To Save a Life

First Sleepover

So this is what a girl's room looks like. Do they all look like this? Probably not. I was sitting on Kaitlin's cosmic galaxy print sheeted bed in a corner of her room. At the front of her room was a desk under a window that faced away from everything else, so she had her chair turned toward me. She had posters all over her room. A Kingdom Hearts II poster above the desk, a Zelda 25th anniversary one above the TV in front of the bed. And two band posters above the bed and me. One was for a band called Black Veil Brides, and the other, which was more of a large picture and was signed, for a band called Scars and Wings.
"What band is that?" I ask, pointed to the Scars and Wings poster.
"That's my brother's band." She replies. "He's the one in the front."
"Oh." I said. We said nothing for a while. Then she asked "If I go get the game can I trust you to be here and alive when I get back?"
"Ok." I said. She looked at me for a minute, then walked out of the room.
What the hell am I doing here? I thought to myself.
I stuck my arms out and turned them over to inspect my scars. They looked the same as ever: ugly. Embarrassing. Shameful. Each one reminding me how I deserved them, but at the same time making me wish I could feel the distraction of the pain they bring without a permanent mark being left. I was so focused on my thoughts I didn't notice Kaitlin come back in. I quickly pulled my arms in, but she had already seen.
"Hey, it's alright." She said as she sat down next to me. "You don't have to hide them here." I said nothing.
"I'll be right back" she said, and left again. When she came back she was carrying a laptop. She sat back down next to me and opened it up. After a few moments and some clicking, the same picture of her brother's band was on the screen. "Look here" she said, and zoomed in on the guy standing to her brother's right. His arms were covered in scars. "This is my brother's best friend Michael." She said.
"And here" she continued, moving to to the girl on her brother's other side. She wore a crop top that showed off her stomach, and the scars that ran from her hip to her belly button. "Is Marie, she's my brother's girlfriend. And you can't see it in this picture, but Jessica here has them on her legs. She's Adam's sister." As she said Adam's name, she moved the cursor to him. "They don't hide their scars because they have nothing to hide. They know that nothing gets fixed if it stays hidden. That's why whatever money they don't need to fund the band, they give to a mental health ans addictions therapy facility here in town." I didn't say anything. I was a little in shock. All my life I'd been under the impression that depression was something to be ashamed of. But here these people were, looking as normal as the other two in the picture without scars. I didn't know what to say, so I glanced at her pocket where her Nintendo 3DS was sticking out. She must of noticed because she sighed and said "I suppose I did promise you you could play. Here you go." And she handed me the DS with Kingdom Hearts: Dream. Drop. Distance. already in.

At 4:00 in the morning I was beginning to fall asleep. While playing a video game. My head drooped forward. Kaitlin noticed and said "Hey Nathan, you wanna go to sleep?"
"Don wanna go home." I mumbled.
"Well you could sleep here, but I don't want you getting in trouble.."
"Momll be oo drunk o even notice in the morning," I replied.
"Well ok." Kaitlin said. "You can sleep in my bed."
"Bu whuh bout you?"
"I'll sleep on the floor."
"Bu- you girl.."
"Nathan, if you tell me you're sexist you can sleep in the garage."
I smiled a little at that.
"Well then it's settled." She said. "Come on." She helped me up into her bed. As I lay down I said "I never spend the night at an one's house 'efore."
"Well, I'm honoured to be the first then." She smiled, then,
"Goodnight Nathan."
"G'night Kay-lyn."
At the last minute, I remembered.
"Ay Kay-lyn?" I asked.
"Yes Nathan?"
"Save m' game for me pluhz."