Death Wish

Chapter 20: I'm Not Strong

Oh, Lorenzo. If only you knew the truth. I'm not strong. I'm going to kill myself at the end of the school year! Just like I did with my family.

...

At my house, after school, I hear a knock on the door. It can't be Lorenzo, he never knocks, and it can't be the delivery guys, I didn't order anything. Padding down the hall, I peer out of the peephole and see Kyliane. Interesting.

Opening the door, I say, "Hey, Kyliane. What can I do for you?"

" Umm...I was wondering if you'd want to take a walk with me," he says nervously.

I lift an eyebrow at his request.

"Totally platonic, of course!"

"I guess, we just have to be finish before five o'clock. I have to work. Let me change. It won't take long."

I run upstairs and change from my sweats to a black and white striped shirt, black jeans, black boots, then I pull a cream-colored trench coat over it. I look at myself in the mirror and smile. Lorenzo would be proud. I grab my wallet, keys, and my phone and stuff it into my black messenger bag on the way out of the house.

"So where do you want to walk?" I ask.

"I don't know, I'm still not familiar with the territory. Could you maybe give me a tour?" Kyliane asks.

"Sure, of course."

We walk through Yasfen which only takes like an hour. I take him to the center of the town and we sit on a bench in the grass that is the town's center.

"Why'd you want to walk?"

"Well, I needed to take my mind off of things that have been bothering me and this helped a lot. Thank you," Kyliane explains.

"You know, Kyliane, you can always talk to me. I'm here to lend a hand if you need it," I gently coax.

"It's just my dad and stepmom. They've been constantly fighting. I think he's cheating on her. I never liked her, but she doesn't deserve to be cheated on. When I was younger, my mom died in a car accident and my dad never got over it. He loved her to death. He became an alcoholic and dealt with grief through women and alcohol. I may as well have lost him, too. I moved here with Lorenzo to escape our old town. Too many memories."

"I'm so sorry, Kyliane."

I lean over to hug him and his touch is warm but it doesn't spark like Lorenzo's touch. It's a friendly touch.

"So how do you know Lorenzo?" I ask to lighten the mood.

"Well, we went to school together. We met in kindergarten. I was getting picked on by the school bully, and when I ran off, I ran into Lorenzo. He helped me. Not only with the bully, but with my dad and my mom's death."

"That's Lorenzo for you, always helping others," I chuckle.

"Linnea, I really-"

Kyliane gets cut off by the sound of my watch going off. I set an alarm for when I had to go to work.

"I'm so sorry, Kyliane. Maybe we can finish this later?"