Beautiful White Buildings

“I love you” the words ring through my ears. It doesn't sound right, coming from his mouth. Doesn't sound natural. The words sound hollow, emotionless. I'm not sure how to respond. I definitely don’t feel the same way, but I can't hurt him. 

“I can't,” I stutter. The rejection makes him cackle, a sound that sends shivers down my spine. He grabs my jaw and pulls me close, so close I can spell his breath. Beer and chips. All he probably ate today, makes me want to vomit. 

“I will NOT take no for an answer!” he snarls. He pulls his face even closer. Taunting me that any moment he can hurt me. Kill me. 

“GET AWAY FROM HER!” his voice booms through the old wooden walls. Sending Kaleb into shock for a moment. His head snaps back staring at Isaac, but Isaac keeps his glare. I admire him for his bravery, even though it could kill him. Anything can happen when you're in a locked room with a killer. 

The bell rings, signaling the start of class. I probably won't focus, too excited for the party tonight. Kelebs party. I haven't been to a party in so long, not because I don’t get invited, but because no one has been having any recently. I guess parents aren't trusting their kids to leave them alone for the weekend without trashing the house. I wouldn't trust them either. With all the stuff teens are doing nowadays, it's a miracle Kelebs parents are leaving for a few nights. I shut my locker, praying that my teachers will go easy on me today. Grade 11 is killing me. I hear people all around me saying how amazing these years should be, and I understand why they should be, but they aren't as fun as they seem. This year has been the worst. Stressed to the point where I can't think, anxiety attacks where I think life can't get any better. That is one of the reasons I'm even going to the party. With all my homework I need to complete, I think it will be good to relax and have fun for a night. When I step into my first class, I'm filled with dread as I see a new boy. He's tall with silky chocolate hair, and golden eyes that shine in the light. We lock eyes for a moment and I feel my hands start to sweat. I look away, staring at his shoes. Black dirty converse. Great. We have the same shoes. I scurry to my desk, hoping he doesn't sit beside me. I glance at him once more to take in his beauty. Again we make eye-contact. He must've been watching me the whole time. This time I kept my gaze, and he does the same. I wonder what he's thinking. “This girl is crazy” “why is she still looking at me” the bad thoughts keep coming. Now I have to look away or he'll think I like him. I fix my focus on his clothes. Simple but nice. Jeans and a white hoodie. 

Mr. Johnson begins, “I see some of you have met our new student, Isaac, you can sit beside Kasey,” 

“Damn it,” I mutter under my breath. Another distraction. I hate my teacher at this moment. Isaac walks over to the empty desk beside me. I stare at my desk, hoping he won't say anything to me. 

“Hi, I'm Isaac,” he whispers to me. 

I smile and turn to him, “I’m Kasey,” I whisper back and turn my attention to the teacher and roll my eyes. 

“Do you mind if I hang out with you today? I just don't really know anybody or where anything is,” he continues talking. The sudden urge to tell him to shut up is eating away at my brain. It takes all of me not to say that. 

“Yeah sure,” I say, not looking at him. 

“Thanks,” his final words, hopefully getting the hint I can't, and don't want to talk to him. He plops his backpack in between us and gets his books out. 

The class went by so slowly I thought I would die in there. As I get up to go to my next class, Isaac follows and I drop my shoulders, remembering he has to stay with me all day. As we walk to math class, he keeps small talk going. Then he says something that catches my ear, he wants to live in Greece.

“I've always wanted to go to Greece,” I say. It's gorgeous there, waters clearer than day, beautiful white buildings that the country is filled with. 

“Me too,” he replies, “rugged mountains, deep green forests, and bright blue lakes, it's always been a dream of mine to live there someday,”

The rest of the walk was mostly silent. Not awkward, but thinking about the amazing places in the world. Here and there we would say a vacation we want to go on, and everytime, we both agreed. We have a lot in common, I realize when we get to the second class of the day. Maybe we would be good friends, I think. 

“KASEY!” Kaleb cheers when we enter the room. He has his arms wide open and I walk over and fill them. 

I pull away first, starting to talk to him about the party. I hear footsteps behind me, probably Isaac, but continue. Keleb’s eyes go from mine to Isaacs. He goes tense and pulls me closer. If looks could kill, Isaac would be dead in an instant. I roll my eyes once again. “Hello? Are you even listening?” I say, annoyed. But still nothing. I huff and look behind me. Isaac is staring back at Keleb. He is the only person I know that would do that. No one dares to look Keleb wrong. He's got muscles and is tall, but is so kind, yet everyone is still scared of him. 

