Save Me from the Dark (Rewrite)

Chapter 2

Scarlett stared at it, willing the text to not say what it clearly did, blinking back the tears that were rapidly forming against her will. She didn't understand, why would Kyle do this? Things had been going so well, or at least she thought they had. They'd never even had an argument. And they'd been fine this morning, texting each other about their plans after her class later. What could've happened between then and now?

In almost a daze, Scarlett typed out a response, it wasn't much, just a simple why, but it was all she could manage. She really couldn't understand it, there was no reason he should want to break up. Looking at her phone, she just stared at it for what felt forever, before, realizing he wasn't going to respond, and sending another. This time it was asking him to please not leave her, that whatever it was that he had an issue with she would change it if he just told her what it was. After all, she loved him, so she'd do whatever to make it right.

Minutes passed, and once again, there was no response. Anger filling her, she decided that she was going to go over and demand an answer, not letting him get away without giving her a reason. After messaging Abby to tell her how Kyle dumped her over text for no reason, she finally put her phone down, and started to drive over. Once she pulled up to the apartment complex that he lived at, she parked the car at a spot across from his building, not far from his own, and walked up the outside set of stairs to the third floor and knocked loudly on his door. Looking at her phone while she waited, she was once again surprised by the fact that Abby still hadn't messaged her, that being beyond uncharacteristic of her friend. Abby might be a self-proclaimed "big titty goth chick", and give off the stereotype of not caring... but she had always made time for Scarlett, even when at her busiest.

Once again slamming on the door, she yelled for Kyle to answer, too annoyed to care that his neighbors were probably unhappy with the noise. It was finally after what felt like forever of waiting that she got fed up, and sat on the stairs by his apartment. She planned to just wait there until he finally left the apartment, just sitting in silence as the anger and confusion circled around inside the pit of her stomach, where only earlier the butterflies had been.

It was in this silence that she finally heard it, the sounds of a man and a woman in the middle of intercourse, the noise probably escaping out an open window. It wasn't uncommon for people at Kyle's complex to leave their windows open at night. After all, Scarlett's own experience at Kyle's place showed how hot it could get at times. But it wasn't the sounds of intercourse that made Scarlett's emotions crash into a pit of despair. As the noises grew louder, the lovemaking probably intensifying, Scarlett could begin to make out the familiarity of the moans of passion, for she knew the voices they belonged to. The two people she heard having sex, literally in the apartment next to her, were Abby and Kyle. Her bf, the love of her life, was fucking her best friend.

For a moment Scarlett sat stunned, not wanting to believe what was happening. There was no way her boyfriend could be cheating on her with her best friend. Except the passionate sounds of their continued lovemaking told otherwise.

How could they do this? She'd trusted them, loved them... How could they? A thought rose to her mind before she could push it down. How long had this been going on for?

Suddenly, Scarlett felt stupid. All those evenings where Kyle had been too busy filming videos for YouTube, and all those nights Abby had been busy painting... They had been fucking. From her quick calculations, this had been going on since after they'd just started dating, she'd just never connected the dots.

Sickened by the unceasing noises and her own revelation, she ran back to her car. As Scarlett picked up her phone, she sobbed as she realized she had absolutely nobody in the entire world who she could text to talk about this with. Everyone else had people they could lean on during times of crisis, but of course her only friend had to be in the midst of a passionate fuck with her boyfriend right now.

It wasn't fair. None of this was fair. Why was this happening to her? It was bad enough Kyle had dumped her but this... This was so much worse. It was so unbelievably worse that there was still a part of her that just couldn't wrap her mind around it.

Where had she gone wrong with them? What was wrong with her to make Kyle not want her and to choose fucking her best friend over her? And what had she done to Abby to deserve this?

Scarlett's mind was reeling and she didn't know what to do, let alone what to think. Shaking, she decided to drive home, as maybe allowing herself to fully break down in the comfort of her own room would help. Surprising even herself, she made the drive home without any issue, even despite the tears blocking out most of her vision. Scarlett was almost disappointed. Even dying sounded better than what she was currently going through.

As she entered her room, she immediately went to her secret package of razor blades hidden in a box in her closet. Pressing one against her skin, the sensation was welcoming, but it wasn't enough.

Scarlett choked back a sob as she pressed down harder and drew the blade down her arms, leaving crimson visual representations of her pain. She hadn't done this in a while, she'd been far too happy with Kyle to even consider it. Now she knew she not only needed this pain, she also deserved it.

It was her fault they'd betrayed her. She'd fucked everything up again, like she always did. She pressed down deeper, not caring if she hit something important. After a couple more minutes she realized even this wasn't helping to dull the pain as it had in the past, and if she truly wanted to die, this wasn't going to work.

Scarlett went to her desk and pulled out some vodka from one of the drawers. Then reaching under her mattress, she pulled out a bag of pills. Kyle had gotten them for them to share whenever he came over, and although she didn't know what exactly they were, she was hopeful they'd be enough to kill her.

Did she really want to die? Was this the fix for her shitty life? Scarlett wasn't even surprised when she realized her answer.