Chapter Four

Only two people called me Ria. Mikey and Dillon. Dillon was like another brother to me. He was Mikey’s best friend who was at our house more than his own. Me and him never talked much, so I didn’t really know him too well. I called him my older brother and he called me his little sister, but that was only because how close he was to Mikey.

Three years ago when Mikey had first started going to this school they had gotten really close. They were almost all ways causing trouble in class. Those two together were a teacher’s worst nightmare. Eventually the Principal had switched tehm to different classes so no teacher had to deal with them both at the same time. He could separate them in classes but he couldn’t separate them in lunch or after school or on weekends.


I watched motionless as Dillon sprinted across the hall over to me. Once beside me he wrapped his arms around me. He wasn’t crying at the moment, but I could tell he had been. Now I knew something was up. The three years I had known Dillon I had never seen him cry. He had never hugged me this tight either.

“I can’t believe this happened…” His voice was soft and gravelly, like he was choking back tears.

Guilt swelled inside of me. I had done something so bad that it made Dillon cry. I needed to apologize. Even if I hadn’t found out what I had done, I needed to apologize for whatever it was. Maybe Mikey wasn’t pissed off, maybe he was crying too…

“Dillon, I’m so sorry. I don’t know what I did, but I’m so sorry I did it.” Dillon stopped hugging me. He grabbed my shoulders and shook me a couple times. He was glaring at me. I could tell he was really trying not to cry.

“You didn’t do anything. This is not your fault. Mikey-If anyone is to blame it’s me, I should have noticed, I should have done something to stop it. Don’t blame yourself.” Then he broke down.

The door to the school entered and two people slipped in. I stared at them. They were too busy scanning the school to notice me. One was a lady. And one was a man.

The lady had a calm expression on her face. She had blue eyes, short brown hair that was pulled back except one thin strand, thin eyebrows, a pointy nose, and thin lips. She was overall very thin and pale. She looked like a very soft and kind woman. If she wanted to she probably had a lot of strength she could unleash.

The man was different. He was tall, tanned, and very bulky. He had a round face, thick dark eyebrows, short fuzzy dark hair, a round nose, and rosy cheeks. Right now he seemed very annoyed. He opened his mouth and muttered something. I strained my ears trying to hear.

“I hate suicide cases, always the same. People crying today but tomorrow they’ll be off partying. Ugh. Especially in high school.”

The lady glared at him. Then glanced at me, noticing I was watching. Dillon wasn’t paying much attention. He was trying to recover. She nudged the man. They turned and started walking towards us. The lady was now wearing a very polite, sympathetic face. The man appeared to be trying the same expression. With his round features and bushy eyebrows it wasn’t working.

“Hello.” The lady said stepping forward, her voice sounded almost silky.

“I was wondering if you two could tell me where I could find a Maria Vessey.”

Chapter Three

“Yes?” I couldn’t take it anymore, I needed to know what I did.

He didn’t say anything. He took a deep breath and then started bawling. I blinked. What did I do?

“I’m sorry, I can’t do this.” He said in between his sobs.

He waved his hand and gestured for me to get out. I stood up and walked out of the room, still confused. Miss Wilson looked at me. She was no longer crying. Her eyes were red and swollen though.

“Sit down. I’m calling the cops.” She said in barely a whisper.

I felt my eyes widen. What? Cops? How could I do something that bad without even knowing I did it? Mikey was really going to kill me. I sat down in a wooden chair which was in the corner of the room. I watched in slight horror as Miss Wilson picked up her phone and dialed a number.

“Go sit in the front of the school.”

I didn’t say anything. I didn’t know what to say. I was really, really confused now. If I was some kind of criminal why were they trusting me to go to the front of the school by myself unsupervised? I mean, of course I would do as I was told. But this whole thing was absolutely confusing.

I exited the office and started walking in the direction of the stairs. I needed to go through a couple of hallways then I’d be at a set of stairs. I had to go down two flights to reach ground level. Then I’d go through a couple more hallways. And I’d reach the school’s front doors.

This would be simple. I was the only one out of class. The hallways were empty except me. Footsteps started from behind me. I turned around. A girl launched herself on to me. I fell. She was crying. Why was everyone crying today? I tried to stand up. I couldn’t her arms were locked around me.

After a good five minutes the girl finally released me. I stood up and helped her up. It took me a minute to recognize her. Blonde hair. Brown eyes. Tall. Ghost white face. Swollen red eye lids. Athletic build. She was Mikey’s ex. They broke up like six months ago. She pulled me into a gigantic hug, she was sobbing unevenly.

Her name was Laura, Linda, Lizzy or some L name like that. I couldn’t keep track of all their names. Like I said before, Mikey loves girls and girls love him. Recently he had been enjoying the single life. He could flirt, hug, and hang out with whoever he wanted without having to worry about a jealous girlfriend.

