Newcomers

Cody's Letter

A few hours later, Frankie came over almost as soon as school ended. “Hey Mr. Burns, bye Mr. Burns!” She said as she ran by him. “Hey Frankie.” Charlie said. She ran up to Cody’s bedroom and busted through the door, scaring him so bad he nearly jumped into the ceiling. “Have no fear! Your best friend is here!” She cheered. “Could you be here more quietly.” Cody said, stifling laughter. “Sorry!” Frankie said.

She shut the door behind her, laid on her stomach on the floor, and set down and opened her laptop. “Okay, tell me your thoughts and after you’re done I’ll organize them for you. That way if you feel that you can’t say it out loud, you can give your dad a comprehensible letter instead.” She said. Cody smiled. “Cool, thanks Frankie.” Cody said. “Sure. Start whenever you want to.” She replied.

“Okay.” He sat silently for a moment, trying to think. “Okay, I got it I think.” He said. “Alright, go on ahead.” Frankie responded. “Since the accident last month I haven’t been doing good the past couple of weeks since I’ve been home.” He admitted. “I didn’t wanna tell anyone because I thought it’d just stress you out more and I didn’t want anyone to worry about me anymore. I couldn’t really think straight, so I don’t know what I thought would happen.” Frankie typed quickly, listening closely to everything he said. He felt more assured that he could say what he needed to.

“I haven’t been sleeping well, since I’ve had nightmares about it every night since and I wake up everytime it happens. So- um, because I really didn’t want to keep doing that I’d stay awake at night until I couldn’t anymore.” He said. Frankie hid her face behind her laptop, so he couldn’t see what face she was making. She said nothing. “I haven’t really wanted to do anything since I got home because I was so tired and upset, and showering’s been hard since being underwater just reminds me of it.” He said a little less clearly. On the bright side, this time he wasn’t having another panic attack from the memory, but it did still make him upset. He blinked back tears and swallowed hard so that he could keep going.

“Um...And I don’t like being in the dark either now, so all of the lights are always on in my room because I don’t want to think about what happened. It sucks too because the more I try to push it out of my mind, the more it comes back and it gets worse.” He said. Frankie indeed and kept typing. “It’s also why I stayed overnight at Seojun’s place. He asked me how I was doing since the accident, and I got so stressed about it that I ended up having a panic attack right in front of him. It was really bad, but he was nice to me when it happened and he and his mom let me stay last minute because after that I didn’t want to be alone in my room.” He said. “I- I think that’s it.” He said shakily, holding his arms close to him.

Frankie finished typing and looked up at him. “Are you sure.” Cody sniffled and wiped his face. “Yeah.” He replied. Frankie stood up and opened her arms. “Come here.” She said. She gave him a big hug and he hugged her back, shutting his eyes and resting his head on her shoulder. She didn't say anything and just let him cry.

After a few minutes, she let go of him.”You okay?” She asked him. “I feel a little better.” He said, wiping his eyes. “I’m really sorry you’re going through all this.” She said. “It’s fine.” He muttered. She smiled. “Um, clearly it’s not.” She said with a chuckle. Cody smiled and laughed a little with her. “Yeah, you’re right.” Cody agreed. “Okay, sit tight and I’ll organize it so you don’t have to worry about how it sounds.” She said. “Okay.” Cody replied. “If you want, you could stay over at my house on tough nights, or I could come over to yours.” Frankie said. “Thanks, I think that’d help.” He said.

“Okay, I’m done! What do you think?” Frankie said. Cody looked up from his phone and slid off of the bed to sit on the floor next to her. He carefully read over the note, she hadn’t changed what he said, just made it less of a rant. “I think it’s good.” Cody said. “So what are you gonna do?” She asked. “I think I’ll print it out and give it to my dad like a letter. If I start reading it out loud it’ll be so awkward and I’ll probably start crying again.” He said. “Okay cool.” Frankie said.

She printed it out downstairs and brought it back to him. “Thanks. I’ll be right back.” He said. He hopped down the hallway and slid the note under Charlie’s door. He felt nervous about it, but at least now he wouldn’t have to go through his troubles alone. He sighed and hopped back to his room. He sat on his bed and bounced his leg. “You okay?” Frankie asked. “Yeah, just wondering what he’ll say after he reads it.” Cody replied. “Do you want me to go yet?” She asked. “Nah, you can stay a little bit longer.” He said. “Okay, I’ll leave if your dad calls you. I don’t wanna interrupt anything.” She said. “Yeah, that’s fine.” Cody said.

They hung out in Cody’s room for about an hour until Cody got a text from his dad.

~Could you come here for a minute Cody?