15
1251 Words
26th September
Autumn sat outside Mr. Grayson’s office. Daniel sat next to her. “So what brings you here, Red?”
She just looked at him. “Stuff.”
“Me to. Too many skellies to lay to rest. You?”
“Could say that.”
“So what do you think of Mr. Grayson? Cool yeah.”
“I’m not talking to Mr. Grayson.”
“I don’t know any other shrink.”
“Mathew Harding.”
His eyeballs gouged. “You serious?”
“Yeah Mr. Grayson thought it would give him a good opportunity to show off his skills and do his degree. I like him. He understands.”
“Did you ever take the time to think why?”
“No, and I’d rather not.”
“He’s got all the girls, you know. I’ve spoken to him a few times. He’s okay, but Grayson’s the top dog.”
“Well, we connect, he understands me better than my mom.”
“That’s not hard to do Red, especially when we spend most of our time pushing away the people who care about us the most.”
Mathew opened the door. “I’m sorry, Autumn. I’m running a little late this morning. Come through.”
She pulled herself up.
“Later Red.”
“Yeah, later.”
Mathew looked at Daniel. “You’ll be having me this morning Mr. Grayson was called out.”
“Sure.”
He closed the door. “Please take a seat.”
Autumn dropped to the sofa, and he walked over sitting opposite her. “So what did Mr. Harrison have to say for himself?”
“Not much.”
He looked at her. “Come on Autumn, you can tell me.”
“Is it true?”
“Is what true?”
“That you're shrinking all the girls?”
“Yes I do. I also shrink some of the boys too. You’re all different Autumn.” He looked at her and coughed. “Anyway, we’re here to talk about you… So are we okay to continue?”
“I guess.”
“So at your previous school. I guess your friends died?”
She looked a little shocked at him. What sort of question was that? Where the hell had it come from? It was straight to the point, so abrupt. It was unlike his usual openings. They were usually a lot softer to break the ice. “I… I.” She stuttered.
“Sorry, I’ll rephrase that.” He looked at her. Would he be able to get anything out of her today? Especially after she’d spoken to Daniel Harrison. What were they speaking about before? “So tell me a little about your last school, Autumn. Your friends, boyfriend, then we’ll gradually build a picture of why you had to come to me.”
“If you like.”
“You have to like to.”
“Sure.” She swallowed. She wasn’t sure if she was ready for this. There were so many bad memories, though there were some good ones too.
‘“Firstly, have you got any photos of your friends? Or anything you can remember them by.”
“I have some photos. I was happy, a lot happier than I am here.”
“You have Connor.”
“I know he’s cool, but I miss my friends.”
“You’ve made new ones.”
“I have, but it’s still not the same.”
“Every time you feel down, refer to your photos and the good times that you all had.”
“I will.”
He coughed. “So, tell me a little about your friends.”
“Me and my friends hit it off the day I began high school. We didn’t meet Taylor and his friends till I was in year nine. They collared us for being somewhere we weren’t supposed to be. He had so many friends.”
“Just stick to the ones he chose to hang with.”
“That would be Steven Downey. They called him Downey, Dylan Rudge, or Rudgey and Jamie Stevens or Stevo.”
“So was Taylor his last name too?”
“No it was Mackenzie. His friends called him Macka. He preferred me to call him Taylor. He said it sounded sexy when I said it. So I did.”
“So you moved over here when you were what eleven?”
“Almost twelve. I was one of the oldest in my year. We moved over here in July. I began high school in September.”
“It must’ve been a big step.”
“It was.”
“Anyway.” He coughed again. “I’d like us to stay on track.”
“Sure.”
“Were you and his friends close?”
“I guess. We all hung out together. The guys dug on my friends, and they all got it together.”
“So.” He paused. “Tell me a little more about the events leading up to why you came here.”
She looked at him unsure where to begin. “Before it happened, we were all close, we all stayed over Downey’s he and Joanne were inseparable. He was the eldest of the friends. It was just before Taylor…” she stopped tearful.
“Take your time, Autumn. We have an hour. And if we don’t finish today, we’ll continue with it next week.” He gave her a few minutes. “So are we okay to continue?”
“Yeah.”
“So you said everything was cool until the tragedy.”
“Yeah.”
“So what happened?”
“I’m not sure. None of us were. Rudgey went on a downer. He shut himself away from everyone. Caz couldn’t even get through to him. She tried so hard, but whatever she said made no difference. He’d lost his friend who he’d known since primary. They’d become friends with Downey and Stevo in year seven. They did everything together. He said it was like losing a brother. They were so close.”
“So what happened to this Rudgey guy?”
Tears fell off her face.
“Take your time, Autumn,” He said, passing her a tissue.
“Thanks.” She replied, taking it off him, wiping her tears away.
“That better?”
“Yeah.”
“We don’t have to finish this today. If you prefer, we can do it another time.”
“I’d rather finish. If I don’t, I never will.”
“Sure, whenever you’re ready.”
She breathed in and out. “They found him hanging from his bedroom light. The police reckoned he’d taken something to ease the pain before he hung himself. Even though they couldn’t find any traces of drugs on him. They classed it as suicide for another person to forget.”
“You don’t seem to be convinced, Autumn.”
“He may have been down, but to hang himself, Nagh, he may have popped a few pills but hanging himself.”
“Maybe he thought it was the easiest way out.”
“So why did they all die?” she asked angrily.
‘“I can’t answer that, Autumn.”
The bell rang.
“You had best get to your next lesson.”
“Sure.” She said, pulling herself up.
“Keep your head held high, Autumn.”
She walked out of the room.
- Writer
