Total pages in book: 81
Estimated words: 73153 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 366(@200wpm)___ 293(@250wpm)___ 244(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73153 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 366(@200wpm)___ 293(@250wpm)___ 244(@300wpm)
I didn’t know how he could stand to sit still. I couldn't. I felt like I was going to go nuts.
Paul came in and put a hand on my shoulder. I gritted my teeth and flinched at his touch, turning to glare at him. "What?"
"We're going to be out here a while. Do you want a drink?" He was used to how I could get when I was stressed after all of the years of him and I being brothers.
"No.” I went back to pacing.
Tracey had to be okay. All I could picture was all of that blood. I could still smell the copper scent of it.
There was so fucking much.
It was a miracle she was alive.
I was so thankful we had gotten to Kaleb's house in time.
By the time the nurse came out to get us, all of Kaleb's family was there, and my feet hurt from all of the pacing that I had done. I needed a cigarette—badly.
"What's going on? Is she okay?” Miss Brinson was on the doctor as soon as he came into view.
"Tracey is stable. I would like to discuss something with you, if that is okay?"
I watched them with hard eyes as they went off to talk quietly. After a moment, Kaleb's mom came back over. "We can go see her. She's in room 213 on the second floor."
She didn't have to tell me twice. I stormed over to the elevators and slammed my fist over the button to go up. Krista grabbed my hand and squeezed it. "You okay?"
I shook my head no. No, I wasn't fucking okay. I couldn't understand why Tracey did this to herself, and I wouldn't be okay until she explained it to me.
When we got to her room, I clenched my jaw at the sight of the scars covering her pale wrists. She had obviously done this more than just this one time. Why hadn't she accomplished it before now? What the fuck had stopped her?
Her eyes fluttered open and immediately landed on me since I was the closest to her bed. She quickly grabbed the blanket to cover her arms, but I just glared at her. "Too late; I've already seen them.” I wasn’t able to stop the anger from filtering into my words.
"Yeah, but not everybody else has." She looked away from me, not wanting to meet my eyes.
"We're so glad you're okay!" Miss Brinson was a mess. I clenched my jaw, almost having forgotten they were in the room with us. "I've never been more scared in my life, Tracey. You can't do something like that again! Where'd you even get those scissors from?"
"School.” She spoke so low though that I could hardly understand her.
I gripped her chin in my hand and forced her to look at me. Panic flooded her eyes, but I didn't give a damn at that moment. "Don't you ever fucking do something like that again, understand me?"
She cast her eyes down away from my face. "Why are you covered in blood?"
"You tell me. It's yours anyway."
I could see her clenching her small fists under the blanket. "Why did you stop me? Why?!" Tears filled her eyes, breaking my fucking black heart.
"Because we love you, Tracey," Krista spoke up from somewhere behind me. I couldn’t take my gaze off Tracey’s broken expression. "You're our family now. We can't stand losing you."
"I've already told you I care about what happens to you.” Her green eyes met mine, shining with tears. I drew in a long breath, forcing myself to calm down. "I never want to go through what I went through tonight again. Don't do something stupid like this again." I reached forward, wiping away a tear as it slipped down her cheek. Her breath hitched in her throat, and her heartbeat accelerated on the heart monitor. "Can you promise me you won't do something like this again? This is the second time I've saved you from dying. I want you to live.”
They said the third time was the charm, and I didn’t want to test that theory.
She nodded at me. I tapped her chin. "Say the words.”
"I promise." She looked at Kaleb's mom. "They're going to put me in a mental institution, aren't they?" Fear coated her words. I clenched my jaw. They wouldn’t be fucking taking her anywhere. I’d go to jail first.
I squeezed Tracey’s hand gently as Miss Brinson shook her head. "No. Not this time. However, if you do it again, they will."
No one was taking her away from me.
TRACEY
I was finally back home after being in the hospital for a little over three days. Trevor stayed with me in the hospital whenever he didn’t have school or football practice, and honestly, his presence helped me a lot.
Since I was now home again, he hung out around the house a lot, whether to spend time with me or to hang out with Kaleb. Krista tried to be around me as much as possible, and everyone tried to lift my spirits when I started going into that deep, dark hole that begged me to do it all over again.