9:40 am September 27, 2020
"And that was the last time I saw her...I mean alive." Ren´s palms were sweaty and her eyes glossy with her head down. Muttering every word under her breath. How do they expect her to tell them everything? For Godsake, her best friend died just a few hours ago!
"Thank you for talking to us Ren. You can head to class now.", said the detective. Ren quickly got up and bowed her head before heading out.
As soon as she entered the homeroom all eyes were on her. Her classmates gossiping and laughing with each other, making jokes. " All right, that´s enough! Your classmate just passed away. Have some respect!" The professor slammed her hand on the table and sighed. "Sit down and open your books."
10.30 am
" Hey, Ren, wait a minute!", she felt a hand on her shoulder as she was leaving. "Listen! I know you probably don´t want to talk to me after happened at the party. But please, know that it´s trully not my fault. I didn´t know Naomi would get drunk and... you know... kill herself."
" Why her... why her... why her...! WHY DID IT HAVE TO BE HER?!", " She was the only pure person in this school... the only one that listened to my problems. She was my only hope in this filthy world...!"
"Ren! You idiot! Where are you!?" She recognized that voice immediately. Saki- the leader of the so called "Evil Snakes Trio", as Naomi liked to call them. She grabbed Ren´s hair and pinned her to the wall. "You slapped Osuke?! Do you have a death wish?!" Moka and Hana just stood there behind her, trying not to laugh but joining in as soon as she dropped to the floor again. One punch after another, they took turns beating the hell out of her...again. Ren got used to this. It was a daily occurrence. It got to a point where it almost didn´t hurt at all. All she wanted during that was Naomi. Her warmth and kind words. She just wanted to hug her as tight as possible and cry on her shoulder.
10.55 am
"Ouch.", Ren winced as the nurse disinfected her wounds. "Hold still." She put the cotton swab and removed her gloves, letting out a long sigh. for a few minutes, they sat in silence. Ren was looking doen and fidgeting with her hands, ashamed to look her in the eye. "So, are you going to tell me what happened?", the nurse brok the silence.
"I told you. I fell down the stairs.", "Right. And last week, too. And last month, you just so happened to walk into a door and sprain your wrist, rigth? What I don´t understand is why you haven´t reported this to someone?". Ren rolls her eyes. "You think I haven´t?! It´s not like I am the only victim. The teachers..., she huffs...they don´t care."
The nurse gets up and starts to write something down on a sticky note. "Here, it´s my phone number. Ren, if you are ever in trouble, then please, call me." She stares at the number written down. With a shaky voice she murmurs, " I don´t need your help." She crumbles the paper and throws it in the trash and dashes out of the room, her footsteps getting quieter and quieter.
6.30 am, September 20, 2019
"I don´t like you talking to them. ", Naomi says sharply. "Why? They are not being mean to me. And it´s not really up to you who I talk to."
"I just...I just don´t want you to leave me.", she rubs her teary eyes. "What are you talking about? I am not going to", Naomi cuts her off mid sentence. " No! You are! You stopped answering my messages and my calls...you stopped sitting with me and yo even ignore me in the hallways. What does Saki have that I don´t? What´s so special about her?", she screams and hits the table with tears streaming down her face. "If you ever leave me...then I...I am going to kill myself!"
6:00 am, September 28, 2020
Ren goes downstairs after waking up and putting on her school uniform. "Out of everything I could have dreamt about us...", she mumbles and sits down looking at the food in front of her. She can´t help but feel sick. All of this...it´s so wrong. That should have been me that night. I don´t deserve to live. I´m so disgusting and selfish.
7:45 am
What the hell are they lauging about? Ren tried to ignore them and their stupid jokes. It´s not worth getting another beating. But...when she hears Naomi´s name...it gets her blood boiling.
" I´m more surpried that she took her own life and not die by the hands of her alcoholic father.", Hana added. "He is probably not even her real father. Did you know her mother sleeps around? That´s so embarassing. She probably slept around, too. She´s such a who-"
"SHUT UP!", Ren yelled. The whole room went silent. Everyone was whispering, asking what made her yell like that. She stood up and started walking towards Saki. "You know damn well what happened on that party?! Don´t you Saki?", her fists were clenched and her face dead serious.
