Bethany's feet tapped on the floor as she glanced at her watch. Hayden was running super late. The ceremony would begin in fifteen minutes!

    "Beth, calm down," Felix appeared beside her. "I'm sure there's just a minor set back with him. I can drive us to his house right now. We have enough time."

   She smiled slightly as she nodded. 

   The duo went over to Ms Richards and told her that they were going to pick up Hayden. The teacher nodded and told them that she would try to buy some time.

   Bethany brushed her freshly curled black hair out of her face as Felix drove to Hayden's house.

   "Can you go any faster?" She asked, her leg jolting up and down. She felt like something was horribly wrong. She was always overly worried when it came to Hayden. He was basically a ticking time bomb waiting to go off. She didn't want anything bad to happen to him.

    "Why are you extra worried today?" Felix asked, turning on the street to Hayden's house. "I'm sure he's fine.

    "He didn't answer any of my texts last night, but he read them. That isn't like Hayden. He's a quick responder. I called him at least seven times and he ignored my calls," She spoke, tucking her hair behind her ear.

   "That really isn't like him for real," Felix hummed as he pulled to a stop in front of their best friend's house. "We're here now, so you can stop worryi-"

   He didn't finish speaking because Bethany was already rushing to the front door. 

   Her knuckles rapped against the front door rapidly.

   No reply.

   She tried again.

   Same result.

   Testing her luck, she tried the door knob only to see that it wouldn't budge. It was locked.

   Bethany felt her heartbeat kick up as she thought of why Hayden wasn't answering.

   Maybe he was sleeping...?

   Or did he...

   No, She shook her head. Hayden wouldn't. H-he couldn't...

   She then remembered that Hayden had told her that there was always a spare key in the flower pot by the door, so she quickly dug through it.

   Finding the key, she quickly unlocked the door and rushed inside. 

   "Hayden?!" She called loudly as she moved through the dark house. Bethany had only been to Hayden's house once, so she knew where his room was. She made her way upstairs when she got no response. 

   When she spotted his room, it did nothing to ease her worried mind. The door was closed, so she prayed it wasn't locked.

   Turning the knob slowly, she slowly pushed the door open.

   Nothing could have prepared her for what she saw.

   A scream left her as she sunk to her knees, startling Felix who was still outside. 

   The sound of heavy footsteps met her ears, but she paid it no mind. 

   Hayden.

   "Beth! Beth! What's going-" Felix's words were caught in his throat as he entered the room. "Oh God."

   Blood.

   Blood was splattered on the wall and on the floor.

   Blood was also pouring from Hayden's head. 

   Bethany couldn't move. She stayed on her knees, unable to tear her eyes from boy who lied there, immobile, in his own blood. 

   "Hayden," She found herself saying. "Hayden, no."

   The sound of sirens filled her ears. 

   "The police are here, Beth, let's g-go," That voice was Felix's. He was crying. "Get up, Beth."

   She allowed Felix to pull her to her feet and out of the room, her eyes still wide in shock. 

   When they got outside, she saw paramedics running into the house. 

   Reality hit when she saw them pulling out a stretcher with a covered up body.

   That's when she started to cry. She buried her face in Felix's chest, not caring about messing up her makeup that her mom did for graduation. 

   Felix wasted no time to wrap his arms around her. They both stood there and cried for their friend. The friend that they both loved dearly. The friend that they wished had talked to them. 

   The friend that took his life.

* * * * *

   Bethany watched with puffy eyes as they lowered the casket into the hole.

   He was gone.

   The boy she let herself fall in love with was gone.

   Dead.

   She allowed herself to look around and a scowl made its way to her face.

   Who were these people?

   How did they suddenly care about Hayden that they showed up at his funeral?

   Her scowl deepened when she spotted a few of Hayden's tormentors and teachers that turned a blind eye when they saw that Hayden was being bullied. 

   Why were they here?

   Why did they suddenly care?

