Damned to the Broken

Kaylee Anne was on the verge of pulling her hair out from running her fingers through it so many times. She had returned to the park early in hopes that Bryson too would be there early. But the waiting game was no joke in this instance. As time went on, more people noticed the shaking and glassed over eyes.

“Are you okay?” A sweet elderly woman placed a hand on her shoulder.

“Just waiting for someone.” She pulled off a hopeful smile. But the smile only seemed to concern the woman more.

“He’s missing out on a beautiful girl.” Kaylee Anne felt a reassuring squeeze on her shoulder. Tears instantly filled her eyes. Comfort had always made her cry in these situations, it made her think that all hope was lost and that someone was needed to make her feel better.

“I just…I just showed up early. He’ll be here.” She whispered.

“He better, hun. He’s not worth the tears.” She didn’t understand. Kaylee Anne wasn’t waiting for some boy of her dreams for her own benefit. She was sitting on this bench hoping that the boy had made it through the night. Kaylee Anne let her head fall so her hair could shelter the woman from seeing her cry.

She could here the woman walk away defeated; she did really feel bad for shutting her out. But the idea of knowing that Bryson may not return today was overwhelming. Her tears were overwhelming her vision, causing the park to become a blurred mess. Blinking only caused the tears to fall down her face leaving her looking like an idiot in the middle of the park.

A hand was placed on her shoulder once more, causing her to nearly jump right off the bench. Whipping her head around while quickly wiping away the tears that remained, her eyes focused on the boy from yesterday, Bryson.

“Hi” The whisper that fell from his lips was barley audible, but she heard it. Kaylee Anne felt a warmth radiate from her chest. He was here; he was alive.

“Bryson.” Her whisper was even harder to hear with crack in her voice.

“I couldn’t bring myself to let this chance go.” Bryson was physically shaking. Fear was running though his veins. He was taking a huge chance with this girl. But here he stood, a time where he thought he would be dead.

“I want to help you.” Kaylee Anne’s eyes hardened in determination then softened when she met his eyes again. “Please, let me help you.”

Bryson didn’t respond, he just merely sat down net to Kaylee Anne and waited, softly trembling with fear of what the next step would be.

Kaylee Anne looked around the park quickly taking in the lack of people. Eyes darting to his she contemplated her next move. “May I…See them?” She could see Bryson hold in a breath as his eyes too darted around the park. They had began to glass over with tears. “You don’t have to if you’re not ready.”

Bryson merely nodded his head at her words. His grip on the end of his sleeves grew tighter.

Kaylee Anne bit her lip. “I’m sorry.” It came out as a squeak.

“Don’t get too attached. Just because I live another day doesn’t mean I will live yet another because of one person.” The words almost tasted repulsing to Bryson. He didn’t want to be mean to her, he was guarding himself. When he noticed she hadn’t said anything in return to looked at her to see her eyes were glassed over. “Look please, you barley know me and you’re crying because you saw my stupid scars. You don’t know my story but if you did you would understand why one person may just not be enough to fix this.”

A silence fell over the two at the park. It seemed like 20 minutes had gone by before either of them had said anything. “You don’t know my story, and if you did you would understand why this is important to me and why I’m not one to easily give up. Here’s my number.” Kaylee Anne give him a piece of paper before abruptly walking away from the park bench.

Bryson held the small piece of paper in between his finger contemplating what to do with the number. His mind jumped to so many different options. Killing himself as soon as her got back was the first thought. But then he remembered the piece of paper. Slowly he took out his phone and added the phone number under a name he couldn’t say no to.

My Hope.