Broken

Chapter Eighteen

Mike's Point of View:

It honestly hurt hearing Chester pour himself out to me. As he speaks, I can hear the pain in his voice. I can hear his voice straining and reaching its limits, as though the words he says do not wish to be spoken. The details he gives make me think he had thought about these events dozens of times since they occurred.

It was terrifying hearing how much Chester was hurting himself. I hugged him for a while, as tightly as I could without breaking him. I was afraid of him slipping away if I let go.

"Do you know how it feels to be in so much mental pain that hurting yourself becomes an option? That suicide is suddenly the answer?" He began continuing his story. I let go of him slowly and stared at him. No, I've never felt the way he had. Not even when Anna cheated on me.

---

Chester was sitting alone in a suicide watch. He had tried to overdose on pills but threw them up. His mom came over to pick up her stuff and saw him curled up on the floor, blood slowly dripping from his mouth as he hadn't ate anything in a few days. He had nothing left in his stomach to throw up. He was gripping his stomach in pain and his mother stepped closer to him.

"Chester! Oh my god!" She screamed and tears were already making there way down her face.

"M-mom?" Chester croaked confused. His mom and dad had divorced, he didn't know why his mom was there. At this point, he assumed some of the pills had gone down his throat still and that he was hallucinating.

"My poor baby! Oh my- 911? Please, I need help! My son overdosed!" She yelled through the phone, afraid of what her son had done. That's when everything for Chester turned real as he buried his head into his hands and cried hard, wanting more to escape than before.

---

"It was too much to handle, Mikey. Everything was just building up and up and up. The only way it could end was by going all the way down." He said sadly and shook his head. I gave him a firm squeeze on the shoulder to comfort him. He sighed and shifted on the bed.

---

It was dark and cold, Chester couldn't believe what had just happened to him as he staggered down the road weakly. He almost tripped over his own foot as he felt dizzy, trying to find his way home. A large shadow showed before him and he felt relief as he stepped inside his home.

"D-dad?" He called, feeling even weaker. "Dad, are you h-home?"

He got no response. With a shaky breath, he started up the stairs. He wasn't very surprised when he found the next floor empty. He sighed painfully, his dad was at work again. He would work all day and all night, when he was home, Chester wasn't or one or the other were asleep.

"D-Dad..." He trailed off and broke down into tears, unsure what to do.

---

"He wasn't home when I needed him most," He croaked and sniffled lightly. I circled my arms around him once again. "He was at work, not because we needed the money, but to get away from me."

"Ches, are you sure-"

"Mike. I begged him whenever I saw him not to leave me but he still left. He said he'd rather be at work than see the reason why my mom left him." He said painfully. My heart aches for him and I felt my own tears swell at his words.

---

Chester sees him almost every time he closes his eyes. It's all he sees and he swore to himself that he would never let something like this happen to him again.

After he went to the therapists for the first time, he met a guy with more years under his belt. He said his name was Jason and that he became Chester's friend. Chester always wanted a friend, he'd never had one before Jason. He was familiar with others but none were his friend.

Jason took his time, building up Chester's trust. He spent only weeks getting Chester where he wanted him until he took advantage of him. That lasted years and Chester had trouble trusting anyone ever since.

---

"H-He..." Chester couldn't get any further as his eyes seemed to widen in realization and fear and he bursted into tears, clutching onto me tightly. I will do whatever I can to help him let go of the past and look forward to the future - our future.