Tape Three

Side B

. . .

Play

I think most of you will remember the car crash between a senior and an old man. I think you must've remembered since that event was in the news for a couple of days.

Do you remember the cause of the crash?

I sat on the pavement about a block away from Kankurou's house. I closed my eyes and massaged the temple of my forehead slowly.

Stupid headache.

Pause

I looked around after a while and noticed that this was the place where the crash took place. I remembered it well because I was there at the scene after the crash. The medic wanted me to tell the wife of the old man that he would be okay.

That was a lie.

One look at the old man lying unmoving as he was carried by the medic into the ambulance and I knew right away that he was dying.

I was right.

A few days later, it was on the news.

He had died.

Play

I hope you do remember.

You, in particular should remember it well.

The cause of the crash is because

I remember. I finally did. I blinked and looked around and then I found the empty roadside at the intersection where a STOP sign was supposed to be. I remember underneath the STOP sign was another sign: LOOK LEFT AND RIGHT BEFORE CROSSING. Because the traffic light that was supposed to be there was under repair.

The old man's car had come from the left. The senior forgot to stop based on two reasons.

One, the STOP sign was not there.

Two, he was a bit drunk and he was driving fast. Real fast.

So when the old man's car came around, the crash was inevitable.

you, darling, crashed into the STOP sign and threw it away.

I froze. The headache had gotten worse.

I remembered another thing. Sakura's name was mentioned in the newspaper not long after the old man had died. It was when they investigated the cause of the missing STOP sign.

She was the reason why the STOP sign was gone.

A witness came to the police officer and told them that she had seen Sakura crashed into the sign and threw it away.

Sakura was thrown into the jail for a few days based on that reason: indirect murder.

It was ridiculous.

But the accident happened mostly because that STOP sign wasn't there. So whoever took out that sign would be labeled guilty on spot.

After she was back to school, everyone's harassment might as well be labeled Level One. Everyone accused her of being a murderer.

Whenever I passed by her, she would occasionally had a new addition of bruises to her face or body parts. My guess was that some people had decided hitting her would be considered just. Her eyes, though, were empty. There were no sign of pain whatsoever.

And it scared me. Somehow it did. Those green orbs had always been lively and cheerful. But suddenly they just died out.

Is it because you want me to pay you back for helping me figure out that it is Kankurou-senpai who had been looking at me all this time?

Yes, people, she is the person who I gave a backrub to as part of our little act in busting Kankurou-senpai. As I have already said, though, I doubt he will let you see the pictures he took of our act.

You're the one who did it, Tenten.

Is it the blame game that you played?

The "Oh let's blame Haruno Sakura. She's already fucked so there is just no way that I could ruin her life"?

Well, guess what?

What you did does ruin my life.

Tenten…

And here I thought she's the girl who hated the idea of backstabbing. Obviously I was proven wrong.

The beatings are no match to the fact that people have now considers me number one fail trash. My family started to fall apart. Slowly.

My parents don't even want to look at me anymore. They've stopped caring.

Even better, they've helped add to my bruises.

They beat her?

So, you know.

This event is the first trigger that made me consider the idea of suicide.

Blaming other people for what you did is always easier, isn't it?

I regret that I gave you a ride to Ichiraku's that night. I regret that I let you drive even though you were about eighty percent drunk. I regret that I hadn't tried harder to stop you when you threw away the sign.

I'm sorry old man. I am partly to blame.

But Tenten, I will defend myself here.

I am not the one to blame completely. It should've been you.

Stop

I looked at my watch. 3.30 PM.

I stood up and started to walk toward the school.

Somehow, I just wanted to be there.

And suddenly, I missed her.

The girl who had crushed on me when we were kids. The girl who I'd ignored. The girl I loved.

Sakura, I miss you.

. . .

LOL. I'm working on my English homework now.

Fast update again. Cope with me, kay?

Nik0laiCarpathia, Rohain Tahquil, BriBri, AnimaniacXOX, Justmyopinion.

Thank you for the support and feedbacks.

To EmoSakura95, the book is called Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher. You have to read it, that book is just amazing.

Reviews are appreciated.

OPD.