She Walks Alone

Roger’s constant smile fell for the first time in a year and a day. Carli, though, was not willing to take no for an answer. “There are things I need to know.”

Roger still hadn’t made eye contact with her. “Dad, look at me!”

He did. Then, she was thirteen again.

“How did she die, Dad?”

“Sometimes people do.”

“But what was wrong with her? Was she sick?”

Carli’s dad turned away, again failing to maintain eye contact.. “You have to understand, Carolina. People die, it hurts. A lot. And it will probably never stop hurting. But, it happens, and sometimes for  no reason, and sometimes there is one.”

Carolina?

“So? Is there?”

“Not now. Not today.”
“I’m fourteen, Dad! I’m ready to know! I need to know.”

“No, you don’t.”

And with  that, he left the house.

---

Carli was home alone now, bored, hungry, sad. Had she still been in Atlanta, she would have called her friends. They would have come over. They would have a sleep over.

They would have fun.

Maybe she still could.

She picked up her phone, and searched through her contacts for the number that everyone had deleted months ago.

“Carli?”

It was Kylian, her friend who didn’t have any other friends.  He had curly black hair and glasses that he only wore on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. Without them, she might even consider him cute. He’d had friends and had been popular at one time, but something had happened it the beginning of the school year that Carli had missed out on.

“Hi, Kylian.”

“What’s up?”

“Does anything have to be up?”

“Yes, if you called me.”

“I’m bored.”

“Wanna throw a party”

“Sure. We’ll invite all of my nonexistent friends.”

“Your loss.”

“Bye, Kyl.”

“I’ll be there at eight thirty.”