Oh, Marcel!

Wait, What?

Ember pulled away after a few moments.

She looked at me, concerned.

"Marcel, please tell me that your story wasn't inspired by real life events?" She said softly, staring into my eyes.

I gulped and nervously fiddled with the hem of my pants.

"Uh, n-no." I said, not daring to look her in the eye. It was though. Well somewhat.

"Marcel, you're too sweet to be bullied like that." She said sitting back down on my bed, her eyes shifting down to the carpet.

"I'm really not that sweet." I whisper.

She didn't hear me. Thoughts were clouding her mind. I could see it all over her face.

Ask her Marcel, ask her whats wrong.

"Are you okay?" I said looking at her.

Ember lifted her head up, tears welling up in her eyes.

"Can I trust you?" She asked as a tear rolled down her face.

"Yes." I said, my heart starting to hurt.

"Before I moved here, I had a troubled life. I was supposed to start over here." She said wiping the falling tears. "Marcel, do you know what it's like to go to a school where everyone hates you? Can you imagine the pain I felt? Do you know what I went through?"

I nodded encouragingly, not specifying that I did know exactly how that felt.

"You probably have no idea, but everyday, everyday, Marcel. I wanted to die. To kill myself. What was there to live for? Getting made fun of all the time, getting abused. No none of that. Marcel, girls can be so mean." She put her head in her hands and began to sob.

Do something Marcel! Don't sit there like a loaf! Get up and comfort her.

I stood up and went to sit on the bed next to her, my weight shifting the bed and she leaned into me.

My heart ached and pounded at the same time. Ember was sobbing into my chest. I wrapped my arm around her awkwardly and she shot up from her hands.

I released her and put my head down, sure that my cheeks were burning.

"Marcel, one day I came hope from school and I went into the laundry room. I pulled over the stool and stood on it to reach the top shelf. I grabbed onto the bottle of bleach and yanked it down. I lost grip on it and it fell to the floor, but didn't break." Ember said wiping at her eyes.

"I picked it up and walked to the kitchen, reaching into the cupboards to grab my favorite Mickey Mouse glass. I figured that it would be best to see something that I loved before I left. I set it on the table and poured just enough in the bottom so I knew it would hurt going down. Then I found some pills in the cabinet, not even sure what they were, and dropped a whole bottle in the glass. The pills came up to the line of the bleach I had poured. There was just enough liquid in it to make it easy to swallow in one or two gulps. I picked up the cup and brought it to my lips." She said and leaned back into my chest.

"I chugged the glass best I could. I slammed the glass down on the table, it shattered and it cut my hands. There was blood and broken glass everywhere. The door opened and my mother walked in. She saw what happened and rushed over, pulling out her cell phone. She told me that everything was going to be okay." She sat back up, her hands trembling. " I wasn't looking for help."

"Marcel, I tried to kill myself. Just like the boy did in your story."