Oh, Calamity!
Chapter 9: The Mortician's Daughter
It was summertime, just after the end of Sophomore year, and I was just sitting in my house. Jack was out of town with his family, and everyone was really busy, so I was trying to entertain myself by reading. That is, until Alex burst through my front door screaming.
“Luna won’t answer her phone! She always picks up,” he yelled, blinking back tears.
“What happened? Why wouldn’t she pick up?” I questioned, trying to rationalize.
“We had a fight, just a stupid argument about nothing. I could hear her crying on the other end, and then she just hung up. She hasn’t answered me since. I’m worried, Nora.” he sputtered.
“Okay, well, let’s go over to Luna’s and sort this out. I’m sure everything is fine, Alex,” I said, even though I couldn’t believe my own words.
By that time, Alex had a driver’s license, and he quickly sped over to Luna’s house, taking deep breaths to calm himself along the way. I tried not to let him see how scared I was. He and Luna hadn’t been dating for even 10 months yet, and I was sure he had no idea about the demons my best friend was constantly battling. After all, I had thought they had gone away because of him.
None of Luna’s family was home, so Alex didn’t even bother knocking, choosing to burst through the door like he had done to mine earlier. “Luna!” he cried.
I could hear a faint sob coming from the bathroom, a noise I knew all too well. “Come on,” I said to Alex, grabbing him by the sleeve and dragging him after me, telling him to be quiet.
I knocked softly on the bathroom door. “GO AWAY!” Luna screamed.
“Luna, it’s me. Please open up,” I begged.
“No! You’ll just get mad at me,” she replied.
I sighed. “I know this door can’t lock, so I’m coming in anyway. Don’t worry, okay? You’ll be fine, and I won’t get mad.”
Alex hid behind me as I cracked the door open slowly, fighting the urge to call out to his girlfriend. Luna sat on the bathroom floor, hands covering her eyes to hide the tears and both arms covered in countless, thin red lines. I hadn’t ever seen so many in the years I had known her. Gently, I grabbed her arms, trying to uncover her face and get her washed up. “Nora, no.”
“Alex, can you go grab me a washcloth? Oh, and see if you can find any bandages,” I said. He nodded turning away quickly, and I focused my attention on my best friend. “Luna, what happened?”
“Alex and I had a really bad fight. I mean, we’ve had fights before, but none as bad as this. I just, I didn’t know what to do, Nora. Please don’t be mad,” she cried.
“I have never gotten mad at you for this, and you know that,” I replied. Alex returned with a washcloth and some gauze pads, then stood in the doorway without another word. I wet the washcloth in the bathroom sink, trying my best to clean up her cuts. “Do you remember the promise you made to me?”
“I’ve made a lot of promises,” she commented.
“In 8th grade, I asked you to promise me that you would call me, message me, contact me in any way you can when you wanted to cut,” I mentioned, pressing on her wounds gently to stop the bleeding. “You rarely keep that promise, but I hold you to that you know. Why didn’t you call me this time?”
“Because I didn’t think about it. I’m sorry, Nora, I just didn’t know what else to do.” She sobbed.
I wrapped the gauze pads around her arms, checking to make sure there weren’t too tight. “It’s alright. Now we’ll just try to beat your record, okay?”
She sniffled. “But...I hadn’t cut in nearly a year.”
“It’s okay, Luna. You can make it. You are so much stronger than you think,” I smiled softly at her, trying to hide my own sadness from her. “Since you’re all patched up, I’m gonna leave you and Alex alone to talk. You two have a lot to sort out.”
I hugged my best friend before stepping out, sitting on the couch with a sigh. Alex slunk down next to Luna on the bathroom floor, pulling her into his arms and cradling her like a small child. “I’m so sorry, baby. I can’t promise you I won’t ever screw up again, but if I do, I guarantee it’s not worth hurting yourself over. I love you too much to be the cause of your pain.”
“I love you too, Alex. I shouldn’t have cut, but I’m gonna go right back to not doing it. As long as I have you, I know I’m the luckiest girl in the world. The only reason I did any of this was because I thought I was losing you. Never leave me, Alex,” she begged.
“I could never leave you. I will never want to be with anyone but you, and I know that for a fact,” he replied.
By this time, they were both sobbing, and their words were hard to understand, but the sheer emotion of it all was clear as day. That was the day, the moment, when I realized that Alex and Luna were meant to be together. Part of me felt left out, like as the best friend, I was being replaced by the boyfriend, but I was just glad that my Luna was happy.
“Nora,” Luna called, her voice echoing off of the thin bathroom walls. “Get your ass in here!”
