Eleven Floors | Cassie Lethbridge

Viola Abel

My foot tapped against the paved road. Viola had to grab her school work before she met me at my car. One thing she cared about the most was how she did in school. Not because of her parents, not because of peer pressure. She just felt it helped her carry on with living. The yellow from my car showed up in the reflection of my sunglasses. I'm not a douche okay, it's really bright out and helps me while driving. Our route to the local burger place was half an hour away. Yes our city was pretty big, not too big to the point people knew it existed. But big enough that we had around 3,000 people living in it.

The doors to the brick building (I liked to call purgatory) had opened. Out walked Viola, she was accompanied by someone else. Someone taller. His head was covered by the shade. She waved bye, his face suddenly visible. Jensen. What? My chest felt heavy. Worry poured into my body as she approached me. "Why was he with you?" I asked calmly, even though on the inside it felt like a storm was about to happen. My head was pounding, my teeth were aching. This happens often to me. If something even as small as them walking together happens, I get fucked up. I opened up her door, closing it behind her. I climbed into the drivers side, putting the key into the engine.

"Please don't get mad at me. You know what yelling does to me. I've cried enough today." Her eyes were big, they seemed to be glossed over.

I ushered her to go on. Now backing out of the parking lot. Everyone else had left by now, the bus students, teachers, and drivers like myself. Trees passed by as I drove the speed limit of 40. The radio was softly playing in the background. I had forgotten the auxiliary cord, so we were left with the dumb radio. Viola seemed to be struggling to get even one word out. My mouth was dry. I kept my eyes on the road. Checking behind me, I flicked the signal light on and turned left.

"You alright? I'm not mad. Promise. Just a little... confused." I tried to reason with the shaken girl. She was startled as soon as I spoke. Her eyes widened. It was as if she was in a trance and she had just come back to reality. I kept on driving straight. Rain began to poor down, hitting against the window. The sky grew grey, covered in clouds. I loved weather like this. It soothed me. Kept me calm, I rarely switched moods during rainstorms.

"I-I don't know where to start." She sighed, taking in a deep breath. Tension could be felt a mile away. I tried to ignore it. I felt trapped. I was trapped in a moving vehicle with the girl of my dreams, who was on the verge of having one of the worst breakdowns of her life. I felt so upset she was feeling this way. I wanted to punch Jensen in the face. His dumb, stupid looking face. He was that type of guy who girls swooned over because of his "cool guy" look. Always a leather jacket, always rough beaten up shoes. He was the biggest dick I've ever spoken to in my life. Ten minutes away. Ten more minutes before I get food in her and she'll calm down. Food always did that to her.
"I'm sorry. It's stupid." She looked out the window, her finger tracing the raindrops that fell.

"No, no it's not. You know I care about you. And whatever is bothering you, bothers me. He's a dick. He isn't worth anything."

"I suppose." Her voice was shaky. She turned and looked at me. "Alright." Taking a deep breath, she kept looking at me. My eyes glanced back and forth between the road and her eyes. "He slapped me. More than once. For the stupidest reasons. I hate him for it, I just wanted him to like me. But it turns out he has been sleeping with so so many other girls. I always had a funny feeling about him cheating. I just never wanted to look into it. I never wanted it to be real." She sniffled back tears.

"Viola... how come you kept it from me for so long? You know, now I won't hesitate to fucking beat up the little punk." Anger began to boil throughout my body. That little cunt. How dare he hit a woman? How low does someone have to be to do something like that? I gripped the steering wheel tighter.