Beautiful Scars [1] ✔

Chapter Twenty Six

Before I even registered what was happening, I was running. I ran, away from Matthew, away from the park, to the one person who truly needed me right now.

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I yanked open the door without even knocking to see Melissa's grandmother sitting down on the couch, wailing, just as a police officer was talking.

Instead of talking to her, I ran up the stairs, catching a bit of the conversation, which sounded something like, "found this morning..", but I was too upset to even understand if I heard right.

I walked into her room, eyes searching for any sign of her.

"Melissa?" I cracked out. Obviously, I got no answer and there was a humongous hole growing in my stomach and it kept growing and growing until I couldn't take it anymore.

I sobbed, hugging my arms to my chest, and I fell down on my knees, crying into the wooden floor. "Melissa.." I cried.

"She's not here, you know."

I sat up, turned to see Aston standing in the doorway.

His eyes were puffy, even worse than when I first saw him.

"I know.." I whispered.

He came beside me and I sniffled, feeling the tears behind my eyes. "I can't believe she's gone."

"I can't either."

I bawled into my sleeve, my words muffled. "It's my fault."

"Sophia, don't even say-"

I was so guilty and angered, that my voice rose to an octave. "It is true, Aston! I'm the reason she died! I lost everything."

Now it was Aston's turn to get angry. "You didn't lose everything. You have a family. You have Mrs. Tilly. I don't have that, Sophia. I lost my parents, she was all I had! You sit here crying because you get teased; I go through so much more than you do! You don't even understand real loss." He was yelling and I peered outside. Melissa's grandmother was talking to the cop outside, so she couldn't possibly hear us shouting.

"I don't understand real loss?! Is that what you think? Do you want to know the reason why I'm really here? Why I have these scars on my face? My parents were all that I had, Aston. They were murdered right in front of me, in a house fire. I survived and they didn't. And the worse part, I have these stupid scars to remind me of everything. How it's my fault. Every. Single. Day." The tears burned my skin, but I didn't bother to wipe them. Instead, I continued. "I'm always causing trouble for you guys. So maybe I'll just end it."

I swallowed, and walked out of the bedroom.

"Sophia? Where are you going?" Aston called after me.

I didn't answer, but instead arrived in the kitchen, and grabbed a knife out of the slide-out drawer.

I positioned it right above my heart, looked up to see Aston at the foot of the stairs.

As if predicting my intentions, his face was unrecognizable. "Sophia," he warned. "Don't you dare."

I blinked the tears, my vision blurring. "Goodbye, Aston."

"Sophia. Don't!"

I closed my eyes, then moved the blade to where it touched my skin. I felt a rush of pain, then felt a red liquid spill around my feet. I thought of the happy things, like when we went to Gulf Shores. I thought of my first kiss with Aston. The second day at school.

Suddenly, the knife was knocked out of my hand and I opened my eyes. I was not the one wounded. Aston was. The minute my eyes were closed, he turned the blade around to where he was the one that got stabbed. His hand was a reddish color, that being the only part of his body wounded.

I couldn't believe what I had just tried to do. Aston pulled me to him and kissed my forehead. I wrapped my arms around him, and suddenly I felt tears on my cheeks. And I realized, they weren't just mine.