Hey guys this story is based off the song 'Wishbone' by Debbie Neigher. I loved this song and the idea to make this story came to me and I just couldn't let it go I loved the idea so here it is. I'm pretty proud of it so I hope you like it too. Please listen to the song (just search it on YouTube) Its beautiful.
Wishbone
"Have a good day honey." Mom called out of the car window as she drives away Clara playing happily with her dolls in the back seat. There was barely enough time for me to lift my hand in a small wave before she was out of sight. Crowds of kids were hanging around the doors to the school jocks reliving the events of whatever party they had attended that weekend, girls whispering to one another the latest gossip. As I walked past I tried to block them out chanting to myself my usual montre of they were not talking about you, they were not talking about you. Probably true, I didn't do much; I'd be surprised if they even knew my name. See in the halls of Sunnydale prep I was the girl nobody knew the name of but everybody knew that I was the one to copy of of in class or ask for "help" on assignments and if you needed a good grade on a project just ask Chloe she doesn't have any friends to go if and she'll do all the work herself.
Yeah that was me, I was a loser. I sat at the front of the class and raised my hand at every question but besides that I just seemed to blend into the lockers; not that I minded much if I didn't bother them they didn't bother me. It was easier that way.
A quick stop at my locker to pick up my books, then I was off to AP history. Not my favorite class but it was fine, the teacher liked me and it was kind of interesting when we talked about the world wars. The walk down the halls was usually pretty short but today it felt unbearably long, looking around everyone's eyes seemed to be on me but every time I made eye contact if anyone they quickly looked away. Shaking it off I picked up my pace and hugged my books to my chest keeping my eyes glued to the floor. When I reached the classroom I dove through the doors and took my seat at the front of the room. I opened my text book and pretended to be reading last nights assignment when in reality I was listening to the whispers around me from students slowly filling into the room.
"Did you know she was back?"
"Do you know where she was?"
"I heard she went to rehab for drugs." Someone whispered to my left.
"Seriously?" Another person asked in an awed whisper.
"That's not what happened idiots."
"Then what do you think it was?"
"She was in juvie for breaking into peoples houses."
Who were they talking about? As if the universe heard my question, in walked the answer, heels clacked loudly on the tiled floor and I was transported back to seventh grade.
5 years ago:
"Come on Chloe I want to show you what Brooke taught me!" Paige called already halfway up the stairs.
"Paige wait." I laughed it was a bad idea to wear these boots, they went up to my thighs with big gold buckles down the sides very beautiful and they made me feel taller next to Paige who seemed to have grown 6 feet over the summer.
"God Chloe you're so slow." Paige joked when I entered her room panting from my sprint up her steep flight of steps.
"Well sorry my boots take forever to get off." I giggled sitting beside her on her big canopy bed. I looked around me a her gorgeous room; it was so much nicer than mine. There were pictures of our favorite bands lining the pink walls and her vanity sat opposite the bed right beside the opening to her walk in closet that was bigger than my bathroom at my house. Her parents were super rich (trust fund babies who turned it into billion dollar corporations) they bought Paige anything she wanted; hence her closet filled to the brim with designer labels.
My family is the complete opposite were just scrambling to get by, mom works nights as an ER nurse so she can look after Clara (my 3 year old sister) and dad works as a primary school teacher.
Paige stood up and patted the seat of her vanity chair and I did what I was told. "They were tots cute, by the way." She told me as she ran her fingers through my platinum blonde hair. I smiled shyly my cheeks turning a light shade of pink, I had to save up for months just to be able to afford them on sale from Paige's favorite store in the mall.
"What are you doing again?" I asked as she took strands of my hair and pulled them back.
"Its this awesome braid Brooke taught me to do, it'll look so pretty on you." She told me smiling into the mirror at me. Brooke was four years older than us and Paige looked up to her like she was the queen.
We talked about useless things as she braided my hair, the latest celebrity gossip our crushes, I blushed madly as I admitted my crush on Kurt Cobain and she laughed but smiled widely as she continued on my hair folding the strands one over another.
"There done." She stepped back with her hands on her hips admiring her handy work.
"I love it!" I gushed turning my head so I could see the back, it was just like a french braid only the braid laid on top of my hair.
"Brooke called it a Dutch braid." Just them Brooke walked by Paige's door giggling as she lead her boyfriend down the hall.
