Broken

Chapter 1

I wake up to the sound of my alarm clock and groan. 6:30 am should not exist in teenage land.

I drag my self out of bed and into my bathroom. I wash my face, and spend a few minutes just staring at myself in the mirror. UGLY UGLY UGLY. My nose is too small, my eyes too close together, my eyebrows need plucking and my lips are too wide, and teeth too crooked. Nothing about me is perfect, or remotely nice. I grab my razor and begin slowly dragging it against my wrist. I count in my head.

1,2,3.....drip drip drip

I make a few cuts, one quite deep and the rest just scratches. It's ok, I deserve it. I'm ugly as hell, no one likes me and if I died today, no one would care. So yes, I deserve it.

"Mackenzie, the bus is here!" My mom yells up the stairs at me. I quickly shove a tissue over my red wrist and stumble down the stairs. My mom is hugging maddie, and giving her a brown paper bag containing her healthy wholemeal bread salad sandwich, apple, carton of milk and oat bar. When I pass her she doesn't hand me a bag with a lovingly made lunch, just gives me an evil stare and ushers me out of the house. It's my stepdads fault, he tells my mum that I go around school calling maddie a slut, when I don't. If I hurt maddie, I pay. That's how it's always been, how it always will be.

I get onto the bus and take my usual seat in the corner, at the back, where all the nobodies sit, plug in their earphones, and block out the world.

Just another day in Mackenzie Francis Ziegler's life.