How to Save a Life

18. alex

Emma avoids me noticeably throughout the week, but I know that she hasn't given up on me yet, no matter how much I want her to. Don't you realise you're making it worse?

It's the end of the week and all of us are eager to get home, while I wait at the cafe for Matt to arrive. He said that a friend wanted to meet him after school, so he'd arrive later, but he wanted me to wait for him—twenty minutes have passed, and there's still no sign of him. My fingers begin to fidget and pick at the bandages wrapped tightly around my left wrist—tightly so I can't take it off like last time. I'd tried once, in the hospital, to yank the bandages off, only to have the scab, which hadn't formed completely, yanked off as well, which nearly killed me—again.

I frown at my train of thought and focus instead on my coffee, which is untouched and has completely cooled down. Where is he?

My phone vibrates in my pocket, and I hastily pull it out. Matt's calling. "Matt? Where the hell are you? I've been waiting for—"

His words are short and detached. Harsh and brusque. "Alex, I need to tell you something."

"Matt, what's going on?" I abandon my coffee and move outside the coffee shop where people won't stare at me.

"We can't see each other, okay?"

"What?"

"We're breaking up."

"What?" My body tenses, and tears start to form in my eyes. "Matt, why are you—something's wrong, what the hell is going on?"

"Alex, I'm sorry, but..." he trails off for a moment, "I'm tired of you. Bye."

My blood runs cold, but my tears are hot lava trickling down my skin. I nearly drop my phone as I collapse against the cafe window and slide to the ground. This doesn't make any sense... Matt doesn't just... 'get tired' of people! Something just isn't right, and I don't believe a word that Matt has said, but right now I can't think. All I can do is cry as I struggle to understand what the hell is going on with my life and why it's falling apart.