Just Give Me A Reason || 13 Reasons Why

Tape 1, Side A > Justin

I walk up the stairs of my house, unlock the door and walk in.

"I'm home!" I call out. My step-father, Deran comes into view.

"You got a package." He hands me a box wrapped in brown paper without a sender's address. I take the package and go up to my room. I sit down on my bed and open it. It's a shoebox. I open the shoebox and there are tapes inside. No not Scotch tape like mixtape tapes. Yeah. Major throwback. There's a note on top of the tapes.

You were right.
-HB

"HB? Who the hell is HB?"

The CD player that my mom bought me has a space to play cassettes. I go into my closet and pull it out and go back to my bed. I put the tape labeled '1,' put it inside and press play.

"Hey. It's Hannah. Hannah Baker." The voice says.

"What the fuck..."

"That's right. Don't adjust your... whatever device you're listening to this on. It's me, live and in stereo. No return engagements, no encore. And this time absolutely no requests. Get a snack. Settle in 'cause I'm about to tell you the story of my life. More specifically why my life ended. And if you're listening to this tape, you're on of the reasons why." I quickly press pause.

"First of all, eerie as fuck. Second of all, I barely knew you Hannah. How the fuck am I one of the reasons why you killed yourself?" I sigh. "Only one way to find out. Here goes nothing." I press play.

"I'm not saying which tape brings you into the story, but fear not. If you received this lovely little box, your name will pop up, I promise."

"The rules here are pretty simple. There are only two. Rule number one: you listen. Number two: you pass it on. Hopefully, neither one will be easy. It's not supposed to be easy, or I would have emailed you an MP3. When you're done listening to all 13 sides, because there are 13 sides to every story, rewind the tapes, put them back in the box, and pass them on to the next person."

"Oh, and the box of tapes should have included a map." I look in the box and see it. "I'll be mentioning several spots around our beloved city. I can't force you to visit them, but if you'd like a little more insight, head for the stars. Or, you know, just throw the map away and I'll never know. Or will I? You see, in case you're tempted to break the rules, understand I did make a copy of these tapes, and I left them with a trusted individual who, if this package doesn't make it through all of you, will release those copies in a very public manner. This was not a spur of the moment decision. Do not take me for granted. Not again. Do what I say, not more, not less. You're being watched." I press pause again.

"I must be dreaming. This can't be real." I pinch myself. "Nope. Not dreaming." I run my fingers through my hair. "The girl just died not too long ago."

I need to find out what I did to this girl and that means I have to listen to these tapes. Every. Single. One.

I press play.

"Put your finger on 'C.'" I quickly grab the map. "Your other finger on '4.'Bring them together. That's our first red star. I know, right? A map. Old school, again. No Google Maps, no app, no chance for the interwebs to make everything worse, like it does. You've arrived at my first house in this shitty town where I threw my first and only party and where I met Justin Foley the subject of our first tape. It was just a party. I didn't know it was the beginning of the end. Justin, you were in love with my friend Kat. My only friend."

Yep. I was at that party. I'm not much of a partier but I still went...

Kat's going away party. Do I know Kat? Not really. Am I going to pass up an opportunity to drink free booze? Of course not.