Short Story One: Savior
Ms. B tried to stop me as I pulled her daughter up by her hands, but I didn’t let Ms. B
stop me, I need to rescue her child. Her small hands were clinging to my shirt, I held my best
friend up, and it almost felt like I was holding her together, as she wept into my shoulder. A
small pool of tears formed in my eyes but I furiously blinked them away, for I had to be her
rock, her set stone.
When she stopped sobbing and she was able to form words, she spoke quietly, “Thank
you.”
Pondering, I replied, “Why?”
“For saving me.” She whispered.
The flowers were blooming and the fresh air was tinted with new life. It was an ordinary
spring day, with birds soaring through the air like kites on a beach and the sun sending out
waves off warmth. My short, choppy hair was done, my outfit matched, for once, and I was
ready to go back to school. I had been out for the first few hours because of a doctor’s
appointment. The windows of my mother’s tan Lincoln LS were cracked and ruffling the papers
in the back seat, making it sound as if they were a flock of birds. A sweet melody was made by
the wind, holding promises of carefree days and joyous memories.
Right as my mother was about to stop at the intersection of 7th and Washington, my
phone started vibrating. I figured it was one of my friends, wondering if I would be coming to
school at all. I pulled my bright red phone out of my front jean pocket and slid it open, pressing
“View Now,” I read the message.
From: Alexus
I wont be at school for a while.
I hit reply, worrying there was something wrong with Nan, Alexus’ loving and humorous
grandmother.
Reply:
Why?
From: Alexus
Its nothing big
Reply:
How long will you be gone?
From: Alexus
Idk. Few days. Few weeks.
Now I was really worrying. I knew she was lying because Alexus always says things very
straightforward; she is very open-minded and lacks a decency filter, but never means any harm
by it…most the time. Her lax attitude towards this was reminding me of how she was acting
when she discovered that her cousin, Zack, to whom she was very close to, had ended his own
life. I pressed her for more information.
Reply:
Where will you be?
From: Alexus
Hospital
Butterflies were beating against my stomach as if they were trapped in a cage. Each
reply of hers just made me more and more confused.
Reply:
Why? Are you okay?
From: Alexus
Idk. jackie told my mom im suicidal. Im headed to a place called pine rest.
No. This is not happening. So, I said the only thing I could think of to say.
Reply:
Oh
From: Alexus
I have to go
Reply:
Luv ya, alex
From: Alexus
You too.
My heart had stopped; my mind was playing hide-and-seek with reality; my stomach
dropped and I couldn’t breathe. I got out of the car and locked all those warm, carefree
promises of spring inside; they were nothing to me anymore. Alexus was my best friend with
her oceanic gray eyes and brown, lapping-the-shore wavy hair; my only friend who has open,
beautiful smile and bell-chimed laughter.
I was able to process that it wasn’t going to be forever, but the word “gone” was going
through my head. She was gone. I was alone; I could feel it through every part of my body.
From the tip of my hair to the end of my toes, my body was radiating inner despair. The thing
that made it worse was the fact that it was her sixteenth birthday; a day for the celebration of
her life.
With help from the cracks and holes in the ground, I staggered the path to my locker,
and ripped it open. I glanced around the plain, tiled hallway, taking in the multi-colored mass of
bodies; how none of them understood. Each person was living, breathing, not caring what it
was like to feel alone, and really, truly be alone. They were like a bee hive, each of their lockers
were their combs, stacking it full of their happy memories and boring textbooks, obediently
coming to school every day to serve the Queen Bee with their homework and perfect 3.5 GPA’s.
They didn’t care that I was hurting, and for that I was silently quarreling with every one of them
for it. Down deep I knew that my anger was only a whip-lash of pain.
