Stay Strong

A Different Kind Of Burn

Jade was alone in Tori's bedroom. She was supposed to go out with Beck, but she didn't feel like it. He didn't want to push her or make her feel bad so he just told her to call him if she needed him. Tori thought Jade was going out so her and Cat decided to go shopping.

Jade waited for Tori's parents to leave then she broke into the liquor cabinet and took a bottle of black rum. She chuckled at the picture of a pirate on the bottle. She took it up to Tori's room and sat on the bed with it clutched in her shaking hand. Then she opened the bottle and took a sip.

"That's strong." She grimaced, then she took a longer sip.

It burned her throat and she welcomed the pain. The sensation felt different from the burn of a razor against her wrist, and yet, it also felt familiar. It felt like a spicy party drink she had tried before.

Jade gulped down more letting it sear her throat like a slab of meat on a hot grill. She took a deep breath, trying to cool her throat with some air. She enjoyed the pain, but she also wanted to breathe. She wanted to feel. The rum wasn't working as well as she hoped so she chugged some more.

Tori's room started spinning around her so she laid back on the bed. She didn't even realize she had already depleted half of the bottle. The room was blurring from the tears in her eyes and spinning from the alcohol in her head. Everything was fuzzy.

"T-Tori?" Jade whispered when someone opened the door.

The brunette approached her slowly. She sighed and removed the bottle from Jade's hand making the black haired girl groan in protest. She pulled the blankets down on the other side of the bed and rolled Jade over on her side, then she covered her up.

"Sleep it off Jade." She said as she left the room with the bottle of her parent's rum. She made sure to turn off the light as she was walking out knowing that the light would make it harder for the drunk girl groaning on the bed.

She walked down the stairs and over to the kitchen then she grabbed a glass and walked into the living room. She sat down on the couch and poured what little was left into a glass, then she set the bottle down beside it on the table and laid down on the couch.

She closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep. She knew her sister would wake her up when she got home from shopping with Cat.

A few hours later Tori and Cat entered Tori's house carrying a couple bags each from their trip.

"I hope Jadey likes the bracelet I got her." Cat said as they walked over to drop their bags on the couch. "I got the skull one."

"I'm sure she'll like it.. Trina?!" Tori gasped when she saw the bottle of rum and a half empty glass on the table near the couch.

Cat gasped. "Did she drink that whole bottle?!" She yelped.

Tori huffed and dropped her bags on the floor, then she shook her older sister until she woke up.

"No shaking." Trina groaned.

"Did you drink the whole bottle?!"

"What bottle?" Trina tried to roll over and ignore Tori, but Tori smacked her on the arm. "Ow!"

"Trina!" Tori snapped. "Did you drink all of dad's rum?!"

Trina sat up and rubbed at her eyes. "Huh.. I guess I did." She shrugged. "Oh well." She slowly stood up from the couch and grabbed the bottle and glass then she walked over to the sink. She dumped the glass and started to clean out the bottle to throw it in the recycling bin by the counter.

"Oh well?!" Tori scoffed. "Why would you drink dad's rum?!"

Trina shrugged again. "It was here. It was either that or mom's wine and you know mom will kill us if we touch her wine." She chuckled while drying the glass.

"That's not the point! Why would you drink?! You're underage!"

Trina scoffed. "Relax. Do I seem drunk to you?" She brushed it off.

"No." Cat answered.

"That's not the point either!" Tori snapped again. "Why did you?!"

Trina put the glass in the cabinet and turned to her sister. "I felt like it. I don't need a reason and really it's none of your business." She said then she walked out of the kitchen and ran up the stairs.

Tori scoffed. "I can't believe it."

Cat shrugged. She didn't know what to say so she just quietly played with her fingers. "Can we go show Jade our stuff now?"

Tori rolled her eyes, then she turned back to Cat and gave her a small smile. "Yeah, let's go up."

"Yay!" Cat yelled excitedly and grabbed all the bags, even Tori's.

Tori chuckled and followed Cat up the stairs to her bedroom.

Cat flung the door open and flicked on the light, but when she saw Jade asleep in Tori's bed she quickly flicked it back off and yelped. "She's sleeping. She might kill me if I wake her up."

"Let her sleep." Tori whispered gently pulling Cat out of the room.

Cat nodded sadly. "Yeah, it's her brother's birthday today and she might not want to do anything."

Tori and Cat walked back down the hall to the stairs and walked down to go watch some TV.

Trina peeked out of her room. "So that's her reason. Poor Jade." She whispered and went back in her room to change into her pajamas.