Monster

Tears didn't do her justice. They didn't do her justice when her father died, and they certainly didn't do her justice now. She sat hunched over in her bed, green eyes pouring tears that left her whites shot with red. She looked far more than sad- she looked broken. And with her agony, my own heart ached, splintered and tore apart for her pain.
I hadn't understood her hurt then, but I understand now.
Looks had never meant much to Lorelei.
She said it was because who a person was mattered more than what they looked like, but I secretly thought it was because she was too afraid to try.
She mumbled to me, years ago in her sleep that she feared she could never be beautiful- even if she tried.
Tears had poured out of her eyes then like they did now; unstopped by any words I could have spoken.
That night, I held her in her in her sleep until the water stopped slipping down her face, but now I could do nothing but watch as she destroyed herself mentally.
Her sobbing form got steadily smaller as I was dragged out of her room and a nurse held her down to be sedated.
My heart broke for what she had become.
Nothing could have braced me for the reaction Lorelei produced.
The once vibrant young girl I'd called my best friend was no more than a hollow shell of the person she once was; scarred and marked with the mistakes of another.
My confusion sat with me in the waiting room, and it trickled into guilt every second I wasn't sitting by her; comforting her, making her smile.
Unfortunately, she stopped smiling that day too.
No more stifled giggles and wide, toothy grins. No more laughs that reached her eyes and no more rosy tint to her cheeks.
No more Lorelei.
And that, above all, is what broke my heart.