There's No Wrong in Hoping- Foxxay

Part 3

Misty awoke at about midnight. That's when he heard her mother stumble into the house. She lay in her bed silently, trying not to make a sound. Her arm was throbbing from where she had made the cuts, and she felt the blood on the shawl. Once the coast was clear, misty took a deep breath and tried to relax and fall asleep. This, however, seemed impossible. All she could think of was Cordelia. The thought of seeing her the next day at school made her happy, but nervous. Would she see the marks on her arm? Would she hate misty for doing it? As she felt herself falling asleep again, tears streamed down her face.

~

Cordelia sat on her bed. Her face hurt so bad, and so did her heart. She ran to the mirror and saw a bruise begin to form on her face. It wasn't that big, barely noticeable so far. She could cover it up with makeup, and nobody would suspect a thing. Cordelia got ready for bed, sliding into her nightgown and brushing her hair. She lay in her bed silently, thoughts of school, her mom, and misty, darting through her head. She had hoped all had gone well with misty, or at least better than it had with herself when she got home. She hoped misty hadn't been hurt in any way, because misty was such a beautiful soul, undeserving of any pain or hurt.

~

The sun beamed through the small window in the corner of Misty's room. She woke up, her arm a dull pain and her feelings numb. She would take care of that later though. She pulled on a tank too dress and threw on a cardigan. The heat was a lot, so misty rolled up the sleeves to her elbow. She noticed her scars in the light for the first time, and saw how bad they were. She had picked such a terrible spot- they were visible to anyone who could see her forearm. She layered her jewelry and got her school bag. Heading out the door, she didn't even bother to say goodbye to her mother because she knew she was just sleeping off the hangover from last night. Soon she arrived at school. She stood around waiting, until she saw Cordelia, looking soooo pretty. She ran over to her excitedly, momentarily forgetting about her worries and troubles. She tried to seem energetic and happy; smiling as much as she could. Cordelia looked as though she was feeding off of this energy. They chatted for a while as the sun beat down on them. Forgetting the marks on her arms, misty rolled up her sleeves, and continued to gesticulate as she talked. She could see the concern grow in Cordelia's eyes, and she remembered, cutting off her sentence. She pulled her sleeves down and crossed her arms, tears welling in her eyes. Cordelia, not saying a word, reached out and placed her fingertip on Misty's arm, sort of tugging at it. Everything seemed to be going in slow motion as misty released all fear of Cordelia hating her and let her arm go. Cordelia pulled Misty's sleeve up, and saw the deep gashes on Misty's forearm. She placed her finger on them, counting to 10. Ten times misty had hurt herself, and they looked new. There were tears running down Misty's face as the bell rang. She wiped them away as the bell rang, but before she could go anywhere, Cordelia grabbed her hand and squeezed it, giving a reassuring look and mouthing, "see you at lunch"

~

Misty tried to stay strong and able until lunch. What would Cordelia think? Would she be disappointed? Scared? Hate her and ditch her like every one else had ever done to her? She had seemed supportive- shocked, but supportive in the morning. Through her morning classes, misty seemed to only half pay attention. School hadn't been so important to her, and she had more important things to concentrate. She tried her best to keep her arm covered, but that was hard to do in such hot weather. Soon enough it was lunchtime. Misty got her lunch and hurried over to her spot with Cordelia. Cordelia smiled at misty as she sat down. They shared dumb stories about their classes first, and then Cordelia got quiet. "So misty... I like your sweater. Isn't it hot though?" Misty looked down and fumbled with her wrist. "I'm real sorry Cordelia- I really am. It was like I was in a trance- and, and the fist thing I could think of wa..was to..." Misty trailed off. "It's ok misty. It really is. I'm your friend. I'll help you every step of the way. I'm here for you. Always." Cordelia reassured misty. Misty was beginning to tear up and said " but it was so hard- that feeling. The one in the pit of your stomach- that one that doesn't go away. It's so painful, but than again it makes your whole body numb. You have to get rid if it, an that was the only way I could think of how..." Cordelia looked misty in the eyes. " I know that feeling. Where you can't stop thinking about any mistake you had ever made. A flaw that you can't fix. A possible outcome. It rushes through your veins- freezing your blood and making you question whether it's all worth it. If death is a better place." Just then, misty looked closely at Cordelia's eye. She saw the thin purple outline around it, and what seemed like layers of makeup. She could feel the tears. She knew this struggle. All of this struggle. It was her struggle- slowly creeping into Cordelia's life. And she couldn't do anything about it.