Pulse

Chapter 3

Lucie

When I finally returned there, Bay Area High School seemed different. The rooms seemed dimmer, not as much laughter bounced off the walls, people smiled less. I thought, surely, something had to be wrong. It was my third year at the school, so I knew it took a lot for over half the student body to look that solemn as they passed me in the halls. None of them knew about my brother, none other than Jiya, so what was it?

    I tried not to think too much about Dempsey, as thinking about him had been the only thing I'd been doing for the past three days. Mom had let me take those few days off, and I sat around the house, wallowing in my despair. Once I had even gone into his room, but had left in tears, because it was too much to handle. He had still had so much to do with his life—why him?

    I reached my locker, shuddering a little. For some reason the air conditioning was turned down extra low; even in a sweater I was still a bit more cold than I wanted to be. I focused on the mechanical action of putting in my combination, of the spinning and the stopping, the spinning and the stopping, the click of success. I did not think about anything else, nothing else, nothing else.

    "Lucie?"

    It was Jiya. Of course it was Jiya; who else would it be? I shut my locker door, and she was leaned against the next one over, a frown at her mouth, her eyebrows lifted gently. Sympathy rolled off her, or maybe pity. It was hard to tell.

    Her hair was in a French braid down her back, brown eyes candid. "Hey," she greeted, her tone soft and tentative. "How are you holding up?"
     "Fine."

    Her eyes narrowed. "Lucie, I'm serious."

    I gripped my books firmer against my chest and walked past her; Jiya had to jog to keep up. "Let's talk about something else. Did something happen? Why does everyone look so upset?"

    Jiya was quiet. Jiya was never quiet.

    "Jiya?" I stopped walking, whirling to face her. Her russet skin looked redder than usual at the cheeks. "What are you not telling me?"

    She bit at her nails, which were painted white this week. Jiya had her nails down to a science. She never painted them the same color two weeks in a row. "You're going through enough. I don't think—"

    "Jiji, tell me."

    She sighed, closing her eyes and leaning her face into her hand. "It's Caden," she mumbled, voice muffled by her palm. "Someone found his body outside a laundromat last night. Police are saying he jumped off the roof."

    "Caden killed himself?" I gasped in disbelief, shaking my head. This was all too much, too soon. First my brother, and now my friend? "But he was never unhappy..."

    Jiya spread her fingers, peering through them. "I thought so too. Everyone's a bit surprised. It's too bad. I can't imagine why..." She trailed off when she saw me shiver. "You okay?"

    "Fine," I said. "I just...I think I'm going to go to class now. I need to clear my head."

    "Yeah," Jiya said with a nod. "Of course."

    I smiled at her, and it was a genuine one, then walked on towards the science hall.

I tapped my knuckles against the picnic bench as I waited for Jiya in the courtyard, where we'd been eating lunch together since freshman year. There was a soft breeze rustling the trees above me, blowing my hair into my face. Yes, I was still cold, and had been all day now. I was exhausted. I just wanted to go home and drink some hot chocolate to warm myself up, and not think about anything. Dempsey. Caden. Two deaths on the same night. Why?