No More Chances

This short story was written by Kristy.

For K.E.M.

*A.N. This never happened, and hopefully it never will. But it is based on something that almost happened to one of my closest friends. Please take this seriously, and learn from it. Hopefully you guys can get just some remote idea of the pain her family and friends in the story were feeling. ---Kristy:)*

No more chances
No more tries
No more life
And no good-byes

Josh, Angela, and Mike walked into their home silently, their faces stained with tears. Angela subconciously played the messages on the answering machine.

Hey Meghan , it's Audrey. Give me a call when you get home. I seriously hope you know the number by now. See ya.

Angela broke down into tears when she heard that. Her husband went over to comfort her.

"Do you want me to tell her?" he asked her.

"Yes, because I don't think I can," she replied.

He nodded and picked up the phone. Audrey picked it up on the second rang.

~*~Audrey's POV~*~

"Hello?" I said breathlessly.

"May I speak to Audrey?"

"Speaking."

"Audrey, this is Josh Anderson, Meghan's dad."

My heart immediately started pounding. I knew something was wrong. I didn't know what it was, and I didn't know why I knew something was wrong, but I knew.

"Oh hi," I replied, "what's wrong with Meghan?"

"How did you know something was wrong?" he asked, surprised.

"Well, for one, usually she's the one that calls me, not you. And second, well, I just know."

"Well, here's the truth. When Angela came into Meghan's room this morning, Meghan wasn't there. We started looking around the house for her, calling her name, but we didn't get a response. Then Mike walked into the downstairs bathroom and found her laying on the floor, with a knife next to her. We immediately called 911, but..." he trailed off, unable to finish the sentence.

"She's okay, right? Oh god please tell me she's alright. Please," I begged, talking to God more than Mr. Anderson.

I heard him sigh.

"Audrey, she's, she's, well, she's dead." I leaned against the kitchen counter. His words replayed over and over in my head, and I knew then I would never forget them. She's dead, she's dead, she's dead. Still, I did not absorb them. Then it hit me.

"NO!" I screamed at the top of my lungs, not caring who heard me, "SHE'S NOT DEAD! I just saw her yesterday! I talked to her on the phone last night! She was doing fine!"

I stopped yelling and laid down on the cold, hard, kitchen floor.

"Please tell me she's not dead," I begged weakly.

"I wish I could. God, I wish more than anything that I could," he replied.

I laid there silently. I felt tears coming on, but I pushed them back. I wasn't going to cry over something that was my fault.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Anderson. I'm really, really, sorry, for your loss, and everything that I didn't do."

"Audrey, you couldn't have done anything more. We should have listened, but we didn't. It's not your fault."

As much as I wanted to believe him, I couldn't. And now Meghan was gone. Because I didn't do anything about it.

~*~ONE WEEK LATER~*~

I watched ,unaware, as Meghan's parents gave their speech to the large crowd of people in the church. I glanced around the room. It was so crowded that people were standing everywhere. If only she had known how many people cared about her, I thought. But it didn't matter anyway. Her parents finished and sat down. My turn. I got up and walked up to the podium to give my speech.

"For those of you that knew Meghan Anderson, you were lucky. For those you of who were close to her, you were blessed. I had the privilege of being her best friend.

I only knew her for about 2 years, but in those 2 years we became better friends than most people do in a lifetime. I was first introduced to her at the very beginning of 7th grade during 1st period P.E. by one of my good friends from elementary school. At that time, Meghan was just an aquaintance, even though we had 5 out of 6 classes together. Then came the G.A.T.E. field trip. We were walking to the downtown theater to see Shakespeare's As You Like It. When we gathered at the front of the school to start walking, I was desperately searching for a familiar face, since all of my friends weren't in G.A.T.E. Then I saw Meghan. Of course, at the time, she was just a desperate to find someone to walk with, but I didn't know it then. We started talking, and we talked straight throughout the entire field trip. We planned world domination, which became the first of our many inside jokes. I knew at the end of that day that Meghan and I would become great friends, and I was right.

We exchanged phone numbers later, had the come-overs and sleep-overs, and became best friends. We would write notes during class, and we now have hundreds of them as souveniers. We would always get in trouble for talking in class, but it didn't matter.

When I think of Meghan, I think of several things. She always had a great sense of humor, and could make anyone laugh. She was extremely stubborn, which was both a good thing and a bad thing for her. It was bad because it made it harder for her to work with people, but it also gave her this sheer determination that would have helped her accomplish her dreams - if she had lived to accomplish them. She was a born leader, and hated letting anyone else be in charge. She was extremely nosy, but in a funny kind of way. I'll always remember the look on her face she would get when something good happened. It was almost a dreamy look, but in a different way. She was known for her obsession with airplanes, and her dream of being the first female Blue Angel pilot ever.

Unfortunately, she also did not know how to deal with her feelings when bad things happened, so she dealed with them the best way she knew how. It would be so easy to think about what we all could have done to stop her. But I'm sure she doesn't want us to do that. Instead, she wants us to celebrate the short yet accomplished life she lived, and to learn from her mistake and never give up. Meghan will always be in our hearts, and we will love her and miss her forever. Thank you."

I went back to my seat quietly. Aimee(she had flown out from Ohio as soon as she'd heard the news) hugged me as I sat down.

"Good job," she whispered.

I nodded, knowing I would burst into tears if I spoke.

The funeral went on, depressing as always. After the service, her body was driven to the local cemetary, where she was to be buried. Later that day, when no one was around, I went down to the cemetary to say goodbye to her.

"Hey Meghan. It's me. Remember me, your good old best friend Audrey? Well, I'm here to say goodbye, in the only way I know how. Look, no matter how many people tell me it's not my fault, no matter how much time goes by, I will always feel like I could have done something to stop you. God Meghan, you've only been gone a week, and I miss you so much already! You're my best friend...or you were. What about Illusion? We're minus a member now. God Meghan there are so many people that cared about you, and still do. I'm never gonna forget you. I know that for sure. But I'm going to have to let you go now, because it's the only way for me not to make the same mistake you did. Hopefully I'll see you later, but that won't be for awhile, because I'm going to learn from your mistake. I don't think I could do it now, after seeing and feeling all the pain we've gone through. So, enjoy your time up there, wherever you are. Goodbye, Meghan."

I carefully placed a framed picture of the two of us and my 'Best Friends' necklace by her grave and walked away. She had no more chances to live, no more tries at her dreams. She was gone. And I would never forget her.

THE END

My Little Note: If by chance anyone reading this might be considering suicide, PLEASE don't. You will have no idea how much you will cause until it's too late.

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