Free Breath of Life by Sara Marion

two were set up by your friends Ella and Duke.”
    “Yeah, we were. Ella was my very best friend. She knew me better than anyone else. We had been through so much together. Our parents were best friends before we came along. Then they naturally put us together and we had always been friends.” Paxton smiled at those memories. The carefree days.
    “So you and Ella grew up together?”
    “Yeah, we were next door neighbors. We went to the same school, only once or twice we weren’t in the same class until middle school. Then we had more separate schedules but we always found each other during lunch periods and after school. We were inseparable, we were like sisters.  I think it was 8grade when we decided what our lives would be like.” Paxton paused and looked at her hands. She knotted her hands together again. She was talking too much. It was like someone opened the flood gates but she was ready to start telling someone her story.
    “I take it you were going to be a doctor but what did Ella want to be?”
    Paxton let out a small chuckle. “No, our plans were much better.  Ella was going to be a famous artist and I would be her manager. I would book her art shows and we would travel around the world. We were going to grow old together. We wanted to be the two old crazy ladies in the nursing home reminiscing about all our adventures.”
    “Sounds like you two had a pretty special relationship.”
    “Yeah. We finished each other’s thoughts and sentences. We looked out for each other.”
    “So when did that change?”
    Paxton grew silent. She decided to steer the conversation back to their closeness. “I didn’t realize how much Ella meant to me until the summer before our senior year in high school. Our parents went on a double date and that night everything changed.”
    “Did you guys fight that night?”
    “No that night brought us closer together. You see, Ella and I planned to go out with friends that night. There was a house party and the boys we liked at the time were going to be there. Our parents however volunteered us to babysit the neighbor’s kid. Ella ended up going out that night as I stayed in and watched Jackson. His parents went out with ours to a dinner party.”
    “So she got in trouble that night.”
    Paxton looked out the window nervously. She watched the people walk by for a few moments.
    “Not exactly.” Paxton continued to stare out the window as if she were replaying the night’s events on the glass.
    ***
    “Ella come home quickly. Our parents found out you weren’t here because Mrs. Brant down the street saw you. They are coming home now and they seem mad,” Paxton said with worry. “You have to beat them home.”
    “Thanks for the heads up. On my way now. Should be there in about five,” she said. Paxton could hear her starting to gather her things and she heard a few comments from people asking where she was going. Then the line went dead.
    Paxton looked at the clock. Ella should be back in the house with plenty of time. Her parents were about twenty minutes away if they were lucky. They had to face the highway traffic so possibly thirty minutes away. She gripped the cordless phone and paced. Jackson was already down for the night. He tuckered out pretty quickly after his parents left.  She heard a car door and keys come out. Please be Ella, please be Ella she chanted to herself. The door was opening and she focused on the shape.
    “Made it!” Ella exclaimed laughing. “I better go change into something other than this. My parents will freak!”
    She headed down the stairs to Paxton’s room. She changed into her skimpy outfit after their parents left. She had a hot date with a boy she was crushing on. They went to a house party. Paxton breathed a sigh of relief. Now she had to calm herself before her parents got home.
    Ella came up dressed in the same clothes she wore over here. She kept her outfit in Paxton’s closet to keep suspicions low. Paxton settled in on the