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Don't you just love long car rides? I do, especially when it's quiet and dark and you don't have to worry about anything. You can just sit there, stare out the window, and think and not have to stress about anything. You just feel great. Or at least, that's how it is in my opinion. Although, in this case, it was a long bus ride. We were coming back from an out of district school and by the point in the story I'm starting at, it was around 9:30 at night, so nearly everyone was asleep. If not asleep, they were almost asleep, listening to an iPod or texting. Me? I was just staring out the window. I wasn't staring at anything specific, of course, but thinking. Thinking takes up a lot of my time, considering I think a lot because I guess I just have so much to think about. Anyway though, we're on the bus and I'm completely zoned out from the rest of the world, until my best friend stops talking to another friend and decides to lie on my shoulder and just lay her arm completely across my stomach. That's when I came back from my thinking state, and looked down at her. She looked back up, smiled then looked back down, obviously trying to go to sleep. Well, while she's in this position, my arm is in a bit of an awkward position, and I had no where else to put it but around her. So, that's what I did. She moved a little closer, and I couldn't help but smile, while going back into my state of thought, but this time, thinking about how incredibly happy I was at that very moment; feeling like nothing in the world could go wrong and everything felt right.

We were on the bus for about another 20 minutes, and by that time, the amazing girl next to me had, of course, fallen asleep. I didn't mind, of course. What bothered me was the point where we got back to our school and we had to get up. We stood up, attempted to put the windows on the bus up but left them open because they were stuck, then walked off the bus. After her ride got their, we gave a hug goodbye, and she walked away. At this point, I was simply waiting for the dream to end. For me to wake up. I never did, so to my extreme happiness, that must have meant it was real. I don't think I had ever been happier in my life.

So here's an update. The girl I sat by on the bus is, obviously, my best friend. We'd been close friends for a few months. Also, this girl was the first person I had ever liked. I liked her more than I could've ever imagined. Although, I couldn't figure out what about her I liked so much. It's just everything. However, I am sure that I fell for her when I saw a totally new side to her. A side different than the one she shows in public and at school, the one always making jokes and spazzing out and just altogether hilarious. The side of her I fell for is beyond description, but this is the side I so dearly loved about her. Every other reason to liking her to this level is just follow up reasons.

So, only minutes after this girl left, my ride came. My mother pulled up in front of me and beckoned me to the car. I jumped in, knowing this happy feeling was long gone. This happy feeling I so much enjoyed was instantly replaced by anger, sadness, loneliness, fear, annoyance, and hate. The whole ride home, we said nothing. Once we pulled into the driveway, she raced from the car and back into the house before I was even unbuckled. By the time I got to the door, I heard yelling again. I sighed, turned the knob, and walked in. There in the family room were my mom and dad, faces red with anger and rage, and my sister, face covered in tears and shaking from anger. I had gotten used to this, but was still somewhat annoyed that my parents still fought with my sister, even though every time this happened, they lost. They might think they win, but they never do. Every time a fight occurs, they are easily out-smarted by the 16 year old junior that is my sister. Tonight, the fight was over the fact my sister hated soccer and wanted to quit the class. I think I had come in toward the end, because as I walked in, my sister was standing up and making her way toward the stairs and up her room. As my parents yelled from the bottom of the stairs, I made my way into the kitchen to get a Dr. Pepper, and then walked over to the stairs, walked around my parents and also headed to my room. Once I sat down on my couch, I figured I’d go see if my sister was okay. I stood back up, put down my Dr. Pepper, and walked out of my room to my sister’s room across the hall. After knocking on the door, I slowly opened the door. Horror struck me. There on the bed, was my sister sitting, still in tears and holding a razor blade, with short scars across her arm, and a fresh bleeding red cut added to the collection. She looked up at me. Her face showed her emotions so easily in this state of vulnerability. She looked scared, mad, shameful, embarrassed, and sad altogether. I lost my breath. A tear came down my face, and I ran from the room back into mine. From there, it was a bit of a blur. I remember picking up my school back pack, throwing books, notebooks, clothes, sanitary items, pens and pencils, and about $53 into it, and then almost jumping down the entire flight of stairs. From the stairs, I went into the kitchen with my KYB basketball bag and threw in about 7 Dr. Peppers and whatever food was easy to take. I out the bag over my shoulder, and once I was at the door, I heard my parents come from their room.

