if you forget me II

As I near my house, I see Stacy sitting on the steps leading to the door of my house, phone in hand. She texts furiously.

“Hey, Stace,” I say cautiously.

“Seriously Asyle? I can’t believe you!” Stacy jumps to her feet, glaring.

“Um… I’m sorry?”

“You should be! I’ve been texting and calling you for an hour! I was so worried you walked off like…” Stacy adverts her gaze, suddenly embarrassed.

I roll my eyes. After the Sophia Incident, no one wants to finish their sentences. “Sophia did. I know. We, I mean, mom and I, went back to the beach to say goodbye.” She steps out of the way, letting me past, so I can unlock the front door. “Mom’s coming. There’s something she ‘just had to do’.”

Maybe a fresh start somewhere new won’t be such a bad thing- no more pity in everyone’s eyes. The oh-you’re-sister’s-been-missing-for-months look I so often get. Mom says I can homeschool, too. I stopped going after Sophie left. There was no point as it was in the summer any way, but when September came and everyone sharpened their pencils, tied their shoes and began to learn how to solve Algebra theorems, I stayed at home.

“C’mon,” I open the door and let Stacy come in. “Let’s go up to my room,” I step around the few boxes and bagged of stuff left.

She follows me up the stairs. I walk past the first door on the stairs and try not to think who had that room. Then I enter mine.

“Wow,” Stacy says and I agree. My walls, bare, like the rest of the room. Everything’s gone and it all looks empty. “So you are moving.” 

I toss her a look. “Duh. What did you think? You know my mom- she gets what she wants. Including moving me to Maryland. Besides,” I slide against the bare wall onto the ground. “She’s been wanting to go back forever. It was always me and Sophia who wanted to stay. Now… now I don’t care. I glance away from Stacy.

“You don’t care? You don’t care!” Stacy cries, indignant, slipping into her overly dramatic mode. “I’ve been your best friend forever and your only friend now and you don’t care if you just… leave me here?” Tears begin to well up in her eyes.

I sigh. “I tried. Everyone left me because I became moody. And depressed. Yes, you stayed, but Stace I can’t deal with friends right now. I needed... I need to be alone.”

“Well,” She sniffs, “I guess I’ll leave.”

“Stacy, wait,” I try, but she’s already out of my bedroom.

“Fabulous,” I mumble to myself. “My last time with Stacy and she has to be a drama queen.” I hear the door open and my mom come in. She starts to carry boxes out to our van. I sit in my room, trying not to cry, as she packs the rest of our things.

By noon she calls me. “Asyle! It’s time to go.”

“Coming!” I call, but don’t get up. I’m tired of being in a lonely place. I’m going to move to Maryland and make the best of it, just like I always have in the last nearly 15 years. 


if you forget me I