If Jealousy Could Kill

“Rina! What happened?!” Haruna said urgently as she rushed over to Rina’s side. She knelt down next to the young girl, her face going pale as she saw the amount of blood that was amassing on Rina’s hands. She gulped nervously, trying to push down the wave of nausea that was taking over her. She couldn’t let that stupid fear take over again, she had to help Rina.

Rina sniffled, the crying coming out even heavier now that Haruna was here in front of her. She felt so ashamed of herself. She hadn’t meant for this to happen. When she wanted to stop Haruna and Tomomi, this was never something that had crossed her mind. She didn’t even know how she had done it, she couldn’t remember doing this. She couldn’t remember smashing the glass or picking up that shard. She couldn’t remember any of it.

“Rina, please talk to me.” Rina could hear how sick Haruna was feeling right now. She felt bad for Haruna because she knew how much the older girl hated the sight of blood. Any time Haruna would come across blood, she would get so squeamish and uncomfortable. It was one of the only things that could make Haruna feel squeamish like this.

Rina wanted to say something but she couldn’t. The words stuck in her throat, her heavy crying making it near impossible for her to get any of the words out. She didn’t even know how she would explain this. She couldn’t even explain it to herself. She didn’t have a reason for the rather large gash on her hand.

“Haruna, is everything okay in here?” The high pitched voice that had flowed into the kitchen was soon followed by a gasp as Tomomi saw the scene in front of her. Her eyes scanned the scene as her mind tried to catch up to what she was seeing in front of her.

Tomomi’s feet carried her over to where Rina and Haruna were seated on the floor. She knelt beside the two of them and her eyes glanced over at Haruna, the eldest girl with her hands against her chest and her wide eyes staring at Rina. Tomomi could tell that something was wrong with Haruna just by how pale her face looked, it certainly wasn’t normal for even Haruna to be that pale.

Tomomi turned her attention back to Rina, gulping down the nervousness as she surveyed the damage. Rina had her right hand held tightly against her chest, her left hand gripping it. The blood was pouring out of the cracks in her fingers, cascading over her hand and staining the front of her shirt. Her crying was heavy as the sobs shook her body, her eyes shut tightly and her head pressed against the cabinet.

“Are you okay, Rina?” It was a really stupid question. Tomomi knew that Rina wasn’t okay, all it took was one look at her to see that, but Tomomi couldn’t think of anything else to ask her.

Rina didn’t respond, she simply continued to cry, the words still stuck in her throat. Tomomi ran a hand through her head, turning her attention over to Haruna. Haruna looked like she wanted to reach out and hold Rina but her body wouldn’t move. She could only stare at Rina and the blood… All of that blood. As much as she wanted to comfort and soothe Rina, she didn’t know if she could ever touch that blood. She was trying to be strong but that was proving to be pretty hard in this situation.

“Haruna? Are you feeling sick?” Tomomi asked her. Haruna turned to look at Tomomi, nodding to her question.

“I don’t-I don’t like blood,” Haruna stated simply. Tomomi gave her a sympathetic nod, patting her on the back. She was a bit surprised that a girl like Haruna didn’t like something that sounded so trivial but she could understand it all the same.

“Why don’t you go lay down, sweetheart? I’ll help, Rina. I don’t think you’ll be too much help like this,” Tomomi admitted to her.

Haruna nodded to Tomomi’s suggestion. Tomomi gave her a quick peck on the cheek before Haruna pushed herself to her feet. Her wobbly legs carried her out of the kitchen, the guilt beginning to set in. She felt guilty for leaving Rina like this but Tomomi was right, the blood was making Haruna feel so sick that she couldn’t possibly be any real help to Rina right now. Tomomi would be the only one who could help Rina.

Back in the kitchen, Tomomi turned to Rina when she saw Haruna leave the kitchen. She slowly reached out, gently touching the young girl’s shoulder. She saw Rina’s eyes open, the tears flooding them. Rina sniffled softly, her body tensing under Tomomi’s touch.

“Let me see,” Tomomi cooed to Rina. She reached out her other hand, beckoning for Rina to turn her injured hand over to her. Rina hesitated but seeing no other option, she let her right hand drop from her other one, slowly extending it out to Tomomi.

