The sky outside the window looks jejune and desolate, the clouds that cover the earth matching the mood of everyone inside. The rain falls relentlessly onto the arched roof making loud and constant annoying noises.

I stand at the back of the queue, dreading the inevitable moment I will reach the front. Naturally, I see about two dozen people in front of me, wearing the same dreary grey uniform, although bandages peek out from under my skirt and jumper as obvious as an elephant.

As girls pass me, they give me sympathetic looks under long eyelashes drenched in mascara, ‘tarantulas’ as Chelsy would’ve called them, and the boys won't even meet my eye. They act like ostriches with their stooped backs and noses pointing at the ground.

I can’t believe it. These are the same people who've bullied me relentlessly for eleven years. What are they even doing here?

I wonder what Chelsy would think of this. She'd loudly complain, I imagine something about the stupidity of it all and how we are missing our very important maths double. She's a huge fan of sarcasm.  

I look down at my plaster covered legs and can't help but smile. I'd always wanted a broken bone, now I have a large number of them scattered throughout my legs. I thought my positive feelings towards a broken bone was a bit bizarre, considering the enormous amounts of pain it caused me.

The girl standing in front of me turns and grins at me. "Happy about breaking a bone?" 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  
I immediately notice the lack of makeup and my mind flickers back to Chelsy.

 
"Bloody hell! I'm sure her parents are big believers of the whole 'best makeup a girl can wear is a smile' philosophy. I can't believe they’d let her go out in public like that, and her smile is hideous, anyway." 

I snort with laughter, thinking of Chelsy’s would-be reaction, which causes no-makeup girl to frown.  

"You're Lena, right? The girl everyone's talking about?" She spoke softly, but we still get glares from the others praying.

 
"Thanks, Stupid, I feel so loved. How have I been dismissed as the important one in this scenario? It's ridiculous." Chelsy is a bit of a drama queen. I turn my head and imagine Chelsy standing there, just to my left, in her favourite blue dress. I can see her bright pink nails delicately sweeping her long blonde hair over her pale shoulder, barely covered by the spaghetti sleeves of the dress.  

I turn back to no-makeup girl with the pasty acne covered face. "I guess I am," I admit, "what's your name, sorry?" The burns on my cheeks sting as my lips tweak up in a halfhearted smile.  

Chelsy would've glared at me, and my figment of her does just that. "Never ask someone their name unless you are prepared to start a friendship," she would've muttered quietly, matched with a kick in the shin.  

"Sorry, I'm Eka. We've never really met, but I've seen you 'round. Your friend, she laughed really loud," she added as her voice becomes soft and incoherent. I look at her, really look at her. She has dark skin (Indonesian or something?), black hair swept elegantly into a donut bun, but a few uncontrollable strands flutter on her forehead. Her brown eyes are framed by bright orange box glasses. Her hideous unplucked eyebrows are, thankfully, mostly hidden behind the frames. Her green braces stick out from under her lip, because of her large underbite. She is overweight, I notice a few neck rolls hang out from the top of her shirt, due to a tightly done up tie.

I glance at Chelsy, who looks appalled. "'I laugh really loud?' Stupid, why didn't you tell me? Anyway, I think this b***h is just being rude. Ugly and rude, two of the Seven sins." Then I remember them, one by one. 
 

Chelsy's Seven Deadly Sins:  
1.Being ugly, 
2.Unable to use sarcasm properly, 
3.Proper grammar, 
4.The nerve to correct Chelsy on her scandalous grammar, 
5.Being rude (although in Chelsy's eyes, completing homework was classified as rude), 
6.Being smarter than Chelsy (that one was easy so nearly everyone in year ten has committed at least one of the sins), 
7.Being a teachers pet.  
 

"I know, I always tell her, but she never listens. That's Chelsy for you though." I receive another death glare from Chelsy.  
Eka looks at me with a quizzical look, almost if she thinks I'm insane before turning back to the front.

Thankfully, because of her shortness, I'm able to look over her head.  

Fifteen people left.  

"Come one, Stupid, move forward." Chelsy orders. I first move the two crutches, before my motionless legs follow, slower than snails.  

