06/27/2021 06:20 PM  003 // falling away from me Juliet stood at the bookshelf in her hallway for a long while, gazing at the photo album sitting upon it. It had been many years since Juliet opened the album, maybe perhaps the last time she did was when she created it. She took a deep breath, hand reaching forward as she pulled the album from the shelf. She took a moment to look at the front cover, adorned with stickers and scribbles from Shawn and Joel. Her fingers dragged along the spine of the notebook, now rigged from age. The first few pages were easier to look through. Pictures of a young Juliet, happy, playing in the backyard with Kevin. Christmases long since passed. The neighborhood cats who she used to go outside to feed and play with, even though her mom strictly forbade it. A few pages in was where the partier side of Juliet began to emerge. Drink in hand, joint in hand, with barely a few inches of fabric covering her and the most outlandish makeup possible.  Juliet practically threw the book to the ground at the next page. You see, that's where Brooke came in. She didn't want to look, and yet she couldn't look away. All these years later and Brooke still took her breath away. Brooke was strikingly beautiful, one in a million. Juliet couldn't have ever imagined someone so incredible would ever want to choose to spend time with her, let alone someone like that would ever fall in love with her. Yet, Brooke did.  A teardrop fell from Juliet's eyes and onto the laminante cover on the page. Shakily, she continued looking through the album. The next page was a clipping from every article about Brooke written in the North Carolina area that Juliet could get her hands on. for the last few years. She had lied when Shawn asked if she kept any of them when she was doing research for her podcast. The next page of her notebook included several pressed flowers from Brooke's funeral, as well as the little piece of Brooke she kept close to her heart. It was the necklace Kevin had gifted Brooke shortly before she passed. A few nights before Brooke died, she had spent the night with Juliet and left it in Juliet's bedroom. Kevin had searched high and low for it after Brooke died, but Juliet couldn't give it back. It was her secret, her own way of remembering.  0 Comments

06/05/2021 05:18 PM  002 // graduation song Ambition was a department Juliet Evans was sorely lacking in. She had never been the best student, you could often times find her cutting class or getting high under the bleachers instead of attending class. It would be no surprise that she never did her homework, either. To sum it up, Juliet had always been a terrible student, so when Brooke was murdered and Juliet sank into a deep depression, her grades were not severely affected because they were already terrible. Juliet had never been one to think of greater things, or even a life outside of high school. Despite being a Millennial and being told you could be whoever you wanted to be as long as you applied yourself, Juliet knew better. The rose colored glasses teachers put upon other students was lost on Juliet. She was fully aware of her station in life and was content with being lower-middle class for the rest of her miserable existence. She also knew however that she didn't want to spend another moment in those halls if she didn't have to. She was gravely in danger of being stuck at that school for another year. So when it came time to graduate, Juliet knew what she needed to do. She marched right down to Mr. Kulzy's class room and gave him a senior year momento he would never forget for a few weeks, and in return he passed her with flying colors. The one thing that had been good about the last year of high school was her friendship with California Adams. Most of their peers who knew Brooke had long since graduated, and they were the last two left with a connection to her. Cali was the closest thing to Brooke Juliet would ever have again, and Juliet graviated to her like a moth to a light. Sure, the friendship was incredibly unlikely, but for some strange reason it worked. Cali was the sensible one and Juliet was the out of control one. Of course Cali didn't know the true nature of Brooke and Juliet's relationship, but it was better that way. They got close in a way that Juliet never would have expected, and come graduation time the two of them were able to close that chapter of their lives together. As Juliet walked across that stage to get her diploma, her and Cali shared a look - a moment that would forever stay with Juliet. A look of understanding and the obvious we made it that every graduation speech says. Cheesy as it was, it was true. They made it. 0 Comments

05/22/2021 06:21 PM  001 // please don't leave me blind. The fact that it had been ten years since Brooke died felt unreal to Juliet. It all still felt like yesterday. Juliet had skipped her last period class that day to meet a few friends under the bleachers and drink. She was under the bleachers half out of her mind when she saw cops and ambulances. The moment she saw a body bag being wheeled out of the school in the midst of the chaos would be forever engraved into her memory. It wasn't until later that she would come to find that the person who had been killed was her Brooke. Juliet had never been the type to want to fall in love. Her dad ran out on her family before she even came into the world and her mom was an abusive alcoholic, which didn't leave her much room for trusting anyone. Juliet had vowed never to let anyone in, that was until Brooke came along. Brooke and Juliet became close in an unconventional way. Brooke was her brother Kevin's girlfriend. Brooke was magnetic, magical - the kind of girl who would make you take a second glance. Juliet knew it was wrong to get involved with her brother's girl, but she couldn't stop herself. Once Brooke drew her in, she was done for and it was all about Brooke all of the time. The poor girl was helplessly in love. Then, in an instant, it was all gone and Juliet was left alone with her secret, to mourn and to grieve behind closed doors.  Before she knew it, ten years had crept up. As she looked at herself in the mirror, she saw the same heartbroken girl who stood in front of her ten years ago, just add a wrinkle line or two. She had kept her bright pink hair from back in the day, and her style hadn't changed one bit. She also had up those same walls she had up way back when, but now they were reinforced in steel. Tonight was the reunion for the graduating class of 2011 - the class who graduated the year that Brooke had died. There would be a memorial dedication ceremony for Brooke, as well as the digging up of their time capsule. It had been long rumored that Brooke had left something in that time capsule, and in the hopes of getting some sort of twisted closure, Juliet decided she would go the reunion.  As she stood under the very seem bleachers she was under the afternoon Brooke died, Juliet watched as they began taking out the items inside of the time capsule. At first it was standard items, such as a newspaper from 2011 before going into more topical items like Silly Bandz and even a pair of those ridculous stunner shades. What was left at the bottom would send a shiver down Juliet's spine - a knife drenched in many years old dried blood.. Brooke's blood.. This was the murder weapon. Tears began welling up in Juliet's eyes. Feelings of shock and disbelief came over her. She caught a familiar set of eyes in the crowd. Realizing someone had spotted her, Juliet took advantage of the distraction of police arriving at the scene to high tail it out of there. Memories of running from the school in the exact same way came to mind as she ran the exact same path she had so many years ago, except this time Juliet wasn't running home, rather running to Brooke. As she reached Brooke's grave, now since overgrown and adorned with old sun bleached teddy bears, Juliet fell to her knees. "I love you Brooke..I love you, and I hate you. I hate you for what you've done to me. I hate that I can never love again." Juliet said out loud, knowing the one who these words were meant for would never be able to hear them. To some, Brooke was just a memory. To Juliet, she was completely frozen in time, still as the fifteen year old girl who lost the love of her life. 0 Comments

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