I haven't heard from Delilah in three days, since we got into that fight. She found a book on the sidewalk and it had a name in it. I told her not to take it because it belonged to someone and that they would surely come back for it when they realized that it was missing. But she didn't listen to me. To be honest, I thought that this was going to be the end of our friendship, because we have only been friends for 3 weeks. September 6th is when our friendship started, the first day of school. She was new and I was the weird kid that was always ostracized from the rest of my class. I was sitting in advisory reading my favorite book, "How to Start a Fire and Why" by Jesse ball. The principal walked her in and introduced her. I remember it vividly, like it was yesterday. She looked directly into my eyes while the teacher told her what we were doing and that she could have a seat anywhere. She sat right next to me; she was smiling. Then she said to me, with the most genuine smile ever, "Hi my name is Delilah Wright." That is how our friendship started. But I am starting to get worried. She's not answering any of my phone calls, but what I'm most worried about is the fact that she hasn't been at school for three days. The school announced that we are not returning to school until she is found. Her parents didn't call the police until Saturday morning because they assumed she would come back by curfew Friday night. Sunday, September 26th, and the police are still looking for her. They need everyone's help. We live in a very small neighborhood, so people would have seen her walking. But even if she was mad at me, she wouldn't try to run away, would she? I've been looking non stop at all of the spots that we went to,but I didn't find her. That afternoon my mom called me and told me that I need to come home and have some lunch. I walked home still looking for her, but there was no sign of her. As I sat there eating my sandwich, my parents sat across from me. My mom started talking, "Honey I know that this is hard for you. I am so happy that you are trying to find her, but I do hope you realize that there is a slight chance that..." I screamed over her "She is not dead mom! She is probably just mad and traveled too far and couldn't find her way home! She's not dead!" We sit there in silence until the phone rings. I sprint to the phone, but my dad stops me. "Matthew stop, stop. Let your mom get it." My mom grabs the phone and walks into the other room. My dad is still holding me back, knowing that I'll try to get the phone. After 2 minutes, my mom walks into the room and sits down. My dad lets me go and I just stand there, waiting for my mom to tell me who the phone call was from. She looks at me and starts to talk, but can't get any words out. She finally tells me in a trembling voice" They found her. But honey she's no longer with us." I don't know what to do. I just stand there in disbelief. I bolt out of the door, hearing both of my parents yelling my name. I run into her front yard and I see her parents. I run straight to her dad and all the words I can muster are "Please just tell me that the phone call was a sick joke." He just stands there shaking his head. I feel something but I don't know what you would call it. Her dad explains "The police told me that during the search party, the old lady who lives on Magnolia was looking for Delilah around the pond when she saw her body. The police heard her screech and came running. They saw her body floating in the water and saw that she had hit her head. They saw the rope that was near the pond and said that that was her cause of death." I don't get it. How does it go from her hitting her head, to the rope, to her dying? "How does the rope have anything to do with her death?" I asked. He told me "They think she found the pond, saw the rope swing, and didn't realize that the pond was as shallow as it was. She got on the rope and jumped into the pond, but she hit her head on a rock. I think you can figure out the rest." I ran away into the woods and didn't go home until 8:30 pm that night. I walked into my house, up to my room, and spent the rest of the night there. That night I finally identified that feeling: grief.
September 7th, the first day of 9th grade. I am sitting there reading a book when the door opens. I look up and see a boy. The teacher tells the boy to just sit where he wants and that class is about to start. He sits next to me and I say "Hi, my name is Matthew Prior." with a big smile. He returns a shy smile and then the bell rings. I did that for Delilah. She would be happy that I'm making friends on my own. I invite him over and show him some of my favorite spots. The last place I show him is the pond. The water level has finally returned to normal. As we walk around the pond I tell him what happened to Delilah. We start to walk back, but as I take another stride I trip, I look and see the book.