"That's it, Stupid, ignore the pain. Your wounds are ridiculously overrated anyway." I grimaced as the person behind me bumps my cut and wounded shoulder. God. I can’t believe that still hurts so much.

I hear a gasp. "I'm so sorry, are you okay?" I turn my neck slowly, wincing at the pain it causes the purple bruises on my throat.    

I nod slowly and curtly at Adam. "Yeah, thanks. I've learnt to ignore it. The shock of the whole thing is still clear as day though." 

Chelsy scoffed. "What... A jerk, pretending to be sympathetic when deep down, all he's thinking of is how glad he is about not going on the Amsterdam trip."

 
I get one of my crutches and casually press it into Chelsy's foot, hiding the motion by turning around fully. I wish she’d just keep her mouth shut when I’m trying to talk to people.

It goes straight through her.  

Thirteen people left.    

"You were one of the only survivors, yeah? One of, like, eight?" Adam presses me.  

Chelsy laughs like a pig snorting. "Only 'cause she's a goodie-two-shoes who didn't want to take her seatbelt off the entire flight. Plus, I had the window seat, what was I supposed to do when the glass impaled my chest, dodge?" 

I flinch and close my eyes as the memory of the argument we engaged in as we boarded the plane now visible in my head.

"Please Chelsy! You know I have a phobia of flying, don't make me sit at the window! It makes me sick!" I pleaded.  

Chelsy smiled at me evilly. "Yeah? I wasn't aware. Maybe if you'd said something earlier Mr Warner would've given you the middle seat." 

 A tear ran down my cheek. "Chelsy, please, I'm begging you. You know he gets us confused! Please, Chelsy, please!" 
"Fine! Whatever!" she shrugged


Ten people left.  

"Nine survivors, actually. Coincidentally, we were all sitting on the same side of the plane." I don’t smile.  

Adam frowns dismally. "I'm pretty sure Mikey was on the other side of the plane, same row as you though, he was excited to sit near Chelsy."

 
"I remember him!" Chelsy exclaims. "They always played soccer on the oval. Adam has no other friends," she sniggers rudely.  

"I have no other friends!" I snap at her. 

Chelsy's eyes widen in shock.

Adam looks at me with furrowed brows. "What was that, sorry?" 

A bubbling rage starts in me, and I want to yell at him, hit him, kill him. "I wasn't talking to you!" 

I struggle to turn and face the front, tears threatening to spill over my eyes. I graze my sore hip on the sharp edge of the pew and I hiss at it, pain shooting down my leg.

 
"That was rude of him. Mind his own business." Chelsy casually shrugs, then slips her arm over my shoulders. She feels solid.  

"That was your fault!" I cry. She laughs as people give me incredulous looks, as if I'm doing something wrong.  

"Stop talking to yourself, Stupid. People will think you're weird." Chelsy scolds.  
I look around. People in the pews that had been sobbing and praying are now glaring at me accusingly. Mr Warner's wife has moved from her mourning position and starts to stare at me with a glassy expression, as if she doesn’t really have the energy to follow through with her disapproval. 

"But I'm not talking to myself." I say firmly, confused about the judgmental looks I'm receiving. "I'm talking to you," I yell in outrage. 

Seven people left.  

Chelsy comes in front of me and grabs my shoulders forcefully, although it doesn't trigger pain from my wounds. "I s'pose you are. Even though I'm dead."  

I shake my head, ignoring the pain in my neck. "No, you're not! You're alive, you're here! I can feel you!" I cry.  

Chelsy throws her head back and laughs, her blonde hair catches the sun coming from the fancy stain-glass window, her hair blue from the colours. I look at the ground. She has no shadow.  

"Can you feel me?" she taunts, "or have you really lost it? You saw the glass, you're just living in denial!" She spits, but no saliva hits my face. "You remember, Lena, I know you do, so stop casting me aside and remember!" she screams louder. 

The plane jolted again, Chelsy rising up off her seat.  

"You should really put a seatbelt on," I said shakily. Chelsy scoffed, although I can tell how nervous she is.  

"Lena," she sobbed, glancing out the window, "can-can you hug me?" I turned and held her, my head over her shoulder, but I kept my eyes sewn tightly shut, avoiding glancing out the window.  