Tomomi could hear a few droplets of blood splash to the tile floor as Rina’s quivering hand reached itself out past her body. Tomomi gingerly grabbed Rina’s wrist, careful not to touch the blood that covered her hand. It was no use. With so much blood covering the wound, Tomomi would never be able to see how deep it was. They had to get Rina cleaned up first.

“Come on, Rina, let’s go to the bathroom. We need to get you cleaned up; do you think you can stand?”

Still unable to talk, Rina only nodded to Tomomi’s question. She gently took her hand back from Tomomi, cradling it against her chest again as her legs pushed her off of the floor. Tomomi pushed herself up as well, placing a hand on Rina’s lower back and slowly leading the shaking girl out of the room.

It didn’t take the two of them long to cross the apartment to get to the single bathroom held inside it. Once they were in the bathroom, Tomomi had Rina sit down on the edge of the bathtub while she dug for the medical supplies she would need to patch up the young brunette. When Tomomi found all of the things she thought she would need, she turned back to Rina and placed the supplies on the ground by the young girl’s feet.

Tomomi sat down on her knees, reaching out and grabbing one of the towels. She gingerly took Rina’s injured hand with her other hand, having to coax the young girl into letting her have it. Once Rina did let Tomomi take her hand, she wrapped the towel around Rina’s hand lightly.

“This is going to hurt,” Tomomi warned her. She could see Rina nod and close her eyes. Taking in a deep breath, Tomomi applied pressure to Rina’s hand, hearing a cry of pain come from the injured girl. Rina bit down hard on her lip, the pain coursing through her arm and into the rest of her body.

Tomomi gave Rina a sympathetic smile as the younger girl looked away from her. She kept the pressure for a few more minutes before releasing it. She took the towel away from Rina’s hand, folding it over before gently wiping the blood off of her hand. Once the blood was gone, Tomomi could see just how deep Rina’s wound was. She gulped nervously again. She could see the skin parting where the glass had sliced clean through her delicate skin.

It didn’t look deep enough for Rina to need stitches or to even warrant a hospital visit but it was certainly deep enough to permanently scar. She was just thankful that it was something she knew she could fix. Tomomi let out a heavy sigh, tossing the bloodied towel onto the floor. She glanced up at Rina, the young girls still having her eyes closed and her head turned away.

“I’ll be right back. Please just stay put,” Tomomi told her. The brunette pushed herself off the floor, hurriedly making her way back out to the kitchen. She side stepped the glass and blood, grabbing the salt from the cupboard and a spoon from the drawer.

Tomomi quickly made her way back to the bathroom, her breathing beginning to get heavy from all the rushing she was doing. She grabbed one of the paper cups in the bathroom, filling it with water before kneeling down in front of Rina. She sprinkled some of the salt into the water before stirring it well with the spoon. Once she was sure her concoction was good enough, she poured it onto a wash cloth before grabbing onto Rina’s hand again.

“This is going to hurt even more but it’ll help, I promise,” Tomomi told her. Tomomi took a deep breath before pressing the wash cloth against Rina’s wound, another cry of pain escaping her.

Rina brought her other hand up to her mouth, her teeth biting down hard onto one of her fingers and piercing her skin. That hurt worse than anything she had felt in a long time. Tomomi shushed Rina lightly, her free hand gently rubbing the skin of Rina’s arm.

“I know, I know. But this’ll help clean the wound out and help it heal faster, it’ll be worth it,” Tomomi cooed to Rina. The two girls sat there for minutes, Rina crying and Tomomi speaking softly to her to try and keep her as calm as possible.

Tomomi was constantly glancing unlocking her cellphone and glancing at the time. Once she saw that ten minutes had passed, she released the washcloth from the younger brunette, much to Rina’s relief. Tomomi tossed that wash cloth on top of the used towel before setting Rina’s hand down on her legs.

She reached down, grabbing a cotton square and a strip of gauze. Tomomi carefully wrapped Rina’s hand tightly with the gauze, making sure the entire wound was safely tucked away behind the cotton piece. Once she was finished, she smiled at her handiwork, looking up at the brunette whose crying had toned down to a small sniffling now.

“All better, Rina,” Tomomi told her gently. Rina sniffled again, nodding her head and taking her hand away from Tomomi. She cradled it against her chest and looked away from the older brunette. “How did this even happen?”

“I… I was just trying to get something to drink,” Rina began. Tomomi felt sorry for her, her voice was shaking so badly. “I guess I must have set the glass too close to the edge and it fell. I was only trying to pick it up and I ended up accidentally cutting myself. I’m sorry, I’m so stupid.”

