Charlie is a hard girl to trail. It’s almost like she knows we’re following behind her, and she’s trying to take the path of most resistance to throw us off. She maneuvers through the thick crowd of students barricading the hallway, almost escaping us as we corner her near the biology lab.
She turns around, folding her arms over her chest. “What do you want? Haven’t you done enough?”
Kairo is always laid-back with easy smiles that melt away into indifference, so when he speaks up first, it stuns us.
“Where’s Dirt?” He closes in on the brunette, and I grab his shoulder before he does something stupid.
Charlie shakes her head, her attitude slipping as her lips turn downwards. I see a flash of misery in her gaze as she sears us with a look that could kill. “Her name wasRosalie.”
The world around us slows. The wordwasechoes in my head like a record scratch that refuses to fade. Time folds in on itself—the moment stretching thin and resting between breath and heartbeat. Every sound feels distant, every color dimmed, as if the air itself has grown heavy with a distant memory.
A memory that I never wanted to fade…
Maddox’s eyes are wide and unblinking. Kairo looks like he’s on the verge of crashing out right here in the middle of the hall. I can’t evenbreathe.
Can’t think…
Charlie shakes her head in disappointment. “I hope she haunts you until the day you three fucking die.”
With those parting words, Charlie leaves us unfeeling and unmoving in the hallway. Life continues around us, but none of us dares move an inch. Whether it’s the shock of the news or something far deeper, we’ll never know.
That’s the day something hollowed inside of me, gouging into the deepest recesses of my mind like a livingnightmare that would never end. It became embedded in my very bones, leaving a lasting scar that no amount of time could heal.
We all reacted in our own ways. Kairo slammed his fist into a set of lockers, denting the metal as he cursed until his throat became raw. Maddox placed his hands behind his head, pacing the corridor like a fucking ghost as he mumbled words I couldn’t make out beyond the chaos unfolding inside of my own head.
I was stuck.
Caught somewhere between both of my friends’ reactions—Kairo’s anger, and Maddox’s disbelief. But I couldn’t even show it.
I just stared straight ahead, completely lost and silent, unsure of what to say or do. The last thing I remember about that day is the perfect flash of Rosalie I got in my head—her long, black hair and pale lips. The way her green eyes squinted anytime she saw me, as if her flinch was woven into her being rather than a knee-jerk reaction.
And the last time I had seen her, lying on her side in pain as we dismissed her so easily.
I’m not sure how I made it home after school, or how I was able to drag myself out of bed for graduation the next day. As the auditorium filled with parents and teachers, we were shells of our former selves, just aimlessly shuffling along and going through the motions. Maddox delivered a monotonous speech that felt sterile. The room politely applauded, but it seemed rehearsed—like everyone was just there.
No one mentioned her during the ceremony. Maddox was named valedictorian, and another student was named salutatorian. There was no memorial or moment of silence for the girl we tormented.
It was like she ceased to exist.
We wouldn’t know of Rosalie’s actual fate until a year later, but the time leading up to that is mostly a blur of training and combat. We buried ourselves in our work in the hopes ofmending those scars, but quickly learned that no amount of patience or repentance could heal wounds that cut that deep.
Nothing can fix a broken soul.
Part II
Revitalize Me
Six months later
Chapter Fourteen
Rosalie
“Do you feel that you’ve forgotten anything from your past? Maybe some blank spots you can’t quite recall?” Mrs. Hartman asks. She’s seated across from me, her legs crossed and her brown cardigan folded over her chest. She’s in her late forties, but doesn’t look a day over twenty-nine with her warm, expressive brown eyes, and dark, shoulder-length bob that stays neatly tucked behind her ears.
Her office is tranquil with its soft lighting and the occasional motivational poster to keep spirits high. I’m currently seated on her leather sofa, in the middle of our regular weekly session.
When Charlie suggested I utilize the campus’s free therapy program, I was hesitant. Talking to a complete stranger about my childhood isn’t something I would have considered without my friend’s guidance. The idea seemed…awkward.
