One-shots

Broken Canvas

*WARNING: THIS ONE-SHOT MAY BE TRIGGERING TO THOSE WHO SELF-HARM SO PLEASE READ AT YOUR OWN RISK.*

If you need anyone to talk to, message me on Tumblr. I will place the link in the external link.

Dedicated to my best friend, because I miss her and love her so (:

Vanessa was always quiet, observant and unknown. This helped her know people more without even having to talk to them. She easily knew their personality, just by listening to how they talk, the choices they make or their actions.



There was always one boy who caught her attention, who came by the name of Nathan.



He was the senior heartthrob, while she was just a sophomore who clearly knew she had no chance with him, or at least she thought so.



It's rare that she becomes interested in a person; because she thinks boys are a waste of her time. So are friends, which is why she's usually alone. She never really had a best friend.



Why be interested in him of all people?



It's because of his hands; she was always interested in his hands, because she knew that he was good at art. He could draw and paint and sketch.



Nobody else knows, but her, and maybe the art teacher does too.



At the end of school, people believe Nathan stays late, because he's probably busy snogging one of the girls at the cheer squad. He doesn't, and the girls just lie about them making out with him, which Vanessa finds unbelievable.



Vanessa stayed late in school once, because she was in detention, for being late on that morning, and her teacher wasn't in the best mood that day. She got out of detention, an hour after classes ended, and she happened to pass by the art classroom. The hallway lights were already turned off at this time, and nobody really knows why. Light were flowing out of the art classroom, and in curiosity, she decided to check who was inside. She peeked from beside the door frame, to see Nathan. She stayed long enough, until he finished, and she thought the piece of art was beautiful. She expected him to bring the canvas home, and hang it on his bedroom wall, because it's actually something to be proud of, right? Instead, he punches the canvas, which made a hole, and it left marks of red paint on the knuckles of his hand.



She gasps, and he turns to look outside, but she leaves before he could even catch her.



It's because of his lips; she always looked at them, thinking how it was like to kiss those soft lips of his. Truth be told, she never had her first kiss.



During lunch, his group would always play around the cafeteria, hitting each other, but sometimes it would be too much. Nathan's friend "accidentally" swung a fist to his right cheek, which caused Nathan to blow up. Vanessa doesn't know why he has a very bad temper, but he just does. A crowd was already surrounding Nathan and the guy who "accidentally" punched him. Vanessa stayed right where she was, in the corner of the cafeteria, narrowing her eyes at the crowd, not being able to see what was happening in the middle of the circle. Finally, the teacher arrived, and everyone was ordered to go to their classes. This was when he caught her staring, and he smiled. He smiled with the purple bruise on his eye and red blood trickling down his nose and his lips.



It's because she knew he was just like her.



Nathan came in late one day, and the only available seat left was beside her. He took it, and that's when she noticed the white marks on his wrists, and she didn't miss the fresh new cuts. Nobody bothered to ask why he always wore long sleeves, even when it was hot. Maybe they thought it was "in", but she knew from the start, it takes one to know one; she just needed proof, and this was it. He pulled the end of his sleeves down, to cover up the marks, and that's when she looked away. She looked down on her own, and saw similar cuts on her wrists and she sadly smiled. She smiled, because she had red lines on her wrists too.



And ever since then, she finally spoke to him, and he didn't brush her off like he would usually do to other people.



Nathan made Vanessa loud, inattentive and known. She didn't care about anyone else in the world, except Nathan. She recovered. He did not.



She thought she could save him, she thought he recovered too. She made a mistake.



It's because of how she found his body lying on the cold hard ground with pills on the floor.



It was on a cold winter night, and Nathan asked Vanessa to come by his house that night. She was excited. She would always be excited every time she'd see her best friend again, and the person she loves. The front door was open, the house was quiet. She was hit with a wave of nausea, she felt the guts in her stomach twisting, and she had a bad feeling about this. She walked up the stairs, and found his bedroom door open. She slowly walked to his room, and found him there with a bottle of pills spilled beside his dead and fragile body. Vanessa's tears ran down her cheeks, and she didn't miss the letter that was clutched in his hand.



Vanessa loves him, she knows this. She loves him with all her heart, and he knew, so why did he leave her alone? She thought she was enough to make him stay.



She loved him because she knew you can't fix broken people, but you can only love them.

---

A/N:

I think this is different from my other one-shots. Much shorter and I actually killed someone here. Oops.

I wanted to try writing in third person, and this was the result.

I'm sorry if it's not that great, I was tired when I wrote this, but I felt like writing something.

This one-shot was inspired by Safe and Sound by Tonight Alive (song on the side)

Please fan/comment/vote, it only takes a few seconds :D

Feel free to point out the typographical errors!