Joe and Dianne: My suicide saviour

What is this...?

Joe's POV:

I stood there not knowing what to do or say. I couldn't move. By the looks of it neither could Dianne. She stood still in the centre of the room. Her eyes glued to the contents of the box, tears in the corner of her eyes, and fear written across her beautiful face. Time seemed to stand still. I continued to look at her. I memorised every inch of her face. She was bound to never want to see me again after she found out what was going on.

She slowly walked over to me and touched my arm. A shiver went down my spine as she slowly lifted the sleeves of my hoodie, that I had been sure to keep on all day. The box still firmly gripped in her palms, she continued to lift my sleeves. A gasp coming from her as she saw the vast amount of cuts that lay carved into my pale skin. Some were fairly recent. Some had scabbed over, and some looked unclean and infected.

"We're talking about this tonight Joseph, but first we're getting you home." She was right. This wasn't the place to tell someone the whole story for the first time in my life. I blinked gently, allowing a single tear to roll down my cheek. She gathered both our things - held my hand and led us both out the room.

Narrator's POV:

Joe and Dianne didn't speak at all on the way back to Joe's. Byron was off travelling again so they knew that they could talk about this without fear of being interrupted. As they got into Joe's flat, they both threw their bags on the floor, grabbed a glass of water each and sat down on the sofa.

"why didn't you tell me?" Dianne asked abruptly, breaking the silence between them. Joe gave no answer. He looked down at his feet and gently shrugged his shoulders whilst two more tears, slowly slid down his cheeks. He looked pale and nervous. Seeing him like this broke Dianne's heart. She gently lifted his chin with her hand and wiped the tears off of his face carefully with her thumb. "Please tell me now then Joe." she requested quietly. Looking into his heavenly, deep blue eyes. He gently nodded and swivelled himself round so that his entire body was facing Dianne.

Joe's POV:

I began to speak..."It all started roughly 2 years ago." My voice was quiet and shaky but I kept on going. For Dianne. "I had been going out with this girl called Evie, she was beautiful and everything I needed in life. I was happy. I was planning to ask her to marry me before I fell ill. At one point, I was just setting up to film a video, before I blacked out completely. There were no warning signs. It just happened. I was rushed into hospital and was in a coma for 48 hours. For the next month, I stayed in hospital constantly dipping in and out of consciousness. The doctors didn't know why until they finally discovered that it was cancer. I began chemotherapy along with other treatments. I began to improve my health, and the cancer began to fade, however, one day when Evie came in to see me in hospital she told me that she didn't want to be with me any more because I was 'broken and contaminated'. Her leaving me hurt more than anything else had done before. I told no one and carried on with the treatment until I was officially cancer free. I came home from hospital for the first time in 2 months. I was greeted to an empty house. Evie had moved all her things out and left me a note with a box. I knew the box well. It was the box that held the engagement ring I was going to give to her. I opened it to see that the ring was no longer there. She had stolen it and left a small blade in the box instead. I read the note. It said that she had found someone else. she had hoped that I was going to die. She left the blade hoping I would do the deed myself. I thought that she was right. I didn't deserve to be here. I walked out to my balcony and climbed over the railings. I held onto the railings and was so close to letting go. To letting myself fall. To end it all. But I couldn't do it. And to this day I don't know why I changed my mind. I ended up grabbing the blade and piercing my skin with it. This became a habit. Every time I was angry or sad I cut myself. Sometimes more than once, other times just once to relieve stress. I continued to do this for an entire year, up until about last week. When I met you Di.

I met you and you made things easier. You made me laugh and I instantly fell for you. Things were getting better for such a brief period of time. Until my birthday. I got dragged out onto the street was beaten to a pulp by Danny. He's the guy who gave me the box today. He's also the one who gave me the cut on my head and a bruise on my ribs. He's been sending me threatening messages and keeps on taunting me any moment he gets. So my natural instinct kicked in. I started to cut again. It's the only thing I knew how to do in a bad situation.

I'm so sorry Dianne. I don't expect you to put up with me anymore. I'll happily resign from the show and leave you alone forever. You have a boyfriend and a life of your own. You don't deserve this."

Narrator's POV:

Joe moved his head into his hands. Tears streaming down his cheeks. This was the first time he had told someone the truth behind his life. Dianne was crying as well. She slowly lifted his cheeks and looked him in the eyes one more time. She leaned forward and gently placed her lips onto his. It was everything she had thought it would be and more. Joe pulled away quickly and looked at Dianne's tearful face. He moved back in again. They stayed in the kiss for a long time. Their lips moving together. Their worlds colliding.