Thunder

Alex couldn’t remember a time in his life when he had run faster. With the speed he was going, it took him barely twenty minutes to get to the lake his girlfriend was at, and an extra five to find her sitting on the shore.

“Abigail!” the brunette boy called out to the body that was heaving up and down from what he assumed was heavy breathing, since she had been crying on the phone just minutes before.

Startled, Abigail jumped, before shooting her green eyes in the direction of the voice. She knew what she wanted to say, but she couldn’t get any words out of her mouth.

Alex’s eyes fell to the hand that the girl was holding over her wrist. Her hand seemed to be stained with blood.

“Oh my God,” he let out before racing to her side. “Abigail, what the fuck happened?” the caramel colored eyes flickered to Abigail’s gaze and back to her arm, while he tried desperately to remove her hand from her arm.

“I… I… Please don’t hate me… Alex, please,” Abigail sobbed uncontrollably, causing her thin hair to stick to her face.

“I don’t hate you. I could never hate you,” Alex whispered, wrapping his arm around her, as she fell into his chest. “Please let me see your cut, Abigail. Please,” he begged.

“Don’t hit me,” the girl’s voice sounded strained. She was terrified; she knew it. Alex knew it. It was obvious.

Alex’s body tensed up at the girl’s words. Did she really think he was going to hit her for doing this? “I’m not going to hit you, Abigail. I never will. Just let me see your cut.”

Keeping a tight grasp on her cut, Abigail cried into Alex’s shirt, trying to listen to his heartbeat to calm her down – no luck.

Eventually, she let up on her grip, allowing Alex to examine the cut for the first time.

Just like every single time he saw all of her cuts, Alex’s body temperature rose up a few degrees. All of the cuts and scars that were carved into her skin scared him. His biggest fear was that one day she would just crack and hit her breaking point.

Judging by all the red on his girlfriend’s hand, Alex concluded that most of the blood was stopped by now.

“What happened?” Alex repeated his first question, as the girl sniffled to herself.

“Dakota… and her friends… they just… they… I don’t know, Alex… I don’t know what I did…” the girl sobbed into her boyfriend’s chest. In reality, she had no idea what she did that was so wrong. She hadn’t done anything crude to Dakota that would piss her off. So why was she doing this to her?

“Abigail…” Alex began, stopping himself. He had absolutely no idea where to begin. He didn’t what the girl did to the trio of friends, either, so the eighteen year old wasn’t much help. “Abigail, you can’t let them get to you. I promise nothing they say is true.”

“I threw up again,” the seventeen year old blurted out before using the mental filter she had grown so fond of over the years. Shoving her face into Alex’s shirt, she sobbed harder, breathing ragged, heavy breaths.

“Wh-what?” Alex’s voice shook, almost unrecognizable. The girl’s words had shocked him; his brown eyes turned round. “Abigail, no… No, no, no, no. You’ve come so far, though!” Alex nearly shouted, causing the girl to flinch in her place.

“S-she called me f-fat…” the brunette girl choked out between her sobs. “So, I… I had to prove her… prove her wrong…”

“Abigail, no, baby, no, don’t say that…” Alex’s voice cracked, as he was trying to hold in his own tears. Alex never cried. He didn’t understand how this girl had hit so hard home. Maybe it was because Alex dealt with his brother’s suicide, that he was terrified this would end up like that…

“I have to prove her wrong, Alex!” the girl shouted, trying to force her weak body to stand up, but reluctantly fell back into Alex’s arms. “I just want to be skinny… and pretty…”

“You are skinny, Abigail. You’re beautiful. I wish you’d just see what I see… please…” Alex pleaded the girl desperately.

“I’m not skinny… if I was skinny, they’d like me… my dad wouldn’t hate me… I wouldn’t be so sad…” the girl sobbed, grabbing a fistful of Alex’s shirt.

“Stop saying that!” Alex’s voice volume caused himself to jump, but he didn’t fall back just yet. “You keep making yourself think that your flaws are what made everything happen to you. But it’s not. None of this is your fault, Abigail.”

“Yes, it-“

“No, it’s not. Your flaws are what make you perfect in my eyes, Abigail,” the shaggy haired brunette cut off his girlfriend. “You’re perfect.”

“Alex….”

“Yes?” Alex asked, raising an eyebrow, tightening his grip on his girlfriend.

“Can you… can you do me… a favor?” the girl asked between heavy, short breaths, letting out a sniffle ever so often, with a few sobs.

“What’s the favor…?” Alex couldn’t help but sound confused; what could this girl want right now?

“I… I love you…” she said, slowly, confusing Alex even more than he was already.

“I love you too, Abigail,” Alex began rubbing small circles into the brunette’s back. “What’s the favor…?”

“Please stay…”