Woe, Misery, and Cherry Chap-Stick

It wasn't until the next morning that I realized what she had meant when she had said that I'd see her around. I woke up, tired. But that was normal. I went to the bathroom and showered. The water was already cold, because my two sisters had beaten me to the shower through the weird power of waking up at four. But that was normal too.

I wasn't until after I had finished a normal shower, gotten dressed in my normal clothes, walked down my normal stairs and sat down at my normal table to eat my normal breakfast when the morning stopped being normal.

I picked up the remote and clicked on the little black TV perched on the kitchen island. It was on to the news, not unusual. My mom came home late from work and liked to watch the news while she ate supper.

"-just fine. In other news, there was a case of mutilation last night at a grad party for the local high school. A young girl's face was scarred horribly with a knife by another young girl."

The news reporter looked vaguely concerned, the look of someone who knows the things she's saying are depressing, but just can't quite understand why. She didn't realize that she was seconds away from shattering my well worn morning ritual.

"The victim was Jennifer Callaway. Her attacker, seen here in this photo, was Kelly Hickson."

My spoon made a high percussive sound as I dropped it back into my bowl. The girl in the picture... Kelly Hickson, was the girls from the party. Her blue hair was lying against her shoulders and her large liquid brown eyes watched the camera in an almost frightened way. Afraid of her own picture, afraid that the rubber covering her furrowed cheeks had slipped.

"Hickson attacked Callaway, then fled the scene and threw herself into the path of an oncoming vehicle. She was killed on impact." Panic flared deep into my chest.

"WHAT?" I screamed at the TV. My breathing hitched. She had seemed so alive last night, and the whole time, she had been planning to attack the girl who had taken so much from her. I was certain that she had had the switchblade that did the damage tucked in her pocket while I had been talking to her.

"It appeared that Callaway and Hickson had a past. Originally, Hickson had sustained knife injuries on her face and back. She accused Callaway in court, but lack of evidence had forced the court to drop charges."

I leaned against the kitchen island, eyes inches from the screen, vision blurred with tears and proximity until the images on screen became dots and squiggles. I only needed sound now. I could hear the sound of my family gathering in the doorway, watching me nervously.

"Hickson's suicide note was found, rolled up and tucked into an empty tube of cherry flavoured lip chap. It contained two words. 'Screw this.'"

That was where the Cherry Chap-stick came in. I had wondered, last night, why she had mentioned it in the first place.

The news moved on to a story about a house fire and I leaned my head against the TV set, tears leaking from my eyes. I was stunned, staring at the set, not seeing anything. I think what freaked out my parents was that I was crying but I wasn't making any noise. It was just tears and a blank expression.

"Tyler...?" My mother ventured cautiously. "Did you... did you know that girl?"

Did you know that girl?