The whole day consisted of competition between the two of them. With everything. From fun math games to gym class sprints. I've never seen Keleb this way, it almost panicked me. But the tension never died. 

“What’s your deal?” Isaac says to Keleb after the last bell. Keleb just gives him a death stare, hinting that if he speaks again, something bad will happen. 

“Isaac, stop, it's fine,” I try to calm him down.

“No, no it's not fine Mr. Tough Guy over here thinks he can boss everyone around, thinks he's better than the rest of us,” he continues, but Keleb doesn't make a move. He starts to get annoyed, pushing Keleb in the arm. Keleb starts to walk away, not daring to start a fight.   

“You're just jealous because Kasey might like me more than you,” Isaac yells. 

“Someone’s about to get hurt,” I think to myself. 

That's when it happens. Keleb turns around in a blink of an eye and pulls his arms back, collecting all his strength. With one big push, he knocks Isaac off he feets, sending him to the ground. A few bones crack, he'll probably be bruised for a few weeks, nothing big. He rolls onto his side and groans.  And again, Keleb tries to walk away, but can't. A huge crowd has gathered all around the two boys fighting over a girl. Over me. I don't know what to do. To avoid all of this, I run. Away from the boys, away from the problems, away from reality. 

I run into the last stall of the bathroom. Not to cry, but to think. I never understood the girls that have mental breakdowns in the bathrooms, it’s just a cry of attention to me. 

All these thoughts are running through my head. About Isaac and Keleb. About later at the party. About school. “No,” I think to myself. I will not focus on school right now. First, I need to figure out my boy problem. Nothing like this has ever happened to me, nothing this big. Keleb has always been protective of me, but not like this. I've never even seen him punch someone. It hurts and my throat starts to get ight. The kind of feeling that makes you think if you let one tear out, a whole waterfall will stream out of your eyes. I'm holding back tears, and I feel this is the strongest thing I've ever done. I can just make out light footsteps coming into the bathroom and I'm caught off guard. One tear slips, and now my face is soaked. My nose is hot and my head pounds. I'm holding my head in my hands, trying not to make a sound. I bend down, no one was in here, my mind is playing tricks on me. 

I rub my hands through my greasy hair and realize I need to get home and shower before the party, if it's still on. 

I slam the bathroom door as I walk out and hope that everyone went home. Of course, not everyone did. It's only been about ten minutes, which I thought was about thirty. Everyone stares at me. I'm the girl who two boys just fought over, and ran away. My face goes hot and I try to shield it from everyone eyeing me. All these kids have a staring problem. I just want to scream it to them.  I continue walking, and soon start running. When I get outside, Isaac is waiting in his car for me. A small smile forms on my face. I rushed over to him. “I didn't know you had a car!'' I sound a little too excited. 

“Yeah, I had to pay with my own savings though,” he says. His car is a pearl-white ford. The front two windows rolled down, but the rest are tinted dark. The handles are smooth and shiny as I open them. 

“Why did you wait for me?” I ask him after several moments of silence. 

“I couldn't let you walk home, plus, you can't be late for the party,” he shrugs.

“How'd you-”

“Keleb mentioned it after you ran off, he asked if you were taking me,”

“Oh,” I don't know if I should invite him or not. “You can come if you want, I'm sure Kaleb won't even realize with all the other people coming,” I'm trying to make him feel welcomed and included but I'm not sure if I want him to come. If Isaac comes, another fight might break out, and I can't take another fight. 

“I'll text you tonight if I'm going, and I'll drive you,” he starts to drive. 

After about ten minutes of telling him where to go, we finally arrived at my house. 

“Thank you so much again,” I said once again, when I got out of the car. He smiles and nods.

I watch as he drives off, and a little bit of me hopes he will come. 

Three hours later, I'm showered, dressed, and hair is almost done, not that anyone will see it. I admire myself in the mirror. Sandy blonde hair, deep blue eyes, and rosy cheeks. My gaze goes from the mirror, down to a small card. The party invitation. I read it once more, to kill time. 

“Dear Kasey, 

Come to my halloween party on October 30. Come between 7pm and 8pm. Hope to see you! Btw, bring lots of candy. I know that sounds stupid, but I’m hungry. 

P.s. Everyone is wearing the costume from “Scream” so don't ruin the vibe. 

Love: the best, the amazing, Keleb.”

I laugh every time at his letter. He's so full of himself, it's funny. My phone buzzes, it's Isaac. 

“I've decided to come, I'll pick you up at 7:15. And I have the costume you talked about. See you then, bye.”

It's seven. I smirk. So he is coming.

Fifteen minutes later, I'm driving to the party with Isaac. We are both wearing the same costume so even if Keleb doesn't want Isaac there, he won't know it's him. 

