Haunted

“Please leave me alone,” you beg you stalker with a sigh as you go throw out your lunch

”One date is all I’m asking,” he begs, “please.”

”I said no,” you repeat, “I’m not interested in you that way.”

”What does HE have that I don’t?” Your stalker grumbles in anger

“…” you remain quiet, giving your stalker a dull & tired look

”You’ll regret this,” your stalker tells you, “you’ll regret rejecting me, this was your LAST chance to make the RIGHT choice and be with the RIGHT match.”

With that your stalker storms off brooding back to his lunch table, of which is just behind the one you chose to sit at. You groan internally, your stalker just knew how to keep your loitering bad feelings brewing. You try to shake off growing negative feelings as you leave the cafeteria & head for your locker. As usual, your stalker immediately follows after you from a distance they believe keeps them unnoticed by you. You make a couple of turns in the halls until you reach your locker & he seems to slow down or wait until you’ve managed to open your locker.

You peek around your top locker door, your stalker seems to have stopped following you & gone into a nearby classroom. You let out a heavy sigh that you weren’t aware you’d been holding in. Your hand’s grip on your locker door is iron clad as you close your eyes & try to steady your nerves. Your free hand listens to your racing heart till it calms & you look about the empty halls. After noting where all the cameras are you’re quick to pop some meds from your locker before closing the door like lightning.

You jump slightly with the clearing of someone’s throat & are swift to step out of the way of their locker that’s below yours. You zone out as you wait for them, as you realize you’ve forgotten to grab your books for next period. You hand subconsciously goes to your head in pain as the bell rings & students flood the halls once more. You’re paranoia kicks in again as your crush of six years comes into your line of sight, along with his current significant other. They now block your locker as his is to the top left of your & the person with the locker below you, now stands against the wall next to you across from the lockers.

”He’s still following you?”

”I’m gonna tell him today,” you counter, ignoring their question

“He’s with-“

”I don’t care,” you cut them off, “graduation is next month, this could be my last chance.”

Gunshots go off in an unseen area just as you open your mouth to reply & all goes in slowly motion for you. Frantic students stir the halls in a frenzy to find a place of safety as an announcement of lockdown comes over the intercom. The last things you hear after that are your bottom locker neighbor-your friend, scream & the gunfire. The last things you see & do are run to shield you crush from the gunmen-your stalker, firing the gun. The last thing you feel is your crush catching you & slowly lowering you to the floor.

You smile at your crush as your sight blurs, your hearing fades to deaf & your body grows numb & cold. You smile at this shocked & panicked expression; without hesitation or fear, you saved him, just as he once saved you from being bullied. Your body now limp in his arms, your best friend now scream/crying & your stalker having freaked out, dropped the gun & took off running. Your body now lifeless, you spirit lingers on-watching everything further, as if stuck & being forced to do so. Your stalker is quick to be detained, the few injured are swift to be taken to the hospital & all the rest are fast to be evacuated from the building as police do a thorough sweep of the school for anymore victims, stragglers or firearms.

You watch as your crush leaves your dead both & hysterical best friend, struggling to walk straight-completely shaken. You see your best friend fight & refusing to leave their place next to you deceased form & having to be forcibly removed by police. You witness parents outside: arriving, rushing to find & hug their teenager, while you’re taken away covered by a white sheet on a gurney. You observe your stalker’s foster parents show up for him, looking as angered & filled with the same hatred that always seemed to give off. You never hated your stalker, just pitied him & his home life; he mistook your pity & kindness for MUCH more.

Your parents never show, they passed two years before; you emancipated yourself from the same foster parents as your stalker when you turned seventeen a year ago. You go to hug your best friend as she falls to her knees crying, her parents never came either. You hug her with a smile as tears come to your eyes as well; you had had a bad feel for a long while now that something was wrong & going to happen. Your smile dims a bit as you think about how glad you are for prematurely preparing a will. Your smile completely disappears as you see the way your crush is eyeing your best friend, realize his feelings for them & that you were blind to their feelings for him this whole time as well.

”Tell him how you feel,” you whisper into your friend’s ear

Shocked, their crying seems to cease & head seems to snap upward as they look around confused. Had they actually been able to hear your words to them; had they felt your hug perhaps or sensed their presence? Your friend’s red, puffy eyes meet your gaze…

”W-“

”Tell him how you feel,” you repeat with a warm smile

”…” they stare at you for a moment, completely stunned, “I double pinky best friend promise.”

“…” you smile even more as you reach out both your pinkies to make the promise-only for her hands to go straight through your, but you keep smiling & say as you start to depart from life, “tell him for the both of us…”