Chelsy pulled back and put her hands on my shoulders, staring at me with soft golden eyes. "What's happening, Lena? Are we-" she paused "-Are we going to die?"

 
When the alarms had started, I knew something was really wrong. The flight attendants weren't allowed to stand up, Mr Warner was trying to do a head count, but many students had ducked down, their heads on their knees.  

Chelsy still didn't have a seatbelt on.  

I c***ed my head quizzically down at her unfastened waist. "Where's your seatbelt? You should really be wearing one, I don't care if it's uncool or whatever." I pressed sternly.

A tear fell down her face. "When we got on, I-I realised you didn't have a seatbelt, so I unbuckled mine and gave it to you."  
I choked on my breath as the plane gave another jolt. I saw something fling off the wing of the plane and there was a ‘thunk’ as it hit the side.  

We were right next to the wing.  

One of her hands left my shoulder and tucked a brown lock behind my ear. "I've NEVER regretted standing up for you when they all bullied you." She cried. "Not once in eleven years. You're my best friend ever, I love you."  

I took her other hand off my shoulder and held it in my own. "Chelsy, I'm so glad you were the one that defended me. I'm sure we'll make it out of this, but what better time to confess our undying love," I joked meekly.  

CRACK! SMASH!

Chelsy smiled when something hit her back and she fell forward slightly. A shard of glass was slowly making its way through her body, before breaking through the front of her chest and kept coming until it hit me in the chest. Blood slightly bloomed on my white shirt.  

My best and only friend looked at me, before retching, blood sliding down her chin and onto my lap.

The whole thing seemed to happen in slow motion as I watched her cough and shake. Tears had been running down my face and I knew I should’ve shouted for help.

Someone had to help her.

Instead, I watched her fall, the glass scraping down my front before Chelsy couldn’t move any further onto my lap.

The plane jolted and I grabbed her shoulders, trying to push her up. She moved and inch before I couldn’t do anything else.

On this bump, I closed my eyes.

That’s the last thing I remember. 
 

Five people left.  

My hand has subconsciously moved to my chest where the bandage hides the wound that should’ve been on Chelsy, had we not swapped seats. I feel a deep pang in my chest as I start to regret that entire morning.

Everyone is silent, staring at me. "What?" I roar. "I'm talking to my friend! My friend Chelsy! You know her, she's the one that laughs loud!" I yell at Eka. "She's the pretty one, every boy likes!" I scream at Adam. "She disrupts your classes! Every lesson!" I screech at the teachers. "Stop looking at me like I'm insane! Chelsy is here! Here! Here! Here! Look!" I point to Chelsy. She's now kneeling in the pew next to me, her hair in tatters and burnt, a huge hole all the way through her chest. One of her arms is bent at a bizarre angle, almost like a measuring square.

"Hey, Lena," she croaks, her voice weak. She looks up from the ground and grins at me. Only now I notice the cuts all over her head. "I've got to go now, darling. It's been the most amazing eleven years, but you're on your own now. Don’t take any of their s**t!"  

The line has disappeared, I am one of the few people left. I move forward, my arms stinging with the speed I'm trying to sustain. I get to the front and walk along the line of coffins as my eyes skim for the long blonde haired girl I must find.  

I reach one end and turn, going to check the other end.  

I find her, third last.  

As I see her, I nearly vomit at the sight of her. She has green eyeshadow on, her least favourite colour, and thick, weirdly shaped lips, due to horrendous hot-pink lipstick, the colour of a boiled lolly. Chelsy would've used burgundy-brown.  

They've put her in a white dress with sheer fabric and short sleeves. Chelsy would never have worn something so... ‘Nunny.’  
"I look hideous," she says laughing beside me. "I can't believe they'd dress me like this." As she starts to fade, I turn to her body. They are going to burn her, as her parents requested. Chelsy always told me she wanted to be buried in a coffin because she thought they looked cool and that she would always have a mark on the world. ‘Ashes disappear, a stone will lay forever. That’s what I want to be, Lena, forever.’

I was horrified her parents didn’t know their only daughter’s dying wish.

I drop my crutches and fall to the ground and start sobbing. I simply can’t stop until I feel a hand on my back. A soothing hand.