Bea & the Broken Record

Chapter 17: Breaking

ATTENTION: Depression, self harm, etc. in this chapter.
_________________________

Everyone has a breaking point.

That's just the bottom line.

People don't realize they're at their breaking point until it finally hits them. Like a ton of bricks. People can play you and they can walk all over you until you know you've had enough. They can pretend your invisible and they can act as if your feelings don't exist. It's easy for them. But for us? Not so much. All my life I was over looked. I moved down here with Brody and finally I became somebody. I became the person I thought I wanted to be.

Yet still, people act like I'm just a statue with no feelings. Until I met Beatrice. She noticed me and I noticed her. That was something we both needed.

So, when my phone rang in the middle of the night, I didn't know what to think. After passing out sometime between thinking about my aunt Melody and the look on Bea's face when she left the barn that night, I had finally fell asleep.

I moaned and groaned when my phone went off. But, despite the urge to stay with my head covered by a pillow, I rolled over on my back and grabbed my slick phone. It fell between my hands and dropped onto the floor. My uncoordinated hands searched for it and finally found it. I pressed the answer button and held it to my ear, sitting up and running my hand through my messy bed hair.

"Hello?" I answered. On the other line, I heard splashing. It was definitely water, but why?

"Asher?" Bea's voice rang through my phone and I was instantly wide awake. I clutched my blankets and threw them off of my legs.

"Bea? What's wrong?" I demanded. Her voice wavered as if she had been crying or still was. My heartbeat picked up and the feeling of something bad was growing in the pit of my stomach.

"Beatrice," I whispered. The sound of something, maybe plastic, falling echoed in the phone and I jumped out of bed. It was pitch black and I had no guidance of where I was going. The door was easy to find.

"I-I'm sorry, A-Asher. I really am. It's just that..." Bea trailed off as a whimper escaped her mouth. "I can't take this anymore."

She was bawling now, and I knew I'd lose her in a heartbeat if I didn't get her to talk to me. So, without thinking, I took off out of the barn and jumped into the car. The only thing I had on was a pair of basketball shorts and converses with no socks. With my phone pressed between my ear and shoulder, I drove down the dark road toward Bea's house.

"Bea, no, just wait, okay? I'm coming to your house now," I said shakily into the phone. She cried and sniffled, trying to hide her hurt as always.

"Goodbye, Asher. I love you."

The phone went dead.

When those words left her mouth, I thought I was going to die. I swerved into the next lane but brought the car back over quickly, determined to get to Bea. She was not going to leave like that. I wouldn't allow anything like that to happen to the girl I met at 5th Avenue. The happy-go-lucky girl with the long dark hair that reached her waist and swayed like curtains in the wind and the pale hazel eyes that could make a person change their minds at the snap of her fingers.

I was not going to let that happen.

I reached Bea's house, finally. Throwing the car in park and shoving the door open, I looked up to see her bedroom light was on and the window was shut. She was still inside the house doing who-knows-what. My heart rate raced against time as I jumped the hedges in her front yard. My shoes flew off somewhere between the porch and the sidewalk I noticed when I reached the door. Thankfully it was unlocked, making an easy entrance for me. The house was dark - the only light illuminated the staircase from upstairs was from the hallway where Bea's bedroom and bathroom was located. I raced up the stairs, almost falling in the process.