Everything Seemed Perfect (E.S.P.)
I knew Mitchell in high school, but even though we always used to hang out he never really talked much. One of those introverted people, I guess you could say. Still, if you ever needed advice or help, Mitchell was always there for you. I remember one day I was upset because my parents were fighting, and sure enough Mitchell had some kind of wisdom hidden behind that blank visage of his. The way he explained things wasn't using fancy vocabulary, but with simple and curt phrases. I smile every time I think about the way he'd go an entire day without saying a word, then at the end of the day say just one thing, which would make a person think for weeks. He liked to do that in class, too. He wouldn't say but a few words the entire semester, but when it came time to give a presentation or make a speech, it was like suddenly his words became everyone's oxygen, as they were desperately absorbing every sentence. Yea, Mitchell was definitely a good kid. Definitely was.
Even though he didn't talk much, he did tell me about one of our friends that he liked, Lauren. She was quiet, like him, and really never talked at all. I always asked myself what happened when two really quiet people got together. Did they stare at each other in an impenetrable silence? Or did they finally let go of their daily routine and talk their heads off? I never got the chance to ask Mitchell that question. All he confided to me about this girl was that she was in his Math class, and that he occasionally talked to her, and that he liked her. Now, since I was usually the one that went to Mitchell for advice, I made sure to not sound above him or anything. In fact, I didn't really give him any advice on how to approach her at all. I suppose he had some kind of understanding with her. I always thought quiet people were kind of funny like that. Some kind of quiet-person ESP or something, where they can tell what the other is thinking, and neither ever have to say a word. Well, anyways, pretty soon whenever Mitchell was around me he transformed from being one of the most shy people I knew to one of the most talkative. He truthfully just couldn't shut up about Lauren. I wondered if he was a little too obsessed, and maybe if this was an unhealthy type thing. He assured me it wasn't.
In our last semester of high school he'd talk to me about this girl every day. I decided to ask one of my friends, Jackie (who I knew was friends with Lauren), about what she thought about Mitchell and Lauren. Jackie told me Lauren just wouldn't shut up about Mitchell whenever they were hanging out. I told her that Mitchell was the same way, and also that I was puzzled as to why they hadn't just started dating yet. She said that maybe they were both too shy for their own good. I kind of laughed at the notion, but also shuddered a little. What kind of horrible life would that be? To have such strong feelings for someone, and somehow inherently know they share the same feelings, but being unable to act upon them? I couldn't imagine what kind of stress that might cause a person. Pretty soon Mitchell started acting weird. Things like asking me if he thinks Lauren likes him or hates him. He was becoming really troubled, but I never knew what exactly was going on. I didn't know if he and Lauren had gotten in to an argument, or if something else in his life was going wrong.
For the last month or two of high school Mitchell got really quiet again. He didn't even talk about Lauren much. I wondered if their strange quiet-person ESP-waves had crossed each other on a bad frequency or something. I don't mean that in a satirical sort of way, there's honestly no other way for me to explain it. Mitchell started missing more and more classes, and he even missed an entire week once. I went over to his house after school to check on him, but his parents just told me he was ill. His window curtains were down, so I couldn't see through in to his room. I didn't even know if he was really in there anymore, or at some hospital. I didn't know what was wrong with Mitchell, just that something was definitely up. Being his best friend and all, I decided to be a little daring. I waited until his parents left and went in through his garage door (what guy doesn't have his best friends garage code after all?) and headed upstairs, yelling out his name. I started to head up the stairs when I heard a really strange sound coming from inside his room. When I opened the door nothing was there, but then I noticed that his bathroom light was on. Whenever I recall what I saw from that day I still get shivers, just because it was something so abnormal I couldn't even process it fully. Mitchell was slouched over on his sink, with his eyes screwed upwards staring at the ceiling. On the mirror were just a bunch of random characters. "RY", "ME", "M", "R", "A", "Y", "M", and others, just written all over in what looked kind of like lipstick (although I still don't know what it was to this day). I will probably regret for the rest of my life what I did next. I ran.
