Being Shot

P h o t o #53 - The Higher The Rise, The Harder The Fall

P h o t o #53 - The Higher The Rise, The Harder The Fall

The breeze that I had welcomed before with open arms now chilled me to my very bones, my body standing stiff as my vision went in and out. My hands shook at my side as my dark eyes peered over the balcony's railing into a sea of slush and mud, the necklace ripped from me completely engulfed.

A gnarled giggle sliced through the air, "Karma can be quite the bitch." Lily's voice slithered eerily in my ears.

My bottom lip trembled, and I bit down on it hard enough to draw blood. My vision swam with blurred shapes and colors even though my contacts granted me perfect sight.

I finally pried my eyes from the ground, the scene in front of me twirling as my rage took over my logical senses.

This seemed to take Lily by surprise, her cold irises widening for only a split second before her lips turned pouty, "Aw, don't look at me like that. I can't take all of Courtney's credit."

Immediately the memory of Courtney's reddened, angered face popped into my mind. It had only been a few hours earlier when she was kicked out from the party in front of an entire crowd, and only now was I realizing that Lily had practically been behind her friend the entire time. The only difference was that she was too busy eyeing Zach instead of the boys Courtney had an interest in.

"Of course I couldn't say no to Zach after he asked me for a favor, it's just too bad it was a favor benefiting you." Lily spat in my direction, her glare icy.

I remembered how she readily did as she was told earlier, fetching me a glass of water to cool my muddled head. At the time I was grateful to this girl, but now all I could muster was disdain for her.

She crossed her arms over her plump chest, triumphant as she stood tall over me, "I was told to head for those tacky earrings of yours, but the moment I laid eyes on that necklace I knew it had to be the one." Lily shrugged, brushing off the severity of the subject like it was nothing, "I mean, I knew from the moment I saw you you had a thing for Elliot, but to think it was for his money, not him!"

I flinched, my hands protectively reaching for the earrings my grandmother had given me, her words searing my heart. It was one thing to blatantly express your happiness over my grief, but another to accuse me to bringing it on myself. My better judgement was clouded over with disbelief and rage as I pondered how someone could be so filled with hate for someone they barely knew.

She decided to keep sprinkling salt on my festering wound, her noes tipped up in the air just to assure her arrogance, "I shouldn't be surprised, honestly. I can tell just by the way you hold yourself that you're just some homely girl who isn't used to all of this attention. What I don't understand is why they all decided to take pity on you instead of someone-"

The cables in my mind that always seemed to be able to hold me back from saying or doing what I truly wanted snapped in that very instant. I could take being called names, I could take the wounded pride, but the moment Lily prodded into my friends with her slimy, hateful fingers was the moment that clouded better judgement of mine completely vanished into thin air. I was sick of standing idly by and chalking up situations like this as something I deserved, something I had coming to me. I didn't deserve this, nor did my friends. Even if I was aware of this truth, I felt the need to smack it into this uneducated girl's brain too.

So, the very hand that still coddled the earrings I loved so much suddenly came whipping through the air, and with all of the strength my thin arm had, my hand reflected it as it slapped Lily's left cheek. The sounded echoed across the balcony as her head moved with my hand, the force squeezing a grunt out of her mouth.