Hannah Baker

The lightening came with a little warning. Nudging Clay's arm, Tony motioned him to follow the path that lead to the shed. They found a little ecstasy in the small space, since it reminded them of their times together, back when everything was habitual. Either it was about playing tags or joking about their messed up lives.

But they ravished every second of it.

The downpour was unusual in the town of Crestmont. Rain dripped down the dilapidated walls of the shed, erasing trickles of grease that stuck onto it. The air scented of wet mosses and lichens, which gave Clay into nausea. He wasn't used to the weather, nor was he in a serene humor. After the controversy was raised, he kept to himself. Even though he ached to help himself out in some way, an external force sucked him into a hollow phase, prying into his life reasons.

"Damn," Tony grunted, looking ahead at the street in front of them, where the rain beat down the road like hailstones. "This is gonna take a while."

Clay nodded, "Hopefully we won't end up late and in detention."

"Can't disagree with that." Tony said, running a hand through his hair. "There is a possibility that one of us could make it through."

"How?"

"Dunno," Tony sighed. "Maybe take a ride? But Zach needs a pay everytime you ask him."

Zach Dempsey was the quarterback football star. He was the only one after Bryce Walker, the school jock, who actually owned a car worth the gossip. But unlike all other neat-freaks who ask you to stay away from their sports cars, and cleanse your hands before you touch the extravagant doors, Zach was quite nice. As long as you paid him to get across the river, he was pretty much your average guy who had a huge fanbase. 

"What?" Tony asked, noticing Clay's hesitation.

"I haven't talked to him in a while," Clay admitted. "Besides, why would he help me?"

"Cuz," Tony said, trying to sound obvious. As if that was reasonable enough for Clay to get his point for being buddies with Zach. Well, Clay knew that Tony was much closer to him since they went together back in middle school, when everyone cared about friendship and less fights. But after the flimsy touch was over, people behaved like they never knew each other.

Zach was one of them as well. But he still had that "nice guy" archetype in him.

"Do you want to fail your exams, Clay?" Tony gave out an exasperated sigh. "Last semester you ditched your whole grades. This is the only chance Mr Porter offers and failing this would result in a year back studies."

"I don't know..." Clay was silent at Tony's assertion. Sure thing it was unlike him to lose grades easily, since he tried his best to score the average GPA points. But for one reason, the same reason that has been haunting him for the past six months, he couldn't bring himself to it. He lost his only minute interest in something other than personal matters, in the tick of a second.

"God, Clay," Tony muttered, clearly annoyed. "What is wrong with you?"

"It's nothing..." To be really honest, Clay didn't know it himself. He was okay, at least that's what he thought. Memories of that night at the party kept replaying in his head, making it harder for him to focus. 

"Are you good?" Tony asked again, hoping for a positive reply and a smile etched across Clay's face. But he knew it was futile, not when there is something hanging in the air. Tony himself was pretty adamant about everything, but he knew better than to keep quiet. 

"Yeah, I am okay," Clay forced a smile, though it wasn't necessary. "I am okay."

"Gosh, you scared me with your face," Tony said. "I don't want to seem like a rebel but I am kicking you next time you stay silent."

Clay wasn't sure if he would actually do that, but he appreciated his friends concern neverthless. He pulled his backpack down and placed it on the course floor. 

The shed was exactly how it has been six months ago. The walls were worn out, revealing the reddish-brown shade of the bricks. Dim light sneaked in through the hole in one of the pastel windows, where rain drops slid and dissipated. The corners of the floor was carressed with a touch of greenish symbiotic plants, that swayed ever so lightly. 

"I miss the old times," Clay whispered softly, but Tony could make out the words just enough. "It was...peaceful."

That one feeling, he hasn't been able to attain, ever since her death.

"Man, you just made me emotional," Tony smiled, and for the first time in six months, he felt happy. He knew it wouldn't last, but he was alright with the temporary. "This place is everything. You hear that? Everything."

"Talk about a place that strikes hard like home," Clay agreed. He didn't want Tony to tell him that, he knew it all too well. All those times when they bunked classes, they came here to talk about the latest updates in their life, personal issues, ex-girlfriends, and first times. Sometimes they would end up crying, on how hard the world was pressurizing them, but eventually they comforted each other. In times of dismay, in times of success, they sustained their unwavering love for each other. This place was everything. 

Was everything.

Not anymore. 

Clay shook the thought off his head, but it was impossible. The one girl who ruined her own life, took with her everybody lives. Why? Clay wasn't one of the reasons, he had deadpanned. He was there in those tapes because she wanted to apologize to him. To tell him that she was sorry, not because he hadn't done anything. The only mistake he ever made was to love her, and in return, she killed herself, leaving behind a couple of tapes. Sometimes he wondered if any those things she said was true. 

Why would a dead girl lie? 

Clay snapped himself from his thoughts and sighed. The memory of the night he was with her, kept haunting him. He would wake up in the middle of the night, sweating. He wasn't sure why he was unable to forget everything. Did he love her so much as to dread for her to come back? Or, were the sole existence of those tapes she left behind, killing him? 

"Here comes Zach," Tony muttered, and Clay followed his gaze, where on the street an Ashton Martin pulled over. "Clay, let's go. I hardly have twenty dollars, but I am taking the risk."

"But-"

"But what?" Tony was pissed off, and Clay kept quiet. He knew better than to argue with the boss. "Clay, get your stuffs together. You need to pass this semester, even if it means listening to a two hour lecture coming out of Mrs Wendy." He forgot to add "the History teacher" but Clay assumed it was better phrased that way. 

"You coming?" Tony called out, already making his way out of the shed and to where Zach's car had been halted. For some reason, Zach seemed to be waiting. And that was so unlike of him to be, since he always sped past the street. 

"Yeah," Clay said, pulling his backpack up and hanging one end of it loosely on his shoulders. "Just a sec."

Taking a last look at the place he loved the most, he followed Tony. Just then, a thought occurred to him, which made him pause. He almost felt like he was spinning and the world was looking down at him, yet again.

Her name swirled in his mind.

Hannah Baker.