The next day, I saw Emilia approaching to me with a radiant smile. There was something different about her, but I couldn't place a finger on it.

"Do I look different?" She asked as she gave me a twirl.

"You brushed your hair?" I furrowed my brows with confusion.

"No!" She lead out a high pitched laugh. "I mean, am I glowing? I swear, I woke up this morning and I couldn't even recognise myself! I was like, is this what it looks like after losing your virginity?"

Oh right. She actually did have sex with the sadistic pig.

I noticed that she was still rambling about the special occasion when I saw Mateo and his group of friends approaching us. Emilia must've not iced that I was staring at them when she turned around with a huge smile on her face. Mateo on the other hand, showed and evil gleam in his eyes.

"Hey Mateo-"

"We're over," he spat, causing Emilia to flinch.

"What do you mean?" She whispered.

"Listen, this," he signalled both of them. "Was nothing. A bet. My friends and I made a bet to see if I could take your virginity after two months. Guess i won."

His group started snickering as he looked around to see people stopping what they were doing to watch what was going on.

"I thought-"

"You thought wrong," he looked around once more. "The sex was ok, but I think I got some pretty good pictures."

What?

Pictures?

"Pictures?" She whispered.

"Yeah," he then turned around to look at his friend and motioned him to do something. Within seconds, phones started buzzing and people began to laugh as they pointed at Emilia

Mateo had sent everyone naked pictures of Emilia.

"Why would you do this to me?" Emilia's voice cracked.

"It was totally worth it." Mateo simply responded as he left her standing, vulnerable, as people continued to mock her.

***

Emilia didn't answer my calls for three days straight nor didn't read my texts. I tried calling her mother but she would only reply that Emilia didn't want to see anybody or that she was feeling nauseous. I knew that she obviously felt humiliated after what Mateo did, but I refused to allow her to crawl under the sheets of her bed whilst Mateo enjoyed the victory. It wasn't until three days later, I received the worst possible news ever.

My phone began to ring, and I quickly picked it up, seeing that it was Emilia's mother.

"Hi Lola, is-"

"Astrid, cielo, I need you to turn on the news, channel 4," she instructed with her voice cracking.

"Is every-"

"Just do it."

With my brows furrowed, as I turned the tv on and searched for the channel.

"El cuerpo de una joven de dieciséis años se ha encontrado en la orilla del río..."

("The body of a sixteen year old girl has been found by the river back...")

I felt as though my world collapsed as I heard the news.

"P-please tell me it's not...h-her," I whispered as tears began to roll down my cheeks.

She didn't respond, confirming my answer.

"Please!" I screamed at the phone.

"They found her this morning," she whispered, obvious that she was also crying.

I dropped my phone as I continued to witness Emilia's body being collected from the bank by paramedics.

Just like my mother, Emilia had killed herself.

And now, I had no one.

***

I didn't leave my room for days, and no one even bothered to ask me if I was ok. My father continued to lock himself in his office as if he didn't care that his own daughter was mourning the death of her best friend, but Laura, that bitch began to call Emilia a whore for seducing her son and an attention seeker. If I had the chance, I would've broken her nose, but I knew the consequences that came along.

I didn't eat at the beginning, but slowly, I began to gain strength to leave my room and go outside. However, I developed insomnia, leading me to go out for walks at night.

It was a week after her funeral when I climbed out of the window for a walk. I knew that I would get hungry, so I decided to take a bit of my savings along with me. Walking down the park, I noticed two people exchanging something by a tree, so I silently approached them to see what they were exchanging. The closer I got to them, I then knew what was going on. They were exchanging money for drugs.

Of course, I quickly turned around and left the place as I was scared to get caught, but I still had time to hear one of them, the supposed drug dealer say, "if you want more, I'll be here tomorrow at this hour."

That phrase was stuck in my mind the following morning and afternoon.

What would happen if I asked him for drugs?

Would it take the numbness away?

Would it get me so high that I would probably forget about Emilia's death?

Just like the previous night, I climbed down my window and headed towards the park, to find the man standing next to the same tree. The closer I got, the harder my heart was beating and my palms began to sweat. The man was leaning against the tree, smoking what could possibly be a joint when he turned towards my direction and spoke.

"I knew you would come. You can come out now."

I took a deep breath in and stepped into the view.

"How did you know I was coming back?"

"You're the dead chick's best friend right?" I nodded. "Well, I had a feeling you would go to any drug dealer for something to cope with the pain."

"How did you know I want something 'to cope with the pain'?"

"Cause a lot of people come to me with that excuse."

I looked around to see if there was anyone roaming around at this hour. Once I checked, I looked at the guy and took a step forward.

"What do you have that could help me?" I whispered

"I normally sell heroin," he gave me one glance before he continued. "But I think you would want opium."

He pulled out a small zip bag that contained the drug and handed it to me.

"And why would I want opium?" I asked, staring at the bag. "What if I want the heroin that you sell to everyone?"

"Because you want to forget."

I continued to stare at the bag, and then I looked at the man, who seemed calm, as if he had all the time in the world to give a broken teenager a drug that could possibly fuck up my already fucked up life.

I grabbed the bag and rushed to give him the money, but he stopped me, his eyes still fixated into mine.

"I may not have gone through what you're going right now, but what I do know is how you feel," he released me and began to walk away. "Keep the money, I've got plenty."

I watched as the figure began to grow smaller and smaller, until I was the only one awake in the park. I placed the bag into my pocket and began walking home. Whilst walking home, the same thought kept appearing on my mind.

What if the guy is right?

What if I want to forget?