Left Behind

CARTER

“I’m going. No I’m not. I have to go… but I don’t want to go because I’ll have to say something to all those people who’ll be expecting me to help them feel reconnected to her. I feel bad for them and all, but they should’ve never let her out of the door. Then we wouldn’t have this problem.”

Aliyah sighed, “Carter, you still have an hour to decide on whether you want to go or not. It’s not mandatory. And you’re right. All of those people are counting on you. It’s up to you if you want to let them down or not.”

“I don’t consider it letting them down,” I told her. “She took me off guard. It’s not my responsibility to fill in all the missing times they lost with her. I’m sorry.”

Aliyah nodded and pulled my clothes from Forever Twenty-One bag. She laid them out across the bed neatly and placed some jewelry on top of it. “I think that you should go,” she concluded as she pointed to the newly bought outfit.

“I should, huh?”

She nodded. “Think about it this way. This will be the last time that you will ever see her before you won’t ever see her again. Don’t you want to at least show her that you care enough to go to her funeral?”

It made sense. It would be the last time that I’d ever get to see her. And that was the problem, because I wasn’t ready to see her for the last time. After growing up with someone, you never expect to have to let them go. And I wasn’t ready to let Lucy go yet. “I guess so…”

“And don’t worry, even though Bryce can’t bring you, I’ll be just as much support as he would’ve been. If not more.”

I forced a smile at her, because that was so not true. She could try to be as much support as Bryce was, but the truth was that no one made me feel better than he did. He was the only one that comforted me the way I needed to be comforted. “Thanks,” I replied.

“Why can’t he come, anyway?”

I shrugged. “His parents are making him go somewhere with them all day and then dinner tonight. They threatened to take his car keys if he didn’t listen.” Aliyah laughed at my statement and I shrugged.

“That’s surprising. They’re never home. He basically lives by himself. What if he made that up because he didn’t feel like bringing you?”

“Why are you always trying to make me dislike him? He wouldn’t do that to me,” I defended. “He’s like my bestfriend, he wouldn’t stand me up.”

“I’ve known him way longer than you have. He stands people up all of the time. It’s typical Bryce, and if you think that you, alone, can change him, then you’re wrong.”

“Well I know that he wouldn’t do that to me, Aliyah. Think what you want, but I really think that I can trust him. Okay?”

Aliyah rolled her eyes. “You really have way too much faith in him, Carter. You’ll see that sooner than later.”

“Okay,” I agreed. I was really getting sick of her putting him down like that. He has yet to do anything harmful to me. “I guess I’ll have to take that chance then.”

She sighed and walked out of the room with an attitude. I didn’t understand why she cared so much if I talked to him or not. It wasn’t any of her business.

***

It was time to head to the funeral. Aliyah and I walked out of her room and out to the car. We were about to back out of the driveway, but couldn’t because there was a car blocking the driveway. Aliyah grunted and told me to wait while she went to confront whoever it was. I rolled down the window to be nosy.

She walked towards the car which looked like Bryce’s car. “What are you doing here Bryce?” My thoughts were confirmed. I was tempted to get out, but I didn’t feel like hearing Aliyah’s voice fuss at me for not listening. Not that I actually listened to her, but when Aliyah wanted her way, she began to get annoying. “Just leave. I’m bringing her.”

“No, I told her that I would bring her, so I will bring her. She asked me, not you.” I heard Aliyah growl in frustration.

“Go home!” she yelled at him.

“Why don’t we let Carter choose if she would rather you take her or I take her?”

“Fine,” Aliyah said. I heard her walking towards the car again. She looked at me and rolled her eyes. “Come here please,” she sighed before walking back out to the road.

I followed after her. Bryce was standing against his car smiling at me. “Hey babe,” he said winking at me. He walked over and collected me into a hug. “You look beautiful.”

“Thank you,” I replied smiling. “So do you.” He laughed and turned to Aliyah.

“So I’ll have her back later tonight. Is that okay, Aliyah?” Bryce asked. Aliyah stared at him until her eyes went to me. She wanted me to say something. She obviously didn’t want me to go with him.

Aliyah didn’t respond. “Aliyah, I’ll see you later, okay?” I asked her.

“Whatever, Carter. Do what the hell you want to do. I don’t care.”

“Okay? Well, bye, then.” Bryce and I got into his car and drove off. Of course, I felt terrible about leaving Aliyah that easily, but Bryce was originally supposed to take me anyway. Plus, I didn’t want to go with Aliyah from the start. She wasn’t someone who I would describe as ‘always there for me’. But, Bryce was.

***

BRYCE

It took just under an hour to get to Baton Rouge. We found the church on the GPS, and got there just before it started. I must say that it was a sad service. There was tons of people there crying and some were even yelling things.

Her parents got up there and made a speech about how they always pictured the day that they would see their daughter again, but they never thought that it’d be this way. “We prayed every night that we would find her,” Lucy’s mom said. “God answered our prayers, but we both just wished that she could’ve been there to witness it as well.”

There was a choir that sang a couple of songs, and there was also a prayer session for the family. There was also a slideshow that had been prepared full of pictures from when Lucy was a baby up until she went missing. Everything came down to when Carter was supposed to speak.