I flitted through my days, pretending to be normal, maybe a little too normal. My
melancholy mask was fooling no one; I was vague and pitiful, half the time not even paying
attention to my surroundings. When walking down the hallways I often would watch my feet,
too deep in thought to pay attention when I ran into people, and mumble a sorry to them as
they brushed past me, their faces contorted into confusion. Just as before, they didn’t
understand that I had a cloud over my head, that only I could feel the down pour, soaking me to
the bone.
The pages of the calendar kept on going, and I took upon myself the responsibility to tell
most of Alexus’ teachers that she would be gone for a while; when they asked where she was, I
would say she was having a hard time with Zack’s passing. Alexus’ whereabouts were only
known to one teacher that I told, I had hoped she would brush it off and treat me no different
than before, for she knew of the bond between my friend and I, but she seemed to feel a
sprinkle of my rain and looked at me with dark eyes. She did not speak much but her round, sad
face told me what she was thinking; her innocent touch on my shoulder did not feel any more
comforting, it just felt like more weight to hold up. Trudging away I felt more nauseous than
ever.
Through a blur, a dizzy pattern it all went, one day, one week, twelve days; when would
she come home? Like a cloud my heart would soar when Alexus called me, I didn’t get a call
very often, once every few days, a check up on how I was, and I got to listen to all she had to
say about being in a mental facility. Security for the patients at Pine Rest was very strict; you
were not able to have anything that had strings in it, unless the nurses cut them out; at meal
times you had to have special permission to eat with forks and you weren’t able share any
personal information or touch each other, this was called “peer boundaries.” She often spoke
of a boy named Michael who was severely autistic and lived at the hospital; he was her
entertainment as he would walk around the social area waving his hands, insisting he was
making pancakes. Three classes were given on average there; they were on things such as
safety and health and how to control stress. At these alleged meetings they were not able to
use pencils with erasers, so they had to use golf pencils, she told me of how one day they got to
use real pencils and she erased her name just because she had the ability; she also told me she
would always hate and never use golf pencils again.
These calls, though uplifting, were never telling of what I wanted most to here from her.
I waited, patient as a wise man, to hear the day she would be coming home. While chatting
cheerfully with her, I was often feeling weighted with emotions I had never felt before, never
needed to feel before. Phone pressed against my ear thirstily, I paced the halls of my house, my
hand anxiously running through my silky hair; I never let her know what I was really feeling on
the inside, I understood that if she knew what I was feeling it would be like putting ice on the
sidewalk for her small feet to slip on. I carefully toed the line of speaking about me and rather
told her how everybody else was and what was happening in classes that she was missing; I
don’t think she noticed, though.
A night that I was Kohl’s I bought Alexus a picture frame that said things all about
friendship and had places for multiple pictures, thinking of her passed birthday. I filled it with
our memories of trips we had been on and all the experiences we had recently had together
and called Nan to ask if she could deliver it to my partner-in-crime.
The day that Nan showed up was a sunny day that made me feeling hopeful for the first
time in a week and a half, it was almost as if those locked away promise were starting to leak
through the cracks, they had started to venture out of the shadows. The gentle lady came to my
mother’s work to take away my gift, and gasped when she saw what I had for her
granddaughter. Her sandy hair was cut short as always and she was wearing her usual apparel
of a t-shirt, wire glasses, and jeans. Her well-natured face seemed to relax when I passed to her
the frame, small tears escaped her eyes and she kept whispering thank-you over and over. After
a while of admiring our happy pictures she gave me a tight, loving hug. She swore to me that
after the loss Zack, she would never have another grandbaby go that way.
Later that night, to my elation, the girl called me, thrilled with her present. She claimed
passionately that she had no vice with receiving it slightly belated, that as soon as she was
released and got home to her real bedroom, it would be hung on a wall for all to see. Her voice
was ecstatic and after days of hearing her be nonchalant about every matter, more hope
streamed through the cracks, warming my chilled heart. Maybe, I told myself, she will be okay
again and I won’t have to worry any more.
