On the Edge

Prologe

Before

 

Cate’s P.O.V.

I pull myself out of bed and look in the mirror. No wonder why my dad didn't want me. I grab the brush and start to brush my hair. I trace the faint scar that’s on my arm with my finger. I look around the room. I have been here for two days, and I am already sick of the cream colored wallpaper. I share a room with 5 other girls, and don’t even know their names. 72 hours and I don’t even have a single friend here. What 15 year old doesn’t have a single friend in their life? I absolutely hate it here in this orphanage, but it’s probably going to be my home until I’m 18. Everyone always picks the little kids. They never go for the older ones. I hear the faint bell for breakfast. I start to walk out of my room but a group of 10 year olds make me trip and fall on my arm. Pain shoots up my arm and my vision started to go blurry. I look up and see a circle of people looking down at me. My body gets lifted up onto the gurney and everything goes black.

Bailee’s POV

An alarm. That’s all I heard. I think that’s all anyone heard on that terrible morning. It was 3 am on a Wednesday morning which leads to how I woke up. I stood up and looked in the mirror, checking my nonexistent hair, and ran out of my room-number 187. I almost bumped into a girl with really long, black hair. She didn’t even look back, so I kept running. I was running to my best friend Emily’s room-number 143. I wanted to make sure she was okay because the only other time I was ever woken up this late, she was rushed into this hell hole. I saw her peaceful body sleeping and began to tiptoe out when I was almost trampled by a gurney. I saw a girl with similar features to my own laying looking terrified on the gurney. “I guess that alarm was for her,” I whispered to myself. I started to walk to my own room but I quickly got distracted when I saw a boy. A pretty cute one if I say so myself, but then I remembered my cancer. No boy like that would like a girl like me. I resumed walking back to my room. I was trapped in my thoughts so I decided to go back to bed, disappointed in myself again.

Shelby’s POV

 

Again, we are waiting in the hospital, at 3:04 am. El tried to end her life. She can’t though, she is all I have in this hell hole we call a world. I am hated by basically everyone. Every guy I’ve dated was conceded and tried to take advantage of me. I can’t trust anyone but El. I thought I could trust my foster family, but the trust didn’t last long. Bruises, blood, horrible names. I believed every word they said. I guess I deserved the abuse, too. My depression arose, my anxiety right with it. I was never happy from that moment on until I met El. She became my best friend. She understood me. I ran away from the people that ‘cared’ for me, I went to live with her. We have fun, other than the suicide attempts and crying to each other basically everyday. “Why cant we be happy?” I thought to myself as I leant against the wall outside of her hospital room, crying, listening to the faint nearby ‘beeps’ of her heart monitor.

El’s P.O.V

 

“BEEP BEEP” I hear that horrible sound again. The heart monitor beeping informed me that my latest attempt failed. I tear my eyes open and look down at my bandages.I hear the faint sound of crying and I instantly shot up and ran to the door. I got a little light headed but I managed to open the door. I glance down to see my best friend, Shelby, crying on the floor. I bend down and whispered her name. She looked up and grabbed me into a bear hug, being sure to avoid my arms. Shelby just keep whispering,” Why?” I told her she knew why.That’s a story for another day. ‘When does the pain end?’ I think to myself as a gurney rushes past us.

Emily’s P.O.V.

 

I drag myself out of dreams in the morning. They mock me. I dream that I am with my cheerleading squad going up in a stunt. I come down and start doing back hand springs. Suddenly, I hear a crack and I collapse to the ground. A circle forms around me and everyone is gasping. I try to get back up on my feet, but I can’t. In fact, I can’t even move my legs. Paralyzed, for some people, it is just a word, but for me it means the world.

My eyes shoot open. This is the third time this week that I had the same dream or should I say nightmare. It is 3:05 AM. I notice that the alarm is going off. That means a new patient, another awful backstory, another person to worry about. I am surprised that it wakes me up, I am a deep sleeper. Across the hall I see Bailee, my best friend tiptoeing back into her room. It must have woken her up too. I am so happy to have Bailee for a friend. At first, my arms weren’t strong enough to push myself around in a wheelchair, so she did. And she cared for me a lot. We were in this hospital for a long time, that is how we became so close. A gurney is frantically pushed past my room. On it is a girl , and she looks very similar to Bailee.