The Game

Chapter Forty-Six

QUOTE OF THE DAY: YOU CANT GO BACK AND CHANGE THE BEGINNING BUT YOU CAN START WHERE YOU ARE AND CHANGE THE ENDING – C.S. LEWIS

A U D A C I T Y

Aliya POV

I can't believe that after all this time that he and I spent together, he has the audacity to go back to Harris. Could Harris be blackmailing him? Most definitely. But the last time that I dove into something that consisted of blackmail, I was the one that ended up hurting everyone else.

I pulled into my driveway and saw that my older brother, Khari, was home already. I opened the back door and I left my stuff in the kitchen. I ran up to my room and I changed into something more comfortable.

I removed the minimal makeup that I had not and I I stared at my reflection in the mirror. I hated the person looking back at me. I keep trying to tell myself that maybe it's not me and maybe it's them. But it's getting harder to believe that.

My hands gripped the edge of the counter and the pace of my breathing slowed.

Am I not lovable? Am I a person that people can quickly just say no to? Should I just give up and give in?

Before my mind could even comprehend, my fist went forward towards the mirror. I didn't even realize what I had done until I looked down at my hand. Bits of glass stuck in my knuckles, my palm scarred with small open wounds, blood dripping down onto the counter.

I looked ahead at the shattered mirror in front of me and a tear slowly left the corner of my eye.

"Aliya? What are you doing home so early? And what hap-" Khari said as he walked into my bathroom. "Are you okay?"

I shook my head and ran into his arms. He embraced me and I silently cried into his chest. He stroked my hair and kissed the top of my head.

"Boys are stupid." I sniffled and he chuckled.

"You're not wrong there." He said and I hugged him tighter. "I'm going to clean this up and replace the mirror."

I nodded my head and I let go of him. He did as he said and I looked down at my hand. I should probably clean this up.

I grabbed tweezers and I began to pick bits of glass out of my knuckles. Once I finished, I poured some rubbing alcohol in a bowl and I dipped my hand inside.

"That doesn't hurt?" Khari asked and I shook my head.

"I don't remember the last time that it did." I said and he grabbed a small towel and helped my dry my hand. He applied Neosporin on my cuts to help them heal and looked for bandages to cover my hand.

He walked off and I couldn't stop looking at my hand. All this over a boy? I need to get myself together. Khari came back with the bandages and he wrapped my hand up. I thanked him and went downstairs to the basketball court and hooked up a few punching bags. I didn't even care to wrap my hands. I pushed the punching bag twice before I began to hit it over and over again. I went in blow after blow until I broke the punching bag.

I took a breather and I attached another punching bag. August's image popped into my mind, Chris' image popped into my mind, my breathing got faster and I shed a few tears. I've failed at love two times. That's one too many for me.

"What the fuck is wrong with me?" I asked myself as I sat down on the mat. I looked down at my hands. Both of my hands are bruised and there was blood seeping out of my bandaged hand. I unwrapped the bandage and I got up and tossed it in the trash. I looked at my hand and this time I wasn't upset. This was just me being me. I walked back to the punching bags and went back at it. Hour passed and I didn't even notice until Khari came in and neared me.