letters with zach

11

11

In front of us was her living area-home.

"You coming, Zach?" Duke called out behind him when he realized I wasn't walking with them.

"Duke, I'm in some deep shit already. I still have a restraining order against -"

"Zachary, just come!" Mr. Rogers called out. Not wanting to waste time and argue, I jogged to catch up with them.

Mrs. and Mr. Rogers went to the front desk but I was already heading toward her room. She was assigned her room number before she left and she had told me. Now I just have to find it.

Duke was jogging to catch up with me.

I bumped into this girl. "I'm sorry. Um, can you help me find room 4?" I asked the girl I had bumped into. I looked down and realized she had a name tag on. I remember reading on the website everybody had to wear a name tag. "Ky...la..." Great, the girl that happened to punch Lindsey.

"Aren't you...uh...what's his name... Zach? Lindsey Roger's ex-boyfriend?"

"Can you just fricking tell me where she is, for the love of god!" I cried out.

"D-down the hall." Kyla replied. "Is there something wrong?" She asked as I began sprinting down hallway.

I bumped into a lady whose name tag said advisor.

"Did Lindsey Rogers receive a letter in the mail from a Mila Clawson?" That's my aunt, whom I live with.

"Ye-" I didn't wait for her to finish I was running faster.

I tried to open the door but it wouldn't budge. "Open up, open up, open up!" I screamed, tears falling down my face uncontrollably. What if I'm too late?

"Advisor lady!" Duke yelled. "Can you open this?" He asked, pleadingly.

"Who are you?"

"Duke Rogers, her brother. She is most likely killing herself inside that room will you fricking open it?!"

The advisor fumbled with her keys and unlocked the door. Duke and I pushed the lady out of our way. There was a scene gathering around the door. Kyla and Monique were there. Judy now was shown up as well, she was crying.

I found the bathroom and tried to open it, it was locked too.

"Lindsey... Lindsey, baby, open up it's Zach." I begged. I heard cries on the other side of the door. "Duke she is in there." He had picked various locks back in middle school, I'm sure he could do it now.

He started shuffling through all of the stuff on the dressers.

"Does anybody have a damn bobby pin?" He yelled. Kyla quickly took one out and gave it to Duke. He pushed me out of the way and picked the lock. It was my turn to push him out of the way when the door opened.

"Duke, let me handle this. Please." He nodded. I slipped inside and closed it again. She would be so upset to have so many people see her like this.

"Lindsey..." I whispered. It was basically déjà vu. This time, though, there were various types of pill bottles lying around and fresh puke in the toilet. I flushed it quickly and took Lindsey in my arms. I took the pill bottle she was trying to open ferociously.

"No! Zach! I need that! I need to die! I can't live, please!" She screamed her voice cracking after two words. She was so pale and I could see her ribs through her tank top. "I need to die!" She repeated and began wheezing.

Lindsey tried squirming out of my arms but I didn't allow it. "Zach!" She screamed in my ear.

"Quiet, you'll hurt yourself!"

"I deserve to hurt! According to everybody everywhere, I'm useless, ugly, fat, unwanted! Why even live if you're the only one who cares about me?!" There was no doubt everybody in the other room heard all of that.

I turned around and looked at the pills. Appetite suppressants, EDD pills, ADHD pills, Bipolar disorder pills, and sleeping pills. The sleeping pills were the only ones not open - all of the others were completely empty.

I opened the pill bottle and showed it to her. "Never again." I said and dumped them down the toilet.

"Zach..." She whispered. I took her in my arms, hugging her. I couldn't hung her tightly, I was scared I might hurt her. I saw her thighs right then, there were only a few, but huge, new-looking scars. Her arms were covered from wrist to elbow. I took a few steps back and looked at her stomach. Surrounding her stomach was scars. I pulled the band of her sweatpants down to look at her scarred hips.

"I love you. Don't ever do that again. Please, never again. Gosh, I'm begging you. People do care. All of those people standing outside your door care about you, I promise."

"W-what about Monique? And Kyla?"

"Kyla was the one that helped us save you. She gave us a bobby pin to pick the lock."

"Zach," she said quietly. "I don't feel good." And by the look in her eye, I could tell she didn't really want to die.

That's when I started crying and screaming for someone to call 911 when her eyes closed and her breathing became fainter and fainter.