Crawl

Twenty-Three\\Kill me.

Slim\\

The gang all left my apartment for some reason and left Xavier and Chavez behind to "watch over me," as if I needed it. By then, Xavier and Chavez already knew I was awake so there was no reason to fake it anymore. I got tired of it anyways.

They wouldn't let me do shit alone. If I needed a drink, they got it for me. If I needed food, they cooked it for me. If I wanted to make a phone call or text someone, they did it for me and spoke on my behalf. They even walked me to the bathroom and waited for me to finish before I was walked back to the couch. They wanted me to stay with them at all times. When watching movies, they wouldn't let me watch anything that had any type of blood so I was pretty much limited to just watching children movies. The only exception was Mulan.

I thought it was a drag that they had to do so much for me now that they knew I was cutting and that "someone" had "fucked me up." Why couldn't they just do that for me before they found out? Why couldn't they just not do this shit for me and leave me alone?

"I'm going to take a shower." Xavier said as he hopped up during the musical note, I'll Make A Man Out Of You.

"I'll watch Slim then. Have fun, babe." Chavez said as he kept his eyes glued to the screen. A few minutes passed and I was already bored of watching the movie. Chavez was so into it, though, so I didn't dare to change it.

Someone pounding on the door had been what drew Chavez's attention from the screen and onto something else. He wandered over to open it and glided back to the couch. The door opened slowly with a gun appearing before a familiar face.

Chavez turned to see it before screaming and jumping up. "Whoa, Jason, wait a minute." He said with his hands out.

I, on the other hand, had nothing to be scared by. He would never in his right mind shoot me. I've known Jason for years and yeah he's beaten me, raped me, and hurt my feelings, and even though he was able to rip away my only source of happiness and kill me emotionally and mentally, he wouldn't kill me physically because he knew that if anything ever happened to me, he'd never be able to live with himself. Though, I wished he would.

"Slim?" He whispered as he lowered the gun. "You?"

~

Jason\\

I entered Slim's apartment and felt so bad. I couldn't believe I was sent to her apartment. Of all people, I should've known. But nonetheless, I couldn't believe how awful she looked. How dead she looked. The glow she used to have in her complexion had somehow just vanished. She was covered in bruises across her abdomen and there was a brand new scar on her cheek that I knew wasn't there before.

So that's why Cassie looked the way she did. She must've fought Slim and lost and did something horrible to her in return. "Slim?" I whispered, slowly dropping the gun I held. "You?"

Her face held no form of expression. She didn't even blink twice when seeing me. It was as if she really was dead inside.

I turned to her friend and gestured for him to leave, to which he did without hesitation. I slowly walked towards Slim, nearly heartbroken by the sight and exceptionally angry at Cassie for what she'd done to the once beautiful girl before me.

"Slim," I whispered, running my hand through her hair. She bit her lip and looked away, "What happened to you?"

"Don't touch me." She swatted. I sighed and furrowed my brows. "Why you even here?"

"I was sent to kill someone." I answered honestly. "But I can't."

"Me?" She asked heartbroken. "You came to kill me?" She started getting angry. "After all you've done to me, now you want to kill me? Don't you think I've had enough, Jason?" Her voice cracked as she spoke and she jumped up from the couch only to hiss in paid and clutch her stomach. She sat back down and breathed deeply. "You know what? Fuck it." She spat. "Go head."

"What?" I asked confused.

"Get it over with. Just do it, Jason. Shoot me."

I shook my head. I couldn't kill her. I loved her still. I hated her, but I loved her.

She snatched the gun from me and placed the barrel between her teeth. She placed her hands so that she was about to pull the trigger, and attempted to multiple times, but nothing happened. She didn't realize I had the safety on.

I took the gun from her and sighed. Seeing her like this hurt me more than it hurt her. I hadn't realized how awful the scars on her wrists were until now. She had experienced too much shit. Shit that she didn't deserve to go through. And I didn't think that I was the primary reason for all her pain, but from the looks of it, I apparently was.

"Why, Jason?" She asked. "Why do you do so much shit to me just to make me sad, and when I'm at the fucking lowest I can ever be, you just make it worse by keeping me alive?" Slim sobbed.

"Well?" I had nothing to say. "Answer me!" She yelled through sobs.

"I--" I choked. For once in my life, I had nothing to say. Neither a smart comment, nor an actual answer. I was speechless.

"Fuck it." She whispered now, "just do me a favor and kill me. Let me fucking die. Don't even bother apologizing or anything. Just kill me and let me rest peacefully."

"I can't do that." I finally brought myself to speak. She looked up with glossy eyes. "I can't."

"Why not?" She asked, "You can kill plenty of other people; You can take away everything that's ever made me happy; You can even beat the shit out of me and rape me; But the one time I need you to do something that'll hurt me, you fucking can't!?"

"I...I love you, Slim."

She laughed and shook her head. "Tuh. What you know about love, Jason? The most love you've ever experienced was the joy of killing someone. Or having a full refrigerator of food. But never have you ever experienced true love that didn't some from a full stomach, blood, or a porn website."

"I—"

"Save it. Either you can help me out for once you kill me, or you can leave and stop bothering me and ruining my already fucked up life. You can't do both, so decide."

"I'm staying with you." I said. "Pack your shit, Slim, we're going home."

"You mean the home you kicked me out of when you believed the shit Cassie told you? That home?"

"Yes, that home." I impatiently said, "As in the home with Kate. The home with your fucking daughter and protection and people who will actually look out for you."

"This is that place. Fuck you." She spat.

"Slim, don't make me drag you." I warned. "Get your shit together, we are leaving." She huffed and stood up from the couch with a struggle. She limped to her bedroom and closed the door. I sighed and followed her.

I opened the door and she was throwing clothes into a suitcase and grabbing a few baby items that were probably for Katelyn. Afterwards, I grabbed her suitcase and I put the safety on the gun before placing it in my waistband. I grabbed Slim's hand and we both walked outside to go to my car.

The elevator ride down was quietly awkward. Some tall lightskin guy came on the elevator and he and Slim awkwardly stared at each other, as if they had so much to say but were unable to. "Later, Ant." She said quietly as I pulled her with me out the elevator and towards my car.

I didn't know my plan for anything, but I did know that Slim was going to stay with me for a while. I couldn't trust her alone and I obviously couldn't protect her for her father when she was out of my sight.