Chasing each other in circles, days still went by, only, instead of the mental pouring rain;
it had turned to slightly better steady sheet of water. It was the weekend of the first few days
of May and sunlight poured through the windows of my room. The blue walls were illuminated
and I sat cross-legged on my bad. Papers filled with poems were strewn across my plaid maroon
bed spread; I was rereading all my past poetry and finding the ones that had been written
because of Alexus, I had written four for her since she had left. My pajamas were rumpled and
my hair was still in a ponytail when my phone started vibrating, which seemed to have become
a negative omen.
From: Alexus
IM COMING HOME!
Reply:
Really?
From: Alexus
:)
Reply:
When will you be at school?
From: Alexus
Tomorrow to pick up my stuff
Reply:
I cant wait to see you
The next day I faced Brighton High School with mixed feelings, the long, brick building
was looking in the cloud cover and kept me petrified to the sidewalk. The doors were black as if
warding off any good feelings but I chose to ignore it; the hum of the florescent lights couldn’t
crumble my castle, nor could the chatter of the classrooms eat at my joy. I paced myself all day,
waiting for the end to come and give me freedom.
When the moo of the final bell rang throughout the school, I no longer held onto my pride
and booked it from my sixth hour to my locker. Throwing the dial from 18 to 8 and back to 48, I
bounced on the balls of my feet. I snatched up my heavy books and thrust them into my half-way
dead red Danon backpack and anxiously glanced down the hall, in hope that Alexus would soon
arrive. Slamming my locker shut I walked quickly across the tile to her locker, where I found her
collecting books and binders, once again losing all dignity I threw down my bag, scattering
pencils and pens across the floor for unlucky an passerby student to slide on, and tackled her.
Over and over she told all about how wonderful it was to be free: free of her exboyfriend, stress, and worry. She had finally found peace and happiness. We spoke for quite a
while, until most the hall had cleared, and kept hugging.
Then, just when I was about to leave, he showed up. Blake. The boy with his hat
backwards and the Pepsi logo slapped across his chest, holes in the knees of his jeans and car
grime glued all over his fingers. Alexus leaned against the locker for support and tried to push
him away and tell him no, but he wouldn’t leave her, his mouth kept moving, using words of
persuasion. Taking her small, cold hand I tried to get her to come with me, but she wouldn’t go,
she told me to leave and let him pull her into his arms.
A new passion burned within me. Anger red as flames, licking the edges of my mind and
soul as it burned me. My face felt as hot as coal as I ran down the long stretch of halls to the door
and when I got there I gave the frames no mercy, they flew open as I kicked them with the flat of
my foot. Arms pumping and shoes slapping the ground, I dashed to Alexus’ mother’s black
Cutlass Supreme crouching in the strip of parking lot. Still coughing from the exhaust burping
out of the pipes, I told Mrs. B. how Blake had trapped Alexus by the lockers. Flinging open the
car door she booked it into the school to find her daughter.
I paced in front of the school, counting cracks in the cement slabs and digging my fingers
into the metal-mesh benches. My mind was racing, I just betrayed my friend to her mother. It
was okay because she was in danger right?
I ran into the school to find the saddest scene my eyes had ever taken in. On her hands
and knees, using the locker for support, Alexus was shaking and chocking on her sobs. Blake had
gone, even though his car-and-smoke smell still poisoned the air. Mrs. B. was glaring down at
her baby, no coos coming from her lips, no hugs and kisses to show love. Oh, no, she was
looking at her child as if one might think of an eagle and its prey, foul and hungry.
Mrs. B tried to stop me as I pulled her daughter up by her hands, but I didn’t let
Mrs. B stop me, I need to rescue her child. Her small hands were clinging to my shirt, I held my
best friend up, and it almost felt like I was holding her together, as she wept into my shoulder.
A small pool of tears formed in my eyes but I furiously blinked them away, for I had to be her
rock, her set stone.
When she stopped sobbing and she was able to form words, she spoke quietly, “Thank
you.”
Pondering, I replied, “Why?”
“For saving me.” She whispered.