Autophobia || Liam

Three

Hanna and Jared returned to their house. "Go watch tv or something. I'll make some lunch."

Hanna nodded silently and wandered to the TV room. She flipped through the channels before settling on some random crime show. "What are you watching?" Jared popped his head into the room.

Hanna shrugged. "Nothing good is on."

Jared returned to the kitchen and Hanna resumed her channel surfing. 'X Factor it is.' She sighed. Hanna wasn't really into X Factor but it was entertainment. Jared came out with their lunch. He made himself leftover Chinese food from last night and handed Hanna her usual.

A fruit salad.

And the two of them watched X Factor. "It's just a bunch of wanna be singers." Jared grumbled when some contestants began singing Ed Sheeran.

Hanna smacked her brother. "Hey. Shut up. Little Mix was born on X Factor."

Jared smiled. "That's the little sister I know."

Hannas smile disappeared. Her long brown hair fell over her shoulder, creating a hairy curtain between the siblings. "The little sister you used to know."

Jared set his empty bowl down. "Hanna. You will always be the happy little sister I love and will always love."

Hanna stood up. "But I'm not the happy little sister anymore."

"What do you mean?"

Hanna threw the bowl across the room, food and glass going everywhere when it collided against the clean hardwood floor. "I'm not happy anymore! You're happy little sister that you saw before rehab was a fucking disguise. The happy little Hanna you knew had been long gone, unable to return. I was broken on the inside, calling for help. But no one saw my pleas. I was helpless and lost and depressed and suicidal and no one saw my cries. I'll always be the anorexic, emo freak.

Jared sat, stunned on the couch. He watched has his sister stormed out of the room, the broken glass crunching beneath her shoes.

A door slammed and then a few moments later, there was a sound of shattering glass.

"Hanna!" Jared jumped off the couch and over the table and over the mess on the floor and ran up the stairs, three at a time. He stopped at his sisters door, jiggling the doorknob. "Hanna. Open the damn door!"

Hanna didn't reply. She stood in front of the mirror in the corner of her room. The shattered glass scattered across the shaggy rug. Multiple reflections of Hanna stared back at her. "Stop looking at me." She whispered.

The reflections stayed put. "Stop laughing at me."

Memories of high school flooded her mind. Bethany picking on her. Caleb cheating. Amelia.

With a shaky hand, Hanna lifted the. hem of her shirt and raised it up. She poked at her pale skin, frowning. "Not good enough." She sighed.

"Hanna. Please, open up." Jared begged. "I'm sorry."

Hanna bent down and picked up a piece of glass, peering down at the revealing skin where her shirt was pulled up.

Jared was getting desperate. He knew there was a key for every room to this house. It had to be in the master bedroom, where their mum slept.

He found it hanging on a hook, so it was easy access in case Jackie or Jared needed to open up Hannas room in an emergency like this.

His hands were shaky, his breathing shallow. "Come on." He cursed at the key. He finally got the door open and stopped short.

Hanna was curled up in a ball, sobbing in front of the shattered mirror. "G-go. Away." She demanded.

Jared knew something happened before he opened the door, and he was scared to find out. "Hanna."

Their voices were silent. Jared inched his way around the broken glass and fell to his knees next to Hanna, ready to see the damage. He rolled her over and screamed.

He pulled her into his arms and cried into her. "Hanna, stay with me. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that. Please."

He fumbled for his phone and dialled 999.

"999, what is your emergency?"

Jared swallowed a sob. "I need an ambulance. My sister stabbed herself."

---

Well then.

- Emily 😢