The Candle Wax Wars

If I were to describe the girl staring back at me in the mirror, I could wrack my brain for thousands of words and would only be able to come up with one: lost. Sure, the girl in the mirror was pretty. Long black hair framed her face and curled slightly just as it reached her waist. Her eyes were as gray as a pissed off storm cloud and her skin was paler than the freshest snow.

Anyone, male or female, would find her very attractive. Infact, many did. She was slender, and the right height to rest her head comfortably on someone's chest with them standing. Her normal all black attire labeled her as a freak among her peers, an outcast among the regulars in their Hollister, Aeropostle and American Eagle. That didn't bother her in the least, she enjoyed her style of clothing.

The thing that bothered her though were the stares and whispers when the rare chance of them seeing her bare arms came around. Her pale skin was criss crossed with scars from her wrists all the way to her shoulders. The stares, harsh whispers, and rude questions brought tears to her eyes every single time. They couldn't understand, they-

I jerked myself out of my thoughts and leveled a stare at her reflection.

Her kohl rimmed eyes stared back.

Refusing to think about the assholes outside of my home, I quickly jerked a brush through my hair and checked to make sure my lip ring was straight. Grape, my fluffy black little kitten, mewed at me from my bed and I scooped her up as I left the safety of my bedroom.

My mom was sitting at the kitchen table when I came in and she looked up as soon as she saw Grape's paws hit the table top in front of her. "Haley," She started immediately. "Grape is not supposed to-" Grape cut her off with a tragically cute meow and and stared up at her. Mom swore and picked Grape up and snuggled her.

I made my way to the fridge and was hunting for the energy drink I had stashed the day before when I heard mom mutter, "You are guilt tripping me bad kitty cat." Grape's response was an enthusiastic purr as she ate up the attention.

I joined mom at the table and reclaimed the cat. "How was work?" I asked, reaching for my pack of Newports.

She saw me going for the cigarettes and frowned. She didn't like me smoking obviously but never said anything. She had always told me since I was young that we make our own choices and had to deal with any consequences as a result of our actions.

"Long," She replied sighing. "Had three boys and one girl."

I smiled. Mom worked as a nurse on the baby floor at the hospital and even though her hours were long, she loved every minute of it. She bonded quickly with the new mothers and especially the newborns. It was always extremely hard on her whenever something went wrong and the baby didn't make it.

"What's up with all the baby boys all the sudden?"

She shrugged. "Who knows. The last baby boy had so much hair! I swear he had a full head of hair." The smile on her face grew as she gave me details of the eight pound baby who was named Jason. Apparently Jason was born with an attitude. She showed me a picture on her phone of him very obviously flipping the entire room off in his sleep.

"He's really adorable-" I started but my phone vibrated in my pocket, cutting me off. Digging it out, I flipped it open and froze. A text from Thomas. The words on the screen blurred and I blinked the tears back. My hands were shaking as I closed the phone and dropped it on the table.

I'm sure from the look on my face, mom knew exactly who it was and was thankfully wise enough not to ask any questions.

Flicking my lighter, I touched to the tip of my Newport and inhaled, closing my eyes. Exhaling, I tried to clear my mind of the images of his stupid face and opened my eyes to see Grape nearly nose to nose with me.

The kitten was sitting on a pile of books by my elbow and was stretching up as far as she could manage so she could get in my face. I half smiled, thinking of the term "in 3-D". Grape was my baby. She was my friend and my very own warm, furry diary.

I rubbed her ears and flicked my ashes into an empty mug on the table, earning another frown from mom.

Why in the hell is Thomas still trying to talk? I wondered, staring at my phone.

It's been four months now. I'm not answering. Haven't yet and will be damned if I ever will.

All three of us jumped when the phone started dancing across the table. Snatching it up, I saw another text from him. I shook my head and flipped it closed and sat it next to Grape who was still sitting happily on her mountain of textbooks.

"Maybe you should answer his text. Tell him to stay away from you and to quit harassing you. Tell him if he keeps it up, this mama bear has a big stick."

Of course I opened my mouth to ask her if she had a nice deep hole for him too when the phone resumed dancing. Grape batted it away as if she was disgusted with it.

Rescuing it from her, I wasn't too surprised to see his name on the screen again.

"Fuck it."

I stood up and grabbed my Monster off the table and headed back towards my room. Mom let me go, usually scolding me when I took off from the table without asking.

There was a little thump as Grape obviously bravely flung herself off the table and shot down the hall, nearly knocking me down in a attempt to reach my room before I did.

Shutting the door softly behind me, I stopped in the center of the room and opened my phone and deleted his messages without even feeling the least bit tempted to read them.

Thomas and I had been together for five years. I loved him whole heartily and I thought he loved me too. He ruined everything.

Feeling pissed and unreasonably close to tears, I gritted my teeth and flipped open the stupid phone. I sent a quick text and went to stand by the window.

Not even twenty minutes later, a busted up Neon pulled into the driveway and I watched my crayola green haired best friend, walk to the door.

"C'mon," She said, meeting me half way down the hall. "We're going out."

"Where?" I asked, following her.

"Dunno yet," She took a deep breath and hollered, "I'M KIDNAPPING HALEY!"

"Okay." We heard faintly from the kitchen.