“No, no, Rina. Accidents happen; the important thing is that your cut was fixable. Try to be more careful though.” Tomomi had said her last sentence in a joking tone, hoping it would cheer up Rina but Tomomi could see that probably nothing would accomplish that right now.

“I’m sorry,” Rina apologized again. Tomomi smiled gently at her; now she understood why Haruna and Mami were always babying Rina. Rina was a soft and sensitive person, she was easily hurt and she overreacted to things. It was just in her nature and for two motherly people like Mami and Haruna, it was in their nature to care for people like Rina.

“Come on, Rina, let’s get you to bed. I think you could use the rest,” Tomomi told her. Rina wanted to object and demand to see Haruna but she didn’t really have the energy for that. She was tired and she felt ready to pass out.

Instead of protesting, Rina pushed herself off of the edge of the tub and let Tomomi lead her to her room. Once they got there, Rina slinked into the room, keeping her back turned to Tomomi. The slightly older brunette didn’t enter the room with her.

“Don’t worry about the messes; I’ll get it cleaned up. Just get some sleep, okay? Goodnight, Rina.” With those last words, Tomomi shut the bedroom door, making her way back into the bathroom. She was weary about leaving Rina alone but something told her that the brunette didn’t want to be around anyone right now.

Tomomi began the cleanup starting with the towel and washcloth. She tossed them into the hamper before grabbing the medical supplies off the ground and pushing them back into their proper places. The makeshift nurse grabbed the salt and another towel before she left the bathroom and made her way out to the kitchen.

She flipped the light on, sighing heavily before going over to the sink and wetting the towel. Tomomi rubbed the back of her neck with a small groan before lowering herself down to the floor. She began wiping up the blood with the towel, making sure she got every spec so Haruna wouldn’t have to see any of it in the morning. The last thing she needed was her girlfriend having a full on freak out over the blood, she already knew Haruna was probably close to that point just from earlier.

While Tomomi cleaned up the last of the blood, she thought back to Rina’s story. The young brunette had really done a number on herself with this accident. She knew people cut themselves all the time accidentally while picking up broken dishes, but she had never seen someone cut themselves that badly. It almost looked like it was done on purpose, but that couldn’t be true. Rina would never do that, she was far too innocent.

The cut was in an odd place though. At least, it was an odd place for Rina to have a cut given the story she had told Tomomi…. All at once, Tomomi’s actions came to a stop. Her hands gripping the towel stopped abruptly, her body hunched forward as her eyes widened. Her mind was slowly beginning to put together the pieces of a confusing puzzle.

If Rina had really gotten the cut from picking up the broken glass, how would the cut have been on the top of her hand?

That didn’t make any sense. In fact, Tomomi knew it was nearly impossible. If she had really cut herself doing that, the cut would be on her palm, not the top. The story Rina had given Tomomi wasn’t adding up in the least bit. The more Tomomi thought about it, the more flaws she had found in Rina’s story. The brunette was also beginning to realize that there was also no water on the floor. If Rina had actually gotten a glass of water, wouldn’t there have been water mixed with the blood somewhere? But there was none to be found, at least not that Tomomi could see.

Tomomi’s breathing came out in shaky streams as she wiped up the last remaining spec of blood. Her thoughts had to be wrong. Rina wasn’t capable of something like that. She pushed herself off of the ground, her now shaking legs carrying her back to the room. She stopped by the bathroom on the way, tossing the towel into the hamper before making her way into Haruna’s room.

When Tomomi got into the room, she could see Haruna curled up on the bed, hugging a pillow against her body with her face buried into the crimson cotton pillowcase. Tomomi could notice that Haruna had changed out of her day clothes, her body now covered by a similar white tank top like from earlier and a pair of grey sweatpants.

Haruna had heard the door open and close though so she looked up, giving Tomomi a weak smile when she saw her girlfriend. She didn’t make an effort to move though, she was still feeling nauseous from earlier. Tomomi made her way over to her girlfriend’s side of the bed, leaning down and kissing her head.

“You feeling any better?” Tomomi asked her.

“A little bit,” Haruna admitted to her with a small smile. “Where’s Rina?”