As I entered the room, they outstretched their arms to me, and we had a huge group hug, huddled together on the floor. We never told our friend what had happened that day, not Jack, Zack, or Rian, but that was okay. No one else needed to know but the three of us, and that was how it stayed.
When I got to the hospital, Alex was waiting in the lobby for me, pacing and trying to hide his tear stained face as I approached him. I opened my arms out to him and wrapped him in a hug, the taller boy burying his face into my shoulder and sobbing.
“What happened, Alex? Did she-?” I wondered, my voice cracking slightly.
“She’s fine, or at least they say she is; she just lost quite a bit of blood,” he cried.
“How did she do that?” I questioned.
“She went a lot deeper than she ever has before, so bad they had to stitch her up. Plus, the doctor estimates that by the time I got home and found her upstairs, she had been up there for over half an hour,” he mentioned, composing himself. People were staring, though I don’t know why that mattered to him.
“So there wasn’t a fight? Nothing that you can think of that might have set her off?” I asked.
“No. I don’t know what I did wrong, Nora. I thought she was fine, but I fucked it all up again and I don’t know how,” he said, wiping away tears with the back of his hand.
“Don’t beat yourself up, Alex. Sometimes she just relapses, and you can’t think that it’s your fault if and when she does. It just makes things worse for everyone involved,” I explained.
“What makes you say that?” he sniffled.
“Because I did the same thing, back before we met you and the guys. She’d tell me she cut and I would feel so awful, like I was a failure of a friend because I didn’t stop it. Hell, I still feel like that sometimes. But the point is, it gets you nowhere. Feeling sorry for yourself doesn’t help her, and that’s always been the big thing,” I commented.
“You’ve saved her so many times over the years. Sometimes when we’re all on tour, me and her stay up late and talk about what our lives were like before we met one another. She always says that she’s better because of you, that she probably wouldn’t even be alive if it wasn’t for you and all that you have done for her. If it weren’t for you, I never would’ve met the love of my life. Even then, I’m not the one she needs to live,” he said.
“She needs you too, Alex. It was always so much worse before she met you than it is now. Honestly, you and I are Luna’s rescue team, and there’s no one I would rather work with to save my best friend,” I replied, blinking back tears.
He nodded, taking a deep breath before speaking again. “Come on. Let’s go see her.”
He led me up an elevator and down a long white corridor to Luna’s room, here she was hooked up to all sorts of monitors and a cop sat in the corner of the room, probably keeping her on suicide watch. I sat beside her on the bed, Alex taking a place at the foot of the bed. “Hey,” I greeted. “How are you feeling?”
She looked down at the bandages that were covering the stitching on her arm. “I’m okay, I think.”
“What happened? Why did you cut, after all this time?” I wondered.
She focused her attention on me. “I just got stressed, couldn’t take all of the pressure. I’m worried about the wedding, about you and Jack and how you guys are getting along. Just, everything.”
I hadn’t realized how selfish I had been. I was so focused on all of my drama with Jack that I nearly forgot about protecting my best friend. It was her wedding that we were all getting back together for, and I felt so dumb for not noticing that this was about her. I was going to have to try and be friends with Jack again, just to keep Luna sane.
“Well, there is a remedy to that,” Alex cut in. “We could call off the wedding.”
Luna immediately started shaking her head. “No, absolutely not. There is nothing more I want to do then get married to you. I just...I guess I got freaked out that life had been so perfect, that I had to make imperfect. I don’t want to stop the wedding though.”
He looked relieved, but still unsure. “I don’t want to upset you so much, Luna.”
“It’s okay, Alex. I just needed to...make sure I wasn’t dreaming I guess,” she explained. “I...I didn’t mean to cut that deep.”
“Sh, don’t worry about it,” I said. “The doctors say you’re going to be fine, and that you can go home tomorrow afternoon.”
“Ugh, I’m going to have so much cleaning to do when I get home,” she groaned.
I laughed, thankful she was looking toward the future. “How about this? You and Alex can stay here and just hang out together and I‘ll clean your house, like a welcome home gift.”
“You don’t have to do that, Nora,” she said.
“It’s no trouble. In fact, I insist,” I declared. “And don’t you worry about me and Jack. We’ve been making some compromises...so I’m hoping we’ll quit fighting.”
She smiled at me. “Good.”
I hung out with them for a bit before bidding goodbye to them and heading home, finding my apartment empty. I was set to head over to Luna and Alex’s place early the next day to straighten up their house, but then I decided that we should all hang out again to welcome her home. No drinking, just all of us best friends shooting the shit, just like the ‘good old days.’ It felt like a new beginning, a new promise for us all to fix the messes we had made. I was determined to make my friendship with Jack work for Luna’s sake, but part of me was just hoping to relive some high school memories. Then again, you can’t repeat the past...at least the same exact way it happened.
