Because Of You

Chapter 4:

Chapter 4:

Anyway, uh... Let's, uh, get right into the story...

By the time I was in the 7th grade, I was 12, turning 13 before the school year would end. I'd spent 2 years in this new environment, and was accustom to its weird ways. Mitch, whose full name was apparently Mitchell, was still my best friend, and nothing could change that. Our birthdays were only 6 days apart, so we celebrated together. We took about half our classes in school together, plus the fighting class after school. In a strange way, it was almost as if the universe had given me a twin brother.

We loved the same stuff, ate the same things, acted the same way... You'd think it'd get kind of boring, having a friend like that. It was actually comforting, because no matter how much we acted alike, we'd always have new, weird, interesting stuff to talk about, but we still understood each other perfectly.

Mitch and I were the top fighters in our fighting class, it was actually surprising. Not for me, but for Mitch. My small, scrawny best friend had started to grow in so many different ways, mentally and physically. I grew too, but I more so began to buff out, not get taller. Mitch, however, was getting to be rather tall, and his appearance? Let's just say he was always the frog, and then suddenly, he'd turned into a prince. I must admit, back then, girls weren't the only ones falling head over heels for him, there were actually quite a few guys that were interested in him as well, including myself. However, I had been content with our friendship and didn't want to risk losing it.

Mitch's second home was my house. He still called my mother mom and my father dad, and they still treated him like an adopted son. However, my parents... Well, they both have great jobs, don't get me wrong. Their jobs pay well and never seem to get a hold of them. But I did begin to notice that they were starting to get consumed by them. One of the things that bugged me was the fact that, even if they promised we'd go back and visit our hometown every summer, their jobs began to prevent that, and they didn't even notice. They didn't think anything of it when they told me we'd go next week. And the next week. And the next week... In fact, every week until the end of the summer, they said that.

It isn't that it upset me, it's just that... Well, I wanted to go back, it had just been a bit disappointing. What I found out made me get over it though. Oh how my attitude changed. I didn't want to leave anymore. All because I found out. I caught him.

One night that Mitch was sleeping over, he'd gotten out of bed- yes, we still slept together. Now, the only reason I noticed he had gotten up was because I was actually still awake- I couldn't sleep. The fact that we weren't going back to our hometown just made my mind race. Mitch hadn't muttered a word and quietly left, heading directly across the hall and straight into the bathroom. I didn't want to follow at first, not until the faint scent of blood caught my attention. So I got up and walked over, knocking on the door and listening as he cussed himself out, whether startled by the fact I was awake still or scared of what I'd think, I'm still not sure, even to this day. I walked in and found a bloody razor on the sink, a towel wrapped tightly to Mitch's wrist, and a crying Mitch, who was sitting on the ground in the corner, staring at me.

I never asked why, never asked how, just simply shut the bathroom door behind me and got down on the ground, going through the sink cabinet to eventually pull out bandages. I proceeded to grab some stuff to clean the cut up with and had turned to him. Willingly, he'd handed over his wrist and allowed me to help him, and in minutes the cut was cleansed and wrapped up tightly. Like I said before, I didn't know why or how it happened. I didn't know how long it had been going on, but by the looks of it, it didn't seem to be much at all, seeing as there were only 2 other cuts. We met gazes and he gave me the same weak little smile he had when we first met. I'd smiled back and pulled him into a hug, listening to his shaky breathing while smoothing down his hair.

"Never again?" I had requested.

"Never again." He'd assured me. And it never happened again. I'd check, and Mitch wouldn't care. He generally seemed to become happy again. So I didn't worry about it much. He wasn't afraid to let the scars show either, seeing as after a while they began to fade.

My mother took notice of them, but didn't ask Mitch about it. She asked me when he wasn't around one day. That's when my father found out as well. It was hard to explain what had happened, but even with my lack of knowledge over the situation, they understood and never mentioned it to Mitch. And speaking of Mitch, now that I think about it... I still don't know why he did it...

Well, there isn't really much to tell of my middle school life, so... Let's move on, okay? Hmn... I know where to pick up. My 14th birthday.