Memories, Scars and Survival: High School Years

Chapter 53 - Eirik

When I heard the news that we were shutting down, I was disappointed about losing hockey. I played just one game with Einar as my centerman, and he made two assists. It's such a disappointment to stop when we just began.

Then Michigan saw its first death from covid on March 18th. The next day there were two more, and I panicked. I became afraid we would get sick and die and never have the chance to live long lives of happiness. It feels like Noah and I have only been together for a few weeks and I didn't want to lose him.

After building mom's table for her, I dragged it upstairs and heard crying from my room. Inside, I found Einar holding his pillow over his head with a letter next to him.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

He stopped crying and wiped his eyes with his pillow. He handed me the letter. "I found this in my locker earlier. You know I never use it, so I don't know how long it's been there. What if it was there days before he did it?"

Reading it, I didn't know what to say. There was a date on it. "It's dated the night before. He could've slid it in after we left school. There wasn't anything you could've done."

"He could've written any date. Maybe that was there to tell me how much time I had to stop him."

"Thinking like that won't help. We should show this to mom." I felt bad for Ezra, but wasn't sure it was right for him to send it to Einar.

"We can show her, but I want to make a copy of it first."

I handed him the letter and followed him downstairs. He used the scanner under the computer to make a copy. I watched him fold the pages up and slide them into his wallet. That made me nervous. I wasn't sure if it would be healthy for him to read that over and over. But it's his choice.

In the kitchen, Einar handed mom the letter. She gasped upon reading it before pulling us in and hugged us both. She wanted to know how Einar got it and then called Detective Clark.

We sat there eating dinner and waited for Mr. Clark to arrive. He arrived with another detective and wanted to speak with Einar about the letter. He slid the letter and the envelope into a plastic bag and then left.

Einar went up to our room with Scruffy after they left. Mom told me to give him time to deal with it alone. She knew he didn't like crying with others around.

Over an hour later, I went up. He was asleep with Scruffy under his covers. I laid in bed, staring and hoping he wouldn't ever do that to me.

The next morning, I texted Noah and Charlie, telling them about the letter. I wasn't sure how Einar would like me telling Charlie, but I wanted him to know and be there to help. I would tell Liz, but I didn't have her number. Luckily, Charlie had her number.

For the next week, Einar only left the room to eat or use the bathroom. He didn't even shower. He didn't smell, but he wasn't taking care of himself. I wondered if he was taking his medications.

I thought about telling mom but I didn't want Einar being mad at me. Maybe he just needs time, like last time. Our teachers emailed us with information about online classes beginning.

I laid in my bed most of the day, wanting to be near Einar. While there, I texted back and forth with everyone about classes starting again. No one knew how wood shop would be done online.

Well, I was more concerned with drafting class since I didn't have the software for it. I asked Einar about his accounting classes since they have a specific software for that too. He mumbled he didn't know what they would do.

I kept watching the news downstairs with mom every now and again. The border with Canada was now closed and the cases in Michigan were climbing. Monday was our first class with Mrs. Harrison. Einar and I switched up using the desktop and laptop each day.