Best Friends Forever

Finally, this is the big comeback project I was talking about. I wanted to finish it before I went on my one-week trip to New York, but by no means is it rushed because of that. Now, hope you all enjoy.

Best Friends Forever
There was the four of them, four friends who simply loved hanging out together. It was Miles, Catherine, Maria and Tom and the rest of the world. Surely there were others they hung around with from time to time, but they were simply referred to as acquaintances. Miles was smart. He’d always get good grades. He wore glasses and preferably a sweatshirt with hoodie. He was also very tall, being bigger than the other three, with short hair. Catherine had long, brown hair and dark eyes. She was middle sized and would often wear a T-shirt and jeans along with a hat. She was probably the kindest member of them all. Tom is your regular Joe. He would wear a T-shirt along with Jeans as well. His grades were good enough but nothing special. He had short, brown hair with a lot of hair gel in it. Maria was a very lively person. She was always happy and so was everyone else when she was around. She had light brown hair that reached her shoulders. Their humble group of friends was inseparable; at least that’s what they believed.

Since a year ago Miles started noticing something: a fissure that was becoming bigger and bigger. He, carefree as he was, didn’t give it much thought though. It wouldn’t be the first time that Miles misjudged a situation. However, as time passed, it became harder and harder to neglect what was going on. The metaphorical fissure became larger and large. Miles noticed how their group would inevitably split up in two over time. He was worried that the fissure would get even bigger and eventually become impassable. Sometimes Tom and Maria would meet and hang out while Miles and Catherine were left behind. This was the start of many sleepless nights for the carefree friend who couldn’t help but start caring. He would lie wide awake in his bed, thinking about the consequences. Hundreds of question would run through his head simultaneously, but none could he answer.

Days passed, days without sleep. His grades suffered severely because of this, he couldn’t think straight, he wanted to sleep, but was ultimately unable to. Miles was a wreck, physically and mentally. Catherine noticed the state he was in and showed genuine concern. Tom and Maria on the other hand barely bat an eye. Sure he tried to conceal the fact that he was completely exhausted, but if one of his friends could notice, why not the others?

Miles was lying in bed once more, knowing very well that it was useless since he knew for sure he wasn’t going to get any sleep for the sixth night in a row. Questions he didn’t know an answer to, they were tormenting him. His eyes may have been closed, but his mind was open. The thoughts ran through his mind as water would run through an open floodgate. But then the stream of thoughts stopped abruptly. He had found the solution to all his problems.

The next day Miles was greeted by his friends as usual. Yesterday he had finally slept again after so long and felt refreshed now. This was the moment of truth though. He looked at Catherine who noticed Miles had finally slept again. Her sincere smile faded as she saw the serious look in my face. She averted her eyes towards the ground. She knew what was coming as if she could read his mind.

“Tom, Maria,” Miles began, “This friendship has been too exhausting for me lately, if you could still call it that.”

Tom looked confused, Maria’s eyes gave off a blank look, Catherine was staring at the ground and Miles had never looked more serious in his life before.

“What is your point?” Tom asked.

“I want you two to leave”, Miles responded with a more hostile tone than he would have wanted.

Tom reacted as if he got hit by recoil. Maria simply turned around and walked away. Tom looked from Miles to Maria and back to Miles before eventually following Maria. Catherine followed the two with her eyes before turning her head to Miles. He didn’t want to face her after all this, so he turned his back to her.

“Thanks”, she said. It wasn’t sarcastic, but sincere. Catherine then walked away. She knew Miles needed some time for himself.

He was lying in the sofa, trying to recover from the past sleepless week, when Miles suddenly received an incoming call. It was Maria. He didn’t want to speak with her or Tom for that matter. He had finally been liberated from this horrible excuse of a friendship. It was as if he suddenly turned his back to the fissure and the two people on the other side. The fissure, it had now become impassable. The “inseparable” group had officially split into two. Another incoming call. It was Maria again. He declined.

Miles woke up to the ringtone of his cellphone. It was Catherine. What business with me could she possibly have at 1 PM? I picked up the phone.

“Catherine, do you kn-” Miles choked when he heard who it was. It was her voice, Maria.

“I tried to call you, but you wouldn’t pick up the phone”, she said. She sounded absolutely insane. Her voice was soft but threatening at the same time.

“Oh, did you lose your tongue?” she asked as if nothing was going on.

