Broken

                Have you ever let something so precious to you, so close to your heart, become destroyed? To the point where you sometimes stop and ask yourself, "Can I honestly pick up the pieces on this one?"

                 I have, and now I'm stuck. I do not know how to fix this problem; and if I can't fix it, I can't live with it.

                The dancing December snow gently kissed my skin as I walked down the barren sidewalk. I sniffled slightly with my petite red nose, an after effect from it being irritated from the cold. My grey toque that came to my mid eyebrow was lined with faux rabbit fur and was keeping my head nice and warm. However, the rest of me still felt like it may freeze; but I didn't care. My mind was on something else or, I guess, someone else.

                I let my concentration float around with the snow as I sat down on a cold bench in the local park, dimly illuminated by old fashioned street lamps. Not only did I let my mind wander through my memories, but I let it wander to the most dangerous place of all; I let it wander to Caiden.

                Caiden was...my everything. I met him when I was seventeen and never have I regretted it. We fell for each other instantly. What I didn't know when I met him is that Caiden had some serious depression issues, and that there was a reason he never took off his sweater. It wasn't until three months into the relationship that I looked right into his deep ocean blue eyes and asked, "Cai, why do you never take off that sweater? Its June, you must be hot."

                Caiden just shook his head, letting his dirty-blonde hair flop in front of his eyes as he looked towards the ceiling, collecting himself for what he was about to reveal. After around ten or so seconds had passed, Caiden slowly lifted up the sleeve to his left elbow. What he reveled was never something I would have guessed; various white scars claimed his arm. Even though they all looked different length and depth wise, it was clear as to what they were, and how they were inflicted.

                I looked up at him and saw his tall, muscle-filled physique slouched over in defeat. In that one moment he looked as fragile as glass, and if I did so much as breathe on him he'd shatter into thousands of pieces.

                "Oh Caiden," I whispered and my clear grey eyes pooled with tears.

                "I call them my battle scars," he replied with a sad smile.

                "Why do you call them that?" I asked. My voice was made hoarse from all the emotions running through me.

                "I had to go through the battle to get to the victory."

I looked at Caiden quizzically.

                "You're the Victory Meg. I stopped doing this the minute I met you. You saved me."

***

                Cai's depression was of the clinical variety. This means that his depression could be caused by being bullied or a bad home life, but that wasn't necessarily the reason it kept with him. It could stay with him even after the smallest problem that caused it was resolved. All it was is that his brain told his heart he was sad; and for some unknown reason, his heart believed him.

                You see, Caiden's sister, Rihanna was not the best decision maker in the world. Rihanna started her gate way drug of marijuana when she was seventeen; this would be making Caiden sixteen and in a fragile state with all of his teenaged hormones going haywire. From there she continued on into extreme partying every night, moving up into the drug of ecstasy and bringing a new boy home every second week. Caiden's parents, Mr. and Mrs. Knight tried everything -taking away all communications, freedoms, and even put her into rehab- but none of it worked.