Your Fall

Two Spots; One Mark

You make your way to your first class of the day, not caring that you missed the other two this morning as you trudge down the corridor. You take the final turn to the corridor where the classroom is. You slow your pace. Your head pounds.

You lean against the wall. Your body stiff against the cold metal of the corridor. You keep your eyes down and slip your shaking hand into your pocket pulling out 3 pills from the baggie.

You lean your head back and close your eyes dry swallowing the pills before letting out a gasp of breath.

"Hey Y/nn, you okay." You nod your head not opening your eyes. You hear shifting next to you and are aware that Raven is leaning beside you on the wall.

"Where were you during mechs and politics." Your heart is still beating too fast but your breathing has slowed enough as her voice seems to come into focus in your head. You shrug her shoulders. You have no energy to answer her question as your eyelids start to feel heavy again.

"Y/nn?" You push out a hum. "Are you okay." You open your opens and turn towards her forcing a smile on your lips.

"Ya, 'm good. We should get to class." Without pausing to hear her reply and rebalance on your feet and continue trudging to the door of the classroom.

"Will you at least sit next to me instead of the back?" You don't answer. Just keep your eyes low and head down behind your hood.

You feel nothing in your cloudy head as Raven wraps her arms around your shoulders and leads you to the nearest desks in the middle of the classroom.

Your fingers anxiously tap the desk in front of you. You feel her eyes on the side of your face and push back as much as you can into your hood without moving.

You hear creaking as she leans toward you in her seat and tries to make eye contact. Your gaze doesn't move from your fingers on the desk. Her hand rubs up and down your arm trying to calm you, but she doesn't know how much her touch hurts you even through the sleeve of your sweatshirt.

With a sigh, she leans back in her chair but keeps her hand on your arm. "After class, I want to show you something." Her voice isn't directly coming towards you but the squeeze of your hand lets you know she is talking to you.

"Alright, class." You hear the clicks of Ms. Devon's heels. "Please come up to my desk and grab the worksheets we will be working on today."

You slowly get up as you hear others around you sit back down. You hardly notice that Raven had waited to get up with you. With your eyes down you plod forward, staying focused on the legs of seats, chairs, and people as you pass to the front.

You grab one of each of the three small packets ignoring the cold air of the room when it hits your arms. You nod your head to Ms. Devon as a response to her asking how you are then trudging slowly back to your seat.

Once you sit, you feel a warm hand on your wrist. You bite your lip as pain numbs your senses while the brunette pulls your arm closer to her.

"Y/nn, where did these bruises and cuts come from." You barely hear her whisper and respond by shaking your head and taking your arm back onto your desk before pulling your sleeves down.

~

Your eyes stay closed but you can hear Raven pacing in the room beside you. Your body is raised off the ground as you can feel your arms hang loosely towards the ground.

"Hey Raven, I came as quickly as I could. What's wrong?" Without moving you identify the voice of Arly, concern crackling in her usual mellow tone.

"Arly thank goodness. These can't wait." There is some rustling and shuffling across the room where you assume is the spot where Arly's table is. "She needs to see what Cayen drew for her. I know exactly where you should put them."

"Is she alright?" Your hands feel numb as they lightly glide in the air beneath you.

"She will be, I promise. Please, Arly. She needs these." You can hear the crackle of paper somewhere in the room.

"Cayen drew these?"

"Yes, we were working on it a few days before.."

"What do they mean?"

"They're to tell her to keep going. This small one with two dots represents the continuation of a sentence when it could have been stopped. A symbol of the act of choosing to continue."

"And this one?"

"It symbolizes and. That she is not finished. She's here right now and tomorrow she'll be somewhere else."

"I like them." "Colors?"

"Both black."

"Okay, and where do you want them?"

"The uh... The two dots... oh semicolon, that's the name. The semicolon can go on her left wrist right on top of the vein." You hear their footsteps lightly move towards you on the bed. You bite your bottom lip as you feel your sleeves being pulled up.

"Wow... you are lucky that she did not shred this part of her arm yet otherwise we would have to wait." The zipping noise of your sweatshirt bounces off the walls of the small room. You feel your torso being raised and then the cool air of the room. "Jeez, where did she even get all the bruises."

"I don't know. She won't tell me." Your teeth bite down harder on your lip as you hear the concern in her tone. You are not worth her worry.

A sigh seems to freeze the two girls before Arly clears her throat and walks to another part of the room.

"What about the other one?" You hear her voice is tight and the sound of water running.

"The ampersand should be pretty big and on her right shoulder blade."

"Okay, no damage here so I will start her first. I'll need you to clean up her arms so that they are closer to ready when it comes time for me to work there." You feel yourself being turned on your stomach. You let out a breath only to bite down harder on your lip as you feel cold stings rise on your arms. You taste blood.

"Thank you, Arly."

"Don't mention it. Let's get to work."