Locked Away, Left Behind

I didn’t want to waste time, but after struggling for a long while, I still went to meet her. I told myself it was closure, that I needed to hear her out. But really, I just wanted one last chance to fix things.

I wanted to give Autumn a chance, and give our friendship a chance too. I still hoped, deep down, that maybe she’d come back.

She asked me to meet her in the school’s equipment storage room. It was dusk, the room full of mold and dust, so dark you could barely see anything. The hallway was empty, the air thick with the smell of old gym mats and forgotten trophies. I hesitated at the door, nerves jangling.

I suddenly felt something was wrong and called out: A chill ran down my spine. “Autumn, are you here?”

“Autumn, are you here?” My voice echoed in the darkness. No answer.

Just as I was about to leave, the storage room door suddenly slammed shut from the outside! The bang made me jump. Panic flared in my chest.

My eyes went wide with shock. I rushed over and pounded on the door! I hammered on the wood, voice cracking. “Wait! There’s someone inside!”

“Wait! There’s someone inside!”

“Open the door!”

The silence on the other side was suffocating. I yelled until my throat hurt.

But there was no sound from outside at all. No footsteps, no laughter. Just silence. I realized, with a sick feeling, that I was alone.

In that instant, it was like a bucket of ice water had been dumped over me—I couldn’t stop shaking. My hands trembled. I slid down against the door, heart pounding in my ears.

I suddenly realized: Autumn didn’t want to apologize. It hit me all at once. She’d set me up. I felt stupid, betrayed.

She was annoyed by my meddling and wanted to teach me a lesson! I tried to tell myself it wasn’t true, that she wouldn’t do this. But deep down, I knew she would.

But... I slid down against the door, falling into deep despair. Tomorrow was the physics competition! I pressed my forehead to my knees, fighting back tears. All my hard work—gone.

If I missed it, I’d lose my shot at guaranteed admission! The realization hit like a freight train. I couldn’t breathe.

By the time someone came to open the storage room tomorrow, it would be too late. No one would even know I was missing until the competition was over.

I was locked in the storage room alone as night fell, unable to see anything around me. The darkness felt alive, pressing in on all sides. I hugged my knees, shivering.

Only a faint beam of light came through the small window near the ceiling. It was barely enough to see by, but it gave me hope. Maybe I could get out.

I stared at the window, gritting my teeth. I measured the distance in my mind, calculating if I could reach it. My hands shook.

After a while, I climbed up, using the tables and chairs, finally grabbing the window ledge and pulling myself up with all my strength. The furniture creaked under my weight. I stretched, fingers scrabbling for a hold. My palms were slick with sweat.

The window was high—at least two or three stories up. I was a little afraid of heights, and my mind spun with dizziness. I peered down, heart racing. The ground looked impossibly far away.

Suddenly, my vision blurred with tears. I blinked, trying to clear them. I didn’t want to cry, but I couldn’t help it.

I didn’t know why Autumn would do this to me. The question echoed in my mind. How could she hurt me like this?

If she were just a stranger, I wouldn’t have given in again and again, and I wouldn’t be so hurt. It was the history between us that made it unbearable. I wished I could forget.

But we used to be so close. I remembered every sleepover, every whispered secret. It felt like another lifetime.

She used to be so good to me. She’d held my hand when I was scared, cheered me up when I was down. Now she was the one hurting me.

The girl who once cried for me when I was sick was now more cruel to me than anyone. I remembered the night I had the flu, how she stayed up all night with me, wiping my forehead and telling me stories. That girl was gone.

My palms were sweating, but I forced myself to be brave. I wiped my hands on my jeans, steeling myself. I had to try.

I had to try. I couldn’t miss the competition. I pictured the trophy, the acceptance letter, everything I’d worked for. I couldn’t let it slip away.

After a long time, I closed my eyes and jumped. I pushed off the ledge, heart in my throat. The world spun. Then—pain.

In the end, I didn’t make it to the competition the next day. My luck was awful. When I jumped, I broke my leg, and it happened to be pouring rain. I fainted on the spot.

The world went black. I woke up to the sound of rain on the hospital window, leg throbbing. It wasn’t until the next morning that a teacher, who arrived early, found me and was so startled that he immediately called an ambulance to take me to the hospital.

I drifted in and out of consciousness as they loaded me onto the stretcher. The sirens were distant, almost comforting.

The teacher came to visit me in the hospital, full of regret: He sat by my bed, wringing his hands. “Noah, I’m so sorry. We should have noticed sooner.”

“With your grades, if nothing had gone wrong, you could have won first prize. The questions weren’t even that hard this time.” He tried to reassure me, but his words only made it worse. I stared at the ceiling, numb.

“What a shame. But don’t be discouraged—you can still take the regular SATs. You might still get into Stanford.” He patted my arm, trying to sound hopeful. I couldn’t bring myself to care.

I stared blankly at the ceiling, unable to say a word. The hospital lights buzzed overhead. I felt hollow, like all my dreams had drained away.

My parents were heartbroken, wiping away tears. Mom held my hand, Dad paced the room. I’d never seen them so upset. It made me feel even worse.

Later, I found out it was because I tried to talk Autumn out of dating Mason that day. The truth came out in bits and pieces—whispers in the hallway, fragments of overheard conversations.

He hated my interference, hated that I said he was holding Autumn back, and forced Autumn to take it out on me for him. Mason had always been possessive, but I never thought he’d go this far. I wondered if Autumn had tried to stop him, or if she’d just gone along.

From start to finish, Autumn knew Mason was going to lock me in the storage room. That was the part that hurt the most. She knew. She could have warned me, but she didn’t.

She also knew that the next day was the physics competition I’d worked so hard for. She knew what it meant to me. She just didn’t care.

Autumn’s parents almost dragged her to my bedside to apologize. Autumn’s mom, always so elegant and poised, now looked exhausted, like she’d aged ten years overnight. She hovered by the door, face pale, eyes sunken. I barely recognized her.

“It’s my fault, Noah,” she said, covering her face as tears slipped through her fingers. She sobbed, voice muffled by her hands. “I must have given birth to a troublemaker!”

Autumn looked at my leg in traction, clearly panicked, and stammered: She wrung her hands, voice trembling. “Noah, I really didn’t think it would end up like this.”

“Mason said he just wanted to scare you, that he’d let you out early the next morning, and wouldn’t make you miss the competition!” She avoided my eyes, twisting her fingers together. I wondered if she believed her own excuses.

My mom finally couldn’t take it anymore. “Autumn, if I didn’t treat you like my own daughter before, I really did care about you!” Her voice broke, thick with emotion. The room was silent, heavy with all the things we couldn’t say.