You Are Not Alone

By Caitlyn Achin

The sound of an alarm could be heard blaring through the bedroom of the dorm. The walls were painted a dark red color with some posters and pictures hanging on them. On the left side of the room was a huge window with black curtains covering the rising run. The queen-size bed had matching sheets, blankets, and pillows. In the bed was a young, teenage girl sleeping; her face buried in the soft black and red pillows. Her golden, orange, and red wings lay flat on her back.

On both sides of the bed were black nightstands. Her alarm clock sat on the one to the left and screamed into her ears. She started waking up and let out frustrated groans, mumbles and sighs. “Ugh, will you shut up already?” the girl asked as she finally opened her eyes and looked up at the clock.

She hit the snooze button and saw the time and then buried her face into her pillows again, sighing softly. As she laid there for a few minutes, she kept thinking of the time in her head: 6:50 a.m. She knew something didn’t feel right about that, but couldn’t figure out what it was at first. All of a sudden, it hit her like a huge truck; her eyes opened wide. “SCHOOL!” she yelled as she brought her head up from her warm, soft pillows.

She jumped out of bed and started freaking out a little, knowing she didn’t have much time to get ready. She used her wings to quickly float over to her black dresser and pull open her drawers. She started to quickly look through her clothes, throwing some down onto her floor until she picked out a decent outfit. It was a red shirt under a black jean jacket, black ripped jeans, and red sneakers. On the back of her shirt and jean jacket were two holes where her wings could go.

She then quickly put her dark, red hair, which used to be a brunette color until she dyed it, in to a high ponytail and brushed it just enough so she looked presentable. After that, she quickly flew around her bedroom, grabbing her Iphone, earbuds, and backpack. She flew out of her bedroom and put a piece of gum in her mouth. She flew over to her older sister’s room, but when she opened the door after knocking, she didn’t see her in there. “She must have slept over at her boyfriend’s,” she told herself.

She then shut the door and flew out of the school dorm. She checked the time on her phone, 7:05 a.m. She had some text messages from her best friends and older sister asking where she was. She told them all that she woke up late and that she was on her way. When she reached the school, it was 7:10 a.m. She was flying superfast. She has five minutes to get to class, and she could feel herself panicking some more, not wanting to be late because she has such a busy schedule. She tried to keep herself calm and took deep breaths as she landed her feet on the ground.

On the front of the school building, a huge sign read, “Welcome To Enchanted High.” When she walked in, she felt a little crowded by all the other fairies flying and running around. The bell was going to ring any minute. She quickly walked to her first class, which was Calculus. When she walked in, the bell rang and she let out a soft sigh of relief; she wasn’t late this time.

“Ah, Devon, just in time!!” her teacher said with a smile, “I started to think you were going to get your late streak back.”

The teen girl just smiled a little guiltily at that and then softly said, “Not this week, Mrs. Rose, I have too much stuff to do and my older sister would kill me.”

“Ah, yes, you’re helping with the school dance again, right?” Mrs. Rose asked.

“Yeah,” Devon replied softly, as she headed to her desk in the back of the class by her best friends. She felt like all of the students’ eyes were on her even though most of them were just talking to each other, not really paying much attention to the teacher yet.

Devon sat down and one of her best friends looked over with a little bit of a glare on her face. “You were up most of the night again working on the planning for the dance, weren’t you?” she asked.

“No,” Devon said and looked down at her desk.

“You’re such a bad liar sometimes, Devon!” her best friend said.

“Shut up, Kat!” Devon replied glaring in her direction. “The dance is this Friday and we have to finish the decorations this week still and some of them aren’t here yet still!”

Kat let out a frustrated sigh and crossed her arms over her light pink hoodie, glaring ahead.

Devon frowned a little, knowing Kat was concerned about her, along with the rest of her friends and her older sister. She could tell Kat was very angry with her by the expression on her face and the fact that Kat’s light green wings were fluttering a little quicker and sparkling a little more than usual. Devon was about to try to calm her down, but the teacher then started talking and she had to turn around and listen.

