Without You, There Is No Me

I follow him down a beaten path.
There's leaves and sticks cluttering the path.
Crunch, crunch, snap, crunch

"Where are we going?"
He turns to smile at me.
He grabs me by the hand and turns back to the path.
I felt an odd sensation in my stomach.
We keep walking for quite a while.

Finally, we came to a clearing in the forest.
There was a small creek.
The moonlight reflected gently off of the bubbling water.
He looked at me with a big grin.
"It's beautiful, isn't it?"
I nodded in agreement.
We stood there for a few minutes.

"Is that why you drug me out here?"
He seemed hurt by my statement.
"Well, I thought you'd appreciate it."
I raised a brow at him.
"I do, but at three in the morning? It's too late, or early, for me to appreciate anything."
His whole demeanor changed.
"Well, I'll take you back."

We walked back in silence for a few minutes.
"Is that really what you wanted to show me?"
He was quiet for a couple of minutes.
"Well, yes, but I wanted to tell you..."
He stopped.
"Wanted to tell me what?"
"Well, I heard your parents fighting."
I felt my face burn.
"Oh, I'm sorry about that. They were really loud..."
He just put his hand up.

"Don't apologize. That's not what I was about to say anyway. I noticed the scars a few days ago..."
I felt embarrassed.
"Well, what happened was..."
He cut me off.
"Don't start with excuses... I know how it is."
He rolled up his sleeve, revealing similar marks on his forearms.
"Oh, I didn't know..."

We continued in silence the rest of the way home.
I turned to the back door.
He grabbed my arm.

"Aria..."
I looked into his eyes.
Something was different this time.
They seemed pleading, rather than happy.
"Promise me you'll try to quit..."
I felt an odd tingling in my chest.
"I will try..." I promised.
"Good, because I don't know what I'd do without you."

I smiled and turned to walk inside.
I closed the back door behind me with a click.
I tiptoed up the stairs to my room.
I shut the door behind me.
I couldn't stop smiling.

For the first time in my life,
Someone knew about my problem.
And he didn't judge me.
In fact, he supported me.
I thought about what he had said.
I smiled again.

"I don't know what I'd do without you either, Frankie..."