All The Bright Places

Small Cuts

(Unedited)

Marinette's POV

I awoke the next morning with a small smile on my face. I hurried to school and sat at my usual desk. I noticed Adrien glancing at me a lot but I didn't think much of it. He was probably looking at Lila. And she was there, only to make my day worse.

She tripped me up, punched me a few times, and said mean things.
And for some reason, I felt nothing. I was numb. I laughed so hard about it, she called me crazy and left. After she left, I cried. I clutched my chest and screamed as tears poured down my face. I ran home and slid the blade down my wrist over and over until my whole arm looked like a cutting board. Blood spilled everywhere.

I got dizzy and collapsed to the floor, passing out. At some point I awoke but I was no longer in the bathroom. Instead I was laying on my bed, with my arm covered in bandages. I slowly raised up and saw Chat sitting at the end of my bed. He had one hand on my ankle.

"Chat?"

"Mari, your awake..." He jumped a little, sitting up straight.

I slowly sat up and rubbed my head. I had a killer headache.

"Chat... I..."

"I already cleaned the blood."
He turned to face me, cutting my words off. His face was red but I couldn't tell if it was out of anger or maybe... him being upset? I didn't know what to say so I put my head back down as a few tears slipped out.

"Mari, why?"

"I don't know."

We sat in silence for a few moments before he tried to hug me.
"Chat... p-please don't pretend like you care."

"But, I do care. What makes you think I don't?"

"Everyone else just pretends to care, why should I believe you?"

"Because..."

"Because, why?"

"Because you just should."

"That's not a good excuse."

"Because I just care about you, okay?"

Silence.

"That's not true." My tone was flat as if I didn't care whether he did or not.

"Who said you get to decide on who I care about now?"

"It's the truth..."

"No it's not, Marinette. I really do care about you."

"Whatever."

He sighed and stood up.

"Have you thought about going to a therapist or doctor about this?"

"W...What?"

"A therapist or doctor. They can help you with these types of things."

"No. I'm not going to one of those."

"Well, I'm not going to just sit here and watch you hurt yourself. Okay?"

I lowered my head, looking down at the bandages. I felt horrible.

"Then leave."  I mumbled quietly.

He sat there silently, his ears drooping even lower than they were before. He waited a moment and then stood up, walking to the balcony door.

"Chat! No... I... Please come back. I didn't mean that..."

He shook his head, still clearly upset.

"Then what did you mean?" His voice was low

"I mean that... I need you to stay. I just... don't want you or others worrying about me, is all."

"I worry about you regardless"

"You don't even..."

"I don't even, what?"

"You don't even know me, Chat. Why worry about someone you barely know?"

"I know more about you than you think, Mari."

I felt like I was making this worse than it already was. I stood up, shakily and grabbed his leather sleeve.

"Chaton, please. Please don't leave me." I finally looked up at him desperately. He sighed and relaxed his shoulders, turning back to look at me in defeat.

"Fine. But I have to leave in a bit anyways. It's getting... late." He still sounded upset.

I nodded and moved closer, wrapping my whole body around his, hugging him tightly.

"Thank you."