Bella

I woke up, my ears buzzing. My phone was ringing, quite loudly. I groggily searched through my sheets in the pitch-black darkness of my bedroom. Ring, ring. I groaned in frustration and felt more relieved when I found it. I cleared my throat, answering the phone. “Hello?”

“I woke you up, didn’t I?” It was Stacy. “Well, I’m in Landon. And I met this guy. His name is Gavin and he’s really sweet. We’ve been talking these past few days and I really like him,” she told me. I smiled to myself; I was glad that my best friend was happy. “Have you spoken with your neighbor at all while I’ve been gone?”

“Of course I have. I talked to him the other day. What time is it and why did you call me?” I asked. I rubbed my eye with my fist and rolled over in bed so that I was facing the ceiling. “Don’t you know what time it is?”

Stacy scoffed on the other end of the line. “For me, young one, it’s eight o’clock in the morning. Meaning that for you, it’s five. Usually you’re the early riser, not me. Anyway, I’m going to go for an early morning swim. Talk to you later today, baby.”

I laughed lightly. “Be safe, Stacy. Goodbye.” And I hung up.

I decided to get out of bed and doing something with my life since I was already up. I was miserable, at the least, and I had a bad feeling in my stomach. Not aware of the things that were lying on the floor, I set my feet down on the carpet, carefully walking on it. I cautiously stayed close to my bed, remembering the plush, inanimate animals that I’d thrown on the floor the other day. I found my light switch and flicked the light on in my room, only to leave through the door afterward.

My feet brought me to Ranger’s room and I didn’t even bother knocking; I placed my hand on the doorknob, turning it with the slightest move of my wrist and pushed it open. He looked up at me and almost frowned. “You look like Hell.” Ranger was sitting on his bed with a cardboard box in his hands, a weary look in his eyes.

“I’m sure I do. What the hell is that box for? You’re looking at it like it said some nasty words to you, yet the box can’t talk.” I walked further into his room, careful not to step on the dirty laundry he had laid by the door. I sat on his bed, giving him a little space. “You can talk to me, big brother. I won’t judge you. What’s the box for?”

He took a deep breath. “It has razors, and pills, and a rope. These razors were my best friends, these pills were, too. And the rope—the rope was just in case I could no longer do it.” Ranger set the box down on the carpet and pushed it underneath his bed. “Thank Julie that I’m still here. I don’t know what I’d do without her. I love her more than anyone in the world.”

“Fair enough, and is Julie aware of this box that you keep underneath your resting place?” Ranger shook his head.

“She’s not going to know either. There’s no reason for her to. Yes, she knows that I used to cut, and now you do, too. But you two are the only ones. I plan on disposing this box. I was actually going to do that before you just sort of walked in.”

I laugh humorlessly. “I’m not apologizing for that either.”



I didn’t talk to Stacy later on that day. I got a call from her mother, who could barely stop crying herself. She told me that Stacy had drowned and her body washed ashore about two hours ago. My best friend was gone.