March 22nd. The sun was at the highest point in the sky. The neighborhood had that just-cut grass smell, and everybody was outside enjoying the sun. That’s the day I lost part of me. I will never forget her last words to me, “Watch my back. I trust you.”
No. It was not completely my fault. Part of it had to do with everybody’s happy moods and how busy they where to notice a girl being taken. Nobody heard her screams, nobody saw her kicking and hitting, nobody. To them she was just a girl that disappeared, like she was there one minute and gone the next.
I wish I would have done something. Now she is gone and I am all alone. All school they still say her name during roll-call, they leave open her computer in the lab, and they haven’t touched her locker. It’s like she never left, and was just sick that day. Didn’t anybody ever tell the school? They must wonder why she has been gone so long.
It’s a month later and people that knew her already forgot. They don’t get sad when they see her picture in the yearbook or pass her locker. I try to forget; it doesn’t work. I try to smile; I can’t. I even try to remember the good times to make me feel better; I am still sad.
Maybe one day I’ll see her again, most likely not in my lifetime. I used to be a happy person. Now I can’t bring myself to laugh.
The first felt they felt sorry. I didn’t want their pity. Even her family packed up and left, I don’t blame them. She said to watch her back when she walked down the street. Main Street. The worst street in town, but I didn’t know about that at the time. They say that anybody that lives down there is either a murderer or a crazy person.
She went down there to find her dog and need me to stand watch. I made the worst mistake of my life when I bent down and looked away to tie my shoe. Within that short amount of time they had come. I sat helpless behind a tree. I do blame myself; even if I could not fight them off I would have been still able to help her. I wish I could say sorry but my apology is useless. If I could trade places with her right now I would.
She was never found. Forgotten and never found. I can’t change what happened now or how I feel. Best friends forever, I didn’t know forever was so short.
Her name was Courtney. Did you forget?