Literary Magazine 2017

An Excerpt from “No One Cared But Him”
By Greta Billingsley

With help from Jiya Iyer, Ellie Carney, Ella Barker, and Brynn Elverson

Prologue
“Oh no!”
I turned to see the shocked look on my best friend Malary Corset’s face as she looked down at her
phone. “I’m sorry Scarlet, I have to go.”
I could tell something was really bothering her, or else she wouldn’t have stopped me in the middle
of my sentence like that. She knew that I lost my train of thought easily, and I got annoyed when I did.

“Malary, whats wrong? Is something the matter?”
She looked extremely worried. More than I had ever seen her before. Her face was turning pale,
while her cheeks were turning bright red, as if she were sick.
“I’m not sure Scarlet, but there might be. Is it all right if I head home early? I know I promised that I
would help with your project, but this could be important.”
I was disappointed, but I knew if something was bad enough to scare Malary like that, it must be
important. I tried hard not to let it show as I walked Malary to the door. “See you tomorrow, Mal.”
“Yeah, I guess. See you tomorrow.”
I waved as she walked down the steps into the night.
I didn’t end up seeing Malary the next day. In fact, I didn’t see her for the next week. The only time I
saw her that month was at the funeral. The day of the ceremony, it snowed non-stop. From then on, in the
Corset household, the winter holidays have always been a dark and sullen time of year.
That was four years ago. Malary hasn’t been the same since.

Chapter One
As I walked to school that morning, I texted my best friend, Malary:

Hey Mal I can’t walk with you today
I have to go in early to collect the missing work I couldn’t do while I was sick.

Sry :(
I looked up so I could make sure that the cars had all stopped before I crossed the street, and waited a few
moments before looking back down at my phone. I was surprised to see that Malary hadn’t replied yet. All I
saw was my background picture of Mal and me at Wacky’s Waterslide Wetlands. My dark auburn hair glis-
tened with water, matching my brown eyes that Mal claims are so dark they look black. My eyes lingered a
little longer, before shifting over to her bright blue eyes, outshining even the sun, along with her curly blonde
hair blown to the side somewhere along the crazy hurricane of a roller coaster. We looked like exact oppo-
sites. The only thing we had in common was the fact that we were both smiling so hugely at the time that
you could make out every last molar in the very back of our mouths.

I looked at my screen a little bit longer, remembering the rush of the wind in my face and the sound
of our delighted screams, and finally brought my attention back to the present. That’s strange, Malary al-
ways replied straight away. By now, she at least should have started typing. Maybe she was upset that I
couldn’t walk. Still, it wasn't like her to get mad like that. Normally I was the one who got upset easily.

I started wrapping my mind in different scenarios, like the paper around one of the cute little choco-
late pretzels in the tiny bag I had stuffed in my pocket as I ran out the door, scared that I wouldn't have
enough time to eat breakfast before I left the house that morning. Now I was out of pretzels, my stomach
grumbling, and my whole body shivering because of my wet hair that I hadn't had time to finish drying entire-
ly.

I was beginning to drown in my thoughts of how sorry I felt for myself, when I jumped so high that
my damp hair nearly got tangled in the tree branches above me.

My phone had gone off. Yesterday, after school, Mal and I had been playing around with the differ-
ent ring tones on my phone. I guess I hadn’t changed it back before I went to bed. That was the last time I
had seen her. She had to go home, and I wasn’t able to see her this morning before school, like I normally
do.

“Hello, Scarlet. Has Malary made it to school all right?” It was Malary’s mom. Why was she calling?

“She told me she was walking to school to meet you. I was wondering if she did. I don’t really like the idea

of her walking alone. You know why.”
I froze, not knowing what to say. “No, Mrs. Corset, I haven’t seen her. Maybe she’s still walking. I’ll

look out for her. If I see her, I'll let you know.” So she didn't know where Malary was. That could be a major

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problem, I thought. After what had happened last time, it wasn’t good for anyone to be alone. I was still won-
dering, somewhere in the back of my head, why my parents had let me walk to school by myself this morning.