“Where the hell do you think you’re going?!” my dad yelled.

“Away from here! Fuck you two! Do you have any idea what you’ve done?! Don’t call me. I’ll come back when I need to. And if you come looking for me, I swear to God, you will regret it,” is all I said. Then I opened the door, turned and gave my parents the finger, and then sprinted away from the house, down the street and to the neighborhood park. Once I got to the park, I stopped running and laid down on the bench. I pulled out my phone and called my best friend. It rang for a few seconds, and then the voice came on.

“Hey! What’s up?” she said. More tears started coming down my face. She heard.

“Oh my god, what happened? Why are you crying?” She asked. I couldn’t speak. All I needed was to hear her voice, but if I didn’t say anything she would worry.

“Something terrible just happened, and I left. I’m not going back, buddy,” I replied.

“Well, what happened?” As she asked this, I heard a noise. I sat up and looked around, but couldn’t see anything considering it was nearly 11 at night and it was pitch black. Next, I heard the park gate slam, then leaves crunching like someone were running, and then, silence. I sat there, for a second, before I held the phone closer to my ear.

“I’ll call you back. If I don’t, well, call my sister,” and before she could say another word, I hung up and put the phone in my pocket. I looked around again, still blind, but still heard crunching leaves, but this time, not as if someone were running, but as if they were walking very slowly, trying to keep quiet.

“Hello?” I asked. No answer. Then, a click. Silence. Then came shock. The noise came before the pain, but seconds after the mind numbing ‘bang’ was the excruciating pain to my left side. I wanted to scream, but no sound came out. Seconds passed, and I heard the leaves crunching faster and faster, then the slam of the gate again, the silence. All that could be heard were my deep breaths and the wind. I feel to the ground. When I went to put my arm over where the pain had started, my hand was instantly soaked. I pulled out my phone, slid it open for light, and saw I glimpse of red covering my hand. My stomach dropped. I shined the light from the phone over where I had put my hand, and I was soaked with the red substance, and the red only began to spread. My breaths quickly became quicker and shorter, and all I could think to do was call someone for help, but I couldn’t talk. I decided to text my sister’s best friend, who lived around the corner from the park. I couldn’t move my left hand, so I slowly pressed at the letters on my phone with only my right.

“Come to HC Park. It’s a 911. Hurry” Was all I had time to type, and then I set the phone down, put my hoodie over the spilling mess of red to try to slow the flow, and waited for my sister’s friend to show up. In minutes, a tealish-aquamarine mini van came speeding around the corner. Once it stopped, a short Hispanic girl rushed from the car and into the park. She couldn’t see me, so I slip my phone open again so she could see the light. She ran over to me, and for a second stared in shock, but then horror struck her face, and she helped me get up and took me to her car and helped me into the backseat. Once we were both in, she drove toward my house, which had no cars in front of it so my parents must have left, and she called my sister to come out. My sister ran outside to se what was up, but her friend simply told her to get in, so my sister did what she was told. Her friend began driving again, and up front I heard my sister asking questions.

“What’s going on? Where are we going? Why do you look so worried?” All her friend did was point to the back seat. My sister looked confused, but slowly looked back, and fear flooded her eyes, along with a few tears. She was shocked, and turned to her friend.

“What happened to her? Where was she when you found her like this?” she asked.

“She was at the park. I think someone shot her. A few minutes before she texted me, my dad and I heard a loud noise that sounded like a gunshot, so I’m assuming that’s what happened,” her friend replied. They continued talking, but it all began to blur. Things were spinning and I couldn’t figure out what they were saying. After a few minutes, it all got darker, and then, nothing. No sound, no sight, there was nothing. Blackout.