Arms

Epilogue

"Is this Lucas?" was the first thing he'd asked.

I remember my eyebrows furrowing, and I answered him with a rather drawn out yes. "This is Mr. Owens. You were...you were pretty good friends with Macey, right?" he sounded choked up, as if he could cry any moment. I felt a nudge at my leg and looked down at Ava who had run into me. I gave her a death glare before answering him.

"Yeah...I-I am." I was a bit nervous and a lot confused on why he'd decided to call me. Soon I would know though, and my world would come crashing down. I heard Ava squeal from the living room, where my dad was probably tickling her.

I rolled my eyes and decided to step outside, where I could hear better. I sat down on the stairs and continued to focus on Mr. Owen's voice.

"Then...did you know that Macey was..." he trailed off as if he wanted me to finish the sentence for him. I stayed quiet, still very confused. "Did you know that she...that she cut herself?" My breath caught in my throat and I stuttered out a response that didn't even make sense to me.

Had she told her dad? Had she finally decided to get help? "Look..." he started. "Macey...she um...she hurt herself. She cut herself, Lucas." he croaked, and even though I'd only met him once, I could picture him crying at the thought of his little girl harming herself in such a way.

I remained silent, not quite sure what to say. "It was pretty bad." he continued, and then he'd let out a bitter, humorless laugh. "It was bad. It's like...like she broke. Like she just snapped. It was all over, too...she just cut all over."

"I..." I began to say, until I realized I didn't know what I was going to say. "Is...is she alright?" I managed to choke out. I held my breath and prayed that she was. 

Another bitter laugh. "I tried...oh I tried. I found her, in the bathroom. Just...she was just lying there. She was lying in a pool of her own blood. I took her in my arms. I took her into the backseat and drove. I drove as fast as I could. She was too long gone." he'd finished. 

It took a while for everything to sink in, and still when it had, I asked, "What do you mean?" 

"Lucas...Macey, she...she killed herself..." a chocking sob came from his side of the phone. I didn't know what to do with myself. I felt like throwing up, right then and there. "I-I'm so sorry. It's just..." I heard Mr. Owens trail off. 

I shook my head. "It's fine. I-uh...Thank you...for um...for telling me." I slowly hung up the phone and placed it down next to me without saying goodbye. I had sat there, looking out at the houses across the street illuminated by the setting sun, until my mom poked her head out of the house.

"The dishes aren't going to wash themselves, Lucas." she said in a playful tone. When I didn't respond with some sarcastic comeback, she came out of the house and sat down next to me, knowing something was wrong. "Lucas?" she questioned, her dark eyebrows furrowed.

I glanced at her, her figure blurred from the tears building up in my eyes. I had let out a defeated whimper and latched onto my mother's small frame. I was at least a foot taller than her, but I didn't care. I needed her to ruffle my hair, like she'd done when I was little, and tell me everything was going to be alright.

She was shocked at first, but then wrapped her arms around me, and held me tight. She clutched onto the back of my shirt, and I thought I felt a tear hit my shoulder. She pulled away from me slightly, and looked up at me. "Lucas what's wrong? What's the matter?" she asked, searching my face.

I couldn't talk. I couldn't breathe. My whole body went numb and I felt as though my whole world was closing in on me. For once in a long time, I was the one who needed comforting. I was the one who needed someone to caress my hair, and hold me tight in their arms.