'Gone'

“Start your story with an ending and work backward toward the beginning"

*****Suicide Warning*****

 It had been two, nearly three weeks since Annalisa had heard from Tamara. Did I do something wrong? Did she move without informing me, and then block my number to get a fresh start at her new school? Maybe she forgot about me? Annalisa questions herself silently, getting worked up. Tamara had been bullied ever since a young age because of her vitiligo skin and bright red locks, which is why Annalisa had wanted to become friends with her. Annalisa had always loved the way Tamra appeared, her looks made Annalisa feel special. Though being friends with Tamra caused Annalisa to get teased along with her friend. She wouldn’t be surprised if Tamara blocked her to start fresh, but Annalisa didn’t think that was the case. They’d been best friends for as long as either of them could remember, and Annalisa always stood up to Tamara’s tormentors, so none of this added up. Annalisa starts to go over all the things Tamara's tormentors had said in the weeks before Tamera disappeared, “Go kill yourself” Matt the captain of the high school football team said. Annalisa shakes her head, no Tamera wouldn't have. Annalisa starts to worry that Tamara may have gotten kidnapped … or worse. Annalisa decides to confront her mother, Miss Eastbourne, about the situation, surprised that she hadn’t already questioned Annalisa about her friend’s sudden disappearance, since they usually walked home together and hadn’t been for weeks on-edge. Annalisa was practically in tears fearing for her friend’s wellbeing as she told her mother all that had happened within these three weeks. When she had finished, Miss Eastbourne replied dolefully with,  “Oh, honey, you’re forgetting again … I’m sorry, but Tamara committed suicide ten years ago.”

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 Annalisa slowly walked off the bus, her upper body squirming as she adjusted her heavy backpack’s leather straps. She stood there for a moment, staring in disgust at the large, rusted front gates of her high school, the last place she’d ever choose to visit. She began to pick up the pace yet again and stared at her poorly tied shoelaces all the way to the entrance. She began to look around, wondering where Tamara was. This is where we always meet before school, surely she wouldn’t forget. Annalisa adjusted her weight from one foot to another, biting the dry skin from her chapped lips as she waited for Tamara, only leaving to her first period class once the bell had rung. She cast a longing glance back to where Tamara should have been, wondering if she was going to end up missing school that day. As she readjusted her head to look forwards again, she saw a decent sized spider only two inches away from the tip of her nose hanging from the doorframe of her first period class. She let out a loud gasp, stumbling backwards a few feet until her shoelaces came undone. She stumbled on her own feet and fell backwards, slamming against the terracotta-colored wall. The whole class glanced over, some genuinely concerned if Annalisa had injured herself, some trying their hardest not to laugh, and the rest cackling like hyenas so loudly that it echoed down the hall to the other classrooms. Mister Ensign grabbed a paperback book and smacked the spider against the wall, not taking his eyes off of Annalisa who was still trying to regain her breath. The deceased spider left a dark, decent sized smear on the wall that Mister Ensign didn’t bother to wipe off as he crouched in front of Annalisa to meet her level and asked, “Do you need a nurses pass?” Annalisa shook her head and stood up, her back still sore and chafed as she walked over to her seat. She looked around the room for Tamara, yet she still was nowhere to be found. She shrugged and sat down, aware of all the glances being cast at her. She covered her bright red face as the teacher got back to his desk and stated, “Hopefully there will be no other distractions during today’s lesson.”

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 Annalisa stretched her arm as far as she could to answer the phone vibrating above her dresser. She grabbed it, knocking the television remote down in the process, and clicked the vibrant green button on the dim-lit screen.  “Hey, Tamara!” Annalisa greeted her friend excitedly, expecting a reply back, though all she received was Tamara’s heavy breathing.  “Jaedyn?” Annalisa questioned, assuming that Tamara’s younger brother, Jaedyn, was just messing with her again. “Can you please give the phone back to your sister?”  Annalisa then heard violent coughing and hacking, sounding as if the person on the other end of the phone was struggling to breathe, and decided to hang up the phone, shuddering. She then heard a floorboard creek to her right and the sound of something thudding against her bedroom hardwood as she slowly turned to see Tamara’s feet dangling above a fallen, birch footstool. Annalisa steadily lifted her head to look at Tamara’s face. The soul had completely left her eyes, her neck red and chaffed from the frayed rope that had been supporting her weight from the ceiling. Annalisa brought her hands to her mouth and gaped in horror at her friend who was hanging like a chandelier in a dining hall. Annalisa screams for her mother, but is only answered with Tamera's feet thudding against Annalisa’s bedroom hardwood in the wind. She jerked up from her pillow and began to hyperventilate as the sound of her loud, beeping alarm clock awoke her. She sighed in relief as she muttered, “Just a nightmare…” She was still out of breath and in shock as she pulled the sheets off of her olive legs and headed over towards the mirror. She examined her matted, frizzy hair as she grabbed a comb and began to unknot the mess. Annalisa sighed and stated while yawning, “I hate Mondays.”