The Death of Colleen Rivers

Chapter 5: Colleen

Baylor was looking as dead as I really was when he came off the football field. I offered to drive him home but he made the point that I'm dead so no one would see me drive and that would scare some people if they saw no one driving the car.

"Alright, can I at least go sit in the car?" I asked him, getting aggravated that me being dead caused a lot of new problems. "The window is down. I can slip in that way."

"Okay. Go ahead I'll be right there," Baylor mumbled under his breath.

I ran down over the hill to Baylor's car and jumped in through the window, feeling like a ninja. Like the Black Ninja of Death. I sat in the car and waited for Baylor to come. I could finally see him exiting the locker room, his bag thrown over his shoulder and his keys dangling in his hand. He looked angry, but as he got closer he glanced at me, smiling and winking. I crossed my arms and slid down in the seat so he couldn't see me. I could hear him laughing as he went around to the driver's side and opened the door, throwing his bag in the back seat and starting the car.

"Oh, Colleen..." Baylor was shaking his head but still smiling at me.

"What?" I slid back up in the seat and glared at him.

He rolled up my window and continued to shake his head, smiling away.

"What is it?" I asked again once we started down the road.

He took a deep breath. "You're just too cute."

I felt my face getting red and tried to hide it but it was too late; Baylor had already seen me blushing.

"Aha! Every time! It never fails!" he exclaimed.

"Oh, shut up."

Baylor just laughed and then said, "So, where are we eating today, sweet pea?"

Baylor and I would always go somewhere to eat after his practice and he would let me pick where we ate before he would drop me off at my house.

"I'm actually not hungry..." I answered after awhile.

Baylor gasped. "What?! You're always hungry at this time!"

I shrugged. "Maybe it's because I CAN'T ACTUALLY EAT?"

He gasped. "Someone's a bit more sassy than usual today. Well, guess I get to pick then," he said with a huge grin.

We ended up going to McDonald's. (A common place I usually picked.) We went inside the restaurant like we usually did instead of going through the drive thru. It was always nice to sit down alone together and enjoy a meal. We could stay as long as we wanted and enjoy each other's company. It was always my favorite part of the day.

But today, Baylor had to act like he was going to eat alone instead of with someone. When we got to the cashier to order, he looked at us funny.

"Good evening, Baylor. I'm guessing you want the regular?" It was the guy that was usually at the cash register at this time so he knew what we always ordered. He had already began to punch the order into the screen, but Baylor spoke up before he got very far.

"Actually," Baylor said, "I just want half of that order."

The cashier's expression quickly changed gloomy. "Did you and Colleen break up?"

"Oh um..." Baylor trailed off, looking to me for guidance.

"Just tell the truth. Like it matters," I told him.

He turned back to the cashier. "She....she died, actually."

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry, Baylor." The cashier – I felt bad that I couldn't remember his name and he didn't have his name tag on to help me – looked around to see if anyone was close to him and seeing that all his coworkers weren't paying any attention, he leaned in closer to Baylor and said, "Listen, I'll just give your meal to you for free, man. It's the least I can do. That's gotta be rough."