"Hey Brooke I did Chloe's hair like you taught me." Paige exclaimed to her older sister.
Brooke poked her head inside the room and smiled slightly. "Looks good kiddo." Then she turned her head to Paige with a stern look. "If mom or dad ask I'm studying and don't want to be bothered." Then she left with the guy trailing kisses across her jaw.
Paige rolled her eyes as she shut the door. "Whatever, want to watch a movie?" I nod and we settle on her bed to watch it on her flat screen.
Her honey blonde hair flowed behind her as she entered the class, it wasn't as shiny as I remembered it, just dull. The usual luscious locks that once had lots of bounce to them, just hung limply from her head trailing down her back in loose curls. Her once bright eyes were dull and caked with mascara and eyeliner. The outfit she chose was a tight leather skirt and a black halter top. You could see her ribs through the thin material and her hip bones jutted out from the top of the skirt.
Paige stared at the class as the whispers immediately stopped when they saw her. She rolled her eyes and stalked to the back of the room, taking an empty seat in the corner. A few boys went up and tried to sweet talk her no doubt trying be the first to get inside that tight leather skirt. The Paige I knew so long ago would have laughed in their faces telling them to get lost cause she wasn't falling for it. But this Paige; a stranger, batted her eyes and smiled sweetly as she twirled a lock of hair around her finger.
From the front of the class Mr. Tate cleared his throat as a warning that class was starting and we should be quiet and get to our seats. Facing forward I tried to pay attention to Mr. Tate but I just couldn't get my brain to focus. Paige was back in school I just couldn't wrap my brain around that. We had been friends since we were in the same dance class when we were 2. The twinnies everyone called us. From 1st- 8th grade we were joined at the hip inseparable. But in 9th grade things to change. We started to drift apart.
If the rumors were any indication I'm the only one who knew why Paige left school. Her parents divorced at the end of the our Sophomore year. Her mom stayed in Pittsburgh but here dad moved out to New York and Paige followed.
2 years ago:
Paige folded clothes and packed them into her suitcase. "This is so exciting."
"Yeah New York, that's really far away." I mumbled.
"I know!" Paige squealed "Just think of all those cute artsy boys or the bad boys." Paige was practically drooling as she thought about it.
"Are you sure you want to go?" I asked for the hundredth time. Paige was my best friend the one I shared everything with, honestly she was my only friend. If she left I would have no one.
"I have to go Chloe I can't stay in this town anymore I need a fresh start." She went to her closet and grabbed some more clothes, I helped her fold them.
I frowned, I didn't understand why Paige said she had to go. So what if she broke up with Brandon, why did she have to leave. "I'm just going to miss you."
"I'm going to miss you too Chloe." Paige replied absentmindedly while trying to close her stuffed suitcase.
I sighed dejectedly.
During music glass I still couldn't get Paige off my mind. I hadn't heard from her since she left, I had just assumed she was going to graduate in New York.
Why was she back?
Paige leaving had never made sense to me, why would she want to leave the town she had grown up in? All her friends were here and she always had a better relationship with her mom than with her dad. I thought things were fine. But when I think back on it maybe things weren't so great for Paige in the years before the divorce.
I had noticed some subtle changes in her behavior. She didn't care about school anymore, she'd hand assignments in late and half done(if she ever handed them in at all). The clothes she wore turned from girly and cute to lot's of leather and way more revealing than what she used to wear. She was definitely trying to impress the guys at our school. I didn't understand why all the guys at our school were immature pigs. But I held on I stayed because I loved her, she was like a sister to me. And there was always those few times when she showed me that she loved me too.
3 years ago:
My dream was about Kurt Cobain, he was just about to pull me onstage to sing to me when I woke up.
I laid there annoyed trying to figure out what woke me when I heard it again. Vigorous tapping on my window then it would stop and start again for a few seconds. That could only be one person. Groggily unlocking my window and opening it I mumbled. "Paige, what are you doing here?"
She climbed through the window then stood in the middle of my room. It took me a while but I realized that she was crying. "Whats wrong?" I asked wrapping my arms around her. She hugged me tight and started sobbing into my shoulder.
"I'm in so much trouble. I didn't know where else to go." She choked out in between sobs.
I pulled away arm's length so I could see her face. Mascara mixed with tears streamed down her face leaving black stripes. Her lip was bleeding and starting to swell. My eyes widened in horror. "Paige what happened did someone hit you?" She shook her head wiping at her tears.
