Notes

“Isn't this photo beautiful?” the picture in question depicts two young girls, around eight or nine, hugging each other and facing the camera. The tallest of the two girls had shoulder length blonde hair and green eyes the color of spring. She was wearing a pink and yellow dress that has mud stains dotting the bottom half of it. The other girl had hair from the top of her head pulled up into a bun, the rest of her dark chocolate colored curly hair seemed to be floating out away from her head. Her big eyes were dark amber brown, matching her skin. Her pale pink tee-shirt and jean overalls had matching mud stains to the first girls dress. The two girls were inseparable.
“Yeah, its really cute, Aunt Anna,” a half-hearted voice replied. The women holding the picture, Aunt Anna, rolled her eyes and set it back down on the table.
“Oh, honestly Serena Jane, you and Macey Rose really should hang out more. You know, I heard she skipped a grade and is on her way to college to become a lawyer. She would be a good influence for you, for once.”
“I know Aunt Anna, trust me I know, I-”
“Now don't get snappy with me missy, your mother was the same way when she was young.” Aunt Anna went the the adjacent kitchen and started searching the cabinets. Aunt Anna was a short, heavy set black women, raised with southern morals. Her deep sunken eyes were light brown, she had jet black hair pulled back into a bun, and according the Serena, her long narrow face made her look like a horse. She almost always wore the same faded cobalt blue sweater and baggy blue jeans.
Serena, however, was vastly different from her aunt. Her hair was long and dark brown braided strands mingled with the light brown dyed ones. She wore grey sweatpants and a ratty old tee shirt that she had kept for years. A light weight purple, pink, and blue duvet. Was draped around her shoulders as she was hunching over her phone, sitting crossed legged on an old dirty arm chair. Her black painted nails clicked the screen of the phone, as she scrolled through the black and white poems and posts on a dark blue background.
“For pete's sakes, Serena Jane, get off that damned phone and go be productive for once!” Aunt Anna yelled as she tossed a nearby pillow at Serena.
“Ok, ok, fine!” Serena snapped sitting up and dragging her blanket up the stairs to her bedroom. Serena trudged up the tan carpeted stairs, tightly gripping her blanket as to not lose it. At the top of the stairs she turned the corner and walked down the hallway to her room. Her door was plastered with yellow caution tape, red “KEEP OUT” signs, and bubble letters that spell “Serena” from when her younger sister was five. She shut the door behind her and dropped her blanket on the floor. Her room was as cluttered as her door, with books, pictures, clothes, posters, and merchandise from random tv shows and bands. She opened her closet and dug through a small chest that served as her dresser. She snatched a black tee-shirt with a red and white triangular play button on it, and a pair of dark, ripped-at-the-knees blue jeans. She changed and quickly pulled her hair up into a bun, texting one of her friends at the same time. She grabbed a dark red hood shirt and threw it on, grabbing a brown faded leather satchel at the same time and tossing it over her shoulder. She walked out of her room shutting the door behind her and shoving her phone into her hood shirt pocket, almost running down the stairs. “I'm going to meet Alexia at the corner store!” She called into the kitchen as she passes it on her way to the door. Serena quickly slips on a pair of old tennis shoes and walks out of the somewhat heated house, into the crisp, cold February wind. She yanks the hood up over her head and shoves her hands in her hood shirt pocket. She wraps her hands around the warm electronic in her pocket of her sweatshirt and entwines her fingers. She starts on the side of the road, between the tar and the ditch, staring at the ground and her foot steps ahead. Every so often, she glances around to make sure no one is in front of, or behind her. She continues her walking and glancing around until she is at the end of her road and turned right, into a corner store. An old and broken sign and the corner read, “Be_ker Corn_r St__e”. Most of the letter have fallen down from years and wind and rain. Serena walks around the far side of the building and notices another figure leaning against the grimy wall of the building. “Alexia, I presume.” She says leaning against the wall. The two girls smiled at each other.
“‘Sup.” Alexia mocked. They both glanced at each other and burst out in muffled laughs. ¨Get over here you weirdo!¨ Alexia said, pulling Serena into a hug. ¨I missed ya, kid.¨ She reminisced.
Alexia was pretty tall for someone her age. She was about 5’7¨, with long legs and even longer hair. Her hair was almost black and tightly cornrowed against her scalp. She was wearing a navy blue bomber jacket and a black tee shirt. Her dark blue jeans hugged her waist and flared at the ankles ever so slightly. Her pitch black shoes were a cross between combat boot and goth-stompers. She had numerous bangle bracelets lining her right wrist and wore winged eyeliner that could fly away if it so pleased. Her golden hazel eyes sparkled blue in the filtering sunlight.
“How's things?” Serena asked letting go of her friend.
“Things are good. Jimmy’s soccer team won 5 games in a row, Juliana won first place in her singing contest. Oh- and my older sibling, Max , proposed to their girlfriend finally!” squealed, listing off her siblings recent accomplishments.
