"I'm sorry, Karen. I'm sorry, but I can't stand waiting around anymore."

Defeated eyes looked out of a pale face, sending shudders down Karen's back. She tried to smile.

"Come on, you dummy, we can still be friends, right?"

Melian just looked at her, expression unreadable. "Maybe not for a while," she heard herself say, not conscious of the action. "Don't worry. I just need some time to sort this out."

Karen breathed a sigh, and let her hands drop in relief. "Thank God. You were scaring me with the... you know," she said, uncomfortably, shifting her glance to focus on the black, plastic hiking knapsack which currently held Melian's gear. Melian smiled sadly.

"I'm still sorry about that. I don't know why I said 'I love you', but I think I was just desperate for attention. You know. Selfish of me." Karen smiled, in what she hoped was a forgiving way.

"Well, I hope you come back soon!" Karen called, as Melian took off up the mountain path. Melian turned back, shadows hiding her face, as though she was struggling to find something to say. Then the moment passed, Melian turned and continued running, and Karen felt more alone than ever, for some reason.

She's been my support since I was a toddler, my best friend. I don't know why she'd do something like that- God doesn't like homosexuality. It's a sin. Everyone knows that. Well, the Bible just says men can't be with men, but that's not the point, the point is the message behind that.

Karen began to walk inside, shutting the screen door with a bang, and stretching her arms above her head. She yawned, and then looked through the wire netting at the small yard where Melian had been standing moments before. The moonlight had passed, and it looked dark and melancholy.

... I wonder if I'm a hypocrite? Do I love her? I hope I don't. I really hope I don't. Come on, Karen, girl, you aren't a dyke!

Karen laughed, bitterly. "Pressure kills anything, even love."

Melian stopped running, her sides shaking as perspiration ran off her face and body. She collapsed into the camping platform, weak at the knees, and tried to catch her breath. In all the time she'd lived here, she had never ran so fast uphill. Stars gleamed faintly overhead, cool and unsympathetic. The moon had not yet risen.

Trees creaked, their branches rubbing stiffly against each other, as Melian set up her tent. She could imagine, if she closed her eyes, that her body was making the creaking. Old. Broken.

Melian's cellphone fell out of her pocket, and she felt around for it in the dark impatiently. She couldn't remember why she had brought it up with her. Probably out of habit, nothing more. It wasn't like she had any reason to call for aid.

She sighed, the tent erect, and sat down in front of it to look at the sky. "Pretty," she said softly. "And I can't touch it."

A bottle of pills rattled in the almost-empty camping bag. Melian smiled, eyes completely dead. "Well, not yet, anyways," she muttered. "But I'm going to fix that."

The letter she left under a small, pretty white stone. Karen had found the rock, one day, while they were at the beach. Melian had kept it, just like every other thing Karen had given her.

There was this girl, you see.
And she was a greedy little girl.
And a selfish little girl.
One day when she went out with her parents
She saw a lovely white doll
And she asked her mother for it,
And her mother said no.
And so she made her own white doll on a piece of paper
And never let anyone else play.

There was this tomboy, you see
And she was a greedy little kid.
And a selfish little kid.
One day when she was playing with her friends
She saw a kid with four soccer balls
Who was asking kids if they wanted a game
And she walked right up to him
And asked to play, and he said no.
And so she took an old rainbow ball from the dump
Which was not too far from the backyard
And she made a new game herself.

There was this teenager, you see
And she was a greedy little brat.
And a selfish little brat.
One day when she was out with her mother
She saw an ad for this amazing new diet
And she asked to borrow cash for some healthy stuff
And her mother told her she didn't need to spend
On expensive fresh fruit and vegetables
And would eat the canned version instead.
And so she got a summer job
And when school rolled around she moved
Into her own apartment, and she never
Bought alcohol like her mother had.
And she never even gave her mother
A single telephone call.

There was this young woman, you see
And she was a greedy thing.
And a selfish thing.
One day she told her best friend that
She was in love with her and wanted to stay with her
Maybe forever and ever
Until she died
And her friend said no.
And so she went out to the corner store
And bought herself a new lover
In the form of a sad little bottle of pills
And she never even said goodbye
Before the last game ended...

And the bottle of pills was empty.

Karen lay back on the sleeping bag, and positioned her arms in the funeral manner, crossed over her chest.

The cellphone rang.

Karen sighed, eyes going cloudy, as she struggled to sit up, and she pressed the talk button on the cellphone. She giggled bemusedly as the dark swirled around her, making it hard to move right. Maybe it was death on the other end.

"Karen? Karen, hello? Can you hear me? It's Melian. I... I wanted to tell you something."

Karen blinked and stared confusedly at the phone between her two hands. Melian wasn't supposed to call.

"I've been thinking about what you said. I was wrong. It hurt me too much to deny it, Karen. I think I want to be with you. I... I think I love you, too."

Karen's back arched, and she mewed pitifully, stomach clenching in pain as the pills set to work. Melian. Love?

"Karen?" asked the phone.

Karen painfully snapped back on the sleeping bag, limbs twitching as their nerves died, eyes misting over with a black shroud, seeing things that no living person sees, and gave in to the hysterical urge to laugh.

"Karen, is that you? Karen... Hello? Is anybody there? Hellooo... is this the wrong number? Karen? Are you there?"

THE END.