I enter the clubroom. All the posters and desks fill my sight. Monika is standing at a table near the front sorting out what looks to be pamphlets for the festival. I walk over moving past a couple old desks pulled to the side, they’ll probably be thrown out soon. As I get close Monika turns around and sees me, she puts on a smile and walks over.

“You ready for the festival today?” Monika asks. I’m not but she seems cheerful about it, I don’t want to burst her bubble.

“Yeah, of course.” I say. 

“Where’s Sayori?” She asks.

“She’s probably sleeping in.” I say. “You would think on a day like this she’d try a little harder.” It takes me a solid minute to understand what I just said and realise, it’s not that simple for her. After what she told me yesterday. 

“You know, you should take care of her better.” Monika laughs slightly. “You are her boyfriend after all.” 

“How do you know about that?” I ask, I don’t remember telling anyone and I don’t think Sayori did either.

“Jone, don’t worry about that.” She laughs slightly again, what is so funny? “You kinda left her hanging this morning you know.” She grabs my arm and starts pulling me over towards the pamphlets she was organising. She picks one up and hands it to me.

“Look through them, they look amazing.” She says, excitement filling her voice. I turn the pamphlet to look at the back. The outside has pictures of books and paper on them. I open it up to see that all our poems were put on a page along with a page to explain the literature club. I didn’t know what to write so I found a random poem online which I thought Monika might like and submitted that, so that is what I’ll be performing. I look through everyone's poems, only stopping when I turn to Sayori’s poem. It’s one I had never seen before. It repeats the phrase ‘Get out of my head’ over and over again. I look at the bottom of the page and see that it’s not all that one phrase.

‘Get out of my head before I do what I know is best for you’

‘Get out of my head before I listen to everything she said to me.’

‘Get out of my head before I show you how much I love you.’

‘Get out of my head before I finish writing this poem.’

‘But a poem is never actually finished, it just stops moving.’

I feel a chill go down my spine, maybe I should have gone to wake her up this morning. I look over to Monika.

“You good?” She asks, her emerald green eyes filled with concern and her hands playing with her hands playing with her coral brown hair.

“Ye..Yeah.” I say, trying to dismiss the distress I feel as I put the pamphlet down.

“Really, you look like something is wrong.” She says. I look at the door.

“I’m just going to go get Sayori.” I start to walk towards the door, Monika looks concerned still. “I’ll be back.” I exit the clubroom and start running down the barren hallway.

“Don’t strain yourself!” I hear Monika call out to me. My running turns into a full blown sprint.

...

I start running outside the school, we only live a few blocks away so it won’t be far. Why didn’t I go to wake her up, she told me yesterday how depressed she was. Why am I so stupid? I run past a cop car.

“KID!” I hear an officer yell. I keep running. I hear the sirens go off. Great, now the cops are after me. I run down an alleyway off to the side which me and Sayori used as a shortcut to get to school last year. I need to get to her house, I need to be there for her. I exit the alley and turn onto our street. We used to walk down to school together everyday, but this year we haven’t done it as often. What type of friend am I? I pass my house and arrive at her gate. The gate is old and rusting. I open it up and enter her front yard. I run up to her door, tired from running. I place my hand on the doorknob, pulling it down and opening the door. I enter the house as I see the cop car pass and close the door. The home is silent. I pass by the potted plants and pictures to get to the stairs, she won’t be downstairs. I climb up the stairs as I hear the gate slam shut. When I arrive upstairs I pass by the tiny table and arrive to the door of her room. I knock on the door.

“Sayori, wake up dummy.” There’s no response. I place my hand on the doorknob. I didn’t want to have to enter her room like this, it is really something a boyfriend would do isn’t it. In anycase, it just feels right. I hesitate for a second but pull down on the doorknob for her sake. I gently open the door.

“Sayori...” I suppress the urge to vomit. I had fears of this last night but put them aside, but seeing it is worse than thinking about it. Sayori’s sky blue eyes lifelessly stare at me, her head hanging from a noose. What the hell? The words she said yesterday echo through my head as I think of all the ways I could have prevented this. I drop to my knees, containing my tears behind my eyes. I could have walked her to school more, I could have hung out with her more, I could have been there for her when she truly needed it most. I never was there for her, even though I knew. Now I can never save her, this isn’t some game which can just be reset and get a better ending. This is real life and she’s gone. My childhood best friend’s gone.

“Kid, come o...” I hear a gasp behind me. “Oh god, I...” I feel a hand on my shoulder. “I’m so sorry kid.” I look up again to look at her.

“I'm sorry Sayori.”

...

I look around the corner and see Jone being taken out of the house by a cop. An ambulance pulls up and enters the home. I cross my fingers and hope that I got what I wanted. They take out a rollout bed and take it into the house, did she really do it? It takes some time but they take the rollout bed out with what looks like a person covered with a white sheet. I smile. She wasn’t good enough for him anyway and she was way too emotionally unstable anyway. It only took a few days to break her. Although I’ll miss her she was only a roadblock. Now, I can have him. All I need to do is play on his emotions right now to make him love me, then he’ll be mine forever. I walk back down the alleyway towards school, the festival is starting soon after all.