“How did you get Catherine’s cell phone?” Miles asked with a voice full of concern. He feared for her response.

“Silly you, I thought you were smarter than that”, She laughed almost as if it was sincere laughter, but Miles knew better.

“What have you done to Catherine!?”

“Don’t worry about her, she’s fine.” Miles wasn’t very fond of the way she said “she’s fine”. She continued

“I just want to see you one more time.”

He gulped. What had she done to Catherine? What was she going to do to him? What had happened to her?

“I have no intention of seeing you in the middle of the night.” Miles tried to sound braver than he felt but failed to do so and sounded like a coward instead.

“Oh that’s all right; I’ll just have my fun with Catherine.” Miles could hear the sound of a knife being pulled. His eyes widened as he heard Catherine cry out to him. She was in terrible pain.

“I’ll be at my house if you change your mind or anything”, Maria added before ending the telephone conversation.

Miles didn’t hesitate for a second. He immediately ran upstairs and put on some clothes. He took his bicycle out of the garage and hurried to Maria’s house. When he arrived there and got accustomed to the dark, he walked up to the door. It was open. Miles entered. The room he was in was pitch black. Luckily he had been here before in clear daylight and so he knew there were some stairs right in front of him. The drapes upstairs were open so that the moonlight could shine through the window. It wasn’t much, but at least he could see something. Miles continued to walk forward carefully. He heard a noise and turned to the room the sound originated from. The door to this room was open. He regained his courage and walked towards it.

A sound to his side startled him, causing him to fall over. The silhouette of a person could be seen standing in front of Miles. The person was wearing a mask. He remembered the mask. It was the same as the one Maria had made for Halloween a year ago. The person took off his mask and revealed herself to be Maria. She looked absolutely horrible. There were bags under her bloodshot red eyes. My attention though was immediately drawn though to her hand. She was holding a knife in her right hand, drenched in blood.

“You came”, Maria said with a vague trace of happiness in her voice. Miles couldn’t tell, because it felt like all of her emotions were concealed by the insanity her voice emitted.

Miles didn’t respond. He was petrified by what, or rather who, he saw next to Maria. Catherine tied up against the wall with a rope. There was a big stain on both the rope and the floor. Miles feared for her life. If she had really lost that much blood, she could be in serious danger.

Maria sighed. “I invited you to come over so I could see you once more and yet you can’t keep your eyes off of her.” There was a lot of hatred in her voice when she said ‘her’, causing Miles to believe there had to be jealousy involved somehow.

He got back on his feet. Maria stared at him intently. Everything was spinning for Miles and it became incredibly hard to focus. He felt sick; he was scared; he didn’t know what was going to happen. He noticed Maria holding the handle of the knife more firmly than before. The envy in her eyes after Miles glanced at Catherine once more made him anxious. He heard the rhythmic dripping of the blood as it fell on the ground next to Maria, drop by drop by drop. Miles tensed up every muscle in his body. What he was about to do, was probably one of the most dangerous things he could, yet there was no doubt in his mind. He charged at Maria who was seemingly surprised. The shoulder she received in her stomach, caused her to smack at the wall. Miles ran over to Catherine, getting on his knees, so he could untie her and get her to a hospital. But it was futile. The knot could not be loosened. His vision got blurry; his breathing became heavy. He heard Maria getting back up, grabbing her knife. Miles turned around. She came closer and closer. He backed up before reaching a solid wall. There was no escape. He closed his eyes at the moment she thrust her knife into Miles’ stomach.

Miles slowly opened his eyes. His stomach hurt so badly. He wanted to just lie down there forever. His memory was a bit fuzzy, but he remembered well enough what had happened to him and… Catherine! Miles jumped up ignoring all the pain it caused. He had to find her. How long had he been asleep? It didn’t matter. She wasn’t where she was before Miles passed out. There was now only a big stain. He stumbled down the stairs. It was still as dark as before. Normally he’d wait until his eyes were accustomed to it, but there was no time. Catherine needed to be found and she needed to be taken to a hospital for medical attention. Through the open door, Miles saw something on the street: the body of Catherine.

He ran up to her. Every step he’d take would cause an intense wave of pain. Catherine was just lying there in a puddle of her own blood. Her eyes were closed. Miles put his head on her chest, hoping to hear even the faintest of sounds that would imply she was still alive; the faintest of heartbeats or breathing but nothing. His body became heavy. He was drawn to the ground. He wanted to die next to her, the only person that still had meaning to him. His eyes closed on him and the last thing Miles heard was an ambulance nearing the two.

