What I Remember
It started with Vanessa. My best friend since we were in diapers, she was kind. A warm person with a bright heart and a smile on her face, Vanessa was never too busy for anyone. She and I were in high school together when it happened.
I didn't care that the new girl decided to walk all over me because she was some kind of popularity royalty at her old school, not really. I have the friends I wanted and I was still happy. I knew how to stand up for myself.
Vanessa snapped one day. Well, that's what the police called it. Things got turned around and they thought she was the bullied one. Doesn't matter. What does is Vanessa lured the new girl to a metal storage unit where the drama department stores old set pieces and props in the back of the school, then locked her in and let her suffocate.
She told the drama teacher that the new girl "went home". That day, when I dropped her at home after the work call for the school play, she told me before she got out, "Someone will always look after you."
Those were the last words she spoke to me.
She was missing for two months. One month in, they found the popular girl's body when the director went to put the set pieces away in the container.
After those two months, she was found behind the wheel of a clearly deliberate wreck.
She wouldn't have killed herself. Not the Vanessa I knew. But there was a dashcam that proved she drove straight for the edge. She never even tried to stop.
I didn't know anything might be weird until my friend Dove killed the guy who tried to rape me, during a pep rally of all things. She didn't try to hide it. She was a cheerleader, he was a football player. I was front row in the stands when she stepped forward to do her "special cheer" the school had been buzzing about. As she was moving, I saw her reach behind her back and pull out the gun. Before anyone could call out, she'd turned and fired, killing him instantly. This was a girl who hated that her police officer dad KEPT guns in the house. And before anyone could grab her she was gone. I received a letter in the mail that day that read, "Don't worry. Someone will always be watching over you."
Two months later, hanging from a noose in a tree she used to practice under.
That's when I started to get worried. And 3 friends following suit later, I'm downright scared. I don't know what to do, but I think there's something causing all of this.