“I put her to bed and cleaned up the mess, I think she’ll need the rest… Looks like I should put you to bed as well,” Tomomi said with a hint of amusement to her voice. Haruna gave a weak chuckle, burying her face in the pillow again. Tomomi gave her another kiss before moving over to where she had put her clothes she’d brought with her.

Tomomi began to change out of her clothes into the other ones that were similar to Haruna’s, a small blue tank top and a pair of black sweatpants. As she changed, her mind began to wander. She wanted to ask Haruna a small question but this small question could end up causing Haruna a lot of distress depending on the answer. She had to ask it though. If Rina was in danger then she needed to know.

“Hey… Haruna… Can I ask a kind of weird question?” Tomomi asked, her voice reaching an octave even higher than her normal pitch. Her nervousness often did show through her voice.

“What do you need to ask?” she could hear Haruna mumble. Tomomi drew in a sharp breath before deciding that she had to ask her question.

“Has Rina ever…cut herself before?” Tomomi could feel the tension rise instantly in the room just because of the question she had asked.

“You mean on purpose?” Haruna asked. Tomomi got a chill from Haruna’s tone; now she really feared the answer Haruna was going to give her.

“Yeah…” Tomomi waited and waited for an answer but one never came. After nearly a minute had passed she turned around to look at Haruna, her heart sinking when she saw that Haruna had curled herself up into a ball, her small body wrapped around the pillow. She knew the answer; Haruna didn’t really even need to say it anymore. Her actions were speaking loud enough but Tomomi still felt like she needed to hear it to confirm it.

Tomomi walked over to the bed, crawling up next to Haruna. Once she was laying down, she set a hand on Haruna’s arm, causing the older girl to look up at her. She felt horrible when she saw the tears shining in Haruna’s eyes. She had made Haruna cry again.

“Oh, sweetie…” Tomomi said softly. Haruna sniffled softly, wiping the tears away. She hated herself for crying right now but she couldn’t help it, Tomomi’s question had brought up such bad memories. This whole thing was something Haruna had never wanted to think about or face again.

“She hurt herself once back in high school and it was my fault,” Haruna managed to choke out.

She could hear Tomomi gulp before she felt the pillow be pried out of her grip. Tomomi tossed the pillow to the floor, wrapping her arms around Haruna and pulling her into a tight embrace. She brought her hands up to lay them against Tomomi’s chest, keeping her head against the pillows still on the bed.

“How was it your fault, darling? You don’t have to say any more if you don’t want to.” Haruna shook her head; she felt Tomomi did deserve to know after all.

“Rina and I got into some fight and I was being stupid. I don’t even remember what the fight was about. I started ignoring her because I was mad at her. I wouldn’t answer any of her calls or messages; I wouldn’t even let her mother talk to me. I didn’t want to see her; I was being so stupid and childish. She must have wanted my attention, she wanted me to forgive her but I wasn’t accepting her apologies. I wasn’t even listening so she… She got my attention a different way.”

“You don’t mean…” Tomomi didn’t even want to finish that sentence.

“She called me in the middle of the night and for some reason, I decided to pick up. I just felt like something was wrong that night. She was crying and apologizing, I knew I had to get to her. When I got there, I found out that she had cut herself pretty badly. She ended up needing to go to the hospital. It’s my fault. If I hadn’t been such a horrible person to her, she never would have felt the need to do that.”

Tomomi hugged Haruna tightly as the elder girl broke down in tears. She rubbed Haruna’s back gently, the guilt washing over her. Why did she have to ask that question? She should have just kept it to herself and she could have avoided upsetting Haruna like this.

The girls laid together for over ten minutes, Tomomi desperately trying to calm down a sobbing Haruna. She never knew Haruna could feel so bad over anything; Rina was a very sensitive subject for her. She obviously cared so much for the young brunette and felt responsible for her injuries. Haruna wasn’t even sure of the actual reason why Rina had hurt herself; she was only assuming it was because of her.

Eventually, Haruna did calm down. Her crying lessened to sniffling until it stopped completely. Tomomi continued to hold Haruna tightly against her own body, never stopping from rubbing her back in gentle strokes. Haruna had her head leaned against Tomomi’s chest, her breathing gentle. Just when Tomomi thought Haruna had fallen asleep, the older girl spoke up, speaking words that sent a chill down Tomomi’s spine.

“The weird thing though was that Rina said she couldn’t remember actually cutting herself.”