that amazes me most in the human being is the capacity they have to make another one feel special. He made me feel special.

While I was sitting there, hoping, praying that I would somehow see the light of day again, I thought about him. He was not only my friend. It was the power of our friendship that got me through.

One day, I was almost gone. I could feel myself slipping. I was falling in and out of consciousness. The night before, the man slammed my head against the concrete wall so hard. The entire floor of the little room was covered in blood. I probably weighed about 80 pounds then. I was only wearing underwear. I accepted that I was going to die there, laying in my own blood.

I felt myself going. I wanted to die. Then, suddenly, everything was white. I started hearing voices.

“I found her! She’s in here. Shit, we need an ambulance!”

It was Joe. I thought I had finally made it to Heaven. I thought I was dead.

I don’t remember anything after that. The next thing I remember was waking up In the hospital with Joe by my side. My head was bandaged. I had an IV. He told me that I was in the ICU and that I was going to be okay.

I started crying. While part of me was glad that he found me, the other part was wishing that I was actually dead. I was in so much pain, both physically and mentally.

I had so much trouble adjusting back to normal life. At night, I had nightmares of my kidnapper. During the day, it basically was like I was dead. I couldn’t talk to anyone. I was scared of every person I saw. I couldn’t trust anyone. I couldn’t eat. I couldn’t read. I couldn’t live.

I grew apart from those four boys. A long time ago, I never would have thought that would have happened. Those four boys changed my life.

It’s been two years since that happened. They are back in my life. I am almost over what happened. I’m back in school. I’m eating again. Those four boys are helping me get over that horrible time in my life. The power of friendship is truly unimaginable. Friends can change you. They can make you feel better. They can help you forget the bad things in life. They can give you hope. They certainly gave me hope.”

“I had no idea that this was going to be in here,” I whispered.

“Come here,” Zach whispered. He pulled me into a hug. “I’m sorry I yelled at you. I was just surprised.”

“GROUP HUG!” Nathan yelled, and soon, I was bombarded by the three other guys. We stayed like that for a while.

“Sarah, we never should have left you,” Michael admitted. “I’m sorry.”