"I can't say."
"Paige-"
"Please Chloe promise you won't tell anyone!" She pleaded grabbing my shoulders. Shocked and scared for my best friend I nodded immediately.
"Okay I promise I won't tell anyone just stay here I'll go get some ice." She nodded weakly and I sat her down on my bed to go get the ice.
As she held the ice to her lip I washed the makeup off her face. When I was done I gave her some clothes to where and she changed in the bathroom. When she stepped out of the bathroom she handed me her dirty clothes, a pair of black leggings and a spaghetti strap tank top with a leather vest. She pulled her messy hair into a ponytail and climbed into my bed. I climbed in after her and grabbed her hand.
She lay there shaking for a minute as she tried to stop crying. "I'm sorry for coming to you like this, I just-"
"Hey you can always come to me Paige, you're my sister." I smiled reassuringly.
She managed a small smile. "Thank you Chloe, I love you." Then she closed her eyes and fell asleep.
"I love you too Paige." Then I fell asleep too.
We grew apart as we got older. We didn't hang out at school together anymore. I would hang out with my friends from music and Paige would hang out with the emo's and stoners. I remember sitting at lunch laughing along at their stories and looking over to see Paige sitting at the same table as the stoner's a cigarette balanced between her fingers and headphones plugged in her ears. That was all she did sat there listening to music watching the different people in the cafeteria, she never ate anything. I don't remember Paige ever eating during lunch in high school.
Once I had tried to invite her to sit with me at lunch, but she had just laughed in my face. "Why would I ever want to sit with you and your pack of pop princesses?" She had sneered. That was the end of any contact during school, she didn't want to be seen with me so I just didn't bother. But the guilt gnawed at me whenever I saw her alone in the halls or doing a project alone because no one wanted to be her partner. Paige could be surrounded by people but that year she had never looked more alone.
Hanging out together was something that was saved for weekends, if at all. Whenever we made plans she would usually cancel in favor of something more exciting. Though I may be just as much to blame for the separation as Paige was, I usually choose not to hang out with Paige even on the off chance that she invited me.
3 years ago:
"Hey Hyland's back!" A faceless voice called up from the dark smoke filled basement.
Paige smirked as she lead me down the steps her heels clicking confidently as she strutted down. "Hey guys, this is Chloe. She's a friend."
I waved shyly at the group of guys lounging on couches. Paige sits down beside one of them and plucks a joint from his hand taking a drag.
"So Chloe do you smoke?" Asks a young man probably 17 with long and shaggy brown hair.
"Uhh no I don't." I mumble.
"Would you like to try it?" He asks offering me a joint.
"No thanks-"
"Come on Chloe, try it!" Paige laughs from her spot on the sofa.
"You know you want to."
"Chloe, Chloe, Chloe." Everyone cheers me on. With a sigh I take it from his hands on take a small drag. It tastes foul and I start a coughing fit as soon as the smoke enters my lungs.
"Whoo!" Paige cheers with a laugh before attaching her mouth to the boy.
I didn't understand the people that Paige choose to hang out with. But I also knew that nothing I could say would change Paige's mind. So I turned the other cheek and I worried for her in secret. But I never turned my back on her. Paige was the one who seemed to turn her back on me.
After school when I was talking to my mom in the kitchen, when the topic of school came up I mentioned that Paige was back. Mom's face lit up, mom always loved Paige she loved it when she came over for dinner and sleep overs. Even later in our friendship when Paige started to change mom never hesitated when I asked her if Paige could come over.
When I started to describe how Paige looked and acted in class her smile dropped replaced with a sad frown. "That poor girl." She said. "She's been through so much, I bet she didn't have anyone to talk to in New York."
That night was mom and dads weekly date night so they left around five for the restaurant. Not expecting them home till late I curled up on the sofa and started a movie.
At around 9 the doorbell rang. Confused I got up to answer it. When I saw who was at the door my confusion turned to shock and I stood there staring at her with the door wide open half in the door half out of the door.
"Can we talk?" Paige asked.
It took me a while to get over my shock but eventually I answered. "Uh, yeah sure. Come in." I stepped back to let her in but she shook her head.
"I'd rather talk outside." Confused I stood there for a while but my curiosity won out and I followed her closing the door behind me. I was surprised to find that it was raining, pouring actually. How had I not noticed that before? I shook it off and watched Paige with curiosity as she shifted from foot to foot.