“Luna won’t answer her phone! She always picks up,” he yelled, blinking back tears.
“What happened? Why wouldn’t she pick up?” I questioned, trying to rationalize.
“We had a fight, just a stupid argument about nothing. I could hear her crying on the other end, and then she just hung up. She hasn’t answered me since. I’m worried, Nora.” he sputtered.
“Okay, well, let’s go over to Luna’s and sort this out. I’m sure everything is fine, Alex,” I said, even though I couldn’t believe my own words.
By that time, Alex had a driver’s license, and he quickly sped over to Luna’s house, taking deep breaths to calm himself along the way. I tried not to let him see how scared I was. He and Luna hadn’t been dating for even 10 months yet, and I was sure he had no idea about the demons my best friend was constantly battling. After all, I had thought they had gone away because of him.
None of Luna’s family was home, so Alex didn’t even bother knocking, choosing to burst through the door like he had done to mine earlier. “Luna!” he cried.
I could hear a faint sob coming from the bathroom, a noise I knew all too well. “Come on,” I said to Alex, grabbing him by the sleeve and dragging him after me, telling him to be quiet.
I knocked softly on the bathroom door. “GO AWAY!” Luna screamed.
“Luna, it’s me. Please open up,” I begged.
“No! You’ll just get mad at me,” she replied.
I sighed. “I know this door can’t lock, so I’m coming in anyway. Don’t worry, okay? You’ll be fine, and I won’t get mad.”
Alex hid behind me as I cracked the door open slowly, fighting the urge to call out to his girlfriend. Luna sat on the bathroom floor, hands covering her eyes to hide the tears and both arms covered in countless, thin red lines. I hadn’t ever seen so many in the years I had known her. Gently, I grabbed her arms, trying to uncover her face and get her washed up. “Nora, no.”
“Alex, can you go grab me a washcloth? Oh, and see if you can find any bandages,” I said. He nodded turning away quickly, and I focused my attention on my best friend. “Luna, what happened?”
“Alex and I had a really bad fight. I mean, we’ve had fights before, but none as bad as this. I just, I didn’t know what to do, Nora. Please don’t be mad,” she cried.
“I have never gotten mad at you for this, and you know that,” I replied. Alex returned with a washcloth and some gauze pads, then stood in the doorway without another word. I wet the washcloth in the bathroom sink, trying my best to clean up her cuts. “Do you remember the promise you made to me?”
“I’ve made a lot of promises,” she commented.
“In 8th grade, I asked you to promise me that you would call me, message me, contact me in any way you can when you wanted to cut,” I mentioned, pressing on her wounds gently to stop the bleeding. “You rarely keep that promise, but I hold you to that you know. Why didn’t you call me this time?”
“Because I didn’t think about it. I’m sorry, Nora, I just didn’t know what else to do.” She sobbed.
I wrapped the gauze pads around her arms, checking to make sure there weren’t too tight. “It’s alright. Now we’ll just try to beat your record, okay?”
She sniffled. “But...I hadn’t cut in nearly a year.”
“It’s okay, Luna. You can make it. You are so much stronger than you think,” I smiled softly at her, trying to hide my own sadness from her. “Since you’re all patched up, I’m gonna leave you and Alex alone to talk. You two have a lot to sort out.”
I hugged my best friend before stepping out, sitting on the couch with a sigh. Alex slunk down next to Luna on the bathroom floor, pulling her into his arms and cradling her like a small child. “I’m so sorry, baby. I can’t promise you I won’t ever screw up again, but if I do, I guarantee it’s not worth hurting yourself over. I love you too much to be the cause of your pain.”
“I love you too, Alex. I shouldn’t have cut, but I’m gonna go right back to not doing it. As long as I have you, I know I’m the luckiest girl in the world. The only reason I did any of this was because I thought I was losing you. Never leave me, Alex,” she begged.
“I could never leave you. I will never want to be with anyone but you, and I know that for a fact,” he replied.
By this time, they were both sobbing, and their words were hard to understand, but the sheer emotion of it all was clear as day. That was the day, the moment, when I realized that Alex and Luna were meant to be together. Part of me felt left out, like as the best friend, I was being replaced by the boyfriend, but I was just glad that my Luna was happy.
“Nora,” Luna called, her voice echoing off of the thin bathroom walls. “Get your ass in here!”
As I entered the room, they outstretched their arms to me, and we had a huge group hug, huddled together on the floor. We never told our friend what had happened that day, not Jack, Zack, or Rian, but that was okay. No one else needed to know but the three of us, and that was how it stayed.
