1. Friends

Michael was certainly a unique individual. He was surely very charismatic, seeing how he had so many friends. He was smart, calm, and generally the pacifist of the group. He was the peacemaker if his friends ever had a fight. He wasn’t very athletic, though; he wasn’t the physical type of person.

His parents loved him, and they treated him with special care. He was always happy, very, very rarely sad, and when he was, it was most likely because he got a B+ on a paper. He would then walk around dejectedly, staring at the paper, wondering what he did wrong, but then, one of his friends would come along and cheer him up, and he would be happy and cheerful again.

He had an odd assortment of friends. Each and every one of them had their own, different personality. Sylph was extremely interested in mythology, and would always carry around a journal in which she recorded her latest findings in whatever mythology she was currently studying. Silver, whose real name was actually Evan Enese, always seemed to disappear, then reappear, and was quite a tease. He enjoyed seeing the frightened expression on someone’s face when he crept up from behind, and caught them when they were least expecting it. Rafael was a hard-core Christian, while Setsuna was the Atheist. Michael would always have to break up their fights. Lucy was the caring, concerned, pure member. Michael had many more friends, of course, but only those few were his best friends.

On a bright, Monday morning, Michael walked to school. He always walked to school, because his parents told him that he needed at least a little exercise a day, and he loved his parents, so he obeyed them. Besides, his friends lived quite close to him, so they would always join him on his walk to school.

Once inside the school building, Michael turned to Sylph, and asked her:

“What are we doing in Language Arts today?”

“Cathbad was chief of the druids... and... Huh? Oh. I believe we’re going to read another chapter from that book, what was its title... We’re going to read.”

“Thank you,” Michael said. People in the corridors always turned from their lockers to look at him strangely whenever he spoke; he didn’t understand why. He had asked his parents about it, but they were confused about it, also. Michael did not have a lisp, nor did he speak exceptionally loudly. His speech was perfectly normal, and he could never understand why people couldn’t stop staring at him when he spoke to his friends.

The bell rang, and Michael ran to his Language Arts class after saying good-bye to his friends. He sat down in his seat near the front of the room, first in class, as usual. The teacher smiled kindly at him. Michael remembered what Sylph told him, and took out the book the class was reading. Moments later, the last of the students had filed into the classroom.

“All right, class,” the Language Arts teacher, Ms. Mawski, began. “Today, we are going to read chapter seven of When the Sun Fell to the Earth. Please open your books to page seventy-eight. Are there any volunteers to read out loud?”

Michael, obviously, rose his hand. He always participated in his classes.

“Okay, Michael, please read the first two paragraphs in a nice, loud voice.”

Michael stood up, holding his book in his left hand, and read from the book. His words were filled with emotion, because he loved to read, and he thought the book was extremely fascinating. He found it interesting, though, that when he read his book, no one would give him strange looks. They wore the same expression as they always did in Language Arts class: bored, but slightly interested. After a minute or two, Michael finished reading the passage, and sat down. Near the end of the period, the class had finally finished reading the chapter, and the bell rang. Michael waved good-bye to Ms. Mawski, and hurried out the door to his next class.

“Oi! Nice to see you had a good time in Language Arts class.”

Michael almost jumped. He turned, and smiled at Silver; he knew it was him. Silver always liked to pop up out of nowhere.

“Yes, I did,” Michael replied. “The book is getting really, really interesting now.”

“Glad to hear that,” Silver commented, then pulled out a cigarette from his pocket. He rummaged around in his other one for his lighter.

“Silver! You know it’s against the school rules to smoke on campus!” Michael exclaimed, concerned. Silver shrugged, but when he saw the vice principal approaching down the hall, he quickly dropped the cigarette at Michael’s feet, and ran off. Michael was too stunned to notice what happened, until the vice principal stood in front of him.

“Michael Smith,” the vice principal began in a calm, yet frightening, tone. “I am sure that you are well aware of the school rules: No smoking on campus.”

Frightened, Michael nodded. He didn’t want to tell the vice principal that it was really Silver’s cigarette, and besides, if he told, Silver would get in trouble, and he didn’t want that. A few students hid behind the open doors of their lockers, giggling, and pointing at Michael.

“I’m sorry,” Michael apologized. The vice principal shook her head.

“It’s all right,” she said, much to Michael’s surprise. “I know that you’re a good student, so I’ll excuse you. This time.”

With that, she turned, and walked back down the hall. Michael, being the neat boy he was, picked up the cigarette, and deposited it in the nearest trash can.

“Hey Michael,” came the taunting voice of one of his classmates, Sylvia. “Why didn’t you tell her that it was your friend’s?”

“I didn’t want to get him in trouble,” Michael answered, honestly, but Sylvia only laughed. He didn’t understand why a lot of his classmates seemed to find everything he said about his friends highly amusing. Glancing at his watch, Michael noticed that he only had a few seconds left before the bell rang, so he ran to his next class, Algebra I, which was, fortunately, only a few steps away. He slid into his seat a split second before the bell rang.

“Class, please open your books to chapter thirteen, lesson six. We’re going to have a quick review before the quiz. And please, no talking.” Mrs. Quad was a strict teacher, but, nevertheless, she got her job done. Michael opened his book to the specified page, and a small slip of paper fell out. Curious, he reached over, picked it up, and unfolded it.

