I sighed deeply, sitting on the couch exhausted from my first day of work. I was lucky that my parents were out for dinner because knowing them, they would have plans for us to do stuff together and today just wasn't the day.
"My god," I muttered to myself, leaning my head back as I tried to relax. Today was a rough day, between the lack of sleep and difficulty of learning the ways of a new job, I was worn out. Closing my eyes, I allowed myself to be consumed by the darkness behind them. As I did though, the memories of last night returned to me like a recurring nightmare. The words that were said haunted me more than anything could.
I laid like that for several moments, trying to relax and find some sort of comfort in this distressful time. Suddenly, a slight vibration from my phone knocked me out of this state. Who could be texting me right now? Pulling my phone out of my pocket, I opened the screen to see a text from a girl named Kassidy that worked at Fast Pass, my old job.
"Hey, what the hell was that for?" That was all it said, causing me to look at it with a confused expression.
"What do you mean?"
"Why would you call Abigail a stupid whore?!" What? When did I do that?
"What are you talking about?"
"Don't play dumb!" Suddenly, my screen was filled with a screenshot of old messages between her and someone. On the messages was her telling me to stop being mad that she rejected me and someone acting as me responded with hate filled comments towards her. There's no way this could be happening!
"Hey wait, that's not me though."
"What are you saying? It's your contact and your messages!" My eyes started going wide when I got a text from Cassey.
"Dude, what you said was jacked up. That's not right Kevin." Quickly, I tapped the small message bubble and responded to Cassey in a barrage of letters.
"Cassey, man, you know I would never say this to someone! I didn't do this; someone is faking it."
Another small message bubble popped up, Kassidy going off on me about the fact that I had insulted Abigail to the point of tears last night. My heart started to beat faster as I tried to explain everything to them. No matter how hard I tried though, Abigail's texts were too convincing for them to believe it wasn't me.
"Cassey, last night her and I did have an argument but this wasn't it. You know I would've never called her those things!"
"Yeah, I'm sure Abigail, the nicest girl in the store, would tell someone to text certain messages just to make you look bad." I could feel the weight of this pressure start to build on my already stressed mind.
"Cassey, please, you have to listen to me."
Pressing the send button, the loading circle began spinning to the side of the small message. Suddenly, the entire message bubble turned orange with the small text saying, "Your message cannot be sent to this number." He blocked me! Quickly, I tried texting Kassidy, receiving the same small message as I pressed the send button. Tears started to form around my eyes as I texted Dillan, hoping that he would be able to help me.
"Dillan, bro, you have to listen to me!"
I sighed with relief as I saw the message have the small "delivered" message next to the text bubble. After the longest moment of my life, Dillan responded.
"Yeah, I know. I see you've noticed what's going on." What? There's no way; was he the guy that faked being my contact?
"Wait, were you the guy that acted as me!"
As I furiously sent the message, I could feel the adrenaline coursing through my veins. I sat up, fully focused on Dillan's response. Finally, he responded.
"No, but Abby did ask me to do that." I paused, the anger settling as I realized what he was saying.
"So then who was it?" With all the strength I could possibly manage, I tried everything to hold back my emotions.
"I don't know, but I told her that I wouldn't do it because it was wrong of her. I'm really sorry Kevin, you're not the person to deserve this." Reading that message seemed to be the final nail on the coffin, my tears starting to slip past my body's defenses. The tear drops fell onto my screen, distorting my vision and making it difficult for me to respond to his message.
"It's okay, I'm just upset that even after telling me she used me, she still felt the need to take away all of my friends," I explained softly, lightly tapping the send button before closing the screen. From there, I closed my eyes and rested my head on the cushion of the couch, softly whimpering in stress and anguish.
Even though I felt the vibration of my phone on my lap, I didn't bother to reach for it. At this point, I had lost Abigail, switched jobs to find total strangers, and now I must deal with the loss of all my friends. Why? Why was it me?...
* * *
Quietly, I explained the situation I had gone through so long ago. Taylors eyes glistened with sympathy as he quietly listened to every word that came out of my mouth. Once I was done, he quietly looked away from me and towards the wooden floor, thinking to himself.
"What's wrong son?" I asked, watching as he quietly fiddled with his fingers.
"How did you get through it?" I thought I heard him mutter. I paused, thinking to myself about her. The game, that Halloween party, all those days in the lunchroom alongside being beside her through the worst of it. I could feel my heart beat just ever so slightly faster upon seeing her face in my mind.
"I had someone to help me," I said, looking away from him and onwards towards the lightbulb. "There was no way I could make it to the light at the end of the tunnel, but thanks to her, she brought it to me."
YOU ARE READING
𝒮𝓉𝒶𝓇𝑔𝒶𝓏𝒾𝓃𝑔 (Stargazing)
Romance"There's always a light at the end of a dark tunnel." Kevin is now a husband and father, but as he looks through the attic, a necklace brings him back to his former years. Thinking about the impact the people back then had on him, he explains to hi...
