Cuts and Bruises (ON HOLD)

Chapter Fourteen: Home. Ugh.

I woke up in my warm bed. My room was always 10 degrees colder than the rest of the house. I didn't mind. I liked cold. It felt better with my asthma. Mom never remembered to refresh my inhalers so I mostly had to do without. I opened my eyes slightly and looked up to find Blaze looking through my cork board.

"Whatcha doing there, babe?" I yawned out.

"Looking through your drawings," He said as he turned around.

"Obviously." I pulled up the covers as I sat up with my back against the wall. I yawned again.

"So, what time is it?" I asked. Blaze pulled out his phone.

"2:30." So Ash and Iris would be here soon. Amazing.

"Do you want me to go get something to eat?" Food. It didn't sound too bad right now.

"Actually, that'd be great," I replied. He kissed my cheek as he walked out of my room. My phone buzzed on my side table. It was my uncle. I had always liked him. He was a cop and always joked around with me, especially about how much of a "skater kid" I was.

I picked up my phone and pressed the answer button.

"Alex," his voice sounded.

"Uncle Johnny," I replied.

"Are you sitting?" he asked.

"Yes..." I said hesitantly.

"I have news." Oh great.

"Yes?"

"Your brother... Logan, he... last night he was at a bar, he and his girlfriend, Jane, the one with the little boy, Josh. Well a Hispanic guy came up and started hitting on Jane so Logan got angry. He got up and they both walked out but the guy followed them."

My heart sank. Logan had been through the Army. He was tough, really tough. He was violent and disobedient. He was a troublemaker. No one messed with him and got away with it. No one messed with his girlfriend and left without regretting it.

"The guy tried to run them over," he continued, "So, naturally, Logan started cussing the guy out. The guy got out and pulled a gun on Jane. She had said something and Logan pulled his gun as soon as he got the chance. He... Logan... he, he..."

"For God's sake, spit it out, willya?" I said irritably.

"He shot the boy seven times."

"H-h-he what? He... did he kill him...?" My stomach leaped. Logan... shot someone? How could this be? He couldn't got to prison. He and my other brother, Stephen, who had signed up for the National Guard early in the year and had already left out for basic training, were my world. They understood me and helped out as much as they could. He couldn't just leave me again. They couldn't take him away.

"The other boy's dead but they have Logan in questioning. As of now it's only self defense so it's looking good for him."

The other boy's dead.

The other boy's... dead?

No. No way.

I dropped the phone and ran to the bathroom. I felt sick. The tears started pouring and I eventually threw up. This definitely wasn't good for my nerves. I sat in the bathroom and cried until I remembered Uncle Johnny was still on the other end of my phone. I walked, zombie-like, back into my room and picked up my phone. The call was still going.

"Alex? Alex?!" I heard repeatedly from the other end.

"I have to go," I said shakily.

"Tell your mother!" He yelled before I could hang up. My eyes narrowed. I didn't want to tell her anything. She wouldn't care.

"You tell her," I coldly replied.

"Um... if you want. Yeah I'll call her. Bye girly, I'll give you updates when I get them. Love you." I simply mumbled and hung up. I really wasn't feeling all that great. I didn't want any food anymore.

At about that time Ash and Iris burst into my room.

"What happened?!" they both exclaimed.

I fell onto my bed dramatically.

"Ugh!" I screamed. I flipped over onto my stomach and screamed into my pillow. I didn't know what else to do. I couldn't cry anymore. I'd rather be shot in the foot than to cry any more for the rest of my life, honestly. I just felt so weak and exasperated.

For once in my life, I didn't want to die; I only wanted to get away.

I wanted to go into a dream. I wanted there to be no death or sadness and I wanted the people that would love me always and take care of me. I wanted just to be gone.

I flipped back over on my back and looked at the two girls standing, confused, in front of me. I sighed and shrugged before screaming again.

I started laughing hysterically as Blaze came back into my room and offered me some fries. Everyone looked at me as if I was insane. I guess this was it.

"I've done it!" I yelled as I jumped up.

"Done... what?" Ash asks with an extremely confused look. I laughed as I pointed at her.

"Exactly, my dear!" I twirled around as I continued to laugh. I shook Iris by the shoulders.

"I've went and done it!" I put on a faux British accent as I continued. "I've gone mad! Insane! Bonkers!" I lifted my window.

"I'm finally crazy!" I yelled to the streets below. Blaze took my shoulders and led me back to my bed.

"Babe, calm down, what happened?" he asked.

"What happened? What happened?! Blaze, honey," I pecked his lips, " I'll tell you what happened." I continued laughing as I put my head down. I looked back up to the start the story. I looked at Ash and Iris.

"So, jocks beat me up and opened my scars in the middle of the hallway before the bell rang and I met a nice teacher who cut and gave me this comfy sweater," I modeled the sweater and put up my arms as I twisted around.

"And I just found out my brother shot and killed a man in a bar parking lot!" I laughed again as I sat down and opened my laptop. I just felt like I needed to share something, with myself. I went into the start button and opened word. I put in huge black letters.

"AND NOW

I'M CRAZY

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA."

I laughed as I saved it. I took out my phone, still not saying a word to my company. I looked up slightly to see their shocked expressions.

Fear, for me or my brother maybe.

Confusion. Definitely.

Iris was almost laughing. She gets it! I'm only mad, I smirked as I thought it. I went into kik and found Brooke. She'd get the message when she woke up.

She'll wake up, I thought sadly but kept my smug expression.

"I'm crazy, sweetie. I've finally done it." I pressed send and smiled as I looked up at my three, conscious friends. I could see their concern for me; it was in their eyes. I smiled, quite normally, and threw my phone under my pillow. Then, I took the pillow and threw it as hard as I could across the room. It hit the mirror on the other wall and I laughed.

"Guess I'll need to get a new mirror." I smirked. Then, without warning, I got up and punched a hole a in my wall repeatedly.

Guess I'll have to get another one of those too...

Pfft. And I thought things couldn't get worse...

A/N I would just like to say that the end of this chapter got a little out of hand and ridiculous because I was in a rush to write and I didn't feel the chapter was long enough to publish, so I just kind of improvised, but I really don't like this chapter and I just hope that you guys don't think I'm 100% insane because of it cx It's the first book I tried to right and actually tried caring about length, so sometimes I ran out of ideas cx