“I… Am… So… Sorry.” L girl sobbed out dramatically.

You should be. You’re wrinkling my clothes and getting me wet. And I don’t know, nor do I care why. I tried to pull away. I couldn’t. This girl was strong.

“If… You need… Anything… I… Am… So here… For… You… Girl.”

I nodded my head like she was making perfect sense. This girl was insane. No wonder Mikey had broken up with her.

“I have somewhere I need to be…” I said quietly.

She let go and nodded her head. I studied her for a few seconds. Black mascara and eyeliner had mixed in with her tears. Her purple eye shadow was smeared too. Normally I guess she’d be pretty. But with running makeup and puffy eyes, well, she looked sort of pathetic.

“Hang in there girl.” She choked out, and if she said anything after that I certainly couldn’t understand her.

I turned around and started walking away. Fast. I was bothered by my cold behavior to her when she was crying like that. But I was bothered even more that she tried to make me her human tissue. I’d be surprised if my clothes weren’t stained with her makeup. Mikey dated a loon and I’m the one who gets to suffer.

I was now heading down the flight of stairs that would take me to ground level. I couldn’t wait to be out of this stupid building. Senior classes started and ended at different times than everyone else, so I’ve seen a couple of them out in the hall way. When any of the girls see me they either stare at me or burst into tears. The guys just glare at me or look away. What did I do? With the way everyone was acting you’d think I killed someone!

There was the door. Finally I could find the cops and stop this stupid guessing game with myself. Even getting harsh stares and having people burst into tears by just looking at you was worse than a lecture and punishment from Mikey. I sighed. Maybe I should call him, was it possible he didn’t know yet?

I pushed on the door ready to face whatever cops were on the other side. I hope they didn’t tackle me or pepper spray my eyes. Whenever they did that to someone on TV it looked like it hurt and it usually messed up the criminal’s clothes. I really wasn’t looking forward to pain or ruined clothes.

“RIA!” I spun around.

Chapter Two

Mikey said that day was the worst day of his life, he said he thought I was dead. He quit drugs that night. My mother was put into jail for a long time, and Mikey filed a restraining order against her for both of us. So once she does come out, she can’t come anywhere near us. Sometimes he smokes and occasionally he’ll go out to a party and have a few beers, but he always comes home.

I love Mikey and he loves me, he’s all I have left and I’m all he has. Even for siblings we look a lot alike. We share the same dark curly hair, thin body type, tan skin, and face features like nose, eye shape, head shape, and ears but other than that we probably couldn’t be more different. He has green eyes always twinkling, while I ended up with dull brown ones. His body is sort of like a muscular square, and mine is hourglass like.

Our personalities are a lot different too. He is extremely outgoing, loud, happy, loving, and never without his amazing ‘brighten the world’ smile. I’m on the shyer and quieter side which can make me appear snobbish and unhappy, while really on the inside I am smiling and chatting away. Mikey loves girls and they love him. I have somewhat of an interest in boys, but most of it just goes on in my mind, and as far as I can tell the boys at my school haven’t given me a second glance.

Right now we’re both making extremely good grades. If Mikey keeps his grades up, which he will, he’s going to graduate with a 4.0 GPA in December. We’re currently living in a small two room apartment building which we’re able to pay for with money we get from the government. The money he makes from his job at Publix buys our groceries, clothes, and other items we need for survival.


My thoughts stopped and I snapped back into reality as I realized I was standing outside the office’s door. I took a deep breath and once again searched my mind for anything I had done wrong. Nothing. My fingers tips gently tapped on the office door. No answer. I twisted the doorknob and walked in.

I stared at Miss Wilson. She was sobbing. Usually when I entered she smiled brightly revealing her perfect teeth and greeted me warmly. Last year Mikey had attended this school and had become one of her favorite students, so it was only natural for her to like me, his little sister.

Mrs. Wilson looked up at me and looked back down. She started sobbing harder. I wanted to know what was wrong, but I was afraid to upset her further. So I didn’t say anything at all. I just went straight into the principal’s office.

I had been inside this office once or twice before. Never for punishment, I was usually running an errand for one of my teachers. The principal liked me. On the first day of school he stared me down. I guess he assumed I was going to be a miniature Mikey but once he discovered my perfect attendance and near perfect grades he liked me.

Secretly I think he liked my brother a lot too. He just didn’t want to admit it because of all the trouble Mikey caused. But if anyone on the school staff knew Mikey well, it’d definitely be the principal. Last year almost every day he had come home with a different colored slips requiring a parent’s signature. Mom had been drunk or asleep, so he forged her choppy signature.

The principal likes my brother now, he doesn’t even have to pretend he doesn’t. A couple of weeks ago Mikey took Miss Wilson and the principle out to eat, as an apology and a thank you dinner. It wasn’t a fancy restaurant or anything, but I think that meal meant the world to them. Guess bad students don’t usually straighten out as well as Mikey has.


