"I'm home." Brenden shouted into the emptiness of his own home. His brother had been dead for eleven years now and his mother abandoned him shortly after giving birth. His dad worked from eight to four but he would stay out partying until one am if not later. Brenden was used to being alone so he naturally threw himself over his futon and closed his eyes. Brenden was exactly 5'11 and had been battling depression since his brother died. As he sat up on his bed he began to think of the girl he saw earlier at one of his many sessions. While she was on his mind he began to smile and blush until he realized that he would have to talk to her. Not only was Brenden horrified to talk to anyone, now he would have to talk to a girl he thought was cute. He sat alone on his bed thinking about her every move.
His thoughts were quickly interrupted by the downstairs door being slammed. Brenden quickly ran out of his room with his favorite knife in hand prepared to attack an intruder only to find his father holding some girl by the waist, looking deep into her eyes and just as he leaned in for a kiss, Brenden threw his knife making it land a few inches away from his fathers foot.
"What the Hell Brenden?" his father screamed. Brenden ran into his room and locked the door with tears running down his face. He picked up his cell phone and dialed Mrs.Dawn's phone number.
"Hello?" Mrs.Dawn was caught off guard at Brenden's call and immediately began to ask if something was wrong.
"Can you take me somewhere Mrs.Dawn?" Brenden asked trying to control the tears.Mrs.Dawn said that she was in the middle of a session with a female client of hers and began to tell Brenden that he shouldn't be calling unless it was an emergency.
"Is it the girl from the group that you partnered me with? If it is can you ask if I can have her cell phone number so we can talk about the project?"
Mrs.Dawn muttered something then said," 704-438-3216. What's really wrong Brenden?"Brenden quickly hung up and sent a text to Mrs.Dawn that said he was fine now and that he would see her for their next session Thursday before group.
"Brenden, open this door right now young man before I take your car!" his father yelled.He could smell the alcohol on him but continued to unlock the door. Once the door was open his father bursted into his room and threw the knife on Brenden's left foot. Brenden winced in pain then pulled the knife out.
"That's why we don't throw knives." his father calmly said before turning and slamming his door shut. Brenden limped down the stairs and got into his 1998 cherry red mustang then drove himself to the hospital.
At the hospital when the doctors asked him what happened Brenden would reply by saying, "I dropped my knife while trying to cut my steak on the couch. It landed on my foot and then I pulled it out."
None of the doctors believed him but they went along with the story because they couldn't prove otherwise. After stopping the bleeding and stitching up the wound the doctors scheduled an x-ray. Brenden's day wasn't going so well. About two hours after being there he heard that there would be a girl in the room with him. He was curious as to who it would be what had happened to her and how long they would have to be there. Brenden looked as far out into the hall as he could only to find that no one was there. After all of the fuss that the nurses made no one was coming into his room and he was alone. Of course he knew he would be alone because that is how it has always been since his mom left.
He closed his eyes for a moment then heard something in the hall which quickly grabbed his attention. Looking as far as he is allowed he was expecting to see some older man or woman but much to his surprise he saw her. A single tear on her cheek as she had her arm drawn up close to her chest. The nurses take her to the room and Brenden just stared at her in awe wondering what had happened to her and why she hadn't spoken yet. The nurses were asking several questions and Lizzy just sat there staring at the floor as another tear rolls off her cheek and onto the floor. He hadn't really noticed when the nurse asked him to throw her the box of tissues that were sitting next to him.
"Hello in there! I need that box of tissues please." The nurse said in an extremely focused manner. Brenden handed her the box and began to stare at his feet and wait for the nurses to leave the room before speaking. Just as the last nurse walks out and closes the door behind her Brenden hears a soft cry coming from Lizzy. Slowly he stood and made his way over to her bed and sat on the corner silently. For ten minutes neither one of them spoke a word to one another they just sat there as she softly cried. After sitting there Brenden eventually hugged her and tried to comfort Lizzy.
"It's over now, I'm here and I will protect you." Brenden said while stroking her cheek and wiping away the tears.
"Why are you here?" Lizzy asked with a puzzling expression. Brenden began to tell her the story he told the doctors and was interrupted in the middle of his sentence by Lizzy asking for the real story. He looked at her and was rather shocked because she was the first person to see through his lie and ask for the truth.