By the end of the first class, Devon had calmed Kat down and reassured her that she will get more sleep tonight. Kat made her promise and then gave her a hug and they forgave each other. The rest of Devon’s classes felt so slow; she almost fell asleep in a lot of them and spent most of the time worrying too much about the school dance. She also had a pop quiz in her biology class, which she was pretty sure she failed–that didn’t help her feel any better either.

She finally reached lunch and was relieved she could talk to her best friends, older sister, and boyfriend while working on decorating for the dance in the gymnasium. She saw her older sister already there sitting on some of the bleachers off to the side. “Hey Lily,” Devon said as she walked

“Hey little sis!” Lily said with a smile. She stood up, her blue wings flapping a little as she did, “Sorry I didn’t come back to the dorm last night.”

They both hugged each other and then sat down. “Are you okay?” Lily asked as she picked up the sandwich she was eating before Devon got there, “I heard you just about made it to class in time. We all missed seeing you in the morning before school.”

“Yeah, just having a hard day,” Devon said and then she saw Lily’s sandwich. She realized she forgot to grab some food for lunch when she was in such a hurry to leave this morning. “Awe man, I forgot to bring food,” Devon said and she buried her face in her hands. She could start to feel a minor headache forming, and her stomach was growling at her for food.

“Here, have the other half of my sandwich,” Lily said, as she handed her the other half of her ham and cheese over.

Devon looked up from her hands and over at the sandwich. She smiled a little and grabbed it from Lily. “Thanks,” she said.

“You’re welcome,” Lily replied with a huge smile, as she tucked her curly, brunette hair behind her ears and began to look for her bag of chips in her backpack, “And don’t worry, I’m sure your day will get better and easier.”

Devon smiled at that, thankful for her older sister.

“Ugh, my wings and limbs are so sore!!” They heard a voice whine. The two sisters looked up and saw their best friends walking over to them.

“Calm down, Jay,” one of their other best friends said with a giggle, “You’ll feel fine again soon.”

Jay just frowned and gently landed with their black and white Converse tapping the ground, and their black wings flapping slower and not sparkling as much as they usually do.

“Well, I’ll probably skip gym then,” Kat said as they sat down on the floor with Jay. “And Max is right, Jay. You’ll be okay.”

“Why?” Devon asked as she finished her half of Lily’s sandwich. She and Kat had gym class together.

“Because we’re doing that obstacle course again,” Kat said, “Where we go over all of our physicals. Apparently, we do a lot more flying though this time, so maybe it won’t be too bad.”

“That’s what I thought! But, it was still hard and painful!” Jay said, wincing a little when they tried laying their legs out some. “There was still a lot of running and jumping and climbing and swimming!”

Devon let out a frustrated sigh. She was already dreading it, having gym class right after lunch. “I might skip with you,” she said and then stood up.

She looked around and saw some of the people that werealso helping with the school dance. They were starting to go over stuff and set up some of the decorations.

“I usually don’t like you guys skipping, but Devon, you could use a class period to relax and get yourself together,” Lily said, “Maybe you can go hangout with your boyfriend and talk to him about your day.”

Devon smiled a little bit at the idea of being with her boyfriend.

“Yeah, I guess I will just third wheel then,” Kat said as she opened a bag of Takis. She took one out and was about to eat it, but then Devon used her fire fairy powers and set the Taki on fire. Kat let out a little squeal and threw it on the floor.

Lily quickly rolled up her light brown sweater sleeves and used her water fairy powers and put it out by throwing a water ball at it.

“Awe, my Taki is now burnt and soggy!” Kat whined.

Max and Jay just laughed at that. Devon smirked a little and Lily rolled her eyes.

“What are you two laughing at?” Kat snapped at them. “Don’t make me wrap you both up in vines again with my nature fairy powers! I’ll also put flowers and bugs all over your hairs too!”

