Trust Falls

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Macy and I have been best friends since we were able to walk. We grew up together. Our parents arranged playdates frequently for us, and in our teens, we were having pillow-slinging sleepovers left and right. We were closer than anyone could be; we shared our clothes with each other, and we liked all the same things. I liked to think of us as sisters. Being together ninety-nine percent of the time was great and all, but the true test of our bond had quickly approached: high school.

Unlike myself, Macy was ecstatic about high school. She presented a boisterous attitude towards everything, which was apparently contagious. She gained a conga-line of new friends because of it. Not to mention, we both took numerous intriguing and challenging classes. It was surely an experience to remember. Macy was happy. At least, she seemed to be for a while. I didn't think much of it, but for weeks, something had seemed a little off about her. Her rosy cheeks had gone to a pasty white, her eyes looked distracted, flickering with what seemed like paranoia, and her hands had a constant tremble to them. I thought it had been the stress of her three AP classes she decided to enroll in, but I didn't realize how wrong I was until I saw her at lunch one day. Her eyes were full of tears ready to roll any minute, and she kept glancing around, searching for something. Deeply concerned, I ran up to her.

"Macy! What happened to you? Is everything okay?"

She choked out a low, incoherent gargle before she burst into tears. She dropped a crumpled piece of paper from her hand and ran. A thought had stopped me from running after her. What was on that paper? I bent down and picked it up. I flattened it back out to read: "You broke us apart. You let me go. You let this happen, and now I'm coming for you..." The handwriting appeared oddly familiar, much like Macy's, but somehow slightly different--angry, even. I stood up, stuffed the note in my pocket, and ran after her. I followed the sound of her footsteps down the hall and around the corner. I saw her sink down to the floor, her hands covering her tear-stained face. As I got nearer, her sobs became more violent.

"Shhh, sweetie. Everything will be fine in the end. I promise," I consoled. I bent down and pushed a cloth I had in my bag to her face to soak up the tears. She was shaking profusely, so I draped my other arm around her shoulders and held her still. I held her there until her cries faded back to a gentle breath. I grinned. She looked so peaceful when she was asleep. I wished she could stay like that forever, resting in peace.

I threw the chloroformed cloth away and picked Macy's limp body up off the ground. I carried her to my car where I gently laid her in the trunk. I threw the crumpled piece of paper in next to her with the rest of them I had written earlier in the year. I closed the trunk, hopped in the driver seat, and drove off. I glanced at the shovel in the backseat. This had been long overdue. It is time to bury this friendship for good.

We were basically the same person, so why should I be stuck being her shadow? Oh, how the tables have been turned. I have followed her around without question for years now, but she cut me off when her new friends gained greater importance than her longtime best friend. I have chased her for a while now, creeping around corners to find the right time to strike. Today, I found it, and she is not a problem anymore. I won't tell you where I've buried her, but she'll be in the shadows for a very long time like I was. I don't know if anyone will hear her screams from six feet under the ground. No one heard mine when I was being buried alive with the sorrow of my best friend's betrayal and throwing me out into the world without a friend to lean on. Let your shadows shine or else they'll grow a spine.

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