Your chest heaved in and out. You glanced at the foggy mirror to make sure there were not any holes on your head. Instead, what stared back was a broken, beaten mess. The wild eyes of a terrified girl blinked back at you.

Your face had contorted and darkened with battle bruises, black, red and blue, tears streamed down your face like rivers. Droplets dripped from the strands of your hair. You slowly lifted the hem of your shirt to reveal even more of those patches. Your fingers drifted over your ribs. Your thumb barely grazed the skin but even the slightest touch smarted.

Their unkind whispers lingered longer. Never had you ever brushed death so close. Your thoughts came whizzing in your mind like cars racing, each one clashing against the other. You could not bear to imagine what would have happened if Pauline pulled the trigger.

You couldn't come to Jeremy looking like this, but you had already accepted his offer. It would be rude, and even if you chose not to come, Jeremy would be at the doorstep asking about it.

Your shaky fingers reached out to the remains of your flip phone, it was riddled with scratches, and the screen was split. Yet, it could still function. His message and your reply appeared.

You hastily washed your face and exited the bathroom, keeping your head down as to not draw any attention. Zipping up your hoodie.

Just like Jeremy.

...

(Jeremy's POV)

You would have never imagined the joy I had felt when she accepted. It was almost like I was floating throughout the house, I was stripped of all of the shame and embarrassment I had when I completely slaughtered the spelling later in the text.

"Whatcha' smilin' at, dipstick?" Noah pounced onto me, heavy hands seizing, pulling me out of euphoria. The force caused shivers of pain firing off into my small body. He hung from the upper bunk bed, that dangling daredevil. His coffee-tinged curls drooped from his head. 

My family was a hot mess. From oldest to youngest, Scott, Benjamin, Noah, Johnathan, the twins, Skipper and Saige, Mason, and me. My eldest brother, Serious Scott as an endearment, was the first to move out of the house, promising to send money to my mother with his construction foreman's salary. Benjamin was off studying in some college, good for him. I had never got the chance to know my father, my ma told me that he had died briefly after Noah was born.

"Nothin' much," My face warmed, quickly shoving my phone deep into my pocket.

"You've got a GIRLLLFRIENND?" He dragged the last word. I knew that look in his eye, the knowing kind. Noah was the Jester (and most attention-seeking) of all the boys. Eyebrows bounced on his forehead.

It left me sputtering, "W-what?! NO! I... she... helped me, in school and Ma wanted to bring her ova' for dinna'... to.. to say thanks!"

He clambered down from the bunk, a suggestive grin crept up his face, "We could free up one of the bedrooms upstairs. Ta give ya guys a little... ya know... privacy?" 

I was going to burst. 

"STOP! JUST shuttup shuttup shuttup..." I pushed him out of the room. The grin still plastered onto his face. 

"Let me know when you need he-!" The door was slammed shut, pinching off his sentence. I didn't need any help. I got this under the bag! Well, I hope. 

I braced myself onto the study desk, the pain kept coming back. 

Neil sure did pack a punch. 

My eyes flickered over to the window, she should be dismissed from school by now. Out of the corner of my eye, she strode off into her eggshell home. 

Glancing over her shoulder every once in a while, she was quaking like an autumn leaf. Her cheeks glistened with moisture. A sense of dread lingered around her. She fumbled with the inside of her pockets, I watched as she failed over and over again. Her frail hands clasped her keys, they shook with the magnitude of a thousand earthquakes, until she managed to unlock her door. 

My eyes caught the slight discolouration on her forehead. I could recognise that anywhere. 

Something was horribly wrong.