One Day Too Late

As I walked down the hall towards my first period class, I had to wind my way through a crowd of people. I rolled my eyes at them and stepped into my classroom. I carefully took down my chair and set my binder on the corner of my desk. I walked back out of the room and shoved past the other kids in the hallway. I turned and proceeded down the right hall. I made another turn to go down the music hall. I had decided earlier that morning that if I put my music book and drumsticks in the band storage room early, I wouldn’t have to stop by my locker and get them before fifth period. I dropped my things off, meeting with two of my friends who were also band kids. I exchanged greeting with both Simon and Eren and waited for them to unpack all of their stuff so we could go find the rest of our friends together.  Simon, Eren, and I headed towards the classroom where all our friends usually gathered. Just before we entered the classroom, I remembered that my phone was still in my pocket. I turned and headed towards my locker, since it was a school rule that you couldn’t take your phone to class. I was shoving my phone inside my backpack when I heard a burst of laughter behind me that caught my attention.
“You’re talking about the new girl, right? Melinda or whatever her name is?” someone said.
I turned to see three girls walking past, two with blonde hair and the other with brown.
“No wonder she doesn’t have any friends.” Sneered the girl with the brown hair.
I narrowed my eyes and closed the locker. I walked a few feet behind the trio of girls, trying to look as inconspicuous as possible.
I only caught a few more words of their conversation before the bell rang. I fast-walked to science, wondering who this new girl was. Soon after I sat down I saw a girl that I had never seen before walk into class. I watched her go and talk to the teacher while I tugged my spiral out of my binder.
“Felix!” I heard the teacher call.
I looked up and saw the girl walking towards me.
“That’s Mira; she’s new here and just transferred to this class. I hope you don’t mind me putting her next to you?”
I shook my head and took down Mira’s chair for her. Mira had short, thick brown-blonde hair with a blue streak going down the right side of her bangs. She had bale blue eyes and a sprinkle of freckles on her cheeks. She was wearing a thin black best over a white shirt and a lavender tie. A blue jacket was tied around her waist, and below that she wore dark jeans and sneakers.
“I’m Felix, by the way.” I introduced myself, pushing my binder back to the corner of my desk.
Mira didn’t reply. She only made a small affirmative noise as she got out her own spiral. I worried my eyebrows a bit, but didn’t press for a conversation. Mira went through the whole period juggling taking notes and doodling in her spiral. Five minutes before the bell was about to ring, I glanced over at what she was drawing. It turned out to be a dragon clinging to the side of a cliff; its jaws opened wide and fire bursting forth from its throat. Its wings were half-curved inwards, and its tail was lashing to the right, revealing a pair of scythe-like blades at its tip.
“Woah?” I breathed. “That’s so cool.”
Mira looked up. “Thanks.” She said quietly, moving a lock of hair out of her eyes.
I nodded and watched as she edited the dragon’s claws. When the bell rang I bid Mira goodbye and set out to my second period class, wondering how she was able to draw a dragon that well.
A few days later I exited the band storage room again, Simon and Eren in tow. I glanced down the right side of the hallway, which led outside, and was surprised to see Mira, and the three girls whose conversation I had eavesdropped on a few days prior. I tapped Simon’s shoulder to get his attention and turned towards the girls. Mira, who must’ve dropped her binder, bent over to pick it up.
“Why don’t you go back to where you came from, newbie?” the girl with the long brown hair said.
Mira mumbled something, looking down at the floor. Mira’s the new girl those three were talking about the other day. I realized.
“What was that?” the girl asked, taking a step towards Mira. “I didn’t quite hear you.”
Mira backed up, running into the lockers behind her.
“Who are they?” Simon asked.
“Sara, Jenny, and Kat.” Eren answered. “I don’t know the other one.”
“Mira.” I said. “She’s the new kid.” I turned towards Simon and Eren. “Come on guys, let’s go find the others.”
They nodded and started walking away. I cast one last glance at Mira before following them, a twinge of guilt rising up in my gut. She’ll be fine. I told myself.
The weather was growing warmer, and the days longer. I started walking to my classes with a new skip in my step. However, I began to notice that despite everyone’s smiling faces and high spirits, Mira seemed to be growing more and more miserable each passing day. One day she came into science looking so pale that I thought she might pass out at any second. She began to wear that blue jacket of hers, even though it was getting hotter. I decided to ask her about it one day.
“Hey Mira, it’s nearly halfway through April, and it must be a furnace in your sixth period class.” I had learned Mira’s schedule by now, and knew that her sixth period classroom was the hottest in the school, even in winter.
She only shrugged. “I like being warm, I suppose.”
I frowned at that, but I didn’t ask her anything more. After that I began to question my friends about Mira, wanting to see if anyone knew even a thing about her.
“The new girl? Well, I guess she isn’t so new now.” My best friend Jason said, his thinking face on. “I can’t say that I’ve spoken with her that much, but I do know what she draws really cool dragons.”
I rolled my eyes. “Of course you would notice that, and only that.”
I turned to another friend. “Hey, Nat, you know Mira, right?”
She nodded. “Yeah, she had math with Dan, Jason, and I. What about her?”
“I was wondering if you’ve noticed anything odd about her lately.” I said.
She shook her head and shrugged. “I don’t know her that well, so I wouldn’t be able to tell if something was off.”
At that point I was starting to get frustrated. I can’t be the only person in this school that knows Mira, can I? As I headed towards fifth period after lunch was over, I noticed the girls who had bullied Mira a few weeks ago walking past, and there were two new people with them.
“What have you got planned for that nerd Mira today, Sara?” Kat asked.
