Nico

• Fern Thompson, Grade 9
• Short Story
• 2021

“Nico?” I called. “Are you here, Nico?” There was no response. Aside from the tree rustling, the bird chirping and the car honking in the distance, the garden was completely silent. “Nico, where are you?” I sighed. I began to take a few steps toward the entrance of the garden, as I was beginning to doubt whether the person I was searching for was there or not, until I spotted a subtly moving figure hidden behind a large shrub. Peering closer, I could see a light, as well as I could hear the faint sound of guns shooting. I hurried over to the bush, running my hands along the bark of the tree beside it. And there, against the roots that tensed out of the dirt like veins, laid the kid who would always sit alone at lunch breaks with only a can of soda, a huge bag of chips and their phone to keep them company.
“Sup…” mumbled the student before me. Light radiated from the screen in their palms, the sound of rapidly firing bullets roared from the device.
“Uh, Nico? I’m sorry if I disturbed you, but there’s a few questions I’d like to ask,” I said. “Early this morning, there was a brutal fight between two students in your year level, Taylor Angeline and Megan Peters, in the cafeteria. Were you there when this happened?” Nico didn’t answer, but instead just kept button mashing. “H-have you at least heard anything about it? Anything at all?” It felt like I was being ignored, like I was talking to a brick wall, except the wall was a living, breathing human who didn’t dare to look me in the eyes.
“Yeah, I was there…” Nico finally spoke, “I was just minding my own business when a huge swarm of people surrounded me. I left the area as quickly as I could, since I’m not a big fan of crowds… The last thing I saw when I was leaving was Taylor and Megan wrestling each other to the ground. I don’t know what happened to them afterwards though, sorry…” Nico still didn’t make eye contact. Their eyes were glued to their phone, I never saw a teenager so committed to a mobile game.
“It’s alright, there’s no need to be sorry,” I smiled. “But everything you just said was a lie.” There was a sudden pause. The shooting stopped, all I could hear was Nico’s heavy breathing. The words ‘game over’ displayed across the screen in blood red. “You were there, but you didn’t leave. In fact…you started the fight.”
Nico snapped their eyes at me, their deep ocean blue eyes flashed into a shining gold. They pierced into mine like a knife, sending shivers down my spine. “And?” They spoke in a dark eerie voice. “What are you going to do about it?”