Friend Me Not!

The Home Incident

Amanda POV

I woke up to birds chirping all around me. I couldn't seem to get up, I was so tired. The blanket was so warm and I couldn't seem to bring myself to get up. My eyes were about to drift close until a loud noise brought me upright. Elizabeth was looking through Hopes bag and had dropped a small, crimson box. She looked down at it the picked it up. I walked over next to her and looked in the box. Inside were lots of pictures and small items. I took out a small framed picture with a shattered glass out of the box and held it in my hands. In the picture were two small girls wearing the same outfits and pigtails. They looked liked like twins, they were smiling and were hugging. The more I looked at it the more I realized that one of the girls looked exactly like Hope. The girls were so similar but there were some features that made them stand out. Their hair was different lengths and there noses were slightly different. I was about to ask Elizabeth what these were when I heard an small voice speak, "Where did you find that?" It was Hope, her voice was barely a whisper, She was looking around in her bag as if looking for the box in our hands. Hoping, wishing that it wasn't hers. I dropped the picture in to the box and took it from Elizabeth. I placed it on a log and went to stand next to Hope. She was on her knees looking at a bracelet. The bracelet had two different letters on it H and F, she clutched it like it would save her life. I sat next to her and wrapped my arm around her. She was bawling her eyes out. Elizabeth stood next to the log, shocked, frozen. I looked over at her and gestured for her to bring me the box. She finally broke out of the trance she was in and reached for the box. She raced over to me and handed me the box. I placed it in front of Hope and she instantly grabbed for it. She opened the box and pulled out the same photo I had been looking at before. A small smile spread across her lips as she looked at the photo, her sobs became more quiet. After a while she had finally stopped crying totally. Slowly, I got her up and led her to the log while she clutched the box. She sat down and Elizabeth and I sat on different logs as well. She looked down at the photo and looked back up as if just noticing something. "Who broke my photo?" she asked. Elizabeth and I looked at each other and then back at Hope. She noticed our looks and started crying again. I didn't want her crying anymore, it was making me sad so I needed to get her mind off. I searched my mind for something that could stop her, to calm her. Then it hit me, I didn't want to but it was the only thing that I know could work...

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I stared at the ground for what seemed like hours before I finally go the courage to say something. "I know what it feels like..." I said, it came out as a whisper but both Hope and Elizabeth had heard me. 

"You know what what feels like?" Hope asked wiping her nose, she looked at me while I continued staring at the ground. 

"Pain..." I couldn't bring myself to speak up. My voice only stayed a whisper,"Pain to the highest degree" Hope scoffed and rolled her eyes,

"What would you know about pain?" I raised my head slightly to meet her eyes,

"More then you know..." She opened her mouth as if to say something but nothing came out. "No one has ever known...I never thought that someone would find out, but I guess not everyone's wishes can come true. I got up slowly and braced myself on a nearby tree. I took in a long breath and blew it out slowly. "I've never told anyone about this, not even my closest friends." 

"Why would you tell us then?" It was Elizabeth, she had gotten up and and was leaning against a tree. I pushed myself away from the tree and stood looking at her. 

"Because I can't stand hiding feelings, I can't take it anymore. Both of you have something that makes you...you. Everyone has that moment that changes you forever. Mine was the home incident, or at least that's what I call it." They both stared at me, as if urging me to go on. I took a deep breath and began at the beginning.

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"I grew up with the perfect family, The perfect house, the perfect friends, school etc. etc.. I wouldn't have given it up for the world but the world is a jerk that doesn't care what you think...It all happened too fast, all at once everything changed. My house burned down, my parents got a divorce, my friends turned on me, my grades dropped, everything was different. One day, I was in the hotel room listening to my music when my mom came in and told me we were moving 2,000 miles from where i born and raised. I was so angry, I stormed out of the room and ran outside. Of course it would be raining when I go outside, but I didn't care at the moment. I didn't know where to go but I just started running.  I ran and ran until my legs hurt, then ran some more. I didn't know where I was when I stopped, I had run into a forest...one just like this." I motioned to all around me and sat down next to Elizabeth who had taken a seat while I was talking. "I was lost...by myself...in the middle of a huge forest. I didn't know where to go. My life had slipped from my finger tips. I had never felt that...horrible...in my life, so I did something that I have only done a couple times in my life. I cried, I cried for what seemed like hours and I tried to stop but every pent up emotion just came flowing out." My voice hitched and my eyes started to tear up, Elizabeth and Hope stared at me as if I was an alien from another plant. I had never cried in front of somebody...but I couldn't stop myself. 

"I cried myself to sleep and woke up to the sound of my mother shouting my name. I opened my eyes and saw my mother running to me. She fell to her knees beside me and sobbed. I immediately got up and wrapped my arms around her, telling her that I was fine, that everything was going to be okay. I had spent so much time thinking about myself that I never thought about how the change affected my mom. She is this the strongest women I have ever met. Her and I are so alike, we don't cry in public, we try to stay as strong as we can but sometimes it proves to be to much." Tears started rolling down my cheeks slowly, I pulled a small locket from underneath my mud-stained jacket and opened it. Inside was a photo of my family all together, happy and carefree. I smiled a sad smile and closed it quickly. I couldn't stand to see her face, she is the greatest woman on earth, or she was... 

"On our way back to the hotel, my mother said she had to make a stop at a local market for something. I waited in the car as she went in. I brought out my phone and as that I had over 50 messages. I was replying when all of a sudden I heard a gunshot." I stopped, I couldn't stop myself any longer. The tears came flooding down my face as I kept retelling the tale. "I turned just in time to see 3 men running out of the market with masks on and bag filled with what I could only guess was money. I jumped out of the car and ran for the market doors. The door slid open as I ran into the store but my running was cut short as I came to a halt in front of a body. It was my mother, she was laying on the ground and wasn't moving. Everyone in the store seemed to be watching me as I fell to my knees and shook her, begging her to wake up. Twice in two days I started crying, I kept shaking her until I heard an ambulance outside and people running inside. All I saw was blurry faces and them taking my mother away to the stretcher. It all seemed like a dream, fuzzy and blurry, I couldn't see correctly. That was the last thing I remember before waking up in a hotel bed, hardly able to move. At first I didn't remember what had happened, but then it all hit my like 3 tons of bricks. I jumped out of bed and ran around the room screaming for my mom, my dad ran in and took my in his arms as I collapsed to the ground. I didn't cry but I felt empty...like my heart had been ripped out. My mom died while I was asleep in the hotel room, I  couldn't save her." The tears kept their steady stream and I continued "From then on, I vowed never to cry...nothing could ever be as painful as her death, except maybe reliving it. The reason why i'm super uptight is that at my mothers funeral, I promised her that I would become the woman she had wanted me to be. That's what made who I am today. A sad, lonely, fake girl who doesn't have a mother. After that, my father and I moved here and we try our hardest to forget what happened, but that could never happen..." I looked up at Elizabeth who had kept quiet during the entire story. She was facing the ground with her hands on her eyes. She looked up and I could see her eyes were turning red,

"You're not the only one with problems you know...I'm tired of having to feel bad for you, I'm done!" Elizabeth shouted. I was shocked! I just poured my heart out to her and she doesn't care? She got up and turned around, running into the forest. I don't know if it was my imagination or if I actually heard this but I swear I heard a sob from her.

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