The rain pelt down on us soaking me to the bone and the wind sent a chill up my spine. I stared at Paige in wonder. Paige wrapped her arms around herself for protection, looking anywhere but my face.
"What are you doing here?" I yelled to be heard over the storm.
Paige took a deep shuddering breath. "I wanted to tell you why I came back." The rain drowned out the sound of her voice and I had to strain to hear her.
"Well why did you?" I pressed thoroughly confused Paige hadn't talked to me in a year and then she just shows up at school and now my house.
"I had to see you Chloe. I had to talk to you once more before-." The rest of Paige's sentence was drowned out by a clap of thunder. That's when I realized Paige had tears streaming down her cheeks.
"What do you mean? Once more before what?"
Paige didn't answer instead she shook her head and said. "You're the only one that ever cared about me Chloe."
I stared at her stunned. "Paige-" I started to protest but she cut me off.
"You're the only person I could come to when I was in trouble or if I just needed someone, you were there." She took a deep breath and let it out slowly before continuing. "You were always there. And I was never there for you in return. I'm sorry Chloe."
"Can you forgive me?" She asked. She looked so broken standing there in the rain, makeup running down her face hair flying in all directions around her face. She was just a shadow of who she used to be beat down by life.
I wrapped her in my arms like I used to do rubbing soothing circles in her back. She wrapped her arms around me and sobbed into my shoulder.
After a while the violent sobs that wracked her body subsided and she was still in my arms. I squeezed her tight. "I love you Chloe." She whispered in my ear.
Then the headlights from my parents car appeared down the street and Paige jumped out of my arms. She snapped her head to the car, looked at me one last time with that broken expression then she took off running full speed in the opposite direction.
She was gone by the time my parents pulled up leaving me standing in front of the house in the pouring rain with tears running down my cheeks.
That was the last time I would ever see Paige. In fact I was the last one to ever see Paige alive. The next day at school Paige wasn't there much to my disappointment. I was hoping to speak to her about what she said, tell her that I loved her too. But she wasn't there.
And two days later it was in the paper.
Paige Hyland senior at Sunnydale Prepatory high school. Found dead in bedroom.
Paige had committed suicide. She slashed her wrists and wasn't found till the next morning when the housekeeper came to change her sheets.
I went to the funeral a week later. Josh and Brooke her older siblings were there. Josh shook my hand with a blank emotionless face and thanked me for coming. Brooke barely registered I was there she just seemed to stare at the floor the whole time, I guess the fact that her little sister was dead hadn't quite set in yet.
Both her parents were there, I think it was the first time I had seen them in a room together without them fighting. I couldn't help but think that she would have liked that. They were always fighting before the divorce and she would never admit it but I could see that it killed her inside to listen to them.
Kelly wrapped me in a bone crushing hug tears streaming down her cheeks. She thanked me for being Paige's friend said that she always loved me. That was like a kick to the stomach. Somewhere deep down I knew it wasn't my fault but that was buried underneath all the louder voices saying that it was my fault.
You knew her better than anyone. The voices would say. You should have saved her.
You should have known something was wrong.
You were the last one to see her you should have said something. I couldn't help but think that it was true. What if I had said something? Could I have stopped her from ending her life? Could I have saved her? I guess I would never know.
The Hyland's asked me to speak. So after the pastor spoke the usual things that a pastor says at funerals. I walked up and stood behind the stand. I looked out at all the people that had come to honor Paige. Her family my parents who though of Paige as there own. And then all of the other people, kids from school, teacher, old ladies from the nursing home that we always walked past on our way to school. And I was mad.
What right did they have to come here and cry at her funeral. She was so young. So full of life. They would say. Me and Paige were good friends, I wish I could have done something. But it was all lies because no one knew Paige like I knew Paige.
They knew the confident loner. Who dressed fashionably was always very sarcastic and sassy and made some questionable decisions in her life. But they didn't know the funny and sweet girl that Paige could be. The one that would do my hair and show me new techniques to apply eyeliner. And they definitely didn't know the lost and broken girl that couldn't take the sound of her parents fighting. That would climb through my window in the middle of the night crying. Or the girl that showed up at my house last night completely done with life but had to tell her best friend one last time that she loved her.
So I talked a little about our friendship as we were younger, because that was the easiest. And that was the girl I wanted everyone to remember most….
The girl you were before life tore you down.