"It's open." I said, looking up from my phone. The door creaked open, but it wasn't who I was expecting to see at my door. My mom was there, along with a boy.

The boy had dark brown hair, which was shaved on one side and messy on the other side. He wore a black t-shirt, some blue jeans, and some red tennis shoes. His skin was tanned, but not too tan. He had brown eyes that always sparkled with whatever emotion he was feeling, which currently was happiness and mischief. He had a silly grin on his face, which was usually there. His name was Mark, and he was one of my best childhood friends. His goofy grin turned into a smirk.

"Are you just going to stand there with your mouth open or are you going to do something?" Mark said, opening his arms so I could walk up to him and hug him. His deep voice was toned with lightheartedness as usual. I grinned and raised an eyebrow at him as my mom just watched us with a heartwarming smile on her face.

"Of course I'm gonna do something, you doof. What else would I do? Catch flies in my mouth like a frog would?" I said, walking up to him and wrapping my arms around him. He smiled and hugged me back. We stayed there for a little bit.

When we finally broke away from our little hug, I looked at my clock. The time was 5:45. One hour and forty five minutes until we have to go to he-, I mean, high school.

"Elaine, honey, your breakfast is on your desk. Good to see you, Mark. Can you walk Elaine to school please? I know she can walk herself but I feel safer letting her go with a friend of hers." My mom said, walking out of my room, but she paused in the doorway for a bit to hear Mark's answer.

"I can walk her to school, Mrs. Lovington." Mark said, smiling as I walked over to my black desk, sitting down on my sky blue gaming chair, turning it around to face my door, and Mark, waiting for the door to close.

"Thank you Mark, and please, don't call me Mrs. Lovington. Call me Mary, or Elaine's mom. Elaine, have a good day, sweetie, and text me if you have any plans after school, or if you need to be picked up from school, ok?" My mom said. "Sure thing, Mom. Save some lives for me! Let me know if you have to work late tonight or if you can't pick me up from wherever I am by texting or calling me, ok?" I said.

"Alright, sweetie. Goodbye." She said, shutting my door as she left. I smiled at the door and looked at my food. My mom had brought me some cereal, a banana, a small glass of orange juice, and a small package. I decided to peel open the banana and eat it.

"So, what happened to you? I don't think I saw those bandaids on you yesterday." Mark said, sitting on my bed, looking at my bandaged-up cuts on my exposed arms and face.

'Fuck. I should've prepared for this. I'm a damn idiot.' I thought.

'Damn right you are.' I mentally sighed. Of course they would have to show up. I really didn't want to deal with them right now.

'Fuck you anxiety. I don't have time for any of your fucking shit right now.' I thought, making a mental note to watch some YouTube later, so I could clear my head of any negativity.

'Wow, harsh. I'm always here whether you like it or not. Always waiting for the right moment to jump in and fuck up everything.'

'Whatever. You could burn in a fire for all I care.'

I tried to think of something good to say.

"Mark, I'm fi-"Nope. I don't wanna hear any of that bullshit. What really happened?" I tried to tell him that I was fine but he interrupted me. I finished my banana and quickly put the peel in my trash can underneath my desk. I stared at my cereal for a minute before beginning to eat it.

"Please?" He said. His deep, but soft voice was pleading, almost begging for me to tell him what was wrong... but I'm not usually easily persuaded. It takes a while for something to break through my emotional and mental walls. I didn't look up. I just kept eating my cereal.

"Elaine, at least look at me." He said. I sighed and slowly looked away from my cereal. I looked at Mark, but I didn't meet his brown eyes. I knew all too well what I'd see, and it would shatter my invisible shields. I kept my eyes on his black t-shirt. I gulped.

"Elaine. I just want to know what's going on." He said it like he was genuinely concerned for me.

'I know he'll leave me. Just like all the others. They can't find out my secrets. Everyone left.... because of me...' I sigh and gulp.

"You really want to know the truth, Mark?" I said it in a whisper, like I was afraid that someone would hear us talking through the walls of this house. I looked at his brown eyes. He looked serious.

"Yes. Elaine, I can handle it." He said, in his normal tone.

"Mark... You need to promise me something." I said in a serious tone.

"Sure." He said, his voice was getting serious.

"Promise me that no matter what you hear, you will remain my friend." I said, like I was reciting school rules or something.

"Elaine, nothing could ever make me stop being your friend." He said, smiling gently at me.

"This subject stays inside of our friend group, and only our friend group. I don't care if you tell Sean, your mom, or Iris, but, no matter what, please, please... don't tell Ethan. I want to tell him myself." I said, kinda pleading along the last part.

"Ok, ok... no telling Ethan, but I can tell Sean and Iris, subject stays inside the friend group, and I'll stay your friend no matter what I hear. I got it. Now... tell me the truth. What the hell happened to you?" He said, his brown eyes glinted with curiosity and interest.

"You know how you guys have never really met my dad?" I said, deciding to start the story there.

"Yeah." He said.

"I've always made up excuses about why he wasn't home. I kept the real reason why he wasn't home a secret..." I said, turning my head towards my window, looking away from Mark, and I finished my cereal.

"Why?" He asked. "If he found out what I told you... he'd....." I trailed off. I didn't want to tell him but I'd already dug my own grave.

"He'd what? What would he do?" Mark asked me.

"He'd kill me and my mom..." I mumbled.

"I couldn't hear you... What did you say?" He said.

"He'd kill me, Mark... He'd kill me and my mom." I said.

"What?!" Mark almost yelled, shooting up from my bed. "Mark! Keep your voice down!!!" I hissed.

"Sorry... but why have you not mentioned this before now?!?! I could've helped you!!!" He said, kinda angry but concerned, and standing next to my chair.

"I didn't want to be a burden. I didn't want to make you worry about me. Plus, even if I could get to the police, He'd kill my mom before they could get here." I said, looking into my lap.

"Elaine, could you stand up for a minute?" He said, backing away from the chair a bit so I could stand up. I stood up and said,

"Um... yeah.. wh-" My sentence was cut off from surprise as Mark hugged me for the second time that day. I was surprised for a second, but recovered and hugged him back, gently.

"I will never ever stop being your friend, Elaine. Even through the worst of times. You will never be a burden to me. You're one of the few people left in this world that cares about me..." Mark whispered gently in my ear. I gently smiled against his black shirt, because my head was buried into his shirt and he was quite a bit taller than me. We stood there for a minute or two. We finally broke the hug after what felt like forever. I glanced at my clock. It was 6:10. One hour and five minutes.

"Why do you keep looking at your clock? Afraid that we'll be late to school?" He said jokingly.

"I'm just checking the time, Mark, and yes, I want to make sure we're not late." I said.

"What other secrets have you been keeping from me, Elaine?" He said.

"I suppose that's probably the biggest one but I haven't been keeping many other big ones." I lied.

'COWARD.'

'You can't even tell your friends what you're going through. You're too AFRAID.'

'You'd be better off if you stayed silent. It's better if you don't INVOLVE anyone.'

'How about you shut the fuck up. That's not true. I told him one of my problems. They won't leave me and it'll only get fucking worse if I stay silent.'

'No. Yes, it is. Oh, you told him ONE of them. What do you want, a fucking gold star? It'll get worse either way. You're going to disappear and no one will know you were even here. It was better before because now he'll be concerned and he'll want you to open up more and more until there are no more secrets left.'

'...... The fuck have I started?'