Only Words Bleed

Kill A Word: Part 2

Clem's Pov:

"What the fuck! Louis says across from me as his eyes scan the sheet in front of him. "She really wrote this?"

I nod as he and Sophie read over the sheets that are strewn across the island. "That's not all."

Louis looks at me in disbelief. "There's more of these?"

"What? No, no! I...well, maybe. I don't know." I didn't really think about it before, but I guess there could be more pages like this in the black and white notebook considering these came from it. But I shake my head at the thought, I'm getting distracted.

"Anyway, this thing happened during lunch." I start out, revealing what I've picked up on. "I don't know if you guys noticed or not but while we were talking Violet tugged the sleeve of her shirt down over her arm like she didn't want anyone to see what was there."

Louis shrugged as he leaned over the counter. "Maybe because she just didn't want it riding up her arm."

I shake my head. "It wasn't done in a casual way. Violet almost looked scared like she'd been caught or something, but that's not the point. While she was asleep I pulled her sleeve back a bit and there was a fucking bandage covering almost the entire length of her forearm. But what was scarier was that I could see the underside was soaked in blood."

"Holy shit. You're serious?" Sophie asked.

I nod and I see Louis and Sophie give nervous glances at each other as this information sinks in. I'm no rocket scientist, but I can tell these two know something I don't. "What? What is it?"

Sophie doesn't look at me and instead stares at the shiny surface of the granite countertop. Louis bites his lip like he's debating on if he should tell me or not. Neither of these reactions fills me with much confidence.

"Clem...?" Louis asks me nervously. "H-How much do you know about Violet's life at home?"

I have to take a minute to think about this and the truth is, despite how long I've known her, I know very little about her life at home or anything about her family for that matter. Hell, I don't even know where she lives. "Uhh...not much." I rub my neck sheepishly.

Louis and Sophie look at each other again and it makes me feel like I've been neglecting my role as Violet's girlfriend. How can I not know what her life at home consists of? "That makes me sound bad, doesn't it?"

Sophie shakes her head. "No, it makes sense. Violet's not the most open person. And she uh...doesn't have the most supportive family."

I can see Sophie make a face at the word family and it only confuses me more. "What do you mean?"

Louis crosses his arms and leans with his back against the countertop. "It's not really our place to say, but...Violet went through some shit when she was younger. Her grandma ended up shooting herself in front of her."

My eyes widen in shock. "That's horrible!"

Sophie scoffs from next to him. "Oh, it gets worse. Her parents fucking blame her for it. She was frickin eleven when it happened. Eleven! Do you know what that would do to her, what it would do to anyone?"

Uh oh, I could tell Sophie was pissed. I'm just glad I'm not on the receiving end of it. But she had a right to be, who does that to their own child after they just went through something as traumatic as watching the death of a family member.

I felt my own fist clench at the thought. "God, I can't imagine what that must of been like for Violet."

"Her life at homes, not a good one Clem," Louis says as he stares at the ground defeated. "Her moms almost never home because she works like three different jobs trying to support all three of them and her dad..." I see anger flash across his face as the subject of Violet's dad comes up. "That son of a bitch does nothing but lay around all day getting piss drunk while he watches TV on the couch!"