In Darkness & Light

“Mr. Nickelsen?” our teacher said exhaustingly. “Are you going to answer the question or not?”

Garrett shook his head, his chestnut colored hair falling just above his teal eyes. It was the last period of the school day before spring break. No one was actually paying attention to the lesson our Physics teacher was trying to teach us.

Our teacher, Mr. Shaw let out a long sigh, placing his booklet down. He glanced up at the clock. “Oh well, there’s only twenty minutes left. You all might as well just sit around because you won’t pay attention to me.” He stomped away to his desk, sitting down in front of his computer monitor.

My eyes drifted over to Garrett as he sat at his lab table by himself. He was wearing just a simple pair of dark skinny jeans and a pair of boots, covering his torso was a plain and simple gray t-shirt. He put his hand on top of his head, his hand sliding through his hair, his fingers pushing back small locks of hair from his eyes. I had to look away; I could already start to feel my heart start to ache. I missed sitting next to him, hearing his corny jokes. I missed him asking me every day how I was. I missed him calling me ‘darling’ and ‘love.’ I missed his kisses the most. He would give me soft kisses on the forehead the first time we would see each other every day. I miss my best friend and my boyfriend.

Garrett and I became best friends in elementary school all the way through high school. We were joined by the hip, we did everything together. No matter if he was with his band mates or not, I would always tag along. It was over the summer when we both realized that maybe we weren’t just best friends, and that we had more than friend feelings for each other.

The first time we kissed, we were at a Death Cab for Cutie concert. After the show ended and everyone was starting to get out of the huge crowd, Garrett glanced over at me.

“Well, Stas, how does it feel to be deflowered of being a concert virgin?” He smirked at me, grabbing my hand. At this point, we both knew that we had feelings for each other; we talked about it a few times. We weren’t officially dating, but we both knew we would be soon.

“Feels pretty damn good!” I shouted, no one noticing because everyone was focused on trying to meet the band.

We walked outside which felt like it took for ages because of all the traffic. We stepped outside; it was getting close to midnight. It was just starting to drizzle, which felt amazing since it was so hot in the inside venue. We walked to Garrett’s old 1999 Honda Civic. His car was so far away, by the time we got to his car, it was pouring. Neither of us complained because we both liked how it felt on our steaming hot and sweaty bodies. Garrett was still holding onto my hand once we got to his car. He turned to me, his blue eyes burning into my green eyes. He quickly leaned in, his lips pressing gently into mine. He pulled away after a few seconds, and I could tell through the rain that he was blushing.

“Come on, we have to get you home,” he said after, acting like that didn’t happen.
We started dating on the next Monday after that, and for the whole year that we dated, it was the best year of my life. It was filled with so much love, kissing, and cuddling. He would never go farther than I wanted to, and he always let me make the decisions on how ‘far’ we would go. He never rushed me; he always had the best intentions for me.

Garrett formed a band with his friend Pat, who is a very close friend of mine. John joined their band soon after, and so did their friends Ryan and Alex. They were doing so well, they even made an EP. John threw a party to congratulate themselves on how good they were doing. I couldn’t attend because I didn’t feel well. Garrett offered to stay with me and cuddle with me all night until I felt better, but I told him to go to the party because it was for him. After a lot of talking, he finally agreed to go.

When I woke up the next morning, I texted him but I didn’t get a response until 5 that night. He told me he was going to come over, and he was acting like nothing was wrong over text.
Once he got to my house, we sat outside on my patio. He was being very distant from me, not talking to me at all. He wasn’t even holding me like he always did.

“Gare, what’s wrong?” I asked.

“What do you mean?”

“Something’s on your mind. I’m not dumb,” I smiled weakly at him, showing him that he could talk to me. The next thing I know, he bursted into tears.

“I’m so… fucking sorry… I never… ever… wanted to hurt… you… I love you… so much… I’m so… sorry… I love you… I love you so much,” he said between his sobs.

I felt my stomach turning, and not in a good way.

“Garrett, what are you talking about?” I looked at him confused, but what he was saying was starting to make sense and I didn’t like it at all.

“I was so drunk, Stas… There was this girl…”

The next thing I know, I’m screaming, sobbing along with him. We broke up after that, and that was four months ago. We haven’t spoken since.

I looked around the classroom, bouncing back to reality quickly. Garrett stood up from his lab table and walked up to Mr. Shaw’s desk.

“Mr. Shaw, mind if I run to the bathroom real quick?” Garrett asked, Mr. Shaw answering with a nod. Garrett walked out of the room, no one noticing besides me. I acted like I didn’t see it, and I looked down to my lap.

The room got silent quickly after we heard the first scream. The scream we heard had to be the most blood curdling scream I’ve ever heard. We heard one more, but it was more distant. Everyone looked at each other, we were all confused. The classroom door opened slowly, and we were all terrified as to what was going to walk into the classroom.