Every Cliche in the Book

Smaller Group

Alice sat alone in her room. She wasn't allowed to leave the house until school returned. That was the deal. After what she did, there was no disagreeing with the punishment. For once, even she realized how bad something caused by her was. The guilt was overwhelming as well. It felt like a wave had crashed down on her from behind and made her gasp out all of her breath. It almost felt like drowning.

She should've listened better, it was a terrible idea. Her eyes began to fill with tears as she thought about it longer. Her thoughts began to fill with more things she did to Daniel in the past. Things he didn't deserve. He was right about her.

Alice looked at her phone when she heard a notification. She quickly grabbed it, hoping someone finally texted her back.

It was just an email about some stupid ad.

None of the others would text back. They always just read the messages. Even Connor stopped responding when he was told about what happened. He was probably disgusted.

She clicked on Daniel's number. He hadn't read the messages though. He was the only one who didn't do even that. She didn't know why she expected him to.

How was he going to do that now.

Alice looked out her window. The sky was filled with grey clouds, but not a fleck of snow fell from them. Everything looked so dreary and sad out there. She wanted it to be bright and happy.

It felt impossible.

Derek's mother was past the house. At least she still kept to something she always did. Probably to distract herself from everything. In fact, she's gotten even more busy lately. It seemed like she was avoiding going home most of the time and if she did go home she was working in the study.

Alice didn't know how Derek's mom was holding up though.

Last she heard, the woman became even more anxious and afraid. Always hiding inside. If anyone else was home she would hide in her room most of the time. Especially from Derek.

He said that she would sometimes rush out of the room suddenly and hug her wife but quickly returned to room after that. She was eating and staying hydrated though. Every time he'd leave food or water in front of her door, by the time he'd walk back the dishes were empty.

Of course, he told Alice all this before even he started to hide from others. Now he tells her nothing.

Sometimes she sees Charlie go over there. Probably to talk with Derek. They both were in a lot of pain because of this after all. They lost someone extremely important to them.

Rick doesn't seem impacted that much by this. That doesn't stop him from avoiding even walking near Alice's house. He seems like he wants nothing to do with her.

Alissa has showed up at Derek's as well at times. Not to talk to him though. His mom actually talks to her. For some reason, Alissa is one of only two people who can break her shell enough to spend time together. She even does it better than the woman's wife.

Erica and Kelly haven't been in the neighborhood at all after the incident. They never responded to her messages either. Kelly doesn't read them for days on end actually. But sometimes it will suddenly be read.

Connor won't talk to her now. He said something about having some important things to do and he'd message as soon as he got the chance to read her texts again. She knew he was lying to make her not bug him all the time. He always reads the texts and never says a word back. Dany would've told her why if he wasn't doing the same exact thing.

It was so lonely.

Alice sighed and stood up before pacing around the room. She wanted to make everything better but she couldn't leave the house to get to the others and chances are they were using that to their advantage. She wanted to say sorry, to prove that it was true, to do anything to make them feel better and realize it was all going to be okay.

She looked up at the ceiling. Was it actually going to be okay? She wanted to believe that but she wasn't sure.

Why did she have to do something so stupid. She went too far with her ideas this time. Maybe it's a good thing that no one will talk to her now. She can't hurt anyone else if she's all alone. At least this way, both Derek and Rick don't need her to choose either.

She flopped down on her bed and continued staring at the ceiling. She could feel the warm tears coming from her eyes. Why did it take her so long to realize what she's done is terrible. Daniel saved her back in the past and she did horrible things to him. Now she couldn't even apologize for it all. It was too late for that. No wonder he couldn't stand her.

Alice smiled while crying.

It was actually kind of funny when she thought of it. It only took one thing to make her realize and feel guilt. At the same time, it only took one thing to make it impossible to fix all her wrong doings. One thing changed her, one thing changed him, one thing changed everyone.

It was probably impossible to fix it too. She wasn't sure though.

She started laughing. She was so stupid and that caused someone so amazing to be gone. Life was so unfair wasn't it?

Probably one of the greatest people of their time was wiped away by one of the worst people of their time. Life was so cruel to him because she was unknowingly cruel as well.

Alice felt like she was shattering but couldn't help the laughter. It was all her fault that she completely changed everyone's lives with one stupid idea. A small thing had quickly become a big thing. Then it was the breaking of everyone around her. She destroyed their lives in the process of trying to make them better.

Life was so very unfair.

After a  while, her laughter began to die down and she was left staring at the ceiling again. Her cheeks stained with tears and her heart void of joy. This was what she deserved right? Everyone was happy that she was in pain for getting rid of the precious person? The one who everyone probably loved and wanted to protect was gone because of her. So why wouldn't everyone want her to die? To be gone?

She sat up and wiped her tears away. Why do emotions have to suck so much.

At the same time she heard her phone ring and heard a knock at her bedroom door.

Alice yelled at the door, "Just a second!"

She answered her phone as she stood up, "Hello?"