remember when I knew

JAI PRICE

"SHE'S COMING!" Lucas whisper-yelled. "THE BIRD IS COMING!"

Radio silence, and then Azalea. "The bird? Are we sure about that?"

Jai Price smiled at her words and looked to his right, even though no one stood there. They had decided to put to action the plan Aiden had come up with a few days ago. They had formed groups, ones watching for when Frigg would come near her locker, one at said locker.

To be honest, Jai hadn't completely understood what was happening, all he knew, was that Aiden would try and push the girl in the locker, and they would lock it after that.

How exactly they were doing panning to make Frigg go inside the locker in the first place, no idea. And it wasn't even the first flaw of this plan.

What Jai was supposed to do in front of the library and the teachers' room? No idea. And that was a really, really bad thing. What if he actually had an important mission, didn't do his job and then made the whole prank fail? His friends would hate him.

"THE BIRD- I MEAN FRIGG IS LIKE FIVE METERS AWAY!"

Jai waited a little bit, almost expecting someone to tell 'JAI, WHERE ARE YOU?! WE NEED YOU!'

But no one said that. They never needed him. He almost found it ironic, how he always ended up being alone while the others laughed. It was as though he didn't exist.

Instead, Azalea replied to Lucas. "One: I don't see her??? And two: why are you telling? These are walkie-talkies. There's no need to scream."

"You don't see them?" John repeated. "Huh. Where are you exactly?"

"Aiden's locker. Like we planned. We were supposed to close it when she pranks him."

So that's how she was getting in the locker in the first place.

"We said- Oh. Our bad then, we got the wrong locker. She's not there for a few minutes then."

"Idiots," Azalea whispered, cutting off after that.

Jai just waited in front of the doors. They told him to wait there, right? He remembered hearing he was supposed to wait there. But to do what exactly? Did he have something to do?

They're gonna hate you. You always make everything fail. They don't even want to be your friends.

Jai closed his eyes. He could here Azalea's calm voice tell him to breathe in and out, in and out. He did it a few times. In and out. In and out. It was like one pattern he repeated like a gigantic mad song.

It felt as if someone was trying to take his stomach and pull it out of his body. But his skin was blocking the stomach and the person kept trying, hoping it would break.

The ball in his throat grew again. It filled the space and his breath got caught in it. He breathed in sharply, hoping he could make it go. But he couldn't breath.

He saw people walk past him. "We were so tired-" "I really hate that teacher-" "You won't believe me-" "She did what-"

Everything just kept coming at the same time. He needed out. Out. Out. Out.

That one simple thing: out.

So he ran until he found a janitor's closet. He opened it and closed the door, sitting on the floor, in the dark. He began crying.

In and out. In and out. In and out.

What was wrong with him? Why him? What had he done to deserve this? Why was he being punished?

In and out. In and out. In and out.

His right hand found his left arm and his nails began tearing the skin apart. But he didn't feel the pain anymore. So he hit his head on his legs.

Nothing. He tried hitting harder. And harder.

In and out. In and out. In and out.

He was crying so much he didn't even think he could cry much longer. His body felt numb. There was nothing left in him. No energy, no soul, no life. Only tears and his hand making his arm bleed.

"You don't think that-"

"Really?-"

"But what if our test isn't-"

And laughs.

He stopped hitting his leg. His head fell backwards and he tried to scream. To yell for help or something. But he couldn't talk. He could barely breathe.

In and out. In and out. In and out.

"Stop," he asked. The voices. His voice, his head. The laugher. "Please."

He hit his head against the wall a few times. Why couldn't it just stop? "Help. Please."

"Jai?" He heard someone say in the walkie-talkie. "Jai, where are you?"

John's voice yelled his name outside of the locker too. "JAI?"

"Jai disappeared, guys," Lucas said in the walkie-talkie.

In and out. In and out. In and out.

"JAI?" That was Aiden. "Jai, answer!"

"Where is he?"

Azalea.

In and out. In and out. In and out.

He wanted to move his hand, take the frigging machine and answer. But he couldn't. He wanted to scream. Anything. Just yell it. But he couldn't.

All he could do, when he heard his name, was whisper "Help. Please."

And everything around him kept turning in some kind of tornado.

In and out. In and out. In and out.

Every single noise. Every single sound people made around him. Every time they laughed when he was doomed to stay in that locker. "Stop. Please."

In and out. In and out. In and out.

"Just stop."

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A/N: So that was fun. I bet I really make your day brighter and cheer you up with those chapters...

Yeah...

Question: who (a character in a book) did or do you relate to the most?

I weirdly always saw myself in Merry (Talk To The Moon).