Falling Up

4. Tattoo

Jason walked into the kitchen and he almost had a heart attack at the sight in front of him. Riley was standing there, knife in her hand and a large gash running down her arm. His eyes darkened and his fist clenched at the sight. If she was cutting herself again she would be in serious trouble.

"It's not what it looks like. I swear," she panicked, lifting her hands in front of her as she tried to diffuse the situation.

Jason took a deep breath, trying to control his racing mind and anger. He made a swift movement towards her and grabbed the knife from her hand.

"Then what exactly is this?" he asked with a hint of anger seeping into his words.

"I.. I was just cooking, and my... hand slipped", she responded shakily while wrapping the tea towel around her arm.

Jason's hand clenched over the knife while taking a deep breath. He placed the knife on the kitchen counter, slightly out of Riley's reach. Grabbing her arm gently he removed the tea towel to assess the damage and let out the deep breath he was holding.

"Just be more careful next time," he said, wrapping her arm back up as softly as he could. "I'll grab the first aid kit, just continue putting pressure on it," he said as he moved her other hand to place pressure on the wound.

Jason walked out into the bathroom, his heart still beating fast in his chest. He let out a shaky breath, trying to still calm down his racing mind as he ran his hand through his hair. His hairs still stood up on end and his only thought was not again. She couldn't go through that again. He couldn't go through that again.

The thoughts of what Vincent did to her flooded over his mind and he couldn't help but revisit the old emotions of the anger he felt towards himself and his step father. He would never forgive himself for what happened to Riley. Never.

His thoughts came back to the present as he realised he left Riley alone with the knife in the kitchen. Shit, he thought. He hurried himself, reaching down under the bathroom sink to pull out the first aid kit and rushed as fast as he could without being too noticeable back into the kitchen.

Relief flooded through him when we saw Riley exactly where he left her, still holding the tea towel to her arm. It was an irrational thought. She hadn't cut herself in years and he did trust her but sometimes he would rather she was mad at him for overreacting than for her to hurt herself or be in any kind of pain again.

As Riley sat down on one of the kitchen stools, Jason came up beside her and began tending to her wound.

"It's not too deep," said Jason as he wiped out the blood and opened up the antiseptic cream.

"Don't think I didn't notice what you did," said Riley.

Jason looked at him confused.

"You put the knife out of my reach," continued Riley. "I'm not going to cut myself again. That part of my life is over."

Jason sighed. "I know. I'm sorry. It's just... when I saw you like that I..."

"It's okay Jason." Riley said, placing her uninjured arm over Jason's hand which he didn't realise was shaking until Riley stopped it from trembling with her soothing touch. "I'm okay."

At that moment Noah walked through the door. "Hey guys," he said, walking into the kitchen.

"I thought you were at the gym?" asked Jason, surprised he was home so early.

"Just a short session today. I'll head back later tonight," said Noah before laying his sight on Riley. "Oh my god, what happened?" he asked concerned as he placed his bag down and headed over to them.