Broken Love

Kira sat down at her desk and pulled her laptop out the concealed drawer underneath it. Best not to let her dad know she had internet access. He would really go for her then. She turned it on and it quickly loaded up. She clicked on the internet explorer icon and logged on to her favourite search engine. Her arm stung with the movement of typing as she tyed ‘I cut myself’ and waited for the results. She wanted to find out more about what she had done. There were thousands of results, she sighed and clicked on the first one. It read: Welcome to CuttersRecovery.com We are here to offer support and advice. Many of our members are recovering self harmers and some have beaten the blade for good. Enter our chatroom to meet them and to find out more. Kira decided she had nothing better to do and clicked on the given link. A box popped up, prompting her to come up with a username. She thought for a moment before trying ‘EmoKid4’ A lot of the other kids at school called her ‘emo’ because of her long, dyed black hair and the excessive amounts of black eye makeup she wore to cover her bruises. She found herself in a room with one other person called ‘ChangeInTime’ She typed in a greeting and smiled when a reply came up almost instantaneously:
EmoKid4: hi
ChangeInTime: hello
> Do you need help?
EmoKid4: I don’t really know
> I just needed a little information
ChangeInTime: on selfharm?
EmoKid4: I’m not even sure what that is
ChangeInTime: It’s pretty self explanitary…
> Someone gets upset and cut/hurt themselves to feel better
EmoKid4: so…it’s not unusual?
ChangeInTime: It doesn’t mean you’re abnormal because you have to hurt yourself to feel better
EmoKid4: ok
ChangeInTime: How are you feeling?
EmoKid4: Me?
ChangeInTime: well there isn’t anyone else in the room…
EmoKid4: I know, sorry, I’m not used to being asked things like that
ChangeInTime: What’s your name?
EmoKid4: Kira.
ChangeInTime: Nice to meet you Kira, I’m Ben
EmoKid4: Likewise
ChangeInTime: How did you find this site Kira?
EmoKid4: I..hurt myself…with plastic last night…I wanted to know more about it
ChangeInTime: Do you want to talk about why you did this?
EmoKid4: not really, I don’t want to get into trouble
ChangeInTime: You won’t. If you don’t want to tell me, that’s more than okay but you won’t get into trouble.
EmoKid4: I’m okay, it’s fine
ChangeInTime: you’re okay?
EmoKid4: yes
ChangeInTime: No you’re not
EmoKid4: what?
ChangeInTime: You cut yourself last night. You’re not okay.
EmoKid4: I’ll be fine, don’t worry about it. I have to go before my friend comes to pick me up
ChangeInTime: Okay, come back and talk to me if you need any more information or help
EmoKid4: I will, thanks
> Bye
ChangeInTime: Bye..

Kira logged out, Ben was really nice to her. She’d have to go back later and talk to him. She knew that if Misha found out what’d she’d done, she wouldn’t be quite so understanding. Kira sighed as her computer turned off and she put it back in the hidden drawer. Realising that she would have to do something about the dried blood covering her arm, Kira trudged through to the bathroom and soaked a towel in warm water. She winced as she gently pressed it to her arm which was now throbbing. She had managed to carefully wipe away most of the blood when the doorbell rang. She quickly threw the blood-covered towel back into her room, grabbed the money from her dad’s drawer and opened the door to a grinning Misha practically bouncing with excitement on the doorstep.
‘Come on Kira, it’s a lovely day, the air is crisp and the sun is shining! Let’s go!’ Kira rolled her eyes and locked the door behind her before climbing into Misha’s car.
‘You okay Kira? You look a bit strange’ Misha commented as they set off. Misha nodded, pulled her sleeve further down and carefully folded her arms. This movement did not go unnoticed by Misha. ‘Did you hurt your arm?’ Kira looked up to answer her and suddenly screamed.
‘Misha! Red light!” she yelled. Misha gasped and slammed on the brakes, throwing them both forward. She blushed guiltily as a woman made some very innaproppirate hand gestures towards the car before angrily dragging two young boys across the road.
‘Jesus, Misha! You trying to kill us?’ Kira gasped, rubbing her chest where the seatbelt had slammed into it.
‘Sorry Kira! I’ll be more careful’ Misha promised. Kira growled a response under her breath but Misha didn’t seem to notice.

‘Kira! Look at this, it’s so cute‼’ came Misha’s voice, interrupting Kira’s thoughts. She smiled vaguely and looked away. Misha sighed. ‘Kira what’s up with you today? You’re usually better at faking enthusiasm than this!’ Kira shrugged
‘I’m going to go pay for this’ she gestured to the perfume she had picked out for her mum and made her way to the counter. As she handed over the money, she noticed the woman behind the till staring at her arm. Too late she realised her sleeve had come up and her cuts were exposed. She jerked her sleeve back down, blushing as the clerk handed her the bag containing her mother’s gift and hurried back to Misha. She looked curious.
‘Why was she staring at your arm?’ she asked. Kira shrugged. ‘Kira?’ she looked up
‘Let me see your arm…’
‘No, it’s nothing, lets go’ Kira muttered. As she turned to leave, Misha grabbed her arm and spun her round, pulling up her sleeve at the same time.
‘Kira….’ She gasped