“Alri-,” she began to say. The phone went dead. That’s weird. I turned off my phone and shoved it in
my bag.

I didn’t stop the rest of the way until I got to school. I scanned the front walkway for Malary’s telltale
blonde curls, but she was nowhere in sight. Maybe Mal’s still walking to school, I thought. It’s probably nothing
to worry about.

Just in case, I checked one last place. If she was already at school, she would be there. Knowing that
once I was inside, I couldn’t check my phone because of school restrictions, I sprinted through the halls, slid-
ing to a stop in front of our regular meeting spot. Except for the fact that standing smack in the middle of our
two lockers was Alex Matthews. I hated the fact that Alex had the locker between Mal and me. Mal thought he
was cute, with his cinnamon curls, and the freckles spread across his face like constellations, but I didn't un-
derstand her logic about boys.

“Hey Scarlet,” he said, sounding entirely genuine, though I knew that couldn’t be true. He didn't care
about me at all. No one did. No one, that was, except for Malary. And now I had no idea where she was.

“What do you want ,Alex? I’m not in a good mood right now.”
“Why?”
“I don't feel like talking about it, okay? I’m just falling behind in English! Anyways, why do you care?”
It came out harsher than I had meant it, and he looked shocked, though he didn't react. I also knew that he
didn't believe me about falling behind in class. At least not entirely.
“Jeez Scarlet, I’m sorry. I didn't realize you were so upset.” He said the word “upset” as if trying to
instead say prone to yelling at any second. “By the way, Scarlet, do you know where Malary is? I haven't seen
her all morning.”
“Stop talking.”
“What?”
“Stop talking. I think my phone's ringing”
I glanced back down at my phone, expecting it to be Mal’s mom for the second time that morning ex-
plaining that the call earlier was just a mistake. A huge grin spread across my face as I saw Mal’s name come
up on my phone. Finally, I thought to myself. She decided to call. This had to be good news.
I ducked into the bathroom before answering my phone, so that I wouldn't get in trouble for having it
with me. “Hey Mal! I was starting to get worried about you? Where have you been? What took you so long?
Did you know your mom called me?” I realized that I had been talking without stopping, so I paused to take a
breath, and waited for a response.
I waited for a minute but all I heard was dead silence. “Mal?” Nothing. It was as if I was talking to a
ghost. I was about to try one more time when all of a sudden my phone died, even though I was sure that it
was at 100 percent a moment before.
I stumbled out of the bathroom, trying to make my way to the door, but Alex saw me and called my
name. Just so that we wouldn't create a scene, I stopped and turned around.
“Scarlet, what is going on? You look awful. Is everything all right? Also, Malary is normally with you, is
she sick?”
“Thank you for telling me I look awful, Alex. It helps. A lot.” As I said it, I could feel the venom dripping
from my voice.
“That wasn’t what I meant. You know that. It just worries me when stuff like this happens.”
“When stuff like this happens? I’m sure I know exactly what you mean.” I could feel my voice rising,
along with the color of my face.
“What is wrong with you Scarlet? I’m trying to help you!”
“Help me? How are you helping me?” I couldn’t believe it. With that, I finally lost my last bit of con-
trol. The last spark of dignity inside of me was doused instead with a tidal wave of emotions: anger for what
had happened this morning, fear for what would happen if something really had happened to Mal, sadness for
picturing what life would be like without the sun shining on me every day, making me laugh and smile, even
when I was ranting about science or when I was complaining about my parents.
“I have to go!” I yelled, running back the way I had come.
“Wait, Scarlet, what about Ma-”
That's the last thing I heard as I ran out the door of my school. I burst through the doors and sat down
on the cold stone steps. I took out my phone, and as it was rebooting from the incident with Mal earlier, my
eyes started to water. Please Mal, please. When I call you, answer! As my phone turned on, the first drop of
water landed on the screen.
I typed in Mal’s number, knowing that if she was all right she would answer me, and if I was just mak-
ing this whole thing up, there was a 99.9 percent chance that her phone would be on. The last time she didn’t
respond when I called… No. It couldn't come to that. I wouldn't let it. Not again. She wouldn’t be able to stand
it.

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