Dearest Michael,

I know that you’re not very strong in Math, especially in radicals. I just want to wish you luck on the quiz today.

With love,

Lucy

“What’s this, Mr. Smith?”

Michael nearly jumped out of his seat. He didn’t notice Mrs. Quad walk over to his seat.

“A good luck note from my friend,” he answered, truthfully; he hated lying. At his statement, the whole class of thirty-five erupted into loud laughter.

“Quiet, class.” Mrs. Quad commanded, then asked, “No answers written on the paper?”

“No,” Michael replied. Mrs. Quad took the note from his hands, and examined it, making sure there weren’t any suspicious markings on it.

“Well, I don’t have a ‘Lucy’ in any of my classes,” she said.

“You don’t? But Lucy Chen’s in your first period class, right?” Michael asked, puzzled. Many of his classmates snickered. Mrs. Quad looked at his face, as though she thought he was pulling a sort of prank.

“No,” she answered.

“Oh... Well, she’s really quiet, so maybe you didn’t notice her...”

“Maybe.”

Mrs. Quad turned, then walked back to her place in the front of the classroom. Michael went through the rest of the review and the quiz feeling very puzzled.

When the bell rang, Mrs. Quad collected the quizzes, and Michael exited the room.

“Lucy Chen... that’s a new one,” whispered one student, and the others giggled. Michael ignored them; he was used to people whispering about his friends, though he never understood it. The rest of the day, all he could hear was whispers about Lucy, but he shrugged it off. At last, the last bell rang, and Michael was free to go back home. He gathered his things, then walked outside, where his friends Rafael and Setsuna were waiting. And, of course, fighting.

“What’s wrong, guys?” Michael asked.

“Setsuna wants to commit suicide!” Rafael said. “And, as you know, that’s a huge sin!”

“Yes. Setsuna, why do you want to commit suicide?” Michael asked, concerned, while he and his friends walked toward his house.

“Because. I’m tired of life. It’s all so boring, so drab... I have no future. I don’t know what to do when I can get a job. I don’t know what my purpose in life is. Plus, my mother died last week, and she was pretty much the only person who really, truly loved me. I see no more point in life.”

“But what about us? Your friends? You know, if you commit suicide, God will have a hard time forgiving you, and you’ll be stuck Below for a while,” Rafael stated.

“You know what?” Setsuna exclaimed. “I don’t care about your ‘God’. I don’t care about heaven, about hell, whatever! There is no afterlife! There is no God! There’s nothing!”

“Hey, hey...” Michael mumbled, as usual, lodging himself between his two friends. “Don’t fight... Setsuna, don’t commit suicide... I care about you...”

“Oh? You’re the only one. Everyone else hates me, did you know that? But really, Michael. Friendship goes beyond death, okay? I’ll still be your friend, even while I’m lying in the dirt. Really, there’s nothing stopping me from committing suicide.”

“But...”

“You know what? If you guys don’t see me tomorrow, you’ll know what happened. Maybe I’ll snap out of it, and decide not to commit suicide, but that’s not very likely,” Setsuna said, stopping in front of her house. “So... Bye. Love you, Michael.”

She unlocked her door, stepped in, and slammed the door behind her. Rafael had a stunned look on his face.

“You know... If I had been a better friend...” he began.

“Don’t think like that. You’re a great friend,” Michael argued, automatically.

“But I know that she’s an Atheist... I was so inconsiderate... Maybe if I had shut up a few times...”

“Shh. She’ll snap out of it. I know it.”

“But what if she doesn’t?”

“Then... then... Don’t think like that.”

“All right...”

Rafael stared at the ground, something different, seeing how he normally stared up at the sky. He trudged toward his house, which was only a few minutes away, with Michael watching him from behind.

“Bye...” Rafael said, sighing, and entered his house, leaving Michael alone. Michael sighed, as well, and jogged across the street to his house. He entered it, and sat on his couch, turning on the television, and flipping through the channels.

At night, around eight o’clock, he had the feeling that something was wrong with Setsuna. As though, maybe, she would actually commit suicide. Concerned, he got up from the table where he was doing his homework, picked up the phone, and called her. The phone rang once... twice... three times... all the way until the seventh ring, in which after that, the recorded message played in his ear. Anxious, he hung up, and dialed her number again, but the same result.

‘Calm down,’ he told himself. Setsuna was always out at night, so what made this night so much different? Slowly, he began to believe the lie that he told himself, as he always did. He walked to the kitchen, grabbed an apple, and a knife. His parents had gone out earlier; meeting, they said. He brought the apple and knife to his room, and slowly cut the apple into eight, equal pieces. He brought one piece to his mouth, but stopped as he stared at the knife. He had an image of Setsuna raising the knife to her wrist, cutting the vein there. He tried to force the image out of his mind, because he was a good boy, and didn’t like to think of blood. But the image kept on returning.

Then, he blinked. He held the knife in his right hand, and on his left wrist, there was a line, about the width of a hair. He sighed, placed the knife back onto his bedside table, and flopped himself onto his bed. No matter how much he tried to deny it, it still remained. His good boy disguise fell, and the truth visited him, as it always did; it was a part of his daily routine.

He still had multiple personalities.