Author's note:
Thank you for the great and fast feedback yesterday you guys :) Like I promised, here is the next chapter in Bradley's (Alabama's ex-best friend) point of view, there will be more point of views from him as this one only reveals one of her secrets. Hope you guys will enjoy this chapter! Once again to those who have read, voted and commented thank you so very much! It is highly, highly appreciated!
-
Bam Bam left two nights ago. To say that I miss her was an understatement. I was supposed to be her best friend. I was supposed to be there for her when her brothers weren't. I was supposed to protect her when Brandi and the girls turned on her. I was supposed to make her better. I was supposed to make her stay. I was supposed to help her get through this. I was supposed to help her, I was supposed to help her be happy. And I failed myself.
Mr. and Mrs. Carson, Brody, Reece, Brandi, Jackson, me and a bunch of other people were holed up in the Carson's living room. I remembered the times I spent in this very room with Bam Bam, watching her favorite movies and eating junk food like there was no tomorrow. A policeman was sitting in front of Mrs. Carson, Mr. Carson was behind her trying to soothe his sobbing wife. Brody and Reece's eyes were rimmed red, as if they hadn't slept at all and Brandi was sobbing. Jackson was sitting beside Brody and Reece, his face was in his hands and we could hear little sniffling noises. I was trying so hard not to cry. I felt so stupid, Bam Bam had been with me through everything and over some small little incident I had ignored her and left her all alone, even when I knew that she damaged herself.
It hit me then. What kind of person was I? How could I have let popularity blind me? How could I just leave Bam Bam to herself knowing that she was depressed and suffered from suicidal thoughts and social anxiety. With that thought I shot up and ran to her room. Everyone's eyes darted to my retreating back but I had to make sure she had taken them with her. With trembling hands I rushed into Bam Bam's room and my hands reached under her bed for the box she kept under there. When I finally felt the feel of cardboard I hooked my finger into the box and pulled it out. What I saw made me want to cry. I ran downstairs, this time tears were already streaming down my eyes. When I came back in the living room in my state everyone's eyes turned horrified at the look on my face.
"Sh-She didn't take her pills with her!" My voice broke a little, I didn't care if I didn't look manly at the moment but Alabama's life could be in danger. "She didn't take her pills!" I yelled this time. Everyone was stunned and their eyes darted to the bottles of pills I had clenched in my hands.
"Br-Bradley, what are you talking about?" Brody's voice broke out.
"You knew! And you didn't do anything about it! You fucking knew! You were supposed to be her brother! Why didn't you do anything!" Mrs. Carson started wailing.
"Don't blame me for this shit! You were her best friend, you should have made her stay! You should have fucking fixed her!" Then he turned his attention to Brandi who was cowering away from all the commotion hoping that she wouldn't get involved. "And you!" Brody yelled, his voice reverberating throughout the house. "What kind of friend are you! Fucking whoring around when your best friend! My fucking sister was suicidal!" Brandi had a shocked look on her face, Brody looked as if he wanted to say more but Mr. Carson cut him off.
"Brody, that's enough. Sit down right now and we're going to figure this out." Brandi looked flabbergasted, she probably was because her entire high school life all she had fantasized about was Brody, and to have him say that to her probably felt like a knife was just stabbed in her heart. Quickly she stood up and ran to the kitchen, her sobs were already heard. Even though she had broken up with Lance he still ran after her. Brandi had made some real stupid decisions but then again, I can say the same thing for myself.
"What are we going to do! She needs her pills!" I repeated. The policeman then stood up and told me to come with him outside. Jackson finally composed himself, rubbed his face with his hands and stood up.
"I'm coming, I need to hear this." Like a domino effect both Brody and Reece stood up as well. A policewoman took over investigating the house and asking Mr. and Mrs. Carson more questions. Everyone else were busy trying to listen in and getting information on Bam Bam's run from home. Once we were settled standing outside by the main door, the policeman began asking us who we were and what we were to Alabama. After I answered all my necessary information, the policeman jotted down the others' as well. I looked up to the sky and made a silent prayer, rubbing the sides of my arms, warming it from the chilly air.
Please keep her safe God, please bring her home. Let people be kind to her on her journey. Please let her come back home alive and well.