When I got to the hospital, Alex was waiting in the lobby for me, pacing and trying to hide his tear stained face as I approached him. I opened my arms out to him and wrapped him in a hug, the taller boy burying his face into my shoulder and sobbing.
“What happened, Alex? Did she-?” I wondered, my voice cracking slightly.
“She’s fine, or at least they say she is; she just lost quite a bit of blood,” he cried.
“How did she do that?” I questioned.
“She went a lot deeper than she ever has before, so bad they had to stitch her up. Plus, the doctor estimates that by the time I got home and found her upstairs, she had been up there for over half an hour,” he mentioned, composing himself. People were staring, though I don’t know why that mattered to him.
“So there wasn’t a fight? Nothing that you can think of that might have set her off?” I asked.
“No. I don’t know what I did wrong, Nora. I thought she was fine, but I fucked it all up again and I don’t know how,” he said, wiping away tears with the back of his hand.
“Don’t beat yourself up, Alex. Sometimes she just relapses, and you can’t think that it’s your fault if and when she does. It just makes things worse for everyone involved,” I explained.
“What makes you say that?” he sniffled.
“Because I did the same thing, back before we met you and the guys. She’d tell me she cut and I would feel so awful, like I was a failure of a friend because I didn’t stop it. Hell, I still feel like that sometimes. But the point is, it gets you nowhere. Feeling sorry for yourself doesn’t help her, and that’s always been the big thing,” I commented.
“You’ve saved her so many times over the years. Sometimes when we’re all on tour, me and her stay up late and talk about what our lives were like before we met one another. She always says that she’s better because of you, that she probably wouldn’t even be alive if it wasn’t for you and all that you have done for her. If it weren’t for you, I never would’ve met the love of my life. Even then, I’m not the one she needs to live,” he said.
“She needs you too, Alex. It was always so much worse before she met you than it is now. Honestly, you and I are Luna’s rescue team, and there’s no one I would rather work with to save my best friend,” I replied, blinking back tears.
He nodded, taking a deep breath before speaking again. “Come on. Let’s go see her.”
He led me up an elevator and down a long white corridor to Luna’s room, here she was hooked up to all sorts of monitors and a cop sat in the corner of the room, probably keeping her on suicide watch. I sat beside her on the bed, Alex taking a place at the foot of the bed. “Hey,” I greeted. “How are you feeling?”
She looked down at the bandages that were covering the stitching on her arm. “I’m okay, I think.”
“What happened? Why did you cut, after all this time?” I wondered.
She focused her attention on me. “I just got stressed, couldn’t take all of the pressure. I’m worried about the wedding, about you and Jack and how you guys are getting along. Just, everything.”
I hadn’t realized how selfish I had been. I was so focused on all of my drama with Jack that I nearly forgot about protecting my best friend. It was her wedding that we were all getting back together for, and I felt so dumb for not noticing that this was about her. I was going to have to try and be friends with Jack again, just to keep Luna sane.
“Well, there is a remedy to that,” Alex cut in. “We could call off the wedding.”
Luna immediately started shaking her head. “No, absolutely not. There is nothing more I want to do then get married to you. I just...I guess I got freaked out that life had been so perfect, that I had to make imperfect. I don’t want to stop the wedding though.”
He looked relieved, but still unsure. “I don’t want to upset you so much, Luna.”
“It’s okay, Alex. I just needed to...make sure I wasn’t dreaming I guess,” she explained. “I...I didn’t mean to cut that deep.”
“Sh, don’t worry about it,” I said. “The doctors say you’re going to be fine, and that you can go home tomorrow afternoon.”
“Ugh, I’m going to have so much cleaning to do when I get home,” she groaned.
I laughed, thankful she was looking toward the future. “How about this? You and Alex can stay here and just hang out together and I‘ll clean your house, like a welcome home gift.”
“You don’t have to do that, Nora,” she said.
“It’s no trouble. In fact, I insist,” I declared. “And don’t you worry about me and Jack. We’ve been making some compromises...so I’m hoping we’ll quit fighting.”
She smiled at me. “Good.”
I hung out with them for a bit before bidding goodbye to them and heading home, finding my apartment empty. I was set to head over to Luna and Alex’s place early the next day to straighten up their house, but then I decided that we should all hang out again to welcome her home. No drinking, just all of us best friends shooting the shit, just like the ‘good old days.’ It felt like a new beginning, a new promise for us all to fix the messes we had made. I was determined to make my friendship with Jack work for Luna’s sake, but part of me was just hoping to relive some high school memories. Then again, you can’t repeat the past...at least the same exact way it happened.
Ahhhhhhh I want more
5/2/18