When All Else Fails (Mavin)

Chapter Two: No Courage

Chapter Two:
No Courage

I sat across from Michael as he explained what happened. Tears dripped out of his perfect amber eyes and all I wanted to do was hug him and tell him everything was gonna be okay.

Griffon rubbed Michael's back encouragingly. I knew she was kinda on the fence about who's side she was on. She had been friends with Lindsay a lot longer than Michael, but right now, it seemed as though Michael were the one you'd want to side with.

"Could you ever tell she was cheating?" Geoff asked him.

"I guess I suspected something but I didn't want to believe she'd do that," He told us.

"That's just terrible. I'm so sorry, Michael," Griffon said.

"How bad did you beat Joel up?" Geoff asked him. I elbowed him and he laughed a little.

"Enough to tell him not to bother talking to me for a few weeks," Michael laughed a little too, the sound forced rather than natural.

I was glad he was getting better. He was slowly recovering, which was good especially since he was probably still traumatized by what he saw.

I noticed him eyeing me a couple times, and I just gave him a small smile, hoping he'd be getting better soon.

Around nine, Michael left. Geoff and Griffon were reluctant on letting him stay in his apartment alone, but he insisted that he went back. I hugged him before he left and I felt him grip me like he never wanted to let go. Or maybe that was just me wanting Michael to be mine.

Geoff followed me up the stairs. He told me just because Michael came over didn't mean he wasn't gonna check my room. We walked in and I stood in the corner while he looked through my closet, bed, pillowcases, dresser, everything. After about twenty minutes of searching he stood up and stretched out his back.

"Okay, Gav. That's the fifth week I haven't found anything. Yet you're still getting scars. Tell me where you're hiding them, now," Geoff ordered me.

I figured out it was better to have a back up knife hidden somewhere so he knew I wasn't hiding more. Some weeks he never checked the place I hid it and this was one of those weeks.

I sighed and went over to my bed, unlocking the case I had down there. Geoff kneeled down beside me and took the case, looking inside it. I put an assortment of razors in it. Geoff rolled his eyes and picked the case up.

"Gavin, you can't do this. Okay, this isn't healthy. You're still young, you have you're entire life ahead of you. And with you constantly trying to screw that up, you're never gonna get to experience some of life's greatest moments. I want to see you get married, have kids, and accomplish great things. But when you are constantly doing things like this, I don't think you'll ever get to do those. Please stop doing this. If not for you then for me, and Heidi, and all your friends. And Michael," Geoff hesitated on Michael. I looked at him in confusion.

"Get some sleep, okay," He told me. I nodded slowly and crawled into bed. He shut off my light and left my door open a crack.

I laid in my bed, knowing I wasn't gonna get much more than an hour or two of sleep. I remembered the lighters under my bed and figured tonight I'd switch it up a little.

Once I was positive Geoff and Griffon were asleep, I got up and pulled my lighters out of my secret hole. I made sure they had lighter fluid (AN: Headlight fluid...), beginning to get anxious when I knew they did.

I sat down on the edge of my bed and flicked the lighter on. I watched the tiny flame emit from it instantly. I felt the familiar wave of nausea that I usually got when I was about to hurt myself.

I waited for the metal to get hot before moving it close to my skin, readying myself for the familiar pain that followed. I prepared to press the metal against my skin...

My phone went off.

I dropped my lighter and watched it bounce to the floor. I quickly snatched it up and placed it next to my other one. I looked at my phone, realizing Michael was calling me.

"Hello?" I asked, slightly annoyed.

I heard sobbing on the other end. A heartbreaking sobbing. I instantly felt my heart shatter at how broken Michael sounded.

"Mi-cool? You alright?" I asked him, butchering his name more than usual.

"Gavin, I just did something really stupid," He told me.

"What? What did you do?" I asked him.

"I... I fucked my hand up... I'm really bleeding and I don't know what to do," He choked out.

I looked down at my lighters, and picked them up, putting them back in the hole.

"I'm coming over," I told him boldly.

"What?" He asked me, confused.

"I said I'm coming over," I told him. I heard him protest but I just hung up and walked into Geoff and Griffon's room.

I shook Geoff awake. He groaned and muttered a 'Go back to bed, Heidi'. I rolled my eyes and shook him a little more. This time he blinked open his eyes and glared at me.

His expression softened when he realized it was me. But then it went back to a glare.

"Gavin, it's late. What do you want?" Geoff growled.

"Take me to Mi-cool's. It's important," I told him. Geoff flipped over and pulled the pillow over his head.

"Go back to bed Gavin. It can wait till tomorrow," He groaned.

"No, it can't. He hurt himself, Geoff," I told him.

Geoff instantly looked back over to me. He got out of bed and pulled on some pants. He led me downstairs and we left the apartment, getting in the car.

We made a mad dash over to Michael's apartment. I hoped he wasn't doing anything stupid now.

We got out of the car and ran up the stairs to his apartment. We knocked loudly on the door and heard him open it.

Michael's eyes were once again blood shot. His shirt had drops of blood on it and his hand was wrapped in a small cloth towel. Small stains of blood were soaking the fabric from what must've been multiple small cuts. I pushed him into the apartment and sat him on the couch.

"Geoff, get me a clean towel, some peroxide and bandages," I told him. Geoff nodded and went into Michael's bathroom to get the items.

I studied Michael's cuts. They were clean and fresh. I noticed part of a broken beer bottle on his coffee table, telling me he must have broken that and cut his hand up somehow.

Geoff handed me the items and I cleaned up the blood that ran down Michael's hand. He watched me treat him, seemingly amazed at the amount of knowledge I had on this. I pressed down on the cuts, making them stop bleeding. I used the other towel and poured some of the peroxide onto it. I looked at Michael for a moment before pressing it onto his cuts.

I heard him grunt at the stinging. I pulled the towel away and watched his cuts fizzle while it did it's work. I did the same to his other cuts before wrapping his hand up in bandages.

I looked back up to Michael and saw him giving me a sad smile. I stood up and hugged him, hoping he wouldn't do something this stupid again.

Too bad I didn't have the courage to admit that I did something stupid too.
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Author's Note:
Okay, so what do you guys think? I think I like how this story is coming together. As I said, it's gonna be graphic and depressing and I think this chapter really brought out that point. Anyway, thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy.
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