If Only I Could Run Away From Reality

[Vanessa Parker]

Vanessa was dressed in almost all black, not her usual style. But her best friend had died of cancer. Tears had left marks on her cheeks. She looked down at the ground. She didn't want anybody to know that she had been crying. She had walked outside, hoping to find a good place to sit down and sing.

She looked around her. Nobody was there. Nobody to attempt at comforting her. Nobody asking what was wrong. Nobody being "sorry" when they didn't even know what it was like. She looked back towards the ground. She sang as she walked. It was one of her favorites. The chorus kind of fit the occasion.

"Where did I go wrong, I lost a friend
Somewhere along in the bitterness
And I would have stayed up with you all night
Had I known how to save a life."

She walked on, wishing it had all been a dream or a joke. She didn't like mean jokes, but it would be better than actually happening. She walked on, repeating the chorus. All of a sudden, she bumped in to someone and was a bit startled. She stopped singing right at the end of the chorus, when she had bumped in to the younger girl. Vanessa looked up, her face like a kid about to open an unexpected present. She had wanted it to be Wynstelle. But it was a girl she had seen in the common room before. Her smile faded quickly.

"Sorry about that," she said. "I should really watch where I'm going. Sorry. I...uh.... well, let's just say I'm not having the greatest time of my life, and I've been a bit distracted lately."

She tried to smile, but it came out really small. She looked at the girl. Younger than her, only by a little, probably a 2nd year.

 

[Hannah Chambers]

Hannah was laying around on the lawn just enjoying the outdoors for a while. She was wearing a simple outfit of jeans and white shirt over a black sweater; Hannah always loved dressing casual, unlike her sister. She just liked feeling comfortable. She had nothing to do and didn't bring anything to 'entertain' herself with while laying around there, she had just laid back and watched the clouds going by, trying to make shapes out of them. She was so wrapped up in her own thoughts that she hadn't noticed anyone approaching. She heard the music approaching of course, but it hadn't bothered her and she thought it was just an added bonus to being outside.

But as soon as someone nearly tripped over her, Hannah quickly sat up and put her hands over her mouth. "Omg I'm so sorry!" she immediately began to apologize. The girl then began to apologize as well saying she should watch where she was going but Hannah shook her head. "No I'm sorry, I shouldn't have been sprawled out across the ground where everyone is walking," she insisted while shaking her head. Then the girl said that her mind had just been distracted all day so that might've been a factor their bumping into each other. Hannah frowned slightly and said, "Sorry to hear that," but didn't know what else to say.

 

[Vanessa Parker]

Vanessa listened as the girl apologized.

"No, it was all my fault, you don't have to apologize," she said. "And I should be okay now. I mean, a lot of people have had worse things happen, it's only a... minor thing. A lot of other things could go wrong. I'm just making things worse for the people around me. I'm really sorry. It looked like you were enjoying this nice day and I just have to come and interrupt it. I'm Vanessa, by the way."

She let out a small laugh. It wasn't a real laugh, kind of like a nervous laugh. She shook her head. She wouldn't think about how the grass was green and the sun was shining with perfect fluffy cumulus clouds in the bright blue sky. It was days like these that she had spent with Wynstelle. No, she wouldn't think of that. Vanessa tried to focus on the girl she had just met instead.