These Broken Parts

Don't Leave Me

When Evan got home, Heidi was there, sitting on the couch with her laptop. Her class had gotten canceled, so she was trying to catch up on homework. When the door slammed shut, she glanced up at Evan.

"Hey, bud! I thought you were studying late at Jared's again?" She frowned, taking in the state of her son. She put her computer down and stood, approaching him cautiously. "Evan, what's wrong?"

He shook his head, falling into her arms and sobbing. Heidi pulled him back to the couch and held him, letting him cry into her arms until he was all cried out. She pulled back, pulling his chin up so he had to look at her.

"Evan, what's wrong? You're scaring me."

"S-something's wrong with Connor.. He... He was so cruel..."

"Wait, you were with Connor, not Jared??" Heidi puffed up, ready to scold him, but then stopped at the scared look on his face. She sighed, rubbing his arm. Now was not the time to yell at him for lying about where he had been. "Sweetie, did you have a fight? Break up? I mean, people... people do that sometimes."

"No!" he snapped, startling Heidi, who wasn't used to her son yelling at her. "Mom, this wasn't just some stupid teenager thing. Something is WRONG."

"Okay, bud, okay. Talk to me. What happened?"

Evan sniffled, pulling away from her, leaning back into the couch and curling his legs up close to his body.

"I think... I don't know.. I think he's... He's not acting like himself at all. And.. and.." He looked down, trembling. He'd never told his mom that Connor smoked weed and cut, worried she would force him to stop hanging out with Connor. He shook his head. "I... He.."

"Evan, look at me." Heidi waited until he complied. "Whatever it is, I need you to tell me. I can't help you if you don't tell me. I can't help CONNOR if you don't tell me."

Evan wiped his nose on his sleeve, sniffling. "I think he's taking drugs, mom. He was behaving so weird.. I've never seen him like that. And... h-he..." He looked down, taking a deep breath before looking at Heidi again. "He's cutting, mom. He had stopped, he promised he'd stopped, but he hasn't. They... it was bad.. And he's home alone for the whole week... His parents are away... I-I'm scared what he'll do.."

Heidi gritted her teeth, pulling Evan in for a hug, then pulling back. "Do you have his mom's cell number?"

Evan jumped away from Heidi, pacing the living room. "N-no.. I-I mean.. Yes, I do but... but.. y-you can't tell his mom! You can't! He'll never forgive me for this!"

"Evan," Heidi said, standing and approaching him slowly, hands held in front of her to placate him. "Evan, I HAVE to. Connor could hurt himself. He's clearly not in any state of mind to be alone. I HAVE to. Please, Evan."

Trembling, Evan pulled Cynthia's contact up in his phone and handed it to Heidi. Connor was never going to forgive him... But Evan would never forgive himself if he let anything happen to Connor..

"No, Cynthia, it's Heidi," Heidi said into the phone. "I'm with Evan now. I think you need to come home.... I don't know... Evan just got back from your house and he said... I don't know... Yes... He said Connor wasn't acting like himself... I don't know exactly, Evan is really upset... He did mention that, yes... Yes, he said Connor's cutting again... He saw it for himself... I don't... Okay, right. Right. How long? Okay. Right. Okay, yeah. Bye."

She hung up, handing Evan's phone back to him. "She, um..." Heidi sighed, rubbing her forehead. "She's calling 911."

"WHAT?!?! Connor will NEVER forgive me! They'll send him away!!!" Evan felt himself starting to hyperventilate.