“Wow, make sure to congratulate Max for me.” Serena said smirking.
“Hey, let's go back to Leah's place, ok?”
“Yeah, let's go.”
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“COME IN!” a voice chimed from inside the big, two-story, white house with sky blue shutters. Serena and Alexia walked inside and close the door behind them, the house was almost pristine. The two girls looked at eachother then went into the kitchen, which wasn't far from the entry way. Wood floors lined the house, with tile in the kitchen and a small rug in the entryway. There in the kitchen they saw figures rushing from one end to the other. One was a tall, strong guy with brown-blonde ombre hair, shaved on the side and longer on the top. He was wearing a grey t-shirt with batter stains everywhere;his blue jeans were no different. He had fair skin, with freckles dotting the bridge of his nose and speckling his arms. His eyes were bright green
The girl, on the other hand, was short, with hair that made her look even shorter. Her hair was almost to the back of her knees, it went from black to dark red. She had it pulled up and wrapped around her ponytail, but it was still very long. She had a curvy figure, but she wore a baggy tee shirt and sweatpants. Her skin was a bit darker than the boys, but her eyes were crystal blue.
“OH MY GOSH! Girls, i can't believe you're here!!” The girl squealed running over the Serena and Alexia.
“Hey Leah, how's it going?” Serena asked.
“Oh I see how it is, you pay attention to the short one and forget about me.”
“Oh, shut up Jax!” Alexia mocked, the older boy pretend pouting in the corner. “Get over here you big jerk!” Jax smirked and ran over, almost knocking the girls over.
“Jerk!” the girls yelled in unison. They were all laughing at varying degrees.
“Girls, Jax; Get in here!” a voice called from the room over. Everyone fell silently as the four teens walking into the adjacent living room.
“What is it grams?” asked Leah.
“Look at this.” an older lady sitting on a high dollar couch said, pointing at the tv mounted on the wall with one hand, and a tissue in the other. The kids looked at the tv and saw a news station, the words “local teen commits suicide” flashes across the bottom of the screen. The screen flips from a newscaster, to the local high school, to the picture of the girl. It depicted a girl who had long blonde hair with light pink streaks. A pink and yellow shirt was draped over her mud black tank top. Her eyes, the most prominent feature in the picture, were green-the color of spring.
“Macey Rose…” Serena trailed off. She was frozen in spot, her eyes glued to the tv. Alexia fell onto the couch behind her, clutching the armrest and her jacket. Leah and Jax were hanging onto each other, Jax supporting Leah and Leah keeping Jax balanced. The News continued to talk about the feeling of the family, the events leading up to the suicide and ended with the funeral announcement. Everyone had barely moved since the segment started. The older lady turned off the tv and Alexia's sobs rang through the room. Leah and Jax were kneeling on the ground still clutching each other. Serena was frozen staring at the black tv, un moving.
“S-Serena? Are you ok? Macey Rose was your-” Leah was interrupted by Serena's sharp glare and was shortly followed by her running out of the house and out into the street. Serena's breath was sharp and ragged, her chest heaving. She whipped her head back and forth, her vision blurring. She ran up the sidewalk, and didn't stop. Her friends were yelling behind her but the noise never reached her; nothing did. She could barely see, stumbling and running blindly. Her thoughts were racing as fast as she was. She ran until she say her beat up house in the middle of nowhere. Her aunt's car was no longer in the driveway and she stumbled onto the front porch, she collapsed against the door. She blacked out.

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“Serena?” a muffled voice called. “Serena come on!” I jolted awake. I rubbed my eyes not remembering anything, but eventually recognizing the voice from earlier.
“A-Alexia?” I mumble looking around. I was in my bedroom, that much I knew. “What happened?” I asked turning to see Alexia in an old sweatshirt with her hair pulled up in a bun, her eyes were red and puffy and she looked about 40 years old.
“A lot happened, sweetheart, what do you remember?” she asked me and a kind gentle voice. She always called people ‘sweetheart’ when something bad happened. Then it hit me; the suicide.
“I- I don't know, can you get me some water?” I lied. Alexia nodded and got up and left my room. I listened to her steps until I was sure she couldn’t hear me. Then I got up and locked my door. I had a hand over my mouth the cover my already silent crying. I sunk to my knees next to my bed and grabbed the immense amount of pills I had stashed, along with a pre-written note. I breathed as calmly as I could, telling myself I knew what I was doing. I sat at the edge of my bed and grabbed the water bottle hidden in my dresser. I calmed my breathing, and took the pills. I don't know how many I swallowed, but I could only swallow two or three at a time. I lay back down in my bed and held the note to my chest slowly closing my eyes. I could faintly hear talking on the other side of my door, but I didn't know what it was, nor did I care. This was my last struggle, my last breath, my last moment, my last friend;lost.