Every Cloud in the Skies

Chapter 3

Those next few days dragged on for so long that I thought that I was going to pull my teeth out. But then, as Saturday came, I was still unsure if I wanted to go back to the cemetery. I didn't know if I wanted to tell some random girl about my troubles. "Maybe she won't even be there today..." I thought to myself, not to mention that my mom would more than likely lecture me again about going there. For the last few days, I've heard nothing except:

"Ethan, you have to put this behind you."

"Ethan you can't just waste away in mourning."

"I'm not letting you live here if you don't go to college."

"It's been a whole year. You have to let go."

I'm honestly nauseous with anxiety just thinking about it. Fighting with my mom is not on the top of my to-do list so I'm thankful that I can at least be alone for today. My mom grounded me for skipping school on Tuesday and she took my little sister to see a movie. I'm honestly relieved to get a moment of peace and when I found $20 on the counter to order food, I knew that my mom was feeling bad for being so hard on me. In the end, I convinced myself that if I left the house, it would only make things worse. The week has already been rough enough without having to relive a part of my life that I would rather get over. I didn't even know her so it's not like I owed her anything. Just when I was accepting myself as right, I heard a ping from my phone. I reached into my pocket and pulled it out and saw that Annie had texted me.

"Hey.." it read. I wasn't really sure what to make of that. Annie hasn't spoken to me in 3 ½ years and now out of the blue she's texting me.

"Hey" I typed. I almost didn't send it but my fingers acted on their own. I didn't get a response for a little while. I assumed that she wasn't actually expecting a response. I mean, after almost 4 years you'd think someone wouldn't want to talk to you anymore.

Ping

"What's up?" she asked. I hovered my thumbs over the keyboard, not knowing what to respond with.

"Not much, you?" I sent, walking over to the kitchen to grab a bottle of water from the fridge.

"Not much...just thinking.." I read.

"About what?"

Ping

"..You..." I wasn't sure what to say. I wasn't even sure that I wanted to get reconnected with her, or if that was even her goal. I decided to leave her on read and called to have a pizza delivered. When I was finished, the screen went back to our messages and at the bottom it showed that she was typing. I left my phone alone until it went off again.

"I know that this is awkward. I can't explain it but I had a dream last night that you killed yourself and It hit me kind of different. I've been worried about you. I know that we don't talk anymore and I know that it's my fault, I'm sorry. I felt like I needed to contact you to make sure you're okay though." I sighed while reading her message. Who did she think she was to just message me as if she cared all of a sudden.

"Annie, I'm okay. Honestly, you don't have to worry about me. I haven't wanted to kill myself in months." I responded.

"Okay...just know that there are people out there who you can talk to..." she said. I scoffed a little. She honestly had a lot of nerve to say something like that when she hasn't contacted me in years. She never came around when the school found out about Sky. She never once asked anyone in the band how they were taking it. She didn't even contact me when I actually tried to kill myself and now here she is. It was almost comedic in a very disheartening way. At the same time, I'm not a jerk and I guess I could tell that she really was just worried so I decided to just thank her for checking on me. I told her not to worry and that if I ever needed to talk, that I would reach out. That seemed to calm her down and we said our goodbyes.