"you were my best friend, and as one last kind gesture, just because I know how much you love them, these tapes were sent with roses. your favorite. even though I hated them. welcome to your tape, naomi."
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naomi.a.kahele home💜
zdempsey98 so beautiful😩
jessssdavis slay me
"What's wrong, babe?" I sat on my bed next to him. He was clutching the box in his hands tightly. "Zach, talk to me." I put my hand over his and he pulled away opening the box.
"You have to listen." Zach looked up at me; he was really upset. I took the box from his hands and set it on my desk. I went through it finding a map with red and green markings on it and a series of cassette tapes.
"What is this, Zach? Some kind of joke?" I picked up one of the cassettes with the number 1 painted in what looked like blue nail polish.
"Naomi. Please just listen." He folded his hands together, practically begging me.
I sighed and went into my closet, finding my old stereo. I brought it out and plugged it in, putting the first tape in.
"Wait." Zach stood behind me, taking my hand and leading me to the bed. "Promise me, that after we do this you won't hate me."
"I could never hate you, babe." I gave him a confused look, taking his hand in mine. "What's going on, Zach?"
"Don't forget how I feel about you okay?" He leaned in, pressing a gentle kiss to my forehead.
I hesitated before I pressed play. There was no way I could predict what I would hear next.
"Hey, its Hannah. Hannah Baker."
"What the fuck, Zach." I shook my head, my eyes already starting to water. "What the fuck is this?!"
"Please, Naomi, you have to listen." He begged, squeezing my hand. Zach was worried and I could tell. Him being worried made me a hundred times more worried.
"That's right. Don't adjust your.. whatever device you're hearing this on. It's me. Live and in stereo. No return engagements, no encore, and this time absolutely no requests. Get a snack. Settle in. Because I'm about to tell you the story of my life. More specifically, why my life ended." Hannah's voice sounded from my old stereo. Zach rubbed my back softly. He could probably tell that I was freaking out.
"And if you're listening, you're one of the reasons why. I'm not going to tell you what tape brings you into the st-" I hit pause and stood up, running my hands through my hair.
"Zach, what the fuck is that!" I started to breathe heavily, my heart beating through my chest. I began pacing my room and he stood up to face me.
"I got them this morning. Marcus gave them to me." He paused looking down at me. "He 'passed them on' to me." He used quotation motions with his hands as he spoke.
Zach was upset and me yelling at him and absolutely losing my shit probably didn't help the situation at all.
"You- Marcus knows about this? Who else knows about this Zach?" I couldn't stop pacing my room. My eyes stayed on the stereo as I walked back and forth.
Zach plopped back down on my bed, looking at his hands. "Justin.. Jessica, Ryan, Tyler, Sheri, Courtney, Alex-"
"Alex Standall?!" I stopped in front of him, my mouth open, "What the fuck did you do Zach? All of you! What happened?"
"Naomi..." he sighed and looked up at me, "I'm not showing you just because. I'm showing you because you're on the tapes too."
I couldn't find any words to say. I was on the tapes? Would that mean I'm one of the reasons why Hannah is gone? That doesn't make any sense. I used to be Hannah's best friend. I sat next to Zach again, taking his hand. I pressed play without saying another word, only leaning my head on his shoulder. He traced circles onto the back of my hand with his thumb, knowing that it would calm me down.
"The rules here are pretty simple. Rule number one: You listen. Number two: You pass it on. Hopefully neither will be easy. It's not supposed to be easy or I would have emailed you a MP3."
I made it through the whole first tape, surprisingly without breaking down into tears. I looked at Justin so much more differently than I did before. Hannah had told me the story of sophomore year when that picture of her had gone around, but I never knew it went as deep as this. Justin ruined her. Completely destroyed her reputation.
"In fact, most of you listening probably had no idea what you were truly doing... Turn the tape over for more." The stereo went silent and that's when I broke down.
It was almost as if Zach was expecting it because before I could even do anything, he pulled me into his arms and pulled me down in my bed while I cried for almost an hour. I didn't understand how any of this could have gone wrong.
Hannah didn't leave a letter for her parents or for anyone. She left tapes. For the people who killed her. Apparently I was one of those people. As if the stress of knowing I could have done something to save Hannah Baker wasn't enough, everything blows up in my face.
I was one of the reasons. I helped kill Hannah Baker. I helped kill one of my best friends.
The entire night, Zach tried to cheer me up, knowing we'd have to finish listening to them tomorrow and pass them on to wherever they were going next.
He would randomly start tickling me, or start singing to me even though he was terrible at it. He knew it made me smile. I don't know how I could have gotten through losing Hannah, listening to these tapes, or even life in general without him.
He was my rock and I knew for sure that I was absolutely and completely in love with him.
I would never tell him that though.
okay whew. naomi now has the tapes. but she's not gonna be listening alone((;
what do you think her reaction will be when she hears Zach's and the rest of the crews?
show some love and feedback by commenting and voting!