"Alright son, what happened? What are these pills? Why haven't her parents mentioned them?" All eyes were on me now. I pinched the bridge of my nose and looked up, preventing the tears from spilling from my eyes. I probably looked like a pussy but I couldn't care less right now.
"Th-These are her anti-depressants-" I handed a bottle to the cop and he took them in his hands before reading the label and observing them.
"Anti-Depressants prescribed to Alabama Carson, to be taken twice a day, alright, so what happened son?" Once again four sets of eyes were trained on me.
"Alabama suffers from depression and social anxiety. She's been bullied to the point where contact with someone who looks threatening to her can make her convulse and panic. She will literally drop to the floor unconscious or start crying hysterically. It happened two years ago. Her parents didn't know about this because she never told them, she got herself a job at the local diner and participated in events so she would get pay. She-" My voice broke. Jackson put his hand on my shoulder, coaxing me to go on but I shrugged it off. I hated the asshole at the moment.
"She wanted to fix herself. She knew she needed help and her parents never listened to her, they neglected her until she felt that she needed to be independent. Hence Bam Bam taking up jobs since she was in high school. I came with her when she went to a psychologist, and she was diagnosed. I promised her that I wouldn't tell anyone. Fuck, I can't do this anymore- She fucking needs her pills, sir please, it's been 48 hours. You can send out a missing persons request or something right?" The cop finished jotting down whatever he needed before looking up at me with a grimace.
"We have sent a missing person's request, but she doesn't want to be found and that is the problem. You see, we don't know if she has already crossed state borders. She did not bring any devices we can track and she did not leave a trail. The girl planned this out really well. We have sent in people to check her phone and laptop but she had wiped everything clean. No history, nothing." With that the cop put the notebook away and headed back in the house, thanking me for the information. Mrs. Carson was going to be hysterical when she hears about Alabama's diagnosis. I was about to walk away, back into the house when the next thing I knew was I heard and felt my jaw crack. My right hand went up to put my jaw back in palce. But when I straightened myself out my eyes were murderous. The attacker was surprisingly Reece.
For being a pretty protective brother I was surprised that throughout all those years he did nothing to help Bam Bam, Reece is popular in school. There is no doubt about that, the question was why didn't he help his sister become popular as well? Why didn't he use his popularity to threaten people to stop bullying Bam Bam?
"What the fuck man?" I yelled, my fists clenching.
"You're a fucking idiot that's what. You only tell us this now?!" He countered and I scoffed.
"Like you would have done anything about it if you even knew, face it Reece. Your sister was fucking dying, she was fucking wasting away her days trying to kill herself and you just let people tear her apart," I looked at Brody as well and Jackson. While Jackson looked guilty Brody had his lips pursed and his arms folded against his broad chest.
"It wasn't like you were any different, HAH, best friend my fucking ass!" This time I punched him back. Reece charged towards me and we began to wrestle, lunging for each others throats as Brody and Jackson tried to pull the both of us apart. Reece was ontop of me throwing punches and I tasted blood as I felt the side of my lip rip.
"At least I fucking tried! Unlike you, a fucking shit brother," With new found energy I turned him over and punched him with all I had giving him a gash on the side of his head. Finally with the help of Xander and a few other guys on the football team we were pulled apart. Mr. Carson came running out, he looked pissed off to the point where there was no calming him down, he stomped over to us and started shouting orders.
"Everyone except Reece and Bradley get inside the house." When no one started to move he yelled in his deep voice "NOW!" With that the rest of the boys scurried into the house giving glances at us. I rolled my eyes and wiped the blood off my lip with the back of my hand.
"Are you boys out of your mind? The police are here! You are in your senior year and you junior, do you want to get expelled especially when you are so close to graduating?" Mr. Carson's authorative voice had us keeping our mouths shut. "Answer me when I am talking to you!"
"No sir" We both said simultaneously.
"Now my daughter is missing and you two are not doing anything to make things better. I have a house filled with people and a hysterical wife so sort out your shit right here, right now before you enter the house again. Don't even think about coming back in if you two don't start apologizing to each other. And clean yourselves up" He scolded before glaring at us a little longer and retreating into the house.