A Suicide Note

Prank Goes Wrong

1 — The Girl

“I love your sister” he hung his head low and I couldn’t comprehend his emotions.

We stood talking in our regular rendezvous. My sleep-deprived eyes have no tears to shed. All the late-night rehearsals of conveying my love to him on my birthday now shattered. An eerie silence for a long time. Yes, I took time to gather myself.

“She is extremely lucky,” I spoke at last.

I locked myself in my room, trying to bury all his memories. Time is a curse, especially while in pain. It ceases to pass. Life has become cruel to me in just a matter of minutes.

I crawled to my desk, stumbled into the dozens of unpublished stories I wrote which were stacked up neatly in the corner. I pulled the desk drawer, took out the writing pad and sleeping tablets. The bottle emanated under the desk lamp; welcoming me with open arms. My heart sought refuge, the most conventional way to ease the pain. I swallowed.

I adjusted the desk lamp and wrote. The words bled, betraying the pain inside me.

2 — The Boy

We planned to pull this prank on her. ‘We’ includes her sister and parents. I bought the engagement ring to propose to her at the birthday party. A cringe, but my heart sought a romance and thus came up with this plan. She is strong, but I don’t know whether she could handle this prank. I couldn’t look at her face when I said I love her sister. It was funny, yet really painful.

Though I am feeling excited, an eerie premonition itching me. There are some nagging thoughts playing inside my head. I am trying to pull off an insane stunt and nothing could go wrong. She is not picking the phone and gradually I am growing restless.

3 — The Girl

I write this letter to you with all my remaining strength. When you read this, I hope you would know. Obviously, it will be too late.

I am a loner, an introvert who talks through writing. People thought me a weirdo, but not you. You are my childhood neighbor. I couldn’t remember when I had fallen in love with you. It could be after you rescued me from the woods where the bullies left me. It could be after I cried on your shoulders, after my only friend — my grandpa died. It could be after your relentless efforts and patience to get myself back in life. You never laughed at my appearance. You never made fun of my strange behavior, even though I was the obvious choice for others. My zero fashion sense never bothered you, my frizzy hair and nerdy looks never stopped you from being a friend with me. You were there, always, before I end up in peril. I never thought that you would become the reason now.

4 — The Boy

This day will be so special. We will remember this day forever. I chewed these thoughts when my phone hummed.

“Did you buy the cake?” her sister had texted.

“Hang on, we will start the party within an hour. How is your sister holding up?” I replied.

“She locked herself inside the room. She neither talked nor ate. Let us break the surprise early. I don’t feel good about this.”

“I feel the same. Keep an eye on her until I come.”

I rang her up again. She didn’t pick the call for the 24th time. This is not good.

5 — The Girl

I am not the teenager to misinterpret sympathy and affection as love. Your subtle hints are so obvious. The way you hold my hands, the way you look into my eyes on our star-gazing nights on the terrace. Those tiny moments have revealed your love. Apart from all these cues, I could look straight into your heart and find myself there. You have feelings for me. Look into my eyes and dare say you don’t love me. You wouldn’t. Why do you lie to me then?.

I feel betrayed while I write these words to you. You have manipulated me; you have played on my feelings. It is worse than being bullied. You will pay for this, you will regret betraying me for your whole life.

My cell phone vibrated again, and my vision was blurry when I looked at the screen. It displayed 24 missed calls.

6 — The Boy

We never expressed our love for each other. Those three words have always evaded us. It was always a symbolism.

“Forget being a friend, why do you even talk to me?. Everyone else finds me a weirdo, a scary one,” she curiously asks me from time to time.

I never visualized her as weird. She is abruptly transparent. She is natural and nothing about her is fake. Her face reflects her heart inside. Most of all, she loves to be herself. No dramas, no fake smiles, and she never tries to change herself to please others.

People call her weirdo because she never gossips, never teases or bully in the name of fun, doesn’t like to socialize, and never been a judgemental person. Her purpose towards life is her unique quality. She loves to write, her scribbles speak more volume than her lips. Among the herds, she is an exception. She is so real and tangible, a perfect girl to be fallen in love with.

That is the reason this prank endeavor looks stupid. She is not a person who is fond of stunts like these. I was not either. It seems cliche, cinematic and now I curse myself for falling for it. According to both of us, Love is not drama. It is always boring but consistent.

My repeated calls go unanswered, and my mind started imagining things.

“There is a pocket knife on her desk. There are also sleeping pills inside the drawer.”

Fearful ideas began planting inside my head.

7 — The Girl

My head felt heavy and dizzy, but I had the heart to complete it. I struggled to place the paper weight over the letter. I fell on fours and merely scrapped my way to the bed. My eyes shed the last tears, pillows silenced my muffled cries. My pupils got adjusted to his presence. There I could see his brown eyes, curly hair and I rested my head on his lap for the one last time. I closed my eyes and felt peace swarming inside me.

8 — The Boy

They were banging on the bedroom door and shouting her name.

“She is not responding,” her sister cried.

I looked through the keyhole and she was laying there motionless. My head exploded with ‘why’. I cursed myself, screamed her name, begged a million apologizes, but nothing could reach her ears. I couldn’t forgive myself for doing this to her. My hands banged, banged, and banged.

After several minutes, we broke the door open, and they rushed to her side. I couldn’t face her or forgive myself. I stood there motionless while her parents tried to revive her. Everything went silent for a minute. All I could hear was the flapping noise of a paper. A letter danced under the paperweight.

9 — The Girl

I could hear some distant voices inside my head, violent jerking of my body. I opened my eyes with cold water dripping on my face. They smiled at me with relief and for a few moments, I couldn’t understand their violent behavior.

My vision is still blurry, and I squinted my eyes to look at him. There he is, the man who broke my heart, the betrayer, holding a paper in his hand. Suddenly he ran towards me and hugged me for the first time.

“I thought you were dead,” he sobbed and blabbed apologizes. Finally, he uttered those three-letter magical words.

What this drama all about?. The broken door, an ajar sleeping pill bottle, and a letter on my desk. I just swallowed two pills instead of one to get a good sleep. Maybe it was too much sleep for me.

“I won’t do that ever to you again. I was insane to pull a prank out of this.” he hugged me tight this time.

“Guess who's got pranked,” I mumbled to myself.

The paper flew across the room and it got jammed across the corner. He wouldn’t have read the footnote,

‘A story by Zia’