anything and everything

Laila + Arinx

Arinx First

"F-ck that hurts!" Arinx tried her best not to jerk away from Gabe. He was right that they needed to clean this cut but it hurt! Her father had thrown his bottle at her again. She'd made the mistake of wearing a tank top around the house.

"Sorry." Gabe said, trying to be more gentle when he pressed the cloth to her shoulder again. Her dad had managed to hit her on her bare back getting some glass stuck in her arm in the process. Nothing was too terrible but plenty of smaller cuts.

Arinx rarely came over to Gabe's house. She knew what was going on with his mother and tried to respect their peace. This was one of those times she needed his help though.

"Just finish please."

"A piece broke off when I was pulling out the shard." Gabe said, once he was able to clean off the blood and get a better look.

"Give me a second." Arinx grabbed her shirt from the floor where she'd tossed it and rolled it up using her leg and her good arm so she wouldn't shift the glass any deeper. Once she bit down on it she gave him the thumbs up to go.

Gabe tried to be quick, using his tweezers to try to carefully remove the glass without taking too long. Arinx did all she could to remain quiet so as not to disturb Gabe's family.

Gabe pulled it out and placed it in the trash with the other shards. He cleaned it with the hydrogen peroxide they kept on hand before using his damp cloth to try and stop the bleeding again. This was a lot of small cuts and he didn't have that many bandages on hand.

"Have you considered calling CPS?" Gabe asked Arinx. He knew it might be a bad idea to ask but Arinx's father had been getting worse over the last year especially.

"And do what? Go to an orphanage for the next 4 years until I'm an adult?" Arinx asked. "They won't let me stay in my house alone."

She couldn't intrude or ask Gabe to host her either. It was just the two of them in this world. Well, three really. Aliyan was a pretty nice kid.

Gabe didn't have a better answer for her. He just made sure her cuts had stopped bleeding and bandaged the worst of them. Arinx would probably bring more by. She always did.

"Do you think you're going to survive another 4 years if you stay there?" Gabe asked, pausing with his hand on her back. He could see the faded scars. Some from her father. Some from getting into fights. This wasnt the first time and it wouldn't be the last.

"I don't know." Arinx admitted. "But if I'm away from you, is there really a point to living?"

Gabe wasn't sure how to reply to that. He'd never know that feeling of only having one person in the world. He had Arinx, Aliyan, and his mother even if she wasn't able to do much. He was all she had.

"Can I stay the night here?"

"Yeah. There's an extra mattress I can pull into my room."

Gabe got to his feet to set up but paused to look back at her. "Is there anything I can do?"

Arinx looked away from him as if it would hide her tears. "No. Thanks anyways."

"Okay."

• • • • • • • •

"Arinx stop it." Gabe grabbed her hand to pull it away from her wrist.

"Let go Gabe. It helps."

"It's self harm."

"I'm not bleeding. It makes me feel better to feel pain."

"I know but still..."

It wasn't the first time he'd seen that. Arinx would dig her nails into her leg or wrist. Indents would be left in the skin for a bit after but then would fade. She never drew blood from it.