His eyes opened wide. He remembered everything instantly. A sudden wave of pain forced him to lie down again. One of the doctors walked over to him. Miles looked around the room. There was a curtain dividing the room in two.

“What’s behind the curtain”, he asked to one of the doctors. The doctor looked to his side, avoiding Miles’ eyes as he walked over towards it. Behind the curtain lied Catherine’s body just as he expected. Someone knocked on the door. It opened and behind it was a police officer. He was a middle aged man with short hair. He was slim and look like he’d go to the gym often. The officer walked over to him.

“I do believe you understand why I’m here”, he said firmly.

Miles didn’t say a thing. He only nodded. The officer looked at Catherine and then back to me.

“Should I come back later?” he continued. His voice sounded a little more caring than before.

The boy shook his head as a response. The officer sat down and told him to tell him everything from the very beginning. He did. Miles told the officer everything about the murder of Catherine, his stomach wound, the phone call, the knife, Maria, Tom… Tom! What had happened to him? He started panicking. Maria had just left without leaving a single trace. What if she was after Tom now? The agent understood and immediately dispatched a team to investigate Tom’s house. An hour passed before report came in. The officer entered his room. Miles knew what he came to report when he came in with his police hat in both hands.

Miles woke up in the middle of the night. The fact that he even got any sleep at all surprised him. The officer, after reporting the death of Tom, said that he was under constant police protection and that nobody would be able to get close to him without permission. Miles was well aware that he was the next and final victim. She would come for him. Both the officer and Miles himself could agree on that. He looked around the room. At first he didn’t notice, but, hidden in the shadows of the corner, he could see her. Maria came out of her hiding place. She had the exact same mask on as before. Miles cried out to the officer, the doctors, but he’d get no response. Maria laughed silently as she wept the knife she was holding clean with a white towel. She removed her mask once again as if it weren’t obvious who she was.

“Well, well, how’s our little patient?” she asked, showing no actual concern.

“How did you bypass the guards, the doctors, everyone in the hospital?” She laughed again.

“I wanted to be with you and nobody would stop me.” Upon saying this, she looked at the knife in her right hand.

“I killed all of them, every single one, but the reward was worth it all”, Maria continued. When she said reward, she was pointing at Miles. He had to get out; he had to escape no matter what. Only then though he realized that his hands were tied to the hospital bed.

“I’m sorry, but you’re not getting away this time; I took my precautions”, she explained to me. A smile appeared on her face, a sick smile. She knew Miles had nowhere to go, nowhere to run. He was hers now.

“Why did you kill Tom?” Miles asked more as a way to drag a little more time than out of actual curiosity.

“Tom left me behind, just like you and Catherine, when he realized the friendship was over”, Maria responded much more serious than before. She stared in front of her as if she showed a little regret but then quickly shook of the feeling.

“Why didn’t you kill me?” Miles had almost gotten his right arm out of the tight rope. He needed just that little bit more time.

She laughed. “I never intended to kill you in the first place,” she began her explanation, “the others simply stood in between the two of us; it’s you that I want and Tom and Catherine needed to go.” He recalled the jealousy he detected in Maria’s voice when talking about Catherine. The sheer anger had been burned into his mind the moment he heard it and was one of the only details he recalled about what he had experienced the past few days.

Miles’ hand almost shot loose, nearly revealing the plan he had in mind. Maria didn’t seem to notice, so he calmed down a bit. This would be his only chance. He waited until she came to sit on his bed. A syringe lying right next to him; one swift stab was all he needed. Just as he was about to grab it, Maria interfered by grabbing my hand.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk, is that what friends do? Stab the other in the back?” she asked as she shook her head in a disappointed manner. Miles wasn’t able to do anything. She held his hand down with such force, he could barely move it. His other hand was tied too tightly. There was nowhere to go, nobody to help or interfere, nothing he could do. Miles breathing began to slow down, his body felt like it was held down by an elephant. Fear completely paralyzed him.

“Please, don’t take this personal, but I don’t want to share you or be stabbed in the back another time. Remember, it was and will always be just the two of us.”

Upon saying these final words Maria grabbed her knife and slit his throat with it, quick and painless. The regret she showed was mixed with some kind of twisted happiness. They would now be the best friends forever.

H. Phone (talk) 13:23, December 24, 2013 (UTC)