The Birch's Petals

Thirty Three

Content Warning: The chapter contains mention of attempted suicide and self-harm. Read at your own discretion 

SAMANTHA lay in Nate's arms shaking as she sobbed, Nate had been holding her for an hour while rubbing circles on her back. Her sobs were filled with gut-wrenching emotions; he didn't hear her make a sound but the way the girl in his arms was bawling crawled up his spine. He could feel her pain, hear her internal screams, and tremble with her shakes.

Nate had been looking for Samantha at all their favourite spots but couldn't find the girl. Using his spare key, he opened Samantha's room and called out for her, he then heard soft sobs through the bathroom door only to find his best friend curled on the bathroom floor shaking and a slightly bloody knife beside her.

His heart raced as he quickly reached out for the knife and discarded it in the sink. He rushed back to the bathroom and picked Samantha off the floor and carried her to the bed. He got her under the covers and joined her, wrapping his arms securely around her. Samantha sobbed into his arms as she clung on tightly afraid her life would slip away if she did.

Nate didn't ask her anything, he knew not to. The only other time he saw her so broken was when he lost his dad and broke up with Zedina in the same week. It completely took a toll on her mental state, she attempted to take her life two times only to be stopped by Nate. Nate was the only one who knew about it, he never told a soul and neither did she.

Seeing the knife on the floor beside her left Nate apprehensive about leaving her alone again, goodness knows what she would decide to do. Samantha felt as though everything was crumbling around her, she wanted- needed an escape. For four hours she stared at her reflection on the knife and thought about ending it all.

She felt like she had lost everything and everyone in her life, her mother wasn't in the picture. She left her and her father when she was just an infant, her father loved her more than anyone in the world. He made her know that she was more than enough, that she deserved all the happiness in the world, and that he would always watch over her.

She knew she could confide in him; she wasn't afraid to come out to him because she knew he would accept her. And he did, she remembered him kissing the top of her head and telling her how much he loved and accepted her.

And then she met Zedina, the love of her life, she was happier than she could ever have been. Zedina's mom loved her like her own daughter and supported their relationship. She fell in love with her and even confessed first, she knew that she wanted to spend the rest of their lives together. So when Zedina's mother passed away, she felt Zedina's pain, she comforted her and assured her that they'd always be there for each other.

'It is just us against the world.' She recalled saying. She meant it.

Unfortunately, her father died the following year, and Samantha felt like everything had been taken away from her. She cussed at the Lord for taking away the only parent she had that loved her to no end. She drowned in her own chaos and her pain. She shut Zedina out and processed it all on her own until she eventually pushed her away and broke things off.

Two hours later, Nate noticed it was completely dark outside, he could hear Samantha's soft snores. He painfully smiled knowing she cried herself off to sleep. He pulled the covers over them, he felt Samantha's arms wrap around his waist. Sighing softly, she tightened his hold on her and drifted off to sleep.

***

THE sun rays bounced off their walls, Samantha groaned when she felt unfamiliar heat around her body and her face heating up. Her swollen eyes fluttered open, she shut them quickly feeling the burn from the brightness in the room. She noticed Nate's arms around her and sighed in contentment, her best friend never left.