   Where were they when he was alive?

   "Beth," Felix's voice pulled her out of her thoughts. 

   "Yeah?" She answered, wiping her now teary eyes. "What is it?"

   "Hayden's dad gave me these," He replied, his hands occupied by envelopes. "He said your name was on one and that you would know where the rest should go."

   Bethany realized that they were letters that Hayden wrote to Evangeline. She took them without a word.

   "I can drive you home now," Felix offered. "I don't want to be here anymore."

   Beth glanced up at Felix and saw that he looked equally as terrible as her. His eyes were red and puffy too.

   She nodded and wordlessly followed him to his car.

   Evangeline didn't even show up. Beth thought as Felix started on his journey to her house. Why wasn't she there?

   "What are you thinking about, B?" Felix asked, glancing at her before turning back to the road. He sounded tired. He didn't sound like the Felix she knew at all.

   She shook her head. "Nothing important."

   The ride was cut short when Felix came to a stop in front of her house.

   "Drive safe, Lix. Text me when you get home," She told him. "I can't afford to lose you too."

   "I'll text you, B, don't worry," He shot her a smile. She looked at him for a bit before smiling and climbing out of the car. "I'll see you soon, Bethany. Take care of yourself, yeah?"

   After seeing her nod, Felix drove off. Bethany headed into her house and straight up to her room, not even greeting her mother. 

   Locking the door, Bethany made her way to her bed and took a seat, envelopes in hand. 

   They were arranged by date-- earliest to latest.

   Her letter was at the extreme bottom.

   She stacked Evangeline's letter on her desk before going back to sit on her bed with the letter in hand.

   Her eyes teared up as she slowly opened the enveloped. Taking a deep breath to calm down, she began to read.

      Dear Bethany,

                                  i honestly don't know how to start this. here goes nothing. hi, beth. i'm going to start this off my saying i'm sorry. the only way you'd be reading this is if i were dead, so if you're reading this right now, i'm probably six feet under. i'm sorry for what you and felix must be going through. i honestly didn't want it to be like this. i didn't want anyone to get attached to me. i knew that once my mom went i would go with her, so i shouldn't have made you and felix get so attached to me. now you both are hurting because of me.

                              you probably think i am weak for taking my life, but right now i don't care. in this letter, i'm going to tell you how i feel-- how i have been feeling for a while. if i had told you when i was alive, you probably would've tried to stop me, and honestly....i didn't want to be stopped. i wanted to die for so long beth. so so long. my mother-- she was my rock. she was the one who gave me life and she was the one that motivated me to keep breathing. it honestly broke me when i got the news about her death. i don't want to live anymore. what's there to live for honestly? going through life with depression, not knowing what true happiness was...i don't want that. sure, i am happy when i am with you and felix, but that was only temporary happiness, once i got home, sadness drowned me and i was honestly getting tired of it. 

                           i'm sorry, beth. i'm sorry to you and i am sorry to felix. i just don't want to do this anymore. i am tired. physically and mentally tired. tired of this world. tired of life. just....tired. 

                          i want you to do something for me. i want you to give evangeline my letters. i know you despise her, but do it for me. it's (literally) the last thing i'll ask of you. don't give them to her now. i want you to give them to her next year on my birthday (weird? i know). please.

                          i am honestly so thankful to you and felix for being there for me. i love you both so so much, it's unbelievable. i hope you both can forgive me for what i will (or have done?) and i hope you both can forget about me. move on with your lives. i don't want to be mourned or missed. i don't want to constantly be on your minds when i'm gone, because i will be gone and i won't come back. just forget about me, move on. please.

                          now, this was a mighty long letter and i'm not even sure you read the whole way through, but thank you anyway. this is goodbye, beth (you'll probably show this to felix, so goodbye, lix) i love you both so much.

love,

hayden.

   "I love you too, Hayden," She sobbed as she hugged the paper to her chest. "So so much."

The End.