I honestly couldn't help myself. I was terrified. I had never seen Mitchell like that in my entire life. All those weird letters strewn about over the mirror, the horrifying look on his face, and those strange sounds (that terrible moaning...) were just too much for me. I don't even think that I closed the garage door on my way back out. I was almost too scared to go back to school, for fear I'd see him in class with that same face again, but he didn't come back. I asked Jackie if Lauren was doing okay, and she said that she was doing fine. I had seen Lauren in the hallways, and she seemed unperturbed by whatever it was that was bothering Mitchell. One day I finally got the courage to go up to her and ask her if she knew anything. She seemed very startled and concerned. She asked me if he was alright, that she had been worrying about him since he hadn't been in class for a long time, and that she hoped he was okay. All of this seemed kind of out of place to me. I thought maybe Lauren "dumped" him or something (even though they were never going out...), and that was why Mitchell was so upset.
End-of-school activities were taking place, and Mitchell never came back. He missed out on Final Exams, the Prom, fun school games and picnics outside, and things like yearbook signing. At one of the picnics Lauren came up to me and asked if I had seen Mitchell, that she wanted to talk to him and have him sign her yearbook. I said I hadn't seen him in weeks, and she walked away dejectedly. It wasn't until about a week after graduation that I learned what happened to Mitchell. Well, what "supposedly" happened anyway. His parents declared he had become mentally unstable, and was going through serious life changes and needed professional support. They said he was receiving treatment at some "Care Ward", and would finish up high school in the fall. One night during the summer, I was driving by Mitchell's place in our neighborhood. I glanced up at the window, which of course had the curtains down, and wondered what went on in there those last few months of school. Images of his face, with his eyeballs staring towards the top of his skull and his face contorted in a thousand directions, rushed in to my head. I was just in front of his driveway and had my window rolled down. For a second I thought I heard those same hellish moans coming from inside his bathroom, but whatever scrap of sanity I still had left convinced me that it was just my imagination (although some days, when I can't seem to sleep, I'm really not so sure...).
After that incident I made it a point to never drive past Mitchell's house again, or to try and contact him in any way. I prayed for him, but that was about as close as I could get. Late one night I was flipping through my old yearbook and reading all the things people had written in it. I was thumbing through the senior profiles when I came across Mitchell's. I remembered that Mitchell was in school long enough to fill one out, and it wasn't until after that he started missing days. He listed his favorite hobbies, friends (of which only included me), and honors and such. Reading all of it brought back joyful memories of a past that we used to share. Just as I began to turn the page, however, I noticed one last thing in his profile, the "Last Words" part. I flipped the page back over, and a shiver ran down my spine. Immediately the image of the letters written in what I thought was lipstick popped in my mind. Then the eyes. Then the face. Then the moaning. I started to cry, as I slammed the book shut. Now I just try and live day-by-day, trying to forget all about those painful high school memories, which are so vastly different than everyone else's.
Even though he didn't talk much, he did tell me about one of our friends that he liked, Lauren. She was quiet, like him, and really never talked at all. I always asked myself what happened when two really quiet people got together. Did they stare at each other in an impenetrable silence? Or did they finally let go of their daily routine and talk their heads off? I never got the chance to ask Mitchell that question. All he confided to me about this girl was that she was in his Math class, and that he occasionally talked to her, and that he liked her. Now, since I was usually the one that went to Mitchell for advice, I made sure to not sound above him or anything. In fact, I didn't really give him any advice on how to approach her at all. I suppose he had some kind of understanding with her. I always thought quiet people were kind of funny like that. Some kind of quiet-person ESP or something, where they can tell what the other is thinking, and neither ever have to say a word. Well, anyways, pretty soon whenever Mitchell was around me he transformed from being one of the most shy people I knew to one of the most talkative. He truthfully just couldn't shut up about Lauren. I wondered if he was a little too obsessed, and maybe if this was an unhealthy type thing. He assured me it wasn't.
In our last semester of high school he'd talk to me about this girl every day. I decided to ask one of my friends, Jackie (who I knew was friends with Lauren), about what she thought about Mitchell and Lauren. Jackie told me Lauren just wouldn't shut up about Mitchell whenever they were hanging out. I told her that Mitchell was the same way, and also that I was puzzled as to why they hadn't just started dating yet. She said that maybe they were both too shy for their own good. I kind of laughed at the notion, but also shuddered a little. What kind of horrible life would that be? To have such strong feelings for someone, and somehow inherently know they share the same feelings, but being unable to act upon them? I couldn't imagine what kind of stress that might cause a person. Pretty soon Mitchell started acting weird. Things like asking me if he thinks Lauren likes him or hates him. He was becoming really troubled, but I never knew what exactly was going on. I didn't know if he and Lauren had gotten in to an argument, or if something else in his life was going wrong.