“Don’t even think about it,” Max said while laughing a little still. She then made an ice ball form in her hand while her light blue and white wings flapped behind her and sparkled. “Or, you’ll have frozen Takis instead.”

“No!” Kat whined and Max made the ice ball disappear from her hand.

“Or, I can use them for a potion and create a spell with my dark fairy powers,” Jay said with a smirk.

Kat let out a squeal again and they both just laughed even more.

Devon listened to them talk and looked around, frowning a little. Her boyfriend still hadn’t arrived.

“Hey, Lily, have you seen Alex at all?” Devon asked and looked at her older sister.

“I’ve seen him some around school, but we haven’t talked at all today,” Lily said, as she gave Devon a concerned expression, “He wasn’t with us in the morning either. He should be here by now.”

Devon frowned even more and then pulled her phone out of her pocket. She opened up their messages, but didn’t see any from him recently. They hadn’t really talked much the past couple of days. She was about to text him, asking where he was and if he was okay, but then someone ran up to her.

“Devon, the theater teacher said she got a call from the DJ and they can’t come to the dance now because of family problems!” a light fairy said, panicking a lot.

“Wha-What?” Devon asked, shocked and confused, “The dance is this Friday! We can’t get someone new that quickly!”

“That’s what I said too!” the light fairy said.

Devon grabbed her head now and started to panic again. She felt her nerves spiking up inside her even more than they already had been all day. She tried to calm herself down again like she’s been trying to do, but this time, she couldn’t. “Alright,” Devon said, feeling her headache coming back and her thoughts jumbling together. “We’ll have to go through the list of DJs we have again and start making calls. Maybe some of them opened up.”

“Okay, I’ll tell the teacher and everyone else that,” the light fairy said, as she quickly flew away with her golden yellow wings fluttering.

“Hey, it’ll be okay,” Lily said, noticing how stressed Devon looked.

“Yeah, we can help you find a DJ,” Kat said.

“I think some of my friends know some good ones too if they’re not on the list yet,” Jay said, “I can get their numbers if you want.”

“I can help Jay with that!” Max said.

Devon smiled a little at that, but she still felt her nerves messing with her. She really just wanted to find Alex now and make sure he was okay and vent to him during gym class. “Okay,” Devon said, “I’m going to text Alex and then help them decorate. Feel free to help once you’re all done eating.”

After some decorating and chatting with people, the bell for next class rang. Devon and Kat decided not to go to gym. Devon was still not feeling that well and she was still trying to get in contact with Alex.

“I don’t know if I like him anymore,” Kat mumbled.

“Who?” Devon asked with a confused look.

“Alex,” Kat said, “He’s been acting quite suspicious lately. I’ve always had mixed vibes with him.”

Devon rolled her eyes. “You guys seem to have gotten along for the past couple of months,” Devon said.

“Well, yeah, because he did seem nice and fun, and I know you love him a lot and he loves you,” Kat said, “But still, the vibes sometimes, especially now.”

Devon just laughed a little and tired to call him. It kept going to voicemail after a couple of rings as they walked around the school. “Come on Alex,” Devon said softly with shaky breaths. She could really use a hug and a lot of venting time. She tried calling him again as they passed a staircase. They both heard a familiar ringtone and some soft voices. Devon and Kat gave each other confused looks. They walked over to the staircase and the voices got louder and more clear.

“Is that still your annoying girlfriend?” a girl’s voice asked sassily, “Tell her to shut up or turn off your phone.”

“I can’t just tell her to stop,” a boy’s voice answered, “That’ll make her even more suspicious than she already is.”

“Why are you still with her?” the girl’s voice asked, “I thought you were going to break up with her like a week ago! Don’t you love me?”

“Of course I do Baby!” The boy’s voice said, “And I’m going to real soon! I promise!”

“You better!” The girl’s voice said, “Before the dance!”

When Devon heard what they were saying and then saw who was under the staircase, her eyes went wide and tears started to form. She saw her boyfriend, Alex, hugging some other girl; then they kissed and smiled at each other.

