Across From Me

Twenty Three

Sometimes Clementine got lost in memories.

Celine wasn't always a bad person. It always surprised her to look back on the old times and remember who Celine was. She was kind, if a bit sarcastic. But she knew what she wanted and always went for it. Her ambitions were humble. Most of all, though, Celine loved her friends like they were her family, and treated them so.

So the sudden change caught Clementine off guard. One day things just changed. Celine changed. Clementine figured it would only be a matter of time before Celine was back to her old self. But she never did. She became mean and spiteful, and Clementine could never figure out why.

That's what scared Clementine about new friendships. You want to cherish someone, you want to be able to trust them. But you can't be sure about the person they are, because if Celine made such a drastic change then what about the rest of the people Clementine met?

Clementine thought about that a lot, especially after becoming friends with Elizabeth. She was afraid of things going wrong.

She wondered that even as the two of them wandered around a shopping center without reason, swinging their intertwined hands around and whispering songs under their breath to each other. It was these moments that Clementine would look back on if Beth would ever turn her back on her. She would wonder how things went from happiness to sadness so quickly.

But looking at Beth, the sun setting low in the sky now, and the two of them would need to go home soon, Clementine couldn't help but feel like Beth wasn't like anyone else. Beth always seemed to be in her own little world at times, drifted away with music. She never seemed to care about others or their opinions, because their opinions never affected the way she lived her life. Clementine knew that Beth wouldn't leave her behind for a bit of idiotic popularity.

"Do you ever wonder about other people?" Beth once asked her, voice deadly serious. The subject had changed so drastically that Clementine let out a little giggle.

"No, not really," She responded, and Beth nodded.

They never talked about it afterward, and Clementine always wondered what was going on in her brain during that moment. Beth looked so far off like she was in her own world at that moment. Now, Beth was doing it again.

Standing in front of a strange-looking antique shop that didn't belong, Beth's eyes almost looked glazed over as she stared into the shop. Clementine also stared, but at Beth, because she never had gone this long looking so distant. Clementine, as a joke, waved her hand in front of Beth's eyes, and not so much as a blink was given. Clementine started to worry that Beth was having a stroke until Beth snapped back, acting as if nothing happened.

She grabbed Clementine's hand and walked off with her, pointing out a hat shop. Clementine was going to ask her what just happened, but Beth had this look on her face, so Clementine backed down, opting to ask later.

The two of them spent their last bits of time together sitting in front of a fountain, joking about things and having a regular old conversation. Beth went silent again, looking down at her feet, and joining her fingers together, leaving Clementine's hand empty.

Clementine figured with the last few minutes they had until their mothers would be here, it would be a good time to ask Beth what the hell was going on, so she did, "You alright? I can see you have been a little out of it lately."

Beth shrugged as if it was no big deal, and Clementine could see on her face that the dark circles had gotten worse, "Oh you know," Beth said, "I just haven't been getting good sleep. It's pretty normal for me, both to get bad sleep and to zone out often," Beth sounded like she was making a poor excuse for something that had been bothering her deeply.