Blame

Chapter One

Growing up he had been there for her, she liked to believe. He had visited her every weekend, blaming her mother for only allowing her this time with him. She had always been a daddy's girl. Slowly though, her dad had stopped visiting, only messaging, or seeing her when he needed something from her. The last time she saw him he had stolen from them. She tried to blame her relationship with her father for her bad luck with men.

They always treated her like an object. She had been with many guys now, always wanting her for her body, for her looks. She thought she had finally found something with Chris but ruined it when she messed around with Daniel. Chris was never there for her like she wanted him to be, Daniel was there when she needed someone, the guilt was too much for her and in the end, she lost the attention of both of them. Being single again. Daniel had made her think about things differently, maybe he was right, maybe no guy would ever be interested in her beyond just having sex. Maybe she was destined to be alone, no one would ever take her seriously.

She thought that for the longest time before Nate. He was a good friend to her when she was at her lowest, Maddie had been too preoccupied with herself at the time, which is what she thought, trying to justify the growing feelings she had for him. She had fallen completely in love with Nate, giving him everything, every part of her in every possible way. She just wanted to be enough for him. She allowed him to control her, change parts of her, even allowing him to dress her like her former best friend. Her sister had ruined that, her stupid play had lost her Nate, the man she had been so in love with. Now she had no where to go, homeless and friendless.

She walked the streets, brushing the blood from her face from the nosebleed she hadn't been able to stem from her fight with Maddy. How had to gotten to this point? Who was to blame this time, what was the point of everything, she had no one, refusing to go home to the house where Lexi still lived. She wouldn't go back to that school. She couldn't. She had faced embarrassment before, sex tapes and nudes of her being circulated. She always had Maddy to back her up though before.

She had gotten to where she had been walking to, a solitary bench overlooking the city she had once loved. She had lost everything. Everyone that had mattered to her, hated her. Cassie continued to cry, not caring what she must look like, sat here by herself, a razorblade in her hand. She had threatened to harm herself once before, no one had ever taken her seriously. No one would care if she disappeared now. Would anyone even notice?

'Hey. You alright?' a boy, seemingly a bit older than Cassie walked towards her, his work uniform stained with grease, his messy hair slicked back with one hand as he gazed concerningly between her and the razorblade in her hand.

He was very handsome, tanned, dark hair, blue eyes. She couldn't help but notice. She wiped her face with her free hand, noticing the mixture of blood and tears smeared over her hand. She hiccoughed, trying her best to hold back her sobs as she ignored him. Hoping he would walk away from her.

'Here.' He passed her what looked like an old handkerchief, grease staining parts of it. She took it reluctantly dabbing her eyes, avoiding the grease spots.

'You want to talk about it?' he had sat next to her now on the bench, looking out over the city, arms leant against his thighs as he looked over her.

'No. Please leave me alone.' Her voice had surprised her, she sounded completely devoid of emotion, cold, angry almost as she spoke.

'I'm afraid I can't do that. You see, we get some dodgy characters around here, leaving a young lady like yourself out here alone just wouldn't be right to me.' He flashed her a smile, not gaining one in return.

'How do I know your not one of them?' she continued to stare out, playing absentmindedly with the sharp razor blade between her fingers.

'You don't. I live just up the hill there, you caught me on my way home.' He pointed just past her, Cassie followed his arm, seeing the outline of a house in front of her.

'Why don't you come on over for mug of hot chocolate, my mum likes to put those little marshmallows on them.' He smiled at her again, gazing now and again at the razorblade in her hand. 'Mum loves visitors, we don't get many, always gets the best China out.'

'No thank you, I'll be fine here.' Her tears had stopped now, occasionally sniffing as she looked out numbly in front of her.

'Well, I'm afraid I am going to have to insist.' In one quick movement he grabbed the razor blade from her fingers, taking her bag away from her as well, not knowing if more lay inside and started to head off towards the outline of the house ahead of them.

'Hey! Give me my stuff back!' she reached out for her bag, but he held it up and over his head, he was considerably taller than her, taller than Nate even so she had no chance in reaching it.

He continued to walk away from her, she stopped for a time watching him go, gazing back at the bench. What would she do? Sit there until she starved? She turned from it, following after her stolen belongings up to the lit house ahead of her.