The Spiral of Acceptance

Chapter 4

A/N: Some digits of Arctic's number have been removed in case anyone tried to call him lol

Zinnia stared at the retreating figure of Arctic. Sighing at the memory of his sudden departure, she took out her phone.

"What... Is... The... DID... Illness... " She muttered to herself as she typed out the words. Reading the Wikipedia page on "Dissociative Identity Disorder" with a growing horror, she remembered what Arctic had said: "I didn't exactly cut myself. Well, I did but it wasn't me."

Part of her wanted to run after him, run after the boy with a broken sanity and reassure him and she was broken too. The other part of her wanted to run far far away from him - not because she was scared of him, but because she was terrified of dragging him into her problems.

He had enough to worry about without having to concern himself with her problems. Zinnia wrestled with herself for a few moments, silently debating whether or not to show him that her life was just as hard.

Just tell him. He has issues, he's... Broken too. He'll understand. As long as you assure him you can take care of yourself, he won't have any reasons to worry.

Don't tell him, don't burden him. He has enough to handle without having to worry about you, whether consciously or unconsciously.

Both voices resonated through her mind.

Damn it, make up your mind!

If you want to tell him, hurry up and do it!

After thinking it through for another five minutes, she made her decision.

Zinnia took out her phone again, and sent a text to her class.

Can anyone send me Arctic White's number? Not sure what class he's in but he's Sec 3

Ooh someone's interested
Wait a sec lemme find it
86****25

Entering the number in her contacts, she sent him a message.

Hey Arctic, it's me, Zinnia
I know you probably don't really want to see me seeing as you ran off
But I'm here for you.

Sighing as she read some text messages flowing in from Kimberly.

Why didn't you tell me
You were interested in Arctic!
I knew you'd be interested in someone who
Isn't that hot
You two match perfectly!
See you tomorrow in school, I gtg

Zinnia almost wanted to throw her phone on the floor, so angry was she at Kimberly's degrading text messages. She wondered if Kimberly was secretly in league with her parents to reduce her self-confidence - whether she was or wasn't, it definitely was working.