The Promise Path

~ Chapter Three ~

Today it stops. Today she will pass on to wherever people go after they leave their earthly bodies. Today she will stop being a burden for those that she loves.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Lucy walks to Avery's house, bored by her own silent, empty house. She wants a break from her battling thoughts. When she reaches Avery's house, she knocks on the door. No answer. She knocks more forcefully. Still no reply.

Worried about her friend, Lucy bursts into the house and runs upstairs to Avery's bedroom. She sees that the bathroom door is slightly open. Lucy decides to peer in. The site that greets her has her reeling back in shock and horror as her hand flies to her mouth. Lucy feels nauseous.

She rushes into the room and pulls Avery out of the tub, rummaging around the cupboards in the bathroom to look for bandages. She breathes a huge sigh of relief when she finally finds them. Desperate to help her friend, Lucy folds a hand towel and places it on the wound to soak up the blood and hopefully staunch the blood flow. To keep it there, she wraps it multiple times in bandages.

Only now noticing that Avery isn't wearing any clothes, Lucy blushes a deep scarlet. Her fear for her friend escalates and pushes past the embarrassment when she notices how bony Avery is. Lucy knows that this means Avery hasn't been eating, and can only wonder how long this has been going on. The tears she so desperately wanted to keep from falling finally start to pour from her eyes as she stares at her too skinny, too pale best friend.

Lucy knows she needs to get help, but she also knows there are very few people who actually would help Avery. She decides to get a message to Avery's father by letter. Lucy scouts around Avery's bedroom for some paper and something to write with and comes across a half decent piece of parchment and a quill. She quickly scribbles down a message to Avery's father telling him to come back home immediately, then rushes downstairs to make the call. A loud, high pitched howl escapes her lips and heard almost immediately by a wolf with deep grey fur and beautiful fire-like, amber eyes. She sheds a single tear, hoping that the fire within her best friend hasn't burnt out. She quickly pets the wolf to show her gratitude and carefully ties the letter to its neck and sends it off to find Jason.

~ IT IS SAFE TO READ NOW, IT IS MOSTLY OVER. SENSITIVE SUBJECTS WILL STILL BE MENTIONED, BUT NOT IN ANY DEPTH. DON'T WORRY IF YOU THINK YOU MISSED ANYTHING, THAT PART ISN'T NECESSARY TO READ. YOU WILL FIND OUT WHAT HAPPENED SOON IN THIS CHAPTER ANYWAY, DO NOT BE ALARMED. ~

Lucy anxiously paces in Avery's bedroom, having since clothed her best friend and carefully placed her in her bed. She occasionally checks Avery's pulse to make sure she's still alive. Avery hasn't woken up yet since Lucy found her in the bathtub with cuts on her right arm. Lucy waits nervously for Avery's father, Jason, hoping that he got the message and is on his way.

"Lucy? Are you here?" Jason calls up the stairs, closing the door behind him.

"Yes! We're up here, hurry!" Lucy shouts back, her concern for Avery evident in her voice. Spurred on by Lucy's nervousness and her cryptic note, Jason practically leaps up the stairs and enters his daughter's room only to see her dark skin drastically lighter than it should be. Jason looks over at Lucy, confused. She shakes her head, taking small steps away from Avery as she covers her mouth and tears steadily stream from her eyes.

"What's wrong, Lucy?" Jason asks. Lucy quietly answers,

"Look at her right arm." Jason walks over to his daughter's bedside and pulls the covers down to reveal a hand towel and bandages on her arm. He slowly unravels them, taking the hand towel away only to see blood and lots of it. Panic fills him and he runs into the adjoining bathroom, grabbing another hand towel and drenching it with water and a bit of soap to clean the wound.

He gently wipes Avery's arm free of all of the blood only to see the message she sliced into her arm. In shock, Jason slowly looks up at Lucy. She looks back at him, slightly confused with tears still falling from her eyes.

"Her arm says something. She wrote something when she did it." Jason states, his voice shaking. Lucy gulps before asking,

"What did she write?"

"Lucy."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Author's Note:
Hey guys! I'm sorry if this chapter made any of you upset, that was not my intention. If you know someone who is in a similar position to Avery or you are yourself and you want someone to talk to, please feel free to contact me and Sophia at any time. Don't be afraid, we won't judge I swear.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed regardless and are excited for future chapters, I know part of me is! The other part is slightly dreading them, since I know more scenes like this chapter are in the future. But don't worry about those, it'll get better eventually. Everything always does.

~ Nia and Sophia