She sits at her desk, pulls open her drawer and takes out a few newspaper clippings from when the local newspaper covered her attack and suicide attempt. She grips onto them as tears stream down her eyes, trying to get rid of the intrusive thoughts swimming through her head. She scrunches them into a ball and chucks them into the bin. Without even thinking, she takes a craft blade from the drawer with her left hand and slowly presses it to the skin of her right wrist, pressing hard until it draws blood before dragging the blade, slicing through the skin.

Downstairs, T.K. has a feeling that something is wrong with Avery. 

'I'm going to go check on her.' T.K. tells Owen. 

'Maybe we should give her some space.' Owen replies. 

'I don't know.' T.K. sighs as he shakes his head. 'I have a bad feeling. My brother radar is going off.' 

'Your "brother radar"?' Owen raises an eyebrow. 

'I just know when something is going on with Avery.' T.K. shrugs. 'Sometimes even before anything happens.' He then walks off and makes his way up to Avery's room. As he gets closer to her room, he hears her hissing as if she's in pain. He picks up his pace and rushes into her room. 'Avery!' He exclaims, seeing the blade in her hand and the cuts on her wrist. She looks at him, tears staining her cheeks. 'Ave.' He adds softly as he walks towards.

'I-' Avery whispers as she spins her chair to face him. T.K. kneels in front of her. 'I don't realise I was doing it until I was doing it.' 

'It's okay.' He replies, carefully taking the blade from her hand. 'Dad!' He shouts. He takes a closer look at the cuts. 'You won't need stitches' He states. Owen walks into the room and as soon as he sees the cuts, worry descends on his face. T.K. looks back at him. 'She's fine, can you get the first aid kit?' Owen nods and leaves to get the first aid kit. He returns a few minutes later and kneels next to T.K. He takes out the wipes from the first aid kit and hands them to his son who starts cleaning up the blood from Avery's arm. 

'I'm sorry.' Avery says quietly.

'Hey,' Owen starts softly, holding her hand, 'don't apologise, okay?' Avery looks at him and sees that his eyes are starting to fill with tears. 'You're human, it's normal to feel this way.' 

'I shouldn't have cut.' Avery shakes her head. 'I've been clean for so long and now-' Avery stops, not being able to continue. 

'Ave look at me.' T.K. says but Avery ignores him. 'Avery, look at me.' This time Avery looks at him. 'Relapsing isn't something to be ashamed of. Trust me, I would know.' He starts putting gauze on the cuts and gets a bandage out. 

'Your brother is right.' Owen adds. 'Never be ashamed of how you feel. Ever.' Avery smiles slightly and nods. 'I'm going to go make you a mug of hot chocolate.' Owen stands up and walks out of the room.

'Do you know what triggered this?' T.K. questions as he starts wrapping the banadgae around her arm. 

'Seeing Matthew today was- it was hard. Telling you what he did was even harder. Keeping it from dad is - it's super hard,' Avery responds, 'and then-' she points to the bin with the newspaper clippings in. Since T.K. has now finished bandaging Avery's arm and secured it, he reaches over to the bin and take them out. When he unfolds them and sees what they're about, he sighs. 'I thought that if I kept them then it would be a reminder, later in life, of what I've survived.' She says. 'If I survive that long.' She adds quieter, but T.K. clearly hears. 

'Don't thnk like that, Ave.' T.K. reassures her. 'You'll get through this. We will help you through this.'

.

A couple of days have passed. Avery and T.K. are sat in the waiting room of Avery's therapist. 

'You didn't have to come with me.' Avery tells him. 

'After the other day, I didn't want you to be alone.' T.K. tells her.

'Right,I get it,' Avery laughs gently, 'you and dad are worried that if you leave me alone I'll off myself or something.'

'Ave-' 

'The other day was just a blip.' Avery states. 'You and dad coddling me isn't going to help. It's just going to make me feel like I'm being suffocated. I know you just want what's best for me and you want to keep me safe but the best way for you and dad to do that is to listen to me when I say what helps and what doesn't.' 

'You know that you can talk to us whenever about whatever right?' T.K. raises an eyebrow. 'Or Carlos? Or anyone at the 126?' 

'Yeah.' Avery nods.

'Good.' T.K. smiles slightly. 'I'll pick you up after your session.' He tells her as he stands up.

'Thanks.' Avery nods. T.K. hesistates before walking off.

'Avery Strand?' Avery hears her name being called for ehr appointment. She too hesistates for a couple of minutes. 'Avery Strand?' The person who called her name repeats. Avery takes a deep breath, stands and walks up to them. The person is holding an IPad in their hand. 'Avery?'

'Yeah.' Avery sighs and nods.

'Your therapist is running a bit late, would you like to wait or reschedule?' The person tells her.

'Erm, I'll reschedule.' Avery replies. The person looks at their IPad and then back up at Avery.

'Is two weeks today okay? Same time?' They query. 

'That's fine.' Avery nods.

'Great.' The person books the appointment on the IPad. 'We'll see you then.' Avery nods, turns around and walks off. 

An hour later, T.K. walks back into the waiting room to wait for Avery. After 15 minutes of waiting, he walks up to the desk.

'Hi, erm, my sister had an appointment. I told her I'd pick her up - her session should have finished by now. Do you know how long she'll be?' T.K. asks her.

'What's your sister's name?' The receptionist asks. 

'Avery Kate Strand.' T.K. responds. The receptionist types Avery's name into her computer and after a couple of minutes looks back up at T.K.. 

'She isn't here.' The receptionst shakes her head.

'What do you mean she isn't here?!' T.K. exclaims. 

'Her therapist was running late so we gave Avery the option to either wait or reschedule.' The receptionist informs him. That was probably around an hour and a half ago. 

'Right, thanks.' T.K. sighs and the recepitonist smiles and nods. As he's walking out of the office, he gets his phone out and calls Avery. It goes straight to voicemail. 'Avery, when you get this, call me back, please.' He leaves a mesage. He hangs up and calls Owen. 

'T.K., how did Avery do?' Owen asks as soon as he answers.

'Avery convinced me to leave her alone.' T.K. says. 'She left.'

'What?' Owen asks confused. 

'I'm on my way to the station, I'll explain when I get there. I'm gonna text Carlos, see if he can drive around looking for her.' T.K. says before quickly hanging up. He goes to text Carlos but then he realises something. He goes into his contacts but instead of texting Carlos, he texts someone else.

To: Chimney (118 - LA) 

Hey, sorry to bother you. Avery has gone missing. It's been a tough few days and I think she might be making her way to LA. Can you keep your eye out for her? 

~~~~~~~

I know, I know - it's been a long time since I've updated any of my stories.  I haven't really felt motivated to write  and all of my focus has been going on reading haha - I've read 102 books so far this year which is insane! On top of that, I started a new job back in April so I've been super busy with that too.

When my next update will be, who knows?!

Anyways

Let me know what you think!

Much love