For the last month or two of high school Mitchell got really quiet again. He didn't even talk about Lauren much. I wondered if their strange quiet-person ESP-waves had crossed each other on a bad frequency or something. I don't mean that in a satirical sort of way, there's honestly no other way for me to explain it. Mitchell started missing more and more classes, and he even missed an entire week once. I went over to his house after school to check on him, but his parents just told me he was ill. His window curtains were down, so I couldn't see through in to his room. I didn't even know if he was really in there anymore, or at some hospital. I didn't know what was wrong with Mitchell, just that something was definitely up. Being his best friend and all, I decided to be a little daring. I waited until his parents left and went in through his garage door (what guy doesn't have his best friends garage code after all?) and headed upstairs, yelling out his name. I started to head up the stairs when I heard a really strange sound coming from inside his room. When I opened the door nothing was there, but then I noticed that his bathroom light was on. Whenever I recall what I saw from that day I still get shivers, just because it was something so abnormal I couldn't even process it fully. Mitchell was slouched over on his sink, with his eyes screwed upwards staring at the ceiling. On the mirror were just a bunch of random characters. "RY", "ME", "M", "R", "A", "Y", "M", and others, just written all over in what looked kind of like lipstick (although I still don't know what it was to this day). I will probably regret for the rest of my life what I did next. I ran.
I honestly couldn't help myself. I was terrified. I had never seen Mitchell like that in my entire life. All those weird letters strewn about over the mirror, the horrifying look on his face, and those strange sounds (that terrible moaning...) were just too much for me. I don't even think that I closed the garage door on my way back out. I was almost too scared to go back to school, for fear I'd see him in class with that same face again, but he didn't come back. I asked Jackie if Lauren was doing okay, and she said that she was doing fine. I had seen Lauren in the hallways, and she seemed unperturbed by whatever it was that was bothering Mitchell. One day I finally got the courage to go up to her and ask her if she knew anything. She seemed very startled and concerned. She asked me if he was alright, that she had been worrying about him since he hadn't been in class for a long time, and that she hoped he was okay. All of this seemed kind of out of place to me. I thought maybe Lauren "dumped" him or something (even though they were never going out...), and that was why Mitchell was so upset.
End-of-school activities were taking place, and Mitchell never came back. He missed out on Final Exams, the Prom, fun school games and picnics outside, and things like yearbook signing. At one of the picnics Lauren came up to me and asked if I had seen Mitchell, that she wanted to talk to him and have him sign her yearbook. I said I hadn't seen him in weeks, and she walked away dejectedly. It wasn't until about a week after graduation that I learned what happened to Mitchell. Well, what "supposedly" happened anyway. His parents declared he had become mentally unstable, and was going through serious life changes and needed professional support. They said he was receiving treatment at some "Care Ward", and would finish up high school in the fall. One night during the summer, I was driving by Mitchell's place in our neighborhood. I glanced up at the window, which of course had the curtains down, and wondered what went on in there those last few months of school. Images of his face, with his eyeballs staring towards the top of his skull and his face contorted in a thousand directions, rushed in to my head. I was just in front of his driveway and had my window rolled down. For a second I thought I heard those same hellish moans coming from inside his bathroom, but whatever scrap of sanity I still had left convinced me that it was just my imagination (although some days, when I can't seem to sleep, I'm really not so sure...).
After that incident I made it a point to never drive past Mitchell's house again, or to try and contact him in any way. I prayed for him, but that was about as close as I could get. Late one night I was flipping through my old yearbook and reading all the things people had written in it. I was thumbing through the senior profiles when I came across Mitchell's. I remembered that Mitchell was in school long enough to fill one out, and it wasn't until after that he started missing days. He listed his favorite hobbies, friends (of which only included me), and honors and such. Reading all of it brought back joyful memories of a past that we used to share. Just as I began to turn the page, however, I noticed one last thing in his profile, the "Last Words" part. I flipped the page back over, and a shiver ran down my spine. Immediately the image of the letters written in what I thought was lipstick popped in my mind. Then the eyes. Then the face. Then the moaning. I started to cry, as I slammed the book shut. Now I just try and live day-by-day, trying to forget all about those painful high school memories, which are so vastly different than everyone else's.
Mitchell - Senior
Nickname: Mitch
Favorite Hobbies: Hanging out and Writing
Best Friends: Peter Harris
Favorite Subject: Math (even though I hate it)
Notable Honors: Member of Student Council, Poetry Club, Young Fiction Writers, and Debate.
Last Words: MARRY ME
posted by Stephen at
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