Beauty in Pain(On Hold)

Nathaniel and Travis

Chapter three

I was just shaking his hand, when my mother returned with Cody. She smiled from the doorway at us and I pushed back the urge to roll my eyes.

"Oh, good," she said, her flirtatious eyes raking over Nathaniel. "I see you've met Nathaniel."

I nodded at her obvious declaration. "Um, yes?"

"Why don't you boys help Harley start unpacking some of her things? It will take her ages if she doesn't have some help."

I glanced quickly at Nathaniel and Cody and shook my head fervently. "Oh, no, that's okay. I'm sure you need more help than I do."

"Nonsense!" She chirped and practically shoved Cody into my room. "I'll order some pizza while you guys work in here." And with that, she walked away, leaving me with two boys that I didn't even know. Great parenting.

I swallowed hard and tried to smile at them, but I didn't think it worked. The thought of them going through my stuff felt invasive.

"So," Cody mused, glancing around at the boxes on my floor. "Where should we start?"

"It's really okay," I said. "You don't need to help me. I'm sorry my mom is making you do this."

Cody met my eyes and the corners of his lips twitched. "We want to help."

Nathaniel nodded, giving me a happy grin and I raised my eyebrows at them.

"Well, if you're sure," I said before muttering under my breath, "I guess."

I knelt down in front of the nearest box and began trying to tear off the packaging tape. It wasn't working, so I began trying to coerce my body to suddenly develop super strength as I began pulling with all my might to open the box.

Nope. No superpowers.

I was about to stand up to go get something to cut open the boxes, when a large hand reached in front of my vision. It held a small object that I quickly realized was a slender pocket knife.

"Thanks," I said and took it from Cody. I flipped it open and felt pleased when it slid through the tape like butter. Looking inside, I found it to be my pants and blouses. I sighed in relief and pulled them out, glad that I'd have something fresh to wear now. They were still attached to hangers, so it would easy to stick them in the closet. I held out an armful of shirts to Nathaniel.

"So, Harley," Nathaniel began, accepting the clothes and walking over to hang them up in the closet. "What brings you to Colorado?"

"My grandma lives here. Are you two brothers?" I asked, trying to change the subject. There was no way that I was telling these guys why we had moved.

Nathaniel laughed as he came back from the closet. "You think that I look like ugly here?" He asked, pointing his thumb over at Cody. Cody simply flipped him the bird.

His words brought back an unwanted memory that I had shoved deep in the depths of my mind.

I held the sewing needle to my upper thigh, carving the word 'ugly' there next to the faded scar that said 'freak'. The pain was sharp and I inhaled as the sting broke through my numb shell.

Name calling was something that really got to me. Even mild name calling. I had been picked on at school for several different things and had been called words that were cruel to my mental state. Maybe the ones teasing me didn't know how much their words hurt and affected me, but they added to my depression. I had scarred words hidden around my body from when they would say them to me. The darker the scar, the more times someone had said that word to me and I had carved over it over and over. I hadn't done anything for months now, not since the doctors took me off my last anti-depressants.