The Art of being Strangers

vii.

I avoided her glare. I was beyond confused. Which part of Basil disappearing did she not understand? Why would she jump to the conclusion that he wanted to disappear? I knew the truth, didn't I? Basil was forced to leave us. He was murdered. He didn't choose to die.

"What makes you think he left us intentionally? I knew Basil myself,

and I would never think he would choose to leave," I said.

"Well, you clearly didn't know him enough to know his true intentions. The past months I spent with him before he disappeared were horrible. He was depressed all the time. He barely laughed anymore. I always felt like a burden when I hung out with him," Esther said sadly as she shrugged. "I was the closest to Basil, believe it or not. Not even Ansel was as close to Basil as I was to him."

Now I was getting annoyed. She was speaking with so much confidence. If I didn't know Basil, I would've believed her. But she was wrong. Who she described wasn't Basil. He wouldn't act like that. I was convinced he would not.

Her hand went into her pocket and she grabbed a cigarette and lit it. Esther brought the cigarette close to her mouth, and she started smoking. "I hate him. Sure, he wasn't on good terms with his parents, but that's no reason to kill yourself. How selfish. How ignorant," she sighed.

I knew I was going to regret my words sooner or later. "If you knew him well enough as you insisted, maybe you would've known he was murdered," I shot her a cold look.

"Murdered, you say? And how did you come to that conclusion?" she spoke with arrogance, her words sounding like an accusation.

At this point, I didn't care anymore. Blood was pumping in my veins; the colorful lights became a blur of colors. Even Esther's face became a blur. I couldn't see Marigold nor Ansel anymore. My glasses were sliding off my nose and I angrily pushed them back, blinking to re-adjust my blurred vision.

"How I came to that conclusion? What makes you think it's a conclusion? What if I told you Basil told me?" I interjected.

She frowned. "You're crazy. Is Basil's death a funny subject to you? Cause it seems like it is."

"Funny enough, Basil still chose to show himself to me, a person he never spoke to before, and not to you, his dear girlfriend. Don't you find this funny?" I spat out.

And that was it. That was the breaking point for Esther. She punched me in the face, and one of her rings was caught in my skin. Her goddamn ring left blood drooling from my cheek. She probably wasn't expecting to hit me that hard. Her mouth hung open, but then she quickly closed it again. She looked like she wanted to say something, but I was so done with her little stories and her actions that I didn't care. I just wanted her to leave me alone.

"Fuck you," I provoked.

Then, her so-called worried look shifted into a frown. She raised her hand, probably getting ready to punch me again. However, Marigold came out of nowhere and caught Esther's arm. I swear I don't think I've ever been happier to see Marigold. She came at the right time.

"What the hell is going on here?" Ansel asked, half worried, half angry.

He also came at the same time Marigold did, but I didn't see him until he talked. His words brought attention to us, and people started whispering. I looked at my feet, not wanting to meet Marigold's or Ansel's glare, not even Esther's. I could feel that everybody was staring at me. Or possibly they were glancing at my injured cheek. I wanted to dig a hole, crawl into it and never come out again. The fact that most of the people there were attending the same school I went to didn't make me feel any better.