She sat there in one of her depressed states throughout the entire funeral. I kept my arms wrapped around her, for her support, and I didn’t think at that point that she would be willing to go up to the front to talk. I had a feeling that she would break down in front of everyone, but another feeling told me that she was stronger than that.

Lucy’s mom came to the back to check on Carter. She told her that if she didn’t feel comfortable speaking, then she didn’t have to, but Carter keeps her promises. When it was her turn to go, she walked up to the front and stood behind the podium ready to start her speech.

“Hi, I’m Carter. I don’t have much to say, but I do have something to say. I’ve known Lucy for about ten years,” she began. “Lucy was my bestfriend, the only person that I could trust, and she was always there for me. She was more like my big sister.”

At one point it looked like she would cry, but she didn’t. She stood tall, and continued on with her speech.

“Lucy and I had nowhere to go. We had no food, water, barely any clothes to put on our backs. But it was really amazing how she always put me before herself through everything. If she had food, she gave it to me first. If she had water, I would always take the first sip. And if it weren’t for her, I really don’t know where I’d be right now.”

No one in the entire place made a sound. You could hear a feather hit the ground. All eyes were on Carter, and even though she was probably breaking down the inside, she smiled on the outside.

“Lucy was a really amazing person. Really. She always made me laugh, through the good and bad times, she kept me company, and she tried to stay positive. She didn’t complain about how we lived, or if we would get to eat the next day. All she cared about was making me happy, and that’s how she left me. She lived for the present, not for the future, and not for the past. So if there’s anything I can tell you about Lucy, it was that she only wanted to be happy. She wanted everyone to be happy. And she accomplished her task because Lucy made me the happiest person on earth. Even when we had nothing, she would keep on smiling. And that’s what I loved most about her.”

She thanked everyone for listening to her speech. Lucy’s parents came up and hugged her before Carter came to sit next to me again. She didn’t look depressed like she usually did with this topic, only a little sad. I knew that it wouldn’t last long, though. As soon as we got home, I knew that she would crash like she always did. But either way, I’d still comfort her.

***

I brought Carter home later that night. Mrs. Charleston, Aliyah, Drake, Casey, and some other guy were all in the living room laughing about something. Before leaving, I made sure that Carter would be okay. She ensured me that she would be fine, and that I didn’t need to stay any longer. I hesitated to leave, but I knew that I would get killed after I got home. I ended up sneaking away while they were in their rooms that morning. My dad and mom called constantly all day, but I had my phone on silent, and purposely ignored them.

I told everyone hey before leaving out of the door and driving off. I didn’t know where I wanted to go, but I didn’t feel like going home to argue. I didn’t think they’d be home anyway since they were probably still eating dinner with the Pistole’s.

But not even ten minutes after leaving Aliyah’s, I got a call on my phone. I answered, and right after hanging up, I turned around.

They opened the door for me and politely greeted me. Well, everyone except Aliyah did. And Drake. “Thanks for coming back, Bryce. I know that we should give her alone time, but she literally locked herself in the room and won’t respond to any of us. You think that you can fix that?” Mrs. Charleston smiled at me as I nodded.

I walked up to the room that Carter occupied and gently knocked on the door. She didn’t respond, so I knocked again. “Huh?”

“Carter, it’s Bryce. Can you please open the door?”

She immediately came to the door and unlocked it. I slid in through the crack that she opened. I shut the door and locked it behind me as I followed her and sat on the bed next to her. “Are you okay?” I asked.

“I’m tired, but I’m fine,” she responded. I hated when she lied just because she was being stubborn. Carter hated when people had to help her.

“No, you’re not, Carter. You’re just being—”

“Stubborn.” She sighed and crawled over to me. Naturally, I wrapped my arms around her and she rested her head on my chest.

“I’ll stay until you fall asleep, okay?”

She nodded. “I forgot to thank you for coming today.”

“No problem. You know I’d do anything for you.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, and you should know that by now.”

Carter looked up at me and laughed. “I do. I just wanted you to say it.” I smiled and shook my head at her. How could you not like someone like her?

God, I love you. I thought.

“What?” She asked. Did I say that out loud? I don’t think I did.

“Nothing… were you really sad, or did you just want me to come over? Because you could’ve just asked,” I joked.

“Maybe I did just want you to come over. Because you make me feel better when I’m feeling unimportant,” she explained to me.

“You’re not unimportant, Carter.”

“Well, I feel like it all the time. Nothing can change how I feel about that.”

“Right about now, you’re the most important thing in my life. You are not unimportant. And I hate when you say that. So don’t.”

“No one’s ever told me that before… but still—”

“Stop. Say it again, and I’ll kiss you.”

“I’m unimportant.” She looked at me and laughed before laying back down.

“Stop it,” I replied.

“You lied. You didn’t kiss me…”

I smiled to myself, because I never in a million years thought I’d hear those words from Carter’s mouth. “Am I supposed to, Carter?”

“I don’t know… but maybe I wanted you to.”

I gently pushed the hair from her face and placed a kiss on her forehead. “Go to sleep Carter,” I chuckled.

She smiled up at me. “Okay, Bryce.”