Saving Cat Valentine

In the mirror

Jade, Jade, Jade, why is she here? I told her not to come. Go away. Please go away. Cat begged silently, hoping that the black haired girl would turn and go back to her truck, and not come back.

"Cat, I know you're in there. Come on, I'm trying to be nice, don't ruin it." Jade's weight fell to one foot, and she reached out to grab her doorknob.

Please tell me Daddy locked the door…. The latch opened, and Jade swung the front door open, dropping the brown baggie of medication and looking down in utter shock and desperation, "C-Cat? What-What happened?" She fell to her knees and scooted over to Cat.

"Mhm….I t-old you…not to come," Cat whispered softly, her voice cracking.

Jade waited a moment, at a loss of words, "I'm happy I did. My gosh, you are really hurt Cat. We need to get some help, I can call 911. You don't have your phone on you do you?"

"No!" Cat spoke in the loudest voice she could muster, and Jade looked at her in surprise.

"No? Are you crazy?"

"I can't…if he fin-ds out…" Cat whispered.

Jade cursed softly, and then spoke again, "Oh my G-fine." She corrected herself, deciding to not argue against the girl who was weak and sickly, "You're not sick…are you?"

"…no." Cat squeaked out, "Just…Just leave. We w-won't talk about this ever again."

"Leave? You seriously must have hit your head! I'm not leaving you like this. If you won't call 911, then I'll have to help you myself. You're lucky my mother is a nurse."

Cat sighed, thinking the company of someone might be nice for once, "Fine." She mumbled.

"Alright, so how do I do this?" Jade mumbled to herself, "I'm going to pull this out of your back. It's going to hurt…just remember that I'm helping not hurting alright?"

Cat nodded her head.

Jade reached and gripped the glass bottle in her hand tightly, "On the count of three. One, two,"

Cat's blood curdling scream echoed throughout the house as Cat tried to claw at her back. "You said three!" Cat screeched tears and blood pouring down her face.

"But you would be ready." Jade said, "It didn't hurt as much. Trust me. Do you have a first aid kit anywhere to bandage this up?"

"I…I think there's one i-in the mirror in the u-upstairs bathroom." Cat spoke, burying her face into the ground.

"I'll be right back. Just hang tight." Jade spoke jumping to her feet and racing up the stairs. Jade was careful not to trip over the glass shards as she made her way up, and paused briefly to see a small computer room with a picture of Cat and three other people. She hesitated a moment, then quickly went on, realizing that she had little to no time to help her friend before she would have to call 711.

Jade went into the bathroom and opened the mirror instantly. She was fumbling through medication when she spotted one addressed to Cat Valentine. Lexapro. Isn't that depression medication? She shoved the bottle into her pocket, grabbed the first aid kit, and hurried back down the stairs.

"Cat," Jade started as she ripped open the first aid kit, "Anything else hurt?"

"J-Just my ankle…the c-cuts and bruises are f-fine." Cat mumbled, her eyes closed and her lips barely moving.

"Alright, well the worst of it is done." Jade spoke, "You're going to have to roll over alright?"

"Kay." Cat's eyebrows furrowed together and, with Jade's help, Cat rolled onto her back.

Jade grabbed the largest gauze pad and the tape to hold it down with before carefully pulling Cat's shirt off to get to the cuts. As she pulled it up, she was not only horrified by the deep cuts on her back that had just happened, but also from the red scars that traced all the way from the her hips to her shoulders. Jade traced the longest one, making Cat flinch to her touch, "I'm sorry." Was the only thing Jade could think to say to Cat, because in reality, what else could she say?

Some Neosporin spray was in the kit, and Jade told Cat that, "this might sting a bit," when the two of them new that it would sting much more than a bit. She sprayed it all over her back, and Cat whimpered in pain, making sure to not scream.

The red head was happy her face was in the ground so Jade couldn't see the tears streaming down her face.

"All I have to do is the gauze now." Jade told Cat. She placed the gauze right below her shoulder blades where the main cut was and then layered it with tape.

Jade then moved down to Cat's ankle. It was already swelling and was purple, and Jade cursed a bit under her breath before taking a long piece of tape and wrapping it from the bottom her foot to a bit above her ankle. She repeated this with several strips of tape to support her ankle, and then taped it up the rest of the way to her mid-calf.

"Let me see that cut on your cheek Cat." Jade told her, remembering that her right cheek was bleeding a good bit. Cat turned to her side, and let Jade put another piece of gauze against it, "I'll take you back to my house, my mom's a nurse, she can make sure you don't need stitches. We can make up an excuse for this."

"W-What if he comes home?" Cat spoke softly, "H-How am I supposed to g-et to your car?"

"Then you call and tell him that it is something for school. I'll help you to the car." Jade replied surely.

"I-I don't know…"

"Come on. You can't be in this kind of shape when he gets back. How do you think that will turn out?"

Cat paused a moment, "I-I guess you're right."

"Always am." Jade reached under each one of Cat's arms and pulled her to her feet, or to at least one of them.

Cat nearly collapsed immediately, and Jade was shocked by the condition of her. For a moment, Jade didn't know if she could actually get Cat to the car. Then though, she remembered what Andre had said at the RV place.

She only weighs 90 pounds.

Thinking to give it at least a try, Jade swept Cat up into her arms. Cat yelped at the unexpected action, but then smiled. They reached the door and Cat had grabbed the door knob, pulling it open as the two of them walked into the sunlight of Hollywood.