Chapter 25
It had been a hard week for the Boys, who had been forced
to announce their break-up at a press conference that Tuesday. Since then, they had gotten more media
attention than they had in awhile. They
preferred to stay out of the limelight though, ignoring reporters’ nosy and
obnoxious questions, which mostly revolved
around Nick.
After the press conference, Kevin, AJ, and Howie had flown
to Atlanta to spend a few days at Brian’s house, and to see Nick. Unfortunately, he seemed to be nearly the
same since the last time they had been there.
It seemed as if he would never get any better than that.
***
After school on Friday afternoon, Marissa walked down the
street towards Kaelyn’s house, breathing deeply in the fresh spring air. Kaelyn had not been at school that day, and
Marissa was heading to her house to drop off her homework, which she had picked
up at school.
Truthfully, Marissa knew Kaelyn wouldn’t care if she got
her homework right away, but Marissa was worried about her friend. She had talked to Kaelyn on the phone
Wednesday night, after the news that the Backstreet Boys were breaking up had
been broadcasted on MTV, and Kaelyn had sounded very depressed, even more so
than she had in a long time. At school
the day before, she had seemed locked in a world of her own, separated from
reality. Marissa was concerned.
Marissa walked up the steps to Kaelyn’s front porch, steps
she had climbed so many times in the duration of their long friendship. She rang the doorbell and waited, but got no
answer. Wondering where Kaelyn’s family
could be, she rang the bell again, but still, no one answered.
Marissa glanced at the front picture window next to the
front door and saw that the curtains were drawn back, exposing the TV, which
was turned on.
Marissa was puzzled.
She knew the Ross family always shut their curtains and turned off their
TV before leaving to go anywhere.
She suddenly had a bad feeling in the pit of her
stomach. Something was wrong; she could
feel it.
Marissa grasped the doorknob and turned it slightly. It was unlocked. She opened it and stepped in
hesitantly.
“Hello?” she called timidly, looking around for a sign that
someone was there. There was no answer.
Worriedly, Marissa climbed the stairs, heading towards
Kaelyn’s bedroom. The door was
shut. Marissa knocked softly. “Kaelyn?” she asked. “You there, Kae?”
No answer.
Marissa slowly turned the doorknob. She knew there was no lock on Kaelyn’s door,
so it should open easily. However, it
only opened a few inches. Marissa
realized there must be a chair or something blocking the entrance.
Frustrated, she wiggled the door, trying to push whatever
the barrier was out of the way. After
some struggle, she finally succeeded in getting the door open to the point
where she could get in.
When she did, she looked around in confusion. At first glance, there was no sight of
Kaelyn in the room.
And then she saw the feet.
A pair of feet, showing from the other side of the bed, where someone was
obviously lying.
“Kae, get up. It’s
me, Marissa,” Marissa said, her voice shaking uneasily. When she got no answer, she slowly
approached the bed.
When the body that belonged to the feet finally came into
view, she gasped and let out an ear-piercing scream.
It was Kaelyn, lying on her back, her eyes open, fixed and
staring up towards the ceiling. But they
were not their usual sky blue. Instead,
they were faded into a glassy gray.
But it wasn’t Kaelyn’s eyes that Marissa noticed
first. It was the dark puddle of blood
that surrounded her, soaking everything in a rich crimson.
“Kaelyn!” Marissa screamed, collapsing to the ground before
her friend’s body. Her hands shaking,
she reached out and touched her fingertips to Kaelyn’s neck to feel for a
pulse. Kaelyn’s skin felt dry and cool,
and Marissa got nothing. She was dead.
“Oh, my, God. Oh, my
God,” Marissa choked, her breath coming out in short gasps.
Her eyes shifted to Kaelyn’s side, drawn to a metallic
shimmer of a small, shiny object. On
closer examination, Marissa realized that it was a razor blade. Looking at Kaelyn’s wrists, which still
trickled fresh blood, Marissa automatically knew what had happened.
Kaelyn had taken her own life.
***
