Stars Around My Scars - Conrad Fisher

8. Close it

I sit in my room and cry. Thinking about my parents. Nicole's words replay in my head over and over again. I can't get her out.

Then I hear a knock on the door. "Hey, Mackie, it's Conrad." He says. "You okay?" He asks through the door.

I sniffle. "Y-yeah. I'm fine." I say. My voice breaks when I talk so it's no secret that I was crying.

"Mackie, I-" Conrad stops. "Just, never mind." I hear him walk away, down the stairs, and out the front door. I cry harder into my pillow. I think about the knife. I can get it. Conrad's room is next door. I heard him go down the stairs and I heard the front door close. I'm all alone.

I quietly go out of my room and I go into Conrad's. First, I check the nightstand. I see the knife and open it. Then I run to my room and go into the bathroom with it. My room has its own bathroom. Then I open my father's blade and slice against my skin. I feel the burning and stinging sensation. I go for another one but I hear footsteps.

"Close it." I hear. It's Conrad's voice. I turn around with teary eyes. He looks at me, concerned and he hugs me. I break down in his arms and I feel him take the blade from my hands and put it on the kitchen counter. He closes the bathroom door and locks it.

"I-I'm sorry." I say, still crying. Conrad wraps his arms around me a little bit tighter. I cry more and more, uncontrollably. Conrad rubs my back and I cry myself to sleep in his arms.

Conrad POV:

She calms down and her steady breaths show that she's sleeping. I carefully set her up on the counter and I clean her arm. I wrap a bandage around it and lay her in her bed with the blanket over her. I feel so bad for her, but the knife needs to go.

I grab the knife from the bathroom and I clean the blood off. Then I walk to the beach and bury it in the sand. Someone else can find it. Maybe put it to good use.

My mom just finished the painting of me but she refused to show me so I went inside. Luckily Laura told me about Mackie. That was a miracle. I go into my room and just hangout until we have to go to the book party.

Mack POV:

I wake up with sort of puffy eyes. I go look in the mirror and my eyes are pretty red. I sigh and then look at my wrist and remember my wrist. Guilt runs into me like it does every time. What would everyone else think? Why did you just hurt yourself? Would people think I'm mentally unstable? Would they send me away? So many worries go through my mind.

Then I remember. Conrad. Fuck. He wrapped my wrist but I don't know where he put the blade. Hopefully far away. I sigh and decide to get a shower. I brought my shower speaker with so I play my mix of music. Rock, Rap, and Country. It's actually a really good mix. I unwrap my wrist and get into the shower.

"I could be happier alone. Happier alone." The speaker plays. Austin Meade is pretty good if you ask me. One of my friends introduced me to country and I instantly clicked with it.

I listen to a few more songs and then I get out. My wrist stopped bleeding so I have to use some bracelets and a long sleeve shirt to cover the cut.

I dry myself off and brush my hair. It's still wet but after it dries, it has this curly look to it that I like. Then I put on a long sleeved shirt and some black athletic shorts. I slide some bracelets and my Apple Watch onto my wrist and then I put on my black converse.

I walk down stairs and see Laura in a nice outfit. "Hey Aunt Laura." I say.

"Hey Mackenzie! Are you coming to my book party? Everyone else is going." She says.

"Yeah I was planning on going." I say.

"Okay!" She says. "The boys are playing video games on the couch."

"Ok." I say. I walk into the living room and hop on the couch next to Jeremiah. "What's up guys?" I ask.

"Wow, you're energetic. And actually talking." Stevie says. I give him a little punch.

"Yeah, because after a shower, I'm actually in a decent mood." I say. I can see Conrad staring me down from the corner of my eye.

"How was the deb thing?" Jere asks.

"Shitty." I say. "I don't wanna talk about it." I say.

"Ok, fair enough." Jere says. Then Belly walks in. She's wearing some crochet top and says that she's going to the drive in with that guy Cameron. A few minutes later, she leaves.

Stevie gives me a controller. "I know that you're good at this game so hop on." He says. I smile a little and turns on the controller and play.

"Damn!" Jeremiah says. "You're right Stevie."

About an hour later, it's just me and Conrad playing. We're both kind of tired of the game so we aren't really trying.

Conrad stops playing and gets up and looks around, then he sits back down.

"How was your deb thing?" Conrad asks me. "I didn't hear what you said when Jere asked you."

"Shitty." I say. I stop playing and Conrad and I look at each other. "C-Conrad, like I said before, I'm working on it." I say. "And you know what I mean by 'it'."

Conrad slowly nods. "Don't do it again Mack." He says. "It doesn't solve anything."

"Yeah, I've figured that out." I say. "Thanks."

"No problem." He says. He wraps his arm around my shoulders and we watch tv.