The truth Always Follows
1312 Words
CHAPTER TWO
ZOEY POV
I should’ve ignored the message.
Should’ve thrown my phone in the trash and kept walking like it never happened.
But I didn’t.
Instead, I stood in front of the old train tracks like a ghost waiting for something to rise from the grave. And when Skylar Dane stepped out from the shadows, I knew something was about to snap.
It had already started.
“Skylar?” I said, barely believing it.
She smiled like she knew a secret that could break me. Probably because she did.
I hadn’t seen her in almost a year. Not since that night. The one I tried to erase. The night we all said we’d never talk about again.
She looked the same—sharp cheekbones, cold eyes, lips painted blood-red like always. She used to be my best friend. My sister in everything but blood.
Now she just looked like someone I didn’t recognize anymore.
“You look like hell,” she said.
I crossed my arms. “Nice to see you too.”
She laughed. “You didn’t think you’d get away with it, did you?”
My heart thudded. “With what?”
She stepped closer. “Don’t play dumb, Zoey. I was there that night. You didn’t see me, but I saw everything. You left her.”
My mouth went dry.
“I didn’t leave her,” I said. “You weren’t there. You don’t know what happened.”
“I saw you,” she said again, voice rising. “I saw you running. You didn’t even look back.”
I shook my head. “It wasn’t like that. You don’t get it.”
“Then explain it to me,” she said. “Explain how the girl who was smiling one minute ended up dead in the river an hour later.”
My stomach twisted.
“You want the truth?” I whispered. “Fine. But it won’t change anything.”
She waited.
So I told her.
It was last summer.
The night we all thought would be the start of forever.
Me, Ryan, Skylar, and Ava.
Ava... that girl lit up every room. People liked her without trying. She was soft where Skylar was sharp, light where I was shadow. We were a weird trio—me, Sky, and Ava—but somehow it worked.
Until that night.
We were all drinking. Too much. Ryan and I had just gotten into another fight—same old thing, him feeling far away, me feeling too much. So I grabbed Ava and said we were going for a walk to clear my head.
We ended up by the river.
She sat on the edge, kicking her legs over the rocks like a kid. I remember her laughing. Hair glowing under the moonlight. Then, out of nowhere, she turned to me and said:
> “Do you think people stay the same after they die?”
I thought it was the alcohol talking, so I just laughed.
But her smile faded.
“I think I’m going to disappear,” she whispered. “Like completely vanish.”
Something about the way she said it—it scared me.
She stood. Stepped closer to the edge.
“Ava,” I said. “Come down.”
But she didn’t.
She looked down at the river like it was calling her.
Then she turned and looked at me, tears in her eyes, and said:
> “I’m sorry if this ruins everything.”
And she jumped.
I screamed. Ran to the edge. She hit the water and didn’t come back up.
I panicked.
Froze.
I didn’t jump in. I didn’t scream for help. I just ran.
Back to the car. Back to the others. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t think. I told Skylar she slipped.
But that was a lie.
She jumped.
And I let her.
When I finished, Skylar didn’t say anything for a while.
Then, finally, she spoke. “You left her in that water.”
I shook my head. “I froze. I didn’t know what to do.”
“You ran.”
I wanted to scream. To grab her shoulders and shake her. “You think I haven’t thought about that every day since? You think I don’t hate myself for not pulling her out?”
She stepped back, arms crossed.
“She was supposed to be my friend too, Zoey.”
“She was my friend too!”
“No, she was your competition.”
That hit like a slap.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
Skylar’s lips curled. “You hated how much Ryan laughed when she was around. You saw it. We all did. Maybe you didn’t push her, but part of you wanted her gone.”
I stepped forward, heart pounding. “Say that again.”
She just smiled. “You let her die. Now you’ll live with it. Or tell Ryan.”
My whole body was shaking.
“I’m not telling him. Not like this.”
“Then I will,” she said, turning.
“Wait.”
She stopped.
“What do you want from me?” I asked. “Why now?”
She looked over her shoulder.
“I want you to suffer.”
Those words stuck.
She didn’t even look angry when she said it. Just cold.
“You broke more than one life that night,” she added. “And you’re walking around like you can just start over. But guess what? You don’t get a clean slate. You get a mirror. And I’m going to hold it up until you break.”
Then she walked away, slow and steady, like she owned the ground under her feet.
I stood there in the dark, trying to keep my lungs working. Trying to figure out what just happened.
And all I could hear was Ava’s voice.
> “I think I’m going to disappear.”
She was right.
She disappeared that night.
But I didn’t.
I stayed.
And now the guilt is louder than ever.
The next morning, I barely spoke a word. My aunt thought I had a headache. I said yes just to shut her up.
But I didn’t have a headache.
I had a time bomb.
I walked to school, eyes burning from no sleep. Every face I passed felt like it knew something. Like they could see the secret crawling on my skin.
And then I saw him.
Ryan.
Leaning against his locker, talking to some guy from the football team.
He smiled. For real.
And I felt like the worst person alive.
Because he didn’t know.
He didn’t know what happened that night. What I saw. What I failed to do.
And if Skylar had her way, he would soon.
He saw me and smiled. I froze.
“Hey,” he said, walking over. “Rough morning?”
“Something like that,” I mumbled.
He looked at me like he wanted to ask more, but didn’t.
Instead, he pulled something from his pocket.
A photo.
Us. From junior year. Sitting on the roof, legs tangled, grinning like idiots.
“Found it in an old notebook,” he said. “Figured you might want it back.”
I took it, fingers trembling.
“Thanks,” I whispered.
He looked at me for a second. “Zo… are we okay?”
And just like that—I almost told him.
Almost spilled everything. Almost confessed that his ex-girlfriend watched someone die and ran like a coward.
But I didn’t.
I lied again.
“Yeah,” I said. “We’re okay.”
He nodded, though I could tell he didn’t fully believe it.
Then the bell rang, and he walked away.
And I was left standing there with a photo of who we used to be… and the weight of a truth that could destroy everything we were becoming.
- Writer
