Counting Down The Days To Go

Mike never replied that message, resulting in that little glimmer of hope in our relationship. He still ignored me though. In school, he never sat near me again. He didn’t give me rides to school anymore and we just stopped talking. But on the other hand, we were still together. Is that weird or what? Every single time I saw him walking around school, my heart starts to pound faster and my palms would get all sweaty. I just wished that I could go up to him and talk to him like how I used to but his cold eyes held me far away from him. My heart and my mind were at war whenever I spotted Mike.The rumors floating around school had died down and everybody just presumed that Mike and I had broken up for good. And since Mike was no longer the 'new kid', we were just plain old news.

People had other news to focus on now, though. Word of Amanda’s pregnancy had gotten out and who was the culprit with the big mouth? Brad. That goddamn bastard that wouldn’t take responsibility. He trashed Amanda’s name and told everyone that she slept around and got pregnant.

My own troubles were put aside as I was really worried for Amanda. Jocks laughed at her and people spread vicious tales. Rumors were spreading like wildfire but the only one that got burnt was Amanda. Her parents had still not gotten over the shock of knowing that their only daughter was pregnant. Chanel and I tried to stand by Amanda’s side and help her as much as we could but there was only so much we could do.

Amanda’s eyes had sunken into her face and she had been losing weight, with only her tummy bulging out. She had that cute baby bump but she tried to hide it under some Juicy Couture sweats. The teachers were pretending not to care although I saw the sneers on teachers’ faces whenever they spotted Amanda. I was really worried as this little life had been causing so much trouble for his/her mother.

It was around ten at night already but I was still halfway through my homework. Can anyone guess the reason why I couldn’t concentrate?

I was writing down the answer to a particularly hard mathematics problem sum when my phone started buzzing across my desk. Apparently, Amanda had just messaged me. Without a second thought, I pressed the little button to open the message.

‘Goodbye.’ That was the simple, one-word message that Amanda had just sent me.

‘Goodbye?’ I wondered out aloud. What does that mean?

A sudden vibration in my hand jerked me out from my thoughts. Crystal was calling me.

“Hello?” I answered.

“Did you receive that peculiar message from Amanda?”

“Goodbye?”

“Yeah! What does that mean?” Crystal asked, sounding rather worried.

“I don’t know. I haven’t quite figured it out yet,” I said.

“I know this is a rather far-fetched idea. But…do you think that maybe Amanda is leaving us?”

My eyes widened in realization. Knowing Amanda, she must be doing something extremely dumb right about now.

“Meet you at her house in ten minutes?” I asked.

“Sure.”

I hastily pulled on some warm outerwear and sped towards Amanda’s house. A jumble of thoughts formed in my mind. There were just too many problems in my life lately. Needless to say, I was freaking out. I really hoped that Amanda hadn’t done anything stupid to herself.

Crystal pulled into Amanda’s driveway right after me and we rushed up to the big house together. I pressed the doorbell rather furiously but no one answered.

“Come on, come on,” I muttered.

After what seemed like an eternity, the door finally opened up to reveal a middle-aged woman who seemed to have had way to many plastic surgeries. I recognized that woman to be Amanda’s mother. She usually looked very composed and very prim but today, she just looked like a downright mess. Her lipstick was smeared and her hair was in a really messy bun. Her top seemed to have been ripped and her sweatpants were just too baggy. A glass of wine was also perched on one hand, with a cigarette in another.

“Umm…is Amanda home?” I asked rather nervously. This woman looked like she belonged in a loony bin.

“Dahhh-lings. Come on i-in. Amanda is in her room or something,” She said before muttering some incoherent phrases.

I muttered a quick thanks before bounding up the staircase to Amanda’s room. The door was slightly ajar and there wasn’t any light shining through. Somehow, I seriously doubt that Amanda was inside. Nevertheless, Chanel pushed open the door and flicked on the switch. There was a lump in the middle of the bed but it was too big to be Amanda.

After taking off the covers, I realized that it was just a bolster and not Amanda.

“Amanda? Amanda?” Chanel called out as she walked about Amanda’s enormousroom en suite.

“I don’t think she’s here,” I said to Chanel.

“Why don’t we give her a call?” Chanel asked. I nodded and dialed in Amanda’s number, only to hear the familiar ring tone blaring out from on top of Amanda’s vanity. Damn. She didn’t bring her phone with her.

“What now?” I asked helplessly. Amanda’s mother is too drunk out of her mind to actually care about her daughter right now and I don’t think her dad is even at home.

“Where does Amanda go when she’s sad?” Chanel asked.

I racked my brain for an answer. As her best friend, I should know Amanda’s special ‘spot’ right? But I didn’t. This was the very first time she had done this and I seriously don’t know where she might have ran to.

“I don’t know,” I muttered.

“Don’t worry. We’d find her. She’d be okay,” Chanel said after patting my back for a little bit.

We took Chanel’s car and drove about Amanda’s neighborhood for a bit but she wasn’t anywhere. So we went over to the town area and circled the mall and other hang-outs but there was still no sign of her.

“Why don’t we go over to the elementary school? When I’m feeling down, I like to hang out at my childhood spots,” Chanel suggested.

And so we headed over to the creepy elementary school. Schools just looked freaky at night because it’s so big and there wasn’t anybody on the grounds.

“Where shall we start?” Chanel asked as we parked outside the gates of the school.

“The playground,” I said. I don’t know why, but I just had a feeling that Amanda was the type of girl who liked to sit on swings.

I grabbed onto Chanel’s arm and we began to trespass into the school. We climbed over the fence and by a miracle, we managed to maneuver our way to the playground after a few wrong turns. I was freaking out at every little sound and I just hoped that Amanda was really here. This place was really dark, cold and just big. Who knew what was hanging around here? It had been over an hour since her text message and hopefully, she hadn’t done anything harmful.

“Amanda? Amanda?” Chanel called out.

No response except for a few odd cricket noises.

The swings on the playground were empty and they were just swinging gently with the wind. It was just simply eerie and I couldn’t wait to get out of here.

“Hey, there’s someone there,” Chanel whispered as she pointed out into the darkness.

“I can’t see anything…” I said as I squinted into the dark. There was the slide thingy and something was poking out of it. That something looked oddly like two legs.

We walked slowly towards it. And this just so happened to be the moment where I mentally smacked myself for forgetting to bring a torchlight. But Chanel, being the smart one, used the light from her cell phone to shine on the odd object.

And you know what? It was indeed a pair of legs! A pair of legs clad in jeans, to be exact with some cool boots at the end.

“It’s Amanda!” I cried out as I recognized the pink boots. We rushed towards her and pulled her slowly out of the slide. After Chanel shined the light on her face, the sight that greeted me was unimaginable. It was Amanda alright. But her eyes were rolled into the back of her head and she was foaming at the mouth! I noticed an empty bottle of beside her and I think Amanda just tried to commit suicide by swallowing a whole bottle of pills.

“Call the ambulance!” I screeched to Chanel who was fumbling over the keypad of her phone.

“Wake up, wake up, wake up!” I muttered over and over again as I shook Amanda gently.