A Known Stranger

Chapter 33

Chapter 33

                They couldn’t save him.

                They thought he was going to be okay, but they underestimated the importance of his injury. Something went wrong- a complication during the surgery. One moment he was alive- unconscious and fighting to breathe, but he waas alive.

                And then he wasn’t.

--

*One month later*

                No one was ever the same after Ryder’s death. It sounded cliché, I know, but honestly, Ryder played a huge role in all our lives. To some he was only the start football player with a huge heart, to others he was a friend lost, a friend who everyone would miss. To the ones who knew him on a personal level though were more distraught about his death than everybody in town.

                The halls at school weren’t as loud as they used to be, the guys on the football team weren’t as rowdy or cheerful as they had been, the girls whose heart belonged to him were shattered and teachers often would stop mid-sentence when their eyes would glance over Ryder’s empty seat.

                Cole was a lot more reserved than before- even with Zoe.

                And once in awhile I would catch sight of Kimberly. Her high and mighty attitude no longer surrounding her as she strutted down the halls of our high school; whenever I would see her, I’d catch her in casual clothing- jeans, a hoodie, a Vans- not a single trace of make-up showed on her face and you could see just how tired and devastated she looked.

                Although she had done nothing but cause me harm and heartache in the last six months, I sort of felt bad for her. I knew that I shouldn’t have but I did, because although what she had done was unforgivable, she was still Kimberly.

                And even though she liked for you to think she was an emotionless bitch, she still hurt like us all; maybe a bit more.

                The first few days after Ryder’s mother breaking down in my arms, I couldn’t get myself to get out of bed. I had laid in the comfort of my bed, engulfed by the plush comforter staring at the wall semi covered in old photographs.

                The last thing I had told Ryder had been that I wouldn’t forgive him and that I no longer loved him. Although the words had been true at the moment, the cruelty of my words burned at the pit of my stomach. The fact that those had been my last words to him burned my insides.

                And although I felt extremely guilty knowing that those cruel words were the last thing I had told him, I knew that I couldn’t spend the rest of my life cooped up in my bedroom mourning the death of my ex-boyfriend.

                His death had already happened.

                And there wasn’t a single thing that I could do to bring him back.

                And even a month after his death, I still felt guilty, I still felt sad, and I still wondered why Carter had shot him.

                They still hadn’t caught him, but they had caught two of the other guys who had been with him. Carter’s two friends said they had no idea where Carter was, that he had disappeared without a single word about where he was going.

                And that was what bothered me the most.

                Why had Carter shot Ryder? As far as I knew, Ryder and Carter had never spoken before so why would Carter shoot Ryder when they didn’t even know each other?