It was the way she seemed to not notice her surroundings, to forget about where she was and disappear into thought without a worry that attracted Evie. She found herself obsessing over the girl during the period and missing the lesson due to her distracted gaze. It wasn’t until the bell rang and the other kids started moving that Evie realized she had missed the entire class. She blinked her eyes frantically to regain some of her thoughts and found herself standing before she could stop herself.

Letting her feet take her wherever they wanted to go, she arrived in front of the girl that had managed to captivate her the entire period. She inhaled sharply as the silver eyes seemed to lock onto her, piercing through her very being. There was something about being in front of the girl that made Evie feel incredibly exposed in that moment, as if the other was able to see everything about her without even asking a single question.

“Is there a reason you made your way over here?” The voice startled her, but she found herself quickly regaining her confidence and she smiled happily.

“My name’s Evie, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you before,” she outstretched her hand, not expecting the cold reaction she received. The girl looked at her hand with disgust before she sighed and responded.

“Amara, and I just transferred into this class.”

“Well Amara, I think you and I should get to know each other a little bit better, how about...you come over to my house tonight and we can hang out,” Evie watched in satisfaction as a small smirk found its way onto Amara’s face. It was as if she had just cracked into stone and found diamond lying underneath in the form of the others amusement.

“You’re very forward, aren’t you?” Evie nodded quickly, not letting the words affect her in the slightest. “I’ll meet you there.”

It was so sudden, Evie almost couldn’t believe her ears but she didn’t show the surprise on her face. She gave the stranger her address and left with the promise that she would see her around six that afternoon. The smile that made its way across Evie’s face seemed to remain a constant despite the dreary weather that encased the rest of the students.

The sound of knocking reverberated throughout the entire home, bouncing off of the walls and eventually finding its way into Evie’s ears where she sat in her bedroom. She listened to the knocking continue, once, twice, three times, before she moved from where she was sitting and decided to answer the door herself.

Confusion flooded through her as she wondered why her parents hadn’t bothered to open the door, both of them in perfectly capable areas of the house. Evie shook the thoughts from her head as she made her way downstairs and into the front hall, taking the last few steps to the door and pulling it open to reveal the girl she had met at school earlier that day.

“Your eyes,” Evie paused taking in the now black coloured eyes that stared at her, but still belonged to Amara.

“What about them?” The question seemed so innocent, so different from the tone that she had used in school and Evie knew immediately that it was a sensitive topic. It was the vulnerability in her voice that made her stop and not press the matter anymore than needed.

“Nothing, come on in,” Evie stepped aside, letting the other girl into the home and leading her up the stairs to her bedroom where the two of them could hang out in peace. Her parents had already been alerted of the other girl’s presence and that she would be heading up to the bedroom immediately. Her parents were glad to see that she had finally invited a friend over and promised not to disturb the two unless something important came up.

The two walked into the bedroom that had been occupied moments ago and sat on the bed, both crossing their legs in the process and deciding to play a simple game of twenty questions.

“So what class did you have before English?” Evie asked, finally gaining the courage to talk about something.

“I had art, but I was told I would have to transfer out because the teacher thought my artwork was a little too ‘dark’,” Amara explained, not hesitating to let a smile breach her lips. “What are you parents like?”

“Boring, not fun, surprisingly lenient. I’ve never given them a reason not to trust me so they’re kind of cool with me doing whatever I like as long as I give them updates,” she answered the question easily, letting the other know about her life. Evie watched as Amara’s smile seemed to falter a little bit, the smile slipping just the slightest and showing a hint of sadness on her face.

“I wish my parents were like that, they’re always on my ass about something no matter what I do,” it was an admission that Evie wasn’t expecting but was grateful for nonetheless. “Even when I try my hardest to make them happy, they always seem to find something wrong and yell at me or get me in trouble for it.”

Evie watched as Amara’s shoulders slumped and she could see that the girl who had been so cold and collected in class was now letting herself open up in her small home. She took a deep breath and reached out for the other, trying to pull her into a hug before she could say anything else. As her fingers brushed the bare skin of her arms she found her hand wrenching back and hissing at the cold that seeped under her skin.

“You’re freezing, how come you didn’t say anything?” The question came out as an almost half scream as she stared at the black haired girl in disbelief. She reached over on her bed to grab and blanket and wrapped it around the other.

