The Life of Nathaniel

Chapter 1

I wake up. I look at the clock and realize that I have enough time to do what I needed to do before anyone else woke up.

I get out of bed and head towards the bathroom, pulling up my sleeves as I go. I make it to the bathroom and close the door before turning on the light. I grab the razor I had hidden behind the mirror, and as I was about to cut I hear a knock on the door.

"Do you want to talk?" I recognize the voice as my sister.

"Hold on." I quickly hide the razor and open the door.

"Do you want to talk." She asks again.

"No, Mack. Why are you even up at this time of day?"

"I'm up because of this."

She grabs the razor from behind the mirror and she points at my arms which were criss-crossed with white scars, that I had forgotten to recover. "That's what I want to talk about."

"I don't want to talk." I say stubbornly.

"Look," She takes my hand and we sit on the edge of the bathtub. "I will not tell you to get help/ I'm just telling you to talk to me."

"Why?! It isn't going to help." I almost yell.

"But it might." She says softly.

"Fine." I say, giving in.

"Alright then. Just understand I am going to ask you a couple questions. When did you start?"

"About a couple months ago. About every other night." I answer and anticipate the next question.

"Why do you cut?" Mackenzie asks as she places the blade out of my reach.

"Because I feel unwanted and not needed. Everyone I like gets hurt. I'm just a catastrophe waiting to happen." That's when I start crying. Mackenzie pulls me into a hug, and we just sit there.

After what felt like an hour, when my crying was just sobs, Mackenzie leans back and looks at me, "Also because of Mom's divorce?"

With tears in my eyes, I nod.

"Mom may get divorced, but I am still your sister and I will always be your sister. Just come talk to me or just come to me for anything." She kisses the top of my head.

"Thank you." I whisper as I wipe my eyes.

"Your welcome. NOw how about you come to my room and we can play anything you would like. Even on my Xbox." She says. She stands up and offers a hand. I take it and she pulls me up. She grabs my blade and brings it along.

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I had only been in her room a few times before and never played on her Xbox.

"Go ahead." She says. I walk in and look around. On one of her walls, she had pictures. Pictures of her friends. I was surprised to see a picture of me on the wall. Her other walls had sparse covering. The wall opposite the door was her gaming wall, where her Xbox and games were located.

"The controllers are behind the TV. The games are in the tower." Mackenzie walks into an alcove.

I smile for the first time in a long time. I walk over to the tower to look at the games. I gasp as I realize that she has almost every game made, except for a few more expensive ones and some games that everyone knows sucks.

I decide upon Injustice Gods among us because the cover looks really cool. I put it in the disc tray and turn on the TV.

"Did you find a game?" Mackenzie asks when she comes back in.

"Yeah. Now here's your controller." I say giving her the controller with the Star Wars print on it, while I take the pink controller.

"How'd you know I use this one?" She asks surprised.

"Lucky guess." I smile again.

"So what game did you choose?" she asks as it starts up. I tell her and she replies with, "No. The one game I am terrible at." She smiles.

"You will probably still beat me." I say. Mackenzie laughs. I had never heard her laugh before.

There was a knock on her door and she goes to answer it, while I choose my character.

Mackenzie closes the door and walks back over. "We have to keep the noise down."

"Alright." I say as she picks her character.

"Which arena?" she asks as she sits at the foot of the bed and I sit on the floor. "Come sit up here."

"You can choose the arena." I say as I stand up and sit next to her.

Mackenzie tucks a stran dof blond hair behind an ear and chooses an arena.

I had chosen Batman and Mackenzie had chosen Joker.

Ready?