Tragic the Way People Pass Her By

“Er…” I said awkwardly. On my screen, I saw her hand reach into shot, and rest on the mouse. A single click and the call between us ended.

“Cameron,” he asked again, “Was that Sarah?” I twiddled with my thumbs, while trying to come up with an appropriate response. Sarah wouldn’t want me to bring Zach back into her life just yet. She would stop talking to all of us again. It was pushing my luck if she would talk to me after Zach spotted her. On the other hand, if I lied to Zach, things would be extremely awkward. I’ve never lied to him before. We are always around each other. It would be awkward lying to him.

I had no idea what to do.

Zach’s eyes pleaded with me to tell him the truth. I couldn’t lie to him. I just couldn’t.

“Zach, sit down,” I told him, as I tried to collect my thoughts. “I don’t know where to start.”

“So, was that Sarah?” he whispered.

I nodded. “Yeah, that was her.”

He swallowed. Zach’s face twisted into a look of pain as he obviously tried to hold back tears.

“She… looked so bad,” he stated.

“I know,” I agreed solemnly. I bit the inside of my cheek, unsure whether or not to continue. “She’s messed up, Zach.”

He played with his hair, trying to distract himself. I saw a single tear run down the length of his cheek, leaving a lone track behind it.

“How?” he asked quietly.

I took a deep breath. “Are you sure you want to hear this?” He nodded. “I saw her last night. You know that girl that we thought was Sarah at that cheese place? Well, I followed her. It was her. I tracked her down, and basically forced her to go to Starbucks.”

I waited for a moment, so he could take this in. He motioned for me to go on.

“She is so different. I swear she’s lost at least 30 pounds. She has dozens of scars all of her body. Not just physically, but emotionally too. She says that she can’t sleep because she has nightmares every single night. She has trust issues. She doesn’t even know how to carry a conversation anymore. But get this. She literally blacked out at Starbucks because she was so overwhelmed. I had to take her home.”

I could feel my eyes watering. “Remember that fun, happy, crazy girl we used to know? Sarah isn’t her anymore. She is so scarred by what happened, that she has lost all faith in the world. Zach, she doesn’t have any friends. She let them all go. She let us go. We let her let us go. When she needed us the most, we vanished.”

Tears started pouring out faster than I could wipe them away. I felt so bad that I let this happen. I personally felt responsible.

Zach, however, looked like he had been hit by a train. He rested his head on his hands.

We sat in silence for a few minutes.

“I have to talk to her,” Zach said, standing up. “I have to. I have to make things better. I have to make her better. This is entirely my fault.” Without warning, he sprinted off the bus, and into the afternoon air.

“Shit! Sarah isn’t ready to see you, Zach!” I yelled after him. “Zach!!” I stood up, and ran off the bus. He was nowhere to be seen.