“I don’t even know why you dated her,” the girl said, “She is so annoying and ugly. Such a nerd sometimes, too.”

Alex let out a little laugh and tears started streaming down Devon’s face. She could feel her whole body starting to shake; her breathing started to become uneven. Her nerves were going wild in her stomach. It was like huge butterflies having a dance party in there. She started to feel like she was going to be sick. Her head was pounding and her vision become blurry.

“Oh, they’re so dead now,” Kat said angrily and went to charge at them, but Devon tightly gripped her arm.

“We…We need to go right now,” Devon said, her voice shaking.

Kat looked over at Devon with a hard glare, but then saw how upset she was, and noticed that Devon was trying hard not to cry. Her expression softened and she moved Devon’s grip into her hand. “Alright, come on,” Kat said softly and they quickly walked away down the hall.

Kat took Devon back to the school dorms after arguing with the school nurse about Devon being sick and not wanting to be alone. Devon burst into tears in front of her, and that’s when the nurse finally relented and let them go. Devon wore more comfortable clothes back at the dorm. She sipped on a warm cup of hot chocolate made by Kat and sat on the windowsill in her bedroom, leaning against pillows she propped up against the wall. She heard some soft voices coming from the living room and the sound of the front door opening and closing. There was a knock on her bedroom door. Devon looked up to see her older sister coming into the room.

“Hey little sis,” Lily said softly with a soft smile, “How are you feeling?”

Devon gave a small, shaky smile and took some big, shaky breaths. “Like I want to jump out of this window,” she said, turning her head back to the glass.

“No, please, don’t do that,” Lily said, and she sat down on the windowsill across from her. Lily grabbed both of Devon’s shaky hands and made Devon look her in the eyes. “I know today has been very hard for you, and you’re now dealing with a hard break-up, but trust me, it will get better. We’re all here to help you.”

Devon smiled sadly at that and a tear went down her face. “It’s just been a hard couple of weeks, but today especially,” she said, “I just feel like I’m failing at everything I’m doing right now.”

“No, you’re not,” Lily said, “You are so smart and doing so many great things. You just like to take on too much at once sometimes.”

“Oh really?” Devon asked, “Like what?”

“Well, you’re helping plan an amazing school dance for everyone,” Lily said.

“Which is just falling apart all the time,” Devon said.

“Which you will fix it some how,” Lily said, “You’re also an amazing best friend and little sister to all of us. You have helped us all so many times.”

Devon smiled at that and looked down, blushing from embarrassment.

“You’re also doing great in school and have a well paying job,” Lily added, “Even though sometimes it feels like everything is just coming down around you and like nothing is going to go great and like you want, just know that it will get better.”

Devon looked up at her sister , as Lily wiped some of her tears off her face. “We will all get through this together,” Lily said with a smile, “You’re not alone.”

Devon let out a soft cry and then hugged her sister. “Okay,” Devon said, “Thanks Sis.”

“Of course!” Lily said and they broke away from the hug, “You’re my little sister, I have to take care of you and make sure you feel better.”

Devon laughed a little at that and then wiped the tear off her face. She noticed a little blue butterfly glowing and flying around her. A rose floated over and land behind her left ear. A few snowflakes fell on two girls, as another cup of glowing hot chocolate floated over.

Devon laughed and looked around her room. She saw Kat, Max, and Jay standing near the doorway, smiling as they used their fairy powers. “Thanks guys,” Devon said, as she and Lily stood up. She threw her pillow back onto her bed and walked over to them.

“Now, who’s ready to go get revenge on Alex?” Jay asked with an evil smirk.

“I am!” they all said, except Devon; she looked apprehensive.

“Wait, what do you mean by revenge?” Devon asked, scared of them now.

“You’ll just have to wait and see, little sis,” Lily said with a cackle.

They all then floated up and flew out of the dorm. Devon floated up with them flew behind them.

“Wait!” Devon yelled while letting out a giggle. “Stop!”

They all laughed and chased around after each other in the school dorm hallways.