Beautiful People

29: indistinguishable

The news that Bryce Walker was dead, hit the media quicker than any story ever had before and caused all sorts of reactions from within the small town. That morning had been difficult for the family of Bryce, as his Mom had to react to finding out that her son was not only dead, but there seemed to be elements of foul play, indicating that someone could have killed him. Ani was sent off to school by her Mother, despite knowing Bryce very well and wanting time to adjust, she was thrown into the midst of everything.

Once she had told Clay what had happened, he took it upon himself to let everyone in their small group of friends know as well because they needed to figure out what had happened that night; so that they could keep their secrets to themselves. Zach and Justin were told in person, causing Justin to throw up at the news because he was so upset about what had happened. The others didn't understand why he was upset, they weren't even friends but Justin knew one person that would understand how he was feeling and convinced Zach to drive him over to her house.

"Are you sure you won't come in? She'll want you there too." Justin said as he opened the door of the car, stepping onto the pavement outside the house.

"No, you two should spend some time together." Zach shook his head, knowing that it wouldn't be the best option if he saw her right now. "I'll come back and pick you up later."

"Thanks dude."

Ani's Mother was the only adult in the house and when Justin explained who he was, she let him in. Under any other circumstances she wouldn't have allowed anyone to come into the house, but she knew that the girl upstairs needed comfort and if he was offering it, then she would be grateful for some company. Nora wasn't home, she had left to go to the morgue to identify the body that the police had found and had originally wanted her daughter to come too, but Lily couldn't bring herself to see her brother in that way.

"Lily?" He said quietly, knocking on her bedroom door but there was no answer. "Lily, can I come in?"

He slowly pushed open the bedroom door, readjusting his eyes because the room was in darkness. The curtains had been drawn so that the room would stay dark and the only sound came from where the bed was. There was a figure under the covers, sniffling, her whole body shaking as she cried to herself; not even hearing him knocking on the door. Justin took a few steps towards the bed, taking in the state of her bedroom. It was plain, no one had touched it since she moved her things out and now that she was back so soon, she hadn't had time to put her things back into it.

Justin had only ever been in the bedroom a handful of times, usually when Bryce had gotten so drunk that he had forgotten where his own room was and had landed on her bed by mistake. It had always been full of colours, with a large bookshelf for all of her text books and a desk with revision notes taped to the wall. Fairy lights hung over the bed and there were trinkets of things that her parents had bought for her on their business trips, placed neatly on shelves. But now the room was empty, there were no revision notes on the walls, no trinkets on shelves and not even the familiar smell of her perfume was in the air. It was like she had never lived there before, that she wasn't even a part of the family but he knew the truth.