Sara laughed. “Oh, you’ll see. Once I’m down with that pathetic weakling, no one will ever want to talk to her again.” She said.
I frowned as Sara’s friends laughed. Why would people want to treat other people that way? I wondered. As soon as the bell rang for the end of school, I went on my phone and Googled bullying. I walked home from the bus stop still reading. I finally put my phone down to open the door to my house, but I was a little disturbed by what I had just read. Who could possibly feel like it’s okay to hurt other people just to get themselves attention? Does that strategy even work? Well, if I think about it, Sara seemed to have more friends today than she did before…. could that have something to do with her bullying Mira? I shook my head as I opened the door. I threw down my backpack and grabbed my laptop. I had decided to do some more in-depth research on bullying.
“…. bullies behave as they do for a number of reasons…. family issues…. divorced parents…. and other such at home problems.” I murmured aloud as I read. “Kids who are insecure about themselves bully others to make themselves feel better.” I kept reading, not aware of how much time was passing. “Bullied kids can suffer feelings sadness, increased worries, and thoughts of killing themselves.” I stopped, astounded. People commit suicide over bullying? I never thought something like bullying could be so serious.
Just then my mom walked through the door. I put my computer down and got up to greet her. I stopped myself for a moment. Should I tell her about Mira? I suppose it couldn’t hurt, but what good would it do? She’d only tell me that I’m blowing this out of proportion and being overly dramatic. I guess I could tell a counselor about this, they deal with this type of stuff. Yeah! That’s what I’ll do! Maybe then I could get Sara to stop bullying Mira before something bad happens. I shuddered at the thought.
I walked into the school’s front doors the very next morning, so glad that it was almost Friday. Instead of doing my morning routine, I headed towards the counselor’s office. I waited patiently for the counselor to finish with what he was doing, then walked into his office when he beckoned me; feeling slightly nervous.
“So, what did you want to talk to me about, Felix?” the counselor asked, taking a seat.
I sat down on a chair across from him. “Well, it’s about this friend of mine. She’s not really a friend though, well, she is…. I guess… I don’t know. Anyways, I noticed that she’s been bullied a few times and…. uh…” I realized that I didn’t know what to say next.
“Do you know who’s bullying her?” the counselor asked, leaning forward in his chair.
“Oh…. yeah, some girl named Sara.” I replied.
“Is your friend here today?”
I blinked. “Um, I’m not sure, she might be sick or something if she’s not.” I said, hoping that was true if indeed she was absent today.
The counselor nodded. “What’s her name? I could call her to the office.” He turned to his computer.
I hesitated. “I don’t know her last name, but her first name is Mira.”
The counselor quirked an eyebrow. “Is that short for Miranda?”
I shrugged. “Uh… possibly?” I looked down at my shoes, a little embarrassed by my lack of knowledge.
The counselor didn’t respond. He looked back at his computer and began typing. I waited while he did that, letting my mind wander to pass the time. What if Mira isn’t sick? The thought came seemingly out of nowhere. I shook it away, refusing to think about the things I had read about the day before. But what if she’s not? What if something…. happened? That annoying little voice in my brain asked. I frowned. She’s fine. I told myself.
“I’ve come up with three Mirandas, do any of these kids look like her?” the counselor asked, turning his computer monitor towards me.
“The one in the middle, with the short hair.” I said, pointing her out.
“Alright, I’ll go to the office and see if they can find her, you can go now.”
I nodded and walked out, glad that that was over with. I headed to my science class and waited for the bell to ring. The entire day henceforth was a struggle; I couldn’t get myself to focus. My mind kept wandering back to that question. What if she’s not sick?  Why isn’t she her today?  And, on the bus ride home from school I barely talked to Jason at all. I slammed the door shut behind me as I walked into my house, wondering why I felt so frustrated. When I walked into the family room I saw that my mom had gotten home early. She had the news on. I sat down on the couch and starred at the screen with unseeing eyes.
“How was your day?” my mom asked.
“Fine.” I said, feeling like it was a lie.
“Is something wrong?” she inquired.
“No.”
She sighed and went back to watching the news. I always ignored the news, but since I had nothing else to do, it was suddenly interesting. I blinked as lights flashed across the screen, signaling breaking news.
“Earlier this afternoon, thirty-five year old mother, Vicky Wilson, got home from work to find her daughter dead on the kitchen floor.” The reporter said, his face grim.
I heard my mother gasp. I sat up and narrowed my eyes at the screen.
The reporter went on. “Apparently young fourteen year-old Miranda Wilson, who liked to go by Mira, skipped out on the bus this morning and stayed home. Her death had been recorded to have happened sometime around 1:00pm, just a half an hour before her mother got home.” The reporter paused. “Police officials have concluded that Miranda killed herself by slitting her wrist with a sharpened kitchen knife, but are still searching for clues as to why she would do this.”
My mom turned the TV off. I was frozen to the couch. My mind was blank. I couldn’t move or think. After what seemed to be years, a realization crept into my head. Mira… Mira’s dead. Why, why did she kill herself? I asked silently. You know why. A voice in the back of my head answered. She’s dead because you stood by and watched as she got bullied. You watched, and did nothing. I had no answer to that. I got up and left the room.
“It’s my fault. She’s dead because of me.” I growled to myself, starting to pace around the living room. “She’s dead because I stood by and did nothing.”
Guilt tore at my insides for the rest of the evening, and that night I couldn’t get any sleep at all. While on the bus the following morning, that little voice in the back of my head kept saying that I killed her, over and over again.
I sighed. “You’re right.” I told it. “But, I’ll never let it happen again, ever.” And I meant that.
And with that the little voice faded away. It never came back.