Other times I had been in the office it was lit up. Pictures of the principle with his favorite old students and teachers filled one wall. The last time I had been here I found Mikey’s picture on that wall. Usually I was greeted by a smile. I was not expecting the face of unbelievable anger he sent in my direction.

“Sit.” He commanded.

I sat down in terribly uncomfortable plastic chair. He just stared at me. I stared at the plaque on his desk, Richard Alverez. He sighed. I looked up and met his gaze, I tried to read it. Anger, confusion, maybe a little sadness? Whatever I had done, Mikey was going to be pissed off. Not angry, pissed off. Goodbye internet, goodbye phone, and hello boredom.

Chapter One

“Maria Vessey, please report to the office.” All eyes went on me. I hated attention. What I hated even more was getting in trouble. I was obviously in big trouble if I was being called to the office through the loud speaker. I soundlessly stood up from my desk and quietly pushed my chair in and then began walking towards the teacher’s front desk.

Several of the students ooed and awed mocking me.
Someone in the back of the classroom mumbled, “About time.”
Several other students nodded in agreement.

Mr. Burns, my teacher quickly scribbled a hall pass for me. He looked confused. I silently took the paper and continued my walk towards the classroom’s exit. Every one of my classmate’s wore the same expression of curiosity. A note passed between two of my grade’s biggest gossipers, Skye Lipton and Rachel Jacobs.

Skye Lipton was the author of note; I recognized her large cursive handwriting and the color of her light purple pen. “Wat do u think Miss Goody Good got herself in2?” I purposely dropped a nickel, to stall so I could see Rachel Jacob’s response. No one in class had ever paid much attention to me. Now all of a sudden I was Tuesday morning’s English gossip?

I stopped to pick up my nickel. While I was near the ground I realized my shoelace was slightly loose. I reached down to untie it so I could retie it into a tighter knot. Everyone was still staring at me. Mr. Burns did not look pleased that I was still inside his classroom. I slowly stood up, and glanced down the note, it had traveled back to Skye Lipton. "Dunno must’ve been pretty bad tho. She’s real pale ‘n she is totally stalling."

"W.E. Omg! Look, Brent is totally eyeing Carol up and he’s still dating Linda!"

I guess I wasn’t going to be the gossip of Tuesday morning’s English class after all. Oh well. I quickly walked out of the classroom and into the empty hall. Silence was everywhere. I sighed. What had I done that was so wrong? I was following the dress code; well our school didn’t really have a dress code, just lengths for how long or how high every piece of clothing had to be and what certain logos and clothing brands weren’t allowed in school. I was following it, I always did.

Maybe I was going to win an award? I couldn’t think of anything I had done to win one. The school staff wouldn’t pull me out of class and interrupt everyone’s morning just to tell me I won some stupid award anyway. So I had to of done something wrong. But what could I have possibly done?

Like Skye Lipton had written, I was sort of the ‘Goody good’ of my grade. By the end of the first day of school I had the rules for every classroom memorized, word for word. As well as all the rules for the school. Whenever there is a test, I am usually prepared for it. I’m not perfect though. Every now and then I get a few B’s. And I really, really struggle in my math class. But other than that I would say I am a pretty good student.

I don’t do drugs, smoke, or drink. Never have. No one has ever asked me to. I guess they automatically assume I would inform the principal of their illegal activities. To be truthful, I probably would. It would be for the best though, that stuff really messes with you up.

I know because both my parents were involved in it. I don’t remember much of my father, he left when I was two, but from what my brother has told me my father was pretty bad. After my father left, my mother started getting abusive. For a long time she was never able to hurt me, Mikey would never let her.

Well, last year Mikey got involved with the wrong kind of people and started doing all that crap too. One night he didn’t come home. My mother was drunk. She threw beer bottles, furniture, glass plates, and whatever else she could pick up at me. She was screaming some crazy stuff. She even blamed me for my father leaving. When Mikey finally did come home he found me on the floor, bleeding.

Prologue

No letter. No note. No reason. Just the numb realization that you’re gone and never coming back. Earlier everything seemed so normal. You seemed so happy. Now your body is limp and lifeless. Just lying there. Your eyes forever are closed and your lips turned downward into a frown for all eternity. How am I supposed to live without you? You were the only thing I had left. And now you’re gone. Forever.

My First Novel

Several months ago I began working on my first ever novel. Shortly after I began I stopped because I had run out of muse to write. I'm hoping that if I post it on here and get feedback from people I can continue and evetually finish it.

I am going to ask you to be brutally honest about what you like and do not like. If any part of my story is unoriginal or unrealistic please let me know so I can change it or edit it more to your liking. I warn you it's not very good and I need true and honest opinions!

Thank you.