Book 1 - Slit My Wrist, Hope to Die

Chapter 31 - Returning

          Conner, rushing to Tate's aid, quickly put his shoe over the razor and shoved it aside. He grabbed a towel from the towel rack and placed it over the many cuts on Tate's arm. "Hold it down.  Keep pressure on it,"  Conner advise. "Do you have any paper towels?" he asked. After Tate told him where they kept it, Conner left and yelled, "Keep pressure!" He hurried down the steps and quickly looked under the sink for the extra paper towels they had kept, for they had recently ran out and didn't have time to change.

            Grabbing the towels, he ran back up the steel spiral staircase back up to Tate's room. He notices that Tate hasn't moved an inch and that he was staring blankly at the slightly dirty bathroom wall. Conner's face adjusts to a more worried look when Tate suddenly jumps up a little and looks up at him. "You okay?" He asked, while rolling out the towel to place on Tate's arm. The blood covered blanket is removed and replaced by a fresh one.

"Conner? Who are you?" Tate finally asked after a long silence.

"A friend of Alex." Conner vaguley said. "I'm looking for her."

"Why?" Tate looked in Conner's eyes and studied them.

"Some shit is going down. I wanted to find her and get out."

"Get out?"

"Of this state. I'm worried and things seem to be getting worse."

"Things seem fine around here."

"No, it really isn't." Conner wipped the blood away. "Though, I can see why you would think that, being in your own world and all."

"Heh, yeah." Tate clenched his jaw.

"Anyway, I didn't expect to find you."

"How do you know me? My name? We never met."

"I actually found out by a friend of mine." Conner gave a slight smile and threw out the bloody papers. He went into the cabinet and found some band aids stored there and started to place them all over Tate. "Fran. You know her." Conner continued.

"Fran? You know her? How?" Tate, confused, looked at Conner, intensely now, as he held out his arm.

"We used to be close friends when I still went to school with Alex and her."

"237?"

"Yeah! 237."

"Ha, no way. I went there too. Well, obviously, or else I wouldn't have met Alex."

"Obviously, yeah. Though, I don't remember you."

"I transfered. I was new."

"Ah. I hope you didn't get shit for being new." Conner chuckled, but quickly wipped the smirk off his face. "Why'd you do this Tate?"

He looked away and rested his head on his shoulder. "That's personal."

"You're right." Conner looked directly at Tate's now closing cuts. "I'm sorry."

              Finishing up with Tate, Conner tapped his leg to signal his finish and threw him his shirt. "Let's go to the kitchen. Ease up on the moment." Tate suggested, as they walked out of the bathroom. Conner nodded in agreement and followed him down the stylish stairs. Exasperated with his search, Conner forgotten that he hadn't eaten since yesterday morning and it's now almost nightfall. His mouth watered and stomach growled as Tate pulled out a few frozen pizzas and tv dinners.

                The black microwave did a little jingle while turning on like it was a gaming console or PC and beeped as Tate pressed the numbers in to nuke the food for the pair. As Tate went to pour drinks for himself, Conner leaned in to watch the microwave do it's magic and give him some food. That's what he loved about the invention, it gives him simple food in a few minutes. Most importantly, it's food and he gets to eat it. He loves food.

"You want a drink?" Tate offered.

"Sure. What do you have?" Conner said.

"Soda, juice, cold water, um beer... That's about it." Tate tapped the fridge's door.

"Soda, man."

"Comin' up."

Beep. Beep. Beep! "Oh, it's done!" Conner eagerly said.

"Have at it." Tate waved his hand to the direction of the steaming food.

"Yum." Conner, sounding like a little kid which didn't fit with his apperance, open the microwave door posthaste and took out soon-to-be-devoured-food. "So, after this we'll go to Alex?"

"Depends."

"Depends on what?" Conner said, in between bites. "We have to hurry."

"Yet, you're eating."

"I'm hungry!"

Tate took a sip. "Well, we need to find her."

Conner paused. "Whoa, whoa, find her? What, did you lose her?

"You can say that."

"How the fuck do you lose a person?" Conner put down his food and wipped his hands. He leaned on the counter and pushed his hair back again. His smooth, slik hair made his hands slide through it no problem.

"I don't know. Wrong choices I guess." Tate frowned, but then looked at his hair. "How'd you get it like that?"

"Huh?" Conner looked confused.

"You're hair. It's so... Greaser type."

"Oh," Conner sighed. "I had like, scene hair in a way, but I had grown tired of it, so I decided to push it back. Mousse and gel does the trick!"

"Oh." Tate gave a side smile, but it soon faded away as Alex popped back into his head. "Let's eat. Then we'll find Alex."

"Alright."

"Okay."

--------------------------------------------

"Thank you for taking me in. Jesus christ, I had a rough day..." Alex muttered.

"Of course, little one." Liam said. "I'll take care of you for now. We'll get through with Tate. Don't worry." Liam drove the car onto the highway.