When we arrive, we can hear the heavy beats playing inside. About ten people are chilling outside, talking to each other with solo cups. I will not drink. It's a promise I'm making to myself. Something always goes bad when I drink… 

I get out first, telling Isaac to wait until I tell Keleb I’m here so I'm not rude, then I'll go back to Isaac and we'll have a good time. As I get closer to the door, the stench of beer gets stronger. I cover my nose and roll my eyes. I open the door, and the music volume doubles. There are about 50 people, all dancing, probably drunk. Everyone looks the same and soon, I feel uncomfortable. I asked a few people if they've seen Keleb anywhere, and after just under ten minutes, I've found him.

“Hey Kaleb! It's Kasey,” I yell over the loud music, running over to him. He turns around, motioning for a hug. I wrap my arms around his waist, he's always been a lot taller than me. 

“Hey Kasey, how long have you been here for?” his head is turning in different directions, looking for something. Or someone. 

“Only a few minutes. I'm just going to go say hi to a few people,'' I wave and turn to walk away. 

A few minutes later, me and Isaac are together, talking about school. I definitely don't want to bring up the fight, so I start to change the conversation to anything but Keleb. 

“Here's a drink,” someone shoves two drinks into me and isaac. We both smell them, obviously, to make sure it's only water or juice. 

“We're good,” I reassure him, and we both take large sips. It's juice, but it's sour, and it's good. Sooner than we know it, we are getting second cups of it. 

“Let's dance,” Issac says, pulling me closer to the speakers. 

We dance for a few minutes before I start to get dizzy. My head is pounding and I feel really heavy all of a sudden. My legs go weak and I can tell Isaac feels the same way. The room starts to spin and now everything is blurred together. Now I'm on the ground, coughing up something. I try to talk, but nothing comes out. No one has seemed to notice the two people lying on the floor, half conscious. Then I hear it. Two loud bangs. Everyone starts to scream, but me and Isaac can't. My hands go cold and sweaty, and my heart drops. “I'm going to die here” thoughts keep coming through my head. I start to drift off, and I'm not sure if I'm passing out, or if I got shot and is dying. Either way, I'm terrified. 

I open my eyes, not sure where I am or how I got here. It's pitch black, and my eyes are still adjusting to the darkness. Soon I can make out a small room, made of wood. The floor, cold concrete, makes me shiver. I lift my arms, only to realize they are tied. So are my legs and my mouth. I try to scream, but no one can hear it. Somewhere in the room, water is dripping. And even though I'm probably about to die, the silence and that noise, “drip drip drip”, annoys me. I need to get out of here. That's all I can think about. The door opens and light floods in. I take this chance to get a better view of the room. It's a shed. Made of light brown stained wood. I'm right beside a workbench, on top of it, are tools and garbage. There are couches on the far corner, and the lights are broken, dangling from the ceiling. There are two shattered windows, boarded up by decaying wood that's held up by loose nails. And Isaac. He's in here too. Tied up, staring back at me. Someone steps in between us. Still wearing their mask. They walk over to Isaac first, pulling the tie off his mouth. He spits at the unknown kidnapper, making him gag. Isaac gets a punch in the face for that one, but it's not hard. Then he comes over to me, untying me. 

“Who are you?” I scream in his face. He slowly takes off his mask. When it's fully off, my mouth hangs open. Sweat drips off my face, dropping into my mouth onto my dry tongue. I would recognize that face anywhere. Those baby-blue eyes and dirty blonde locks. 

“Keleb,” the only word I can spit out. 

Now he's telling me he loves me, but I don't love him, I could never feel that way about him. 

“But you love him,” he yells in my face. He gets up and marches over to Issac. Before I can deny it, he holds a gun to his head. My heart drops and my vision is now blurred by tears. I can't say anything, I keep choking on my words. 

“NO!” I finally shouted out. Isaac’s face is white and his eyes wide. If he says anything, he'll get shot. Keleb looks annoyed, as if this is a game he just lost. 

“There is no point in denying it,” when it will end the same way either way… he pulls the trigger and Isaac collapses. I shriek in horror as Isaac bleeds out in front of me.

“YOU MONSTER!” I wail. I can't believe my eyes. I feel like I'm starting to pass out again. 

“Not again,” Keleb says, annoyed. He points the gun at me now. Even if I die tonight, no one will ever know it was Keleb, and for that, I hate myself for not seeing the red flags today at school. 

“NO, NO, NO! Please don't!” I plead and lift my arms, admitting defeat. He puts his finger on the trigger, I close my eyes,  and he pulls it. 

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Chloe Andrews.