Blood

Prologue - Devon

~Prologue~

            Her eyes looked so sorrowful as I looked upon her. Her lips closed tightly as her hands grasped onto her bright blue P.E. shirt the school forced us all to wear. Her hold was tight as if she were clinging to life itself.

            This is when I really saw Lauren for the first time. Sure I knew her before this, but today is the first time I really saw her, if you can understand me. My best friend Aiden had gone out with her for a year and a half in seventh to ninth grade. They broke up this year only 3 months ago. I didn’t really know her that well before that. She was cool when she was with Aiden, but we were never really too close of friends, and we never talked much.

I looked back at her; I realized I cared about her, a lot. Not in the way of a lover, but the way a mother loves its children. I truly cared about what happened to her.

            I glanced down at her wrists, terrified what I may see, but I saw nothing, for she was hiding them. She saw me looking at her, and her cheeks grew pink. She started to squirm under my gaze. I turned my head away quickly. The last thing I wanted to do was make her uncomfortable.

            Our friend Matthew was standing valiantly at her side, as he always did. His tall presence seemed to comfort her a bit. Her eyes were cooler, and had less weight upon them.

            I had heard some rumors about Lauren’s “little problem” before. Rumors about her spread like wildfire at our school; about how she secretly cuts herself. I had never seen any of the marks before, but sometimes her eyes took on a sadness like no other and it seemed to consume her entirely. I noticed when that happened.

            “Devon!” My good friend Hunter yelled to me.

            “What?” I asked. I looked down and realized I was still holding the basketball in my hands. Hunter was staring at it with fury and longing.

            “Shoot the fucking ball.” He snapped, rolling his eyes, and motioning at the hoop in front of me.

            I shoot the ball and it bounced off the rim, rolling straight to Matthew’s feet. He picked it up, and whispered something into Lauren’s ear. She smiled weakly, and whispered something back; they both start laugh. When Matthew laughed, it was easy, it came out smoothly. Lauren’s laughter looked more forced, almost painful in a way.

            I looked back at Hunter, and impatience was flashing across his face. He was watching Matthew and Lauren; they had started to dribble the basketball back and forth to each other.

            “Well shoot it!” Hunter demanded. Matthew looked back at Hunter, and Lauren’s smile faded like a ghost. She stared down at her feet.

            “It’s my ball.” Matthew stated and passed it back to Lauren. She caught it reluctantly and held onto it, wrapping her long slender arms around its round surface.

            “Fucking shoot it!” Hunter yelled at Lauren. She shifted her feet, suddenly very uncomfortable. She faced the hoop and shot it. It bounced off the rim, and landed at Hunter’s feet this time. Matthew looks at Lauren and then back to Hunter, consternation was furrowing his thick brows.

            “Was that necessary?” I ask Hunter as he shoots the ball greedily.

            “Was what necessary?” He replies callously, his eyes hard like stone.

            “You being a dick.” I state, and grab the ball from his hands. He looks at me then, stunned and annoyed.

            “I just wanted them to shoot the ball, dude. I wasn’t being a dick.”

            I roll my eyes. Sometimes he could be so insensitive. I looked at Lauren again. Matthew had left her side, and she was now hovering close to Hunter in hopes to grab the ball back; I assumed at least. Lauren stood alone, watching the ball in Hunter’s hands. She was attentive, and yet there was something deeper in her eyes; some untold story that was slowly eating her alive, some ropes holding her to her own grief, some kind of pain I could never relate to.

            The coach blew the whistle twice, telling us it was time to go in. I watched Lauren out of the corner of my eye. She was walking with Hunter, very focused on whatever it was he was saying. She forgave people quickly I realized as I saw this. She laughed that forceful laugh again, and my heart lurched forward. Hunter didn’t even notice her forced laughter and the pure horrid sound it made, he just kept smiling, staring into her eyes, and completely drooling over her.

            Hunter had liked Lauren ever since eighth grade, he told me so all time. She liked him too from the looks of it, but Lauren had a boyfriend. His name was Scott. He asked her out only one and a half months ago.

I wondered why Lauren cuts. She’s with Scott right? Shouldn’t she be happy? I would be happy. Why isn’t she?

 She followed Hunter around like a puppy dog, lingering next to him and never straying too far. That’s probably why she hung around us so much. She used to tell people the story of why her and Hunter never dated. I heard it in rumor form, but it seemed true enough. The rumor goes Hunter asked her out, but she denied him for this other boy Spencer, who she went out with for three weeks before dumping him just like she dumped Aiden a month earlier. The story seemed pretty legit. I dared never ask Hunter or Lauren in fear of making them uncomfortable which is the last thing Lauren needs.

            I looked back to Lauren once more as we all stood outside the locker room waiting for coach to open the doors. This time I saw her looking back at me. She smiled that weak smile again as we locked eyes. I smiled back, but felt a pang of pity for her. Her eyes had dark circles under them that she covered with thick lines of black eyeliner, her lips were cracked and dry from anxiety I’m guessing. Her face was pale, but her makeup was caked on thick and made her seem almost normal colored. I had never seen her this close before.

I searched her eyes, looking for the answers I craved to know, but her secrets were locked away deep inside her, and would not spill so easily. She smiled back stronger this time, but the sadness never left her eyes.