The Kindest Thing I Ever Did Was Let Them Go
755 Views · Ongoing · Piper Hayes
That admissions season, Lily — a poor student who couldn't even clear the state university cutoff — insisted on dragging my two childhood friends off to the worst community college in the state, just so she wouldn't have to go alone.
Ethan held an offer from Yale. Ryan had been accepted to Stanford. Yet the two of them, as if under a spell, were ready to throw away those schools just to follow her.
I wore myself out trying to talk them down. All I got back was: You look down on Lily. You're just jealous.
Behind their backs, I contacted counselors, admissions offices, and their parents, and clawed their spots back one by one just before the deadline.
Lily went to that community college alone. Six months later, she jumped from the roof of her dorm.
Ethan and Ryan handled her funeral, then came back and tied me to the roof of a thirty-six-story building.
"If you hadn't stopped us from going with Lily, she never would have been bullied there."
"You're so capable, aren't you? Then go down and keep her company."
They pushed me over the edge without a flicker of hesitation.
When I opened my eyes, I was back at the start of college application season.
This time, I won't save them.
Ethan held an offer from Yale. Ryan had been accepted to Stanford. Yet the two of them, as if under a spell, were ready to throw away those schools just to follow her.
I wore myself out trying to talk them down. All I got back was: You look down on Lily. You're just jealous.
Behind their backs, I contacted counselors, admissions offices, and their parents, and clawed their spots back one by one just before the deadline.
Lily went to that community college alone. Six months later, she jumped from the roof of her dorm.
Ethan and Ryan handled her funeral, then came back and tied me to the roof of a thirty-six-story building.
"If you hadn't stopped us from going with Lily, she never would have been bullied there."
"You're so capable, aren't you? Then go down and keep her company."
They pushed me over the edge without a flicker of hesitation.
When I opened my eyes, I was back at the start of college application season.
This time, I won't save them.






