When I wake up the next day, I feel numb. Carved out.
Hailey’s yells still echo in my ears.
“What the f**k, Alex?! Why are you treating her like this, huh?! Do you know how long she looked for you? She was one of the only people who never stopped thinking you were alive! She even went searching in the forest for you! But this is how you treat her when you come back?! f**k you!”
She’d screamed it at lunchtime, skipping part of her class to help comfort me since her lunch period hadn’t started yet. I was sitting alone at the table Alex and I used to share with each other, but I barely ate anything. As we’d left, we passed by Alex and Rita, returning from eating lunch somewhere else.
He’d ignored both of us when she tried to greet him. After the third time getting brushed off, and Hailey
