A Match for You

I popped a squat down on the black diamond bench. I dropped the red plastic jug at my feet and gently placed her leather bound journal next to me. I took this moment to bask. I stared across the bright green field. Everything about the field screams superiority and confidence. The precise white tape slices the field into yard lines. The tall silver field lights there to illuminate victory. The stiff bleachers that anticipate sitting the whole school. The obnoxiously sized score board ready to gloat about the home team. The gold goal posts flaunting the wealth and heavenly appeal of a field goal. But this little production isn’t resistant to what I will strike. It can’t fight what will carry brilliance and heat across the astroturf. A dragonfly flies by with haste. The black dots on its wing draw my eyes causing me to not see the actual wing. The insect looks partially invisible. Funny. Invisible pretty much sums up why I’m here.

My poor little sister was abandoned. This school didn’t care one bit about her welfare. The teachers and students are shameless. They just carried on after the incident like she was never there. Her legacy left to be deceased. I hear children in the distance. Nostalgic screams and squeals come from the elementary school down the road. Their voices float among the smoke that is starting to creep upon me. Melody was such a golden child. She excelled at school and won many painting competitions. But what do I know? Apparently our “star athlete" is much more important than my little girl. A girl who created the most wonderful things from her timid hands. A girl who was so kind.

This thought makes me dig my nails harder into the tips of my fingers. My left hand still has the little kitchen match I took from Melody’s desk. The heat of the flames becomes heavy and warm like a thick blanket keeping you warm in the winter nights, but I hope it is oppressive. Not for me, but for the imbeciles that inhabit this school. Students and teachers spill out of buildings. They gasp for air and cough. I bet Melody was gasping and coughing in the lab room she was left in. That unhinged psycho had turned on the gas in the science lab. I know it. I picked up the journal.

October 5, 2018

Yesterday, Crystal and Ethan broke up. Apparently, she pulled a freshman from a nearby college. Or maybe it was because Ethan was possessive and demanding. I also heard that he had a bad temper and he almost choked Crystal out. Who knows? Usually I don’t waste my energy on our school’s “celebrity couples”, but something weird happened on the bus today. I was in my normal seat on the bus. Ethan and Crystal go on my bus too, but obviously today they weren’t gonna sit next to each other. Amy was absent so my aisle seat was open. Crystal sat with her equally dull friend Debbie, but Ethan came up to me and asked if he could sit. Well, more like letting me know he was gonna sit. Him and all his little jock friends are so pompous. He noticed my copy of The Orient Express in my lap and asked about it. I was taken aback by his interest, so I hesitantly told him a bit about it. When my stop came Ethan said “See you tomorrow,” I blew it off because I doubt he will even remember talking to me by tomorrow.

I flipped through a few more entries. That slimy bum was talking to Melody periodically throughout the past two weeks. He asked her about her art and told her to come to his games.

 A sore pain ringed through my chest once again accompanied by the ever most frequent question that repeated in my head. Why didn’t she tell me about Ethan? We were always very close. Even after I moved out, we would call each other at least twice a week. Not once did I even hear about him from her. I looked back to the journal .

October 19, 2018

Ethan has still been talking to me. A couple days ago he asked for my number. I didn't want to be rude so I said yes. I’m still kind of suspicious of him. I feel like a rebound and a pretty low one because there are plenty of other popular girls at school. Honestly though I do like the attention. For once I can feel like those pretty trendy girls who are friends with everyone somehow. Everyone always says they are personalityless or attention seekers, but they are still validated. He is unfortunately charming. Anyway, he texted me to meet him in the science lab tomorrow before his game. I don’t know. He approached me in the hallway too to double check I was going. It feels wrong, but I just don’t know. I am curious what he wants.

“Noooooo!” I wail out. I have re-read this passage so many times. I thought it was enough proof for the principal and football coach, but they just brushed me off. The police brushed me off too. They concluded foul play, but they refused to implicate a real investigation on the monster that has taken my beloved from me. They didn’t even want to see the journal. Melody even kept Ethan a secret from Abby so she can’t testify. And of course Crystal won’t say anything. She probably is too scared to speak about him. I walked away with angry tears after each failed lead. Their ignorance has burned my sister and I, but I will burn them.

“Sarah?! What are you doing? Did you do this?” I turned to see Mrs. Yates, my old history teacher, coughing and stumbling towards me. I know what happened. This is what I have to do. I know we will be seen now. I smile as I hear the sirens wailing in the distance. I don’t run. I want them to know who did it and why. I stood and held her journal close to my heart.

“I do.”