Pretty Boy • Jackson Avery

ঌ prologue ໒

TW: death, suicide, self harm

"He's brain dead."

    It was as if the world stopped turning.

    "Anybody know if he's a donor?"

    The only sounds to be heard were the steady beeping of the various machines and the sound of Callie falling apart.

    Violet couldn't bring herself to cry, she couldn't let her tears escape, she could only stand and watch as her entire world slipped away, again.

    Callie's sobs were eerily familiar, in the worst way possible. Violet couldn't stop her own mind as she was sent hurtling back to when she was thirteen.

    Marlene screamed, and screamed, and screamed, as she cradled their mother's head in her hands. Violet tried to look away from her mother's wrists, but she couldn't bring herself to. Like with George, she couldn't cry, she physically could not.

    Her mother was the only link left keeping their family together, and now she laid in a pool of her own blood, as her 16 year old daughter cradled her head in her arms, and she stared at the ceiling with lifeless, glassy eyes.

    Marlene sobbed until she couldn't breathe anymore, and then sobbed some more, while Violet sat on the other side of the bathroom, leaning her back against the door. Her eyes were dry, and her breath was steady. An outside observer might have thought she was heartless, or happy her own mother was dead, as she was void of any real reaction, but in reality she was heartbroken, but just couldn't bring herself to give into the pain.

    It took three months, three months of silence and sorrow until finally Violet snapped.

    Marlene stood in the doorway, as Violet stared into her sister's dark eyes, having caught her older sister sneaking out with her belongings in suitcases.

    "You're leaving me?"

    "Violet-"

    Violet didn't hear her response, she didn't hear Marlene beg for her forgiveness, or explain why she had to get out of that house, she could only hear the annoyingly loud sound of her own heartbeat, ringing in her ears, and the faint sound of the TV, as their father sat, drunk out of his mind and completely unphased, on their couch.

    Only when Marlene muttered the words, "I'm sorry," did Violet feel herself rush back to reality. She watched as her sister, her only real lifeline, shut the door behind her, taking her things with her, taking the only hope Violet had left with her.

    Not even a phone call, much less a visit, for 14 years.

    Marlene had abandoned the only real family she had left. Violet had to fend for herself, god knows her alcoholic father wasn't any help.

    She did everything alone, taking care of herself until she graduated, then putting herself through med school with all of the money her mother had left her. She did it all by herself, completely and utterly alone. And now, standing a mere few feet from one of the only people who'd had her back and truly cared about her over the last couple years, did she realize she was once again alone.

    Her mother was gone, her sister was gone, her best friend was gone, and she was alone.