We All Have a Story to Tell || v.f. ~COMPLETED~

1.8

/ SCARLETT /

lyric-

make me a promise

here tonight

--

How did he even get that knife without being caught? Why would they let him do that? Why weren't they paying attention? Why didn't anyone come to check on him? Why was this happening?

Austin gave me my hygiene box and sent me off to shower to get all the blood off. I'd gotten yelled at for going in there. But I didn't care. I just wanted him to survive.

I knew that he'd be sent to long term for this. I would probably never get to see him again. I wasn't even sad or depressed about it; I was mad at him for doing it. Why would he do that? He'd told me that he had a reason to stay alive. What happened to that? What triggered this?

I froze under the water of the shower as I realised something.

If he was into me, if he went to visiting hours, then he saw me hugging Sam. He probably thought that it was more than it really was. So...

I caused this. I was what triggered it. I was the reason he cut his arms up. I was the reason he gave up his will to live.

-

Mr. Kelly told me that I could stay in my room for the rest of the day if I needed to. I told him that I would be fine. I was okay.

I really wasn't, but I needed to get out of here. I had to put up a wall and act like I was okay.

All eyes were on me as I walked into the Day Room. Apparently, a college student was doing this group session today. How exciting.

I took a seat in the back of the room by the window, looking down at the floor.

"Are you okay?" Alli asked.

I took a deep breath. "Yeah. I'm fine. Just a little shook up."

The student, Bailey, looked at me with pity.

"Don't freaking pity me," I said under my breath. "I don't feel sad or depressed or anything about it. I'm pissed off at him for doing this. I'm pissed off at the poor security that allowed this to happen. And I'm pissed off that people keep pitying me."

My face heated up immediately after finishing my little rant. I mumbled an apology, feeling embarrassed about my outrage. I didn't mean to react so strongly. I was just...tense.

"Are you sure you don't want to skip this session?" Bailey asked. "You're tense. I'm sorry for setting you off."

I sighed. Maybe they were right. So I headed back to my room.

Maybe rest was what I needed. Maybe I wasn't as strong as I thought. But it didn't matter. All that mattered was knowing that Vic was okay.

The next few days were pretty normal. The new guy hadn't talked to any of us. Sasha went home. We watched several movies and a couple of interventional videos concerning depression and addiction. It was weird not having Austin around. Instead, we had this really mean guy, Mr. Parker, who made us do tons of worksheets. Like, packets. We even had to write a two-page report of our lives. Tahlia wrote, like, five pages, which was kind of funny.

Monday morning was a normal morning until we got to the cafeteria. Vic was there. He was with the long term kids.

Thank God he was alive.

He glanced at me from across the room, and his face turned a new shade of crimson. He seemed embarrassed. It made sense. He better feel guilty as heck for what he did.

But as I ate my toast and bacon, I started thinking about him. I really wanted to talk to him and hang out with him. I knew that I'd never see him again. Unless...

I knew what I needed to do.

I needed to get into long term.