Laughing stock

Chloe placed a pair of large headphones to her ears after she zipped up her jacket and slid her arms through the bag straps, securing the bag as she stood at her desk while making sure that she had everything she needed for college.

It had been two years since her friend's death and it had never once left her mind.

Not that she could ever escape it thanks to the long hours at the police station only to be released due to the lack of evidence, the media on the other hand always hounded at either her home, school or anywhere that she would decide to go.

Demanding answers to what happened that dreaded night, trying to find ways in order to sniff out the version of the story in order to satisfy them and their readers.

Not caring at how much this would affect her one bit.

For it resulted in people calling her names, making speculations and spreading ideas on what could have happened.

For example they mentioned about her dead friend being a crazy boyfriend who then suddenly kills himself in her house to ugly fights that broke out in the house before he died.

The worst part was that the media had mentioned that she could have done it and had threatened her parents to keep quiet or else she'd kill them as well.

They even made tales or claimed to have received tips saying that her parents were at home to begin with, even though Chloe and her parents knew right off that it was false.

Unfortunately for Chloe the accusations resulted in the police and the courts getting involved to search the house as the 'evidence' and tips.

This left the police doubting that Chloe was even innocent and had in fact threatened her parents, it had soon gotten to the point that they soon assumed that it was planned from the very start.

Hearing this though disgusted Chloe enough to the point that it left her having a mental break down, wondering what she had done to deserve such hateful lies.

She would never want to hurt her friend, the thought never once did cross her mind and what made her upset was that it all started because he tried to kiss her.

As expected the alibies of Chloe's parents had checked out but it hardly made much of a difference to anyone in the area.

In the end the police and courts could not find anything that would bring them a step closer to the truth, but that still didn't stop the rousing suspicion.

Not even the autopsy report of her deceased friend who had died in such a painful horrific manner could shed any other details.

Except that he hit the glass table but no one could not fully understand why his face was so disfigured, especially since there were no items in the house that had blood on them.

What also frustrated them was that there was no blood at the doorstep or on the door or on any of the floors at all except for the spot he had been seen laying dead on.

The police even tried to find out possible ways and had began to interrogate Chloe who was shaking half to death thanks to their attitude towards her.

They had even tried to threaten or bribe her but still her story never changed leaving more frustration on all sides.

Sadly her statement didn't satisfy anyone in the slightest and as a result she and her family were called names and were made a complete laughingstock, to make it worse the gossip always revolved around that night as people tried to find the truth by any means necessary.

Even though Chloe had wanted nothing more than to forget about it and move on since there was no way to fix things or bring her friend back to life.

Despite the fact that she wanted answers as to why he had done what he did, they were friends right?

So why did he try to do that?

Why had those voices tried to push her away from him?

Why did they claim that he was untrustworthy?

Sure he was a bad boy who at times got into trouble but he was slowly maturing and becoming a better person so why?

Why did things end up the way they did?

Why did she have to lose someone she cared about in such a horrific manner?

And without warning as well which left Chloe wondering about who would also suffer next if she ever did get close to anyone else. Harry had been her only friend, a friend who was there and actually made an effort to be her friend.

There was no pretence, he didn't use her or anything nor did he have any friends.

Instead they only had each other, it was them against the whole world and that was how she liked it even if people were against it for various reasons.

However now it was just her and at times Chloe was not even sure if she could cope without him anymore.

Even now Chloe had wanted to confess what happened but if her family, the people or the media had found out that she was hearing whispered voices the night he died.

Voices that only she could only hear. The distressed girl was sure they would no doubt just throw her in the nuthouse if she were to ever breathe a word about what truly happened.

Even her parents had ordered for her to see a counselor and began distancing themselves from her at times once they moved to a new area.

Sadly thanks to the media, the police and gossip this only resulted in her moving into three different areas since new or old problems would keep popping up.

Everywhere was the same no matter where they went- they knew who she was and would often make comments about her even if she was in the room.

Most students even distanced themselves while adding crude speculated comments about what could have happened that night, each more appalling than the last.

While at the same time the rest of the students and the teachers would just avoid her like the plague since they didn't want to be targeted for whatever reason.

Not that she would want them to suffer any ill but there was nothing she could do, she had no voice for the media, gossip and rumors kept circulating around her like a dark cloud.

The worst part was that she could not stop them no matter what, even at one point she had stood up for herself and tried to declare her innocence, which sadly was in vain since no one wanted to hear her point of view.

Unfortunately those who tried to were ridiculed and treated badly causing them to avoid her to save themselves.

Not that she could ever blame them for it.

Unfortunately there was so much Chloe could tolerate and was slowly starting to get sick and tired of their cold words, so instead of allowing them to bother her.

Chloe would often put her large headphones on in order to drown out the noise in hopes of finding some peace and quiet from the cruel world that wanted her to suffer for whatever reason.

Sadly that would hardly happen for the hushed voices would often still find their way into her ears despite the loud volume due to the fact that she had increased the volume to high.

However to thanks to the fact that her headphones were soundproof it allowed her to enjoy her music at any level without upsetting anyone nearby.

Chloe at times often suppressed a shiver here and there thanks to the voices and how they managed to bother and invade her private space.

Just like the media who no doubt were outside her house right now.

"You'd think after two years they would up and leave" she muttered grudgingly to herself but refrained from lashing out as she turned to look at her simple oval mirror that rested on the other side of the room.

This allowed the eighteen year old to see an image of a blank faced pale girl wearing a black jacket over her waist length faded grey shirt, black trousers that were a little messed up around the bottom thanks to the constant tripping and running as she tried to escape the media and occasional overzealous people who wanted to hurt her.

She also wore black socks that were slightly hidden from her dirty white fluffy slippers.

Not that she could fix the slippers anyways since the floors will get dirty from time to time.

Even now Chloe didn't truly recognize who the girl was in the mirror anymore, and to think that two years could truly change someone who use to be happy but shy while she wore bright colours to match her peppy mood.

Now a days she just wore black and kept to herself because according to the word outside she was a monster, a freak that somehow killed her friend and somehow was able to cover up or ruin the evidence.

It was thanks to those words that encouraged her parents to ban her from ever going near sharp objects.

Thus making Chloe feel invalid and isolated, powerless.