“I didn’t even notice,” she answered. Evie looked into the others eyes and tried to find something, anything that resembled the girl she had talked to earlier that day. She was here, physically, but it seemed as if she was lacking the part of herself that had drawn Evie in earlier that day. She knew something must have happened, but she didn’t know if it was her place yet to ask the other about it.

The two of them talked for a while more, learning more and more about them as time passed on. As the light disappeared outside the window, darkness seemed to encase the world and hold it within its grasp. Evie invited the girl to spend the night and received an affirmation in reply.

As the two of them laid down in bed, Evie could feel a place in her heart opening up, feeling the swell in her chest that had started earlier when Amara had talked about her parents. She remembered the smile the other had on her face when they talked about simple things, like their favourite hobbies and she decided that she would rather see that look in her eyes over anything else.

It was quiet in the room, and Evie could see that Amara had already drifted off, her body unconsciously moving towards the other girl. Her arms reached out in her sleep and she managed to grasp onto Evie’s shirt, holding on and pulling closer. Evie’s heart beat fast in her chest and she sighed, letting her own arms wrap around the surprisingly smaller body and pulling her into a tight hold. She would hold her for tonight, if only to provide the other with a little bit of comfort.

Sunlight filtered through the blinds of Evie’s window, coating the empty side of the bed she had awoken too. Her hand ran across the soft sheet, wondering what had happened to the other girl and why the bed was so cold now. A chill ran down her spine as she thought about where the other might have gone.

There was a nagging sense pulling at the back of Evie’s brain and she couldn’t quite place what was wrong. She could feel bile rising in the pit of her stomach, causing her to sit up quickly. She sat for a moment before deciding to get up and finally get ready for school.

Memories of the night before emerged from where Evie had hidden them down. The look on Amara’s face seemed to stain the back of her eyelids, coating her vision everytime she closed her eyes. She let the thoughts continue to plague her, trying to figure out what had been wrong with the other while she left her bedroom and home, heading to the school where she hoped to see the other girl.

It was the nagging feeling that something was wrong, this lurking feeling pulling at Evie’s chest as she approached the school. She hated it, wished it would go away, but the more she thought about Amara the worse the feeling got. It wasn’t until she got to the school that she was dragged out of her own thoughts about the other girl.

Yellow tape coated the entryway and was the first thing that caught her attention first. It was the loud ‘POLICE’ painted in bold that alarmed her and made her heart race in her chest. All of the feelings that had been building up that moment finally cracked and Evie could feel the panic racing through every single vein in her entire body. Students gathered around the entire front entry, whispers flooding through every person and coating them all in a film of impatience. The need for knowledge and gossip seemed to fill each teenager standing there and they waited.

“What happened?” Evie asked, turning to one of the other students congregated around the front. They turned quickly and looked ar Evie, taking in her confusion and worry before finally speaking up.

“They say somebody died, apparently they committed suicide in the girls bathroom. Another girl found her this morning,” the girl answered, her voice stumbled on the last words and Evie felt her heart sink for the unknown girl.

A teacher made their way out, stepping to the front of the school and taking position in front of the giant crowd. The attention of the students turned towards the teacher, taking in her demure expression and quieting down in order to allow her to speak.

“A student unfortunately took their own life last night in our female washroom. We ask that all of you make your ways home and take the day off of school. We will be sending emails to all of you parents and will hope to see you return in a couple of days.”

Students seemed to peddle away quickly, some excited about the prospect of having the next few days off of school, and others sorrowful at the end of their classmates life. Evie stood for a few more moments, catching glimpse of the paramedics finally coming out of the school, the body on a stretcher covered.

It was only a moment, but it was the face that stared at her nonetheless that she recognized. She could feel her heart shatter in her chest, the unmistakable silver eyes staring at her. Her knees seemed to buckle under her and within seconds she was on the ground, tears streaming down her face. There was no way it was true. She had to have been hallucinating.

Evie stayed on the ground for a few moments before the teacher who had spoken minutes earlier seemed to appear at her side and help her away from the scene. It didn’t have to be said but they knew she had seen who it had been.

Amara’s body on the stretcher flashed across her eyes again but she refused to believe it. They had been together just the night before, there was no way that she could have been dead. There was no way she was gone.