Chris

I got a call from Ana when I got home. She said she heard yelling and went over to his house, but his dad told her that Tyler was on permanent lock down.

She came over to my house and chilled. I was too angry to talk about what had happened so we watched Supernatural. We started on season one, and didn’t even get through the first episode; my mind wasn’t even there.

And then my phone rang. It was Tyler. Thank goodness, I thought as I picked it up.

“Ty, are you okay? Do you need me to come over? I will if you need me. I will literally stop watching Supernatural right now and run out of my house and cuddle you,” I said in the most adoring voice.

I heard Ana snickering in the background. I wanted him to know how much I cared. He was obviously having a tough time with this. But the voice that replied wasn’t Tyler’s, but his dad.

“This isn’t Tyler, this is his father, the one who told you to stay away from him,” he hissed.

“Oh,” I said, disappointed. “Well, where’s Tyler?” I asked. I heard him sigh over the phone.

“That’s what I’m wondering. I swear if he’s with you, I will come to your house right now.”

I shot straight out of bed, serious.

“Tyler’s not home? Where is he? Why did you let him leave?!” I yelled over the phone.

“Jeeze, it’s not that big of a deal,” his father blew it off.

“Yes, it is a big deal! You might not know your son, but I do. And I know to never let him go off alone when he’s really upset!” Ana’s eyes widened. She obviously knew what I was talking about, but his dad didn’t.

“You really know nothing about your son, do you? HE’S UPSET. He could hurt…” I let my words trail off, but it was obvious his father picked up the line I didn’t say; himself.

“My son would do nothing of the sort! He would never hurt himself!”

I sighed, then remembered. The one place he would go when he was upset. The one place with all his razors hidden in the ground.

“I think I know where he is,” I said to Ana, and hung up on Tyler’s dad right when he was asking “where?”

I told my parents we were going for a walk as we walked out the door. When we were on the street, our pace picked up. A while after, we started jogging.

“What if we’re too late?” I asked. He was the love of my life. I wanted him to know that he didn’t have to put scars on his beautiful body. Ana was his best friend. We both really cared about him.

“Then we help him. We fix his wounds so they don’t get infected, and we do stuff to make him feel better. It’s such a shame; he was doing really well. You helped him, Chris,” she said, tears streaming down her face.

We got to the park, and started the long way up the hill. I started freaking out halfway up, thinking to myself, what if he cut too deep? What if he wasn’t there? Finally, the tree came into sight, and what I saw underneath it was the thing that scared me the most.

“No!” I yelled out in a raspy voice, tears streaming down my face. I started to run faster than I ever had in my whole life. In seconds I was by Tyler’s side, his limp body leaning on me.

I checked his pulse on his neck; he was still breathing. He was going to be okay, I thought. Ana stood there in shock, with tears flowing down her face.

“Help me lift him,” I said to her, and we both lifted either side of him and carried him down the hill. When we got to the bottom of the hill, I let Ana take a break. “I’ll carry him. It’s okay,” I said, my voice breaking, and carried Tyler bridal style.

I carried him all the way to my house. Ana opened the door for me, and I laid him on the couch; my parents had gone out to eat.

“Go get the first aid kit,” Ana ordered me. I grabbed the first aid kit and ran back quickly.

Why did I have to leave? I questioned myself. He would have never done this if I hadn’t left. I felt like this was all because of me. Everything weighed down on me, but I couldn’t think of that now. Tyler needed me.

Ana grabbed the first aid kit from my hands and took out peroxide. It was supposed to make sure that the wounds didn’t get infected. Ana poured some on Tyler’s wrists carefully, and I heard Tyler gasp. He jumped and I saw him open his eyes. They immediately landed on me and he smiled.

My heart shot out of my chest when he reached up and wiped my tears away.

“Beautiful eyes don’t deserve to cry,” he told me. I laughed, despite the situation. There was blood everywhere on my shirt.

“I should say the same thing to you,”

Ana poured more peroxide on his wounds, which made him wince. “Chris,” he said in a strangled voice. I sniffled, and smiled at him through my tears. “Can you hold my hand?” he said weakly.

“Always,” I replied, and I meant it.

“Can you sing to me?” he asked, tears from the pain going down his face.

“Of course, love. What do you want me to sing?”

“Anything you want,” he said, smiling. Ana was almost done with the peroxide and getting the gauze ready. So, I started singing.

He smiled at me before he felt tired from the blood loss and went to sleep.

“I’m always here for you, Tyler. I love you.” I whispered in his ear when he had gone to sleep. I meant every word I said.

*****

Do you have people like Ana and Chris in your life?