You Had Me At Hello.

You're Skin and Bones, I'm A Nervous Wreck.

Six weeks went by, and I'd like to say that life with Elise around was easy, but it really wasn't.

Mike started missing practice to stay home with Elise because they were fighting, and he hated walking out on a fight.

They seemed to fight a lot.

It was one day early in June that I went to find Mike, because he hadn't called and told me where he was, and why he wasn't at practice.

I knocked on the front door, and I heard Elise's voice, "Shut up! Someone's at the door!"

Mike: "You can't fucking tell me what to do!"

I heard her footsteps, then the door opened.

When Elise saw me, for the first time in weeks, I'll add, she smiled, "Hi Vic." She said.

She had her hand over her mouth, and was wrapped in what looked like a sheet.

"Where's Mike?" I asked.

She sighed, glancing over her shoulder, "Come in and I'll get him." She whispered.

She quickly ducked away from me when I walked in and closed the door.

The house was wrecked, like a twister had torn through it.

"Mike! Your brother is here!" Elise called.

"What the hell for?" Mike yelled back.

"How the fuck should I know? He's your brother." Elise called.

"Send him upstairs." Mike said.

"He's in our room." Elise whispered, before ducking into the kitchen, the sheet clutched around her.

I walked up the stairs, and down the hall.

Mike was sitting on the bed, his back to me, with something in his hands.

"Dude, why weren't you at practice?" I asked.

He looked up, "I smooth forgot bro. I'm sorry." He said shaking his head.

"That aside, what the hell is going on over here? Your house is a wreck, Elise won't come within less than a foot of me, and you look like you haven't slept in days." I said.

He blew out  a cloud of smoke that smelled horrible, and I backed away.

"I haven't slept in days." He confirmed with a tired grin.

He then took another puff off of the object in  his hands, a small glass pipe.

"You've got to stop smoking weed Mike." I said.

He shook his head, "This is better than weed. This my brother, is crank." He said.

When it hit me that he was doing a legitimately life threatening drug, I shook my head, "You're gonna kill yourself." I said.

Mike shrugged and shook his head, "Nah. L-Wise!" He yelled.

Elise hesitantly inched in the room, walking past me and standing in front of him.

"Lose the sheet." He said, blowing out a cloud of smoke.

Elise glanced up at me before letting go of the sheet, and letting it fall to her feet.

Looking at her made me nauseous, and not for the reason you would think.

She was bone thin.

Her ribs, hipbones, shoulders and collarbone stuck out prominently, like her skin had been shink-wrapped to a skeleton, and she was covered in bruises, cuts, and other lacerations.