"What are you talking about? She killed herself. That´s what happened. Must have been pretty desperate and sad after she saw you talking to a boy. Everyone knows Naomi had a crush on you!"
Ren couldn´t hold back anymore and started punching Saki. Everyone gathered around and couldn´t believe their eyes. Ren was punching Saki? The roles are usually reversed and everyone knew that. "Tell them. Tell them you killed Naomi!" she kept punching over and over again. Her lip was busted, bleeding. Her whole face was brusied and she kept going at it untill their teacher came and got her off of her. "Calm down, Ren!", she held her hands back trying to make her back off. "Tell everyone what you did Saki. You are not human. No human could be that evil to destroy an innocent girl like that!"
8:32 pm, September 26 2020
THE PARTY
"Naomi? Are you sure we should go? There´s gonna be Saki and the other girls...you don´really like each other. As a matter of fact, no one really likes us."
Naomi reassured her: "Relax! It´s not going to be only the people from our school. And you look amazing! It would be a shame to miss out. I´ll keep you safe. I promise."
As soon as they got here, Naomi started drinking and taking shots. One by one. Shot, after shot. She had trouble walking so she had to rely on Ren. "You are so heavy...ugh..." She sat Naomi down on the balcony floor. "It´s a hiccup! So pretty here. The stars especially..." Ren nodded and rested her head on Naomi´s shoulder.
"Ren, can I ask you something?", her voice was shaky. "Sure!" Naomi took a deep breath and grabbed her shoulders. "Would you miss me if I like...just disappeared or if something happened to me?". Her eyes widened. This wasn´t really a question she expected. "Well, yeah! You are my friend. You are my only friend. Why are you asking me this?". Naomi stayed quiet. "I am just curious, I sometimes have this weird bad feeling...like something is going to happen...I don´t know."
"We should go home.", Ren requested. "Ehh...why?"
"You are drunk Naomi. If you don´t want to go back to your dad´s then you can sleep over at my place, okay?", she smiled slightly. "fine...can you just get me some water and the we´ll go?" Ren nodded and went inside. While Naomi wathed the stars, she heard someone talking: "Hey, Naomi?", and when she turned her head and saw Saki, her face became dead cold. "what do you want?", she got off the floor, trying to intimidate her. Saki´s face didn´t change. She still had a cunning smile. "Just seeing what you are up to."
"No, no you are not.", Saki then got closer to her and whispered into her ear: "I just wanted to be the last thing you see when you fall to your death." She pushed Naomi against the wall of the balcony and continued: " You are ruining my life. I can´t stand looking at you every day...acting like you are so cool and mighty but you are actually just a pathetic loser. No friends. Not even Ren likes you. She just pities you. Look!", she pointed into the house at Ren and Osuke talking inside. " She´d rather talk to a boy than give her drunk, miserable friend some water. How sad! You even made her stop hanging out with me becase you were jealous."
"Me? Miserable? No, no. It´s you! You use violence to fix all your problems. And your friends only hang out with you because they are afraid of you. And I didn´t take Ren away from you. I couldn´t let her become your minion. Or get her hurt like I did. You are the ruining your own life!" Saki got riled up and pushed Naomi off the wall and off the balcony. Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God!!!
Saki ran away and threw up. This is so messed up. But...but she is finally...gone. Wait. My necklace??? She really took my necklace...with her. You really have to ruin my life even in your last moments, don´t you? She quickly cleaned herself up and calmed down. No one would suspect her. Naomi was drunk and everyone knew her horrible life at home. Of course things would end up like this! She ran to the first floor and approached Naomi´s body. The blood slowly leaked from her head, the puddle becoming bigger and bigger by the second. She opened her right hand and snatched the necklace away, stuffing it in her pocket. Then, she let out a big, blood curdling scream.
The music stopped. Everyone stepped out, filming and taking photos. As soon as Ren saw her, she ran downstairs and threw herself to the ground, hugging her friend´s dead body. The longer she hugged her, the more her clothes and arms became covered in Naomi´s blood. She was sobbing and screaming for somebody to call the ambulance.
Ren looked over at Saki who covered her smile with her bloody hands. Ren knew what happened. She knew Naomi wouldn´t hurt herself. She saw Saki talking to her. But, no one would believe her. No one. No one ever has. All she got was that they called her crazy.