The mystery behind the tattoos

Another school day came to an end and I was waiting in the school parking lot for Jack. Now that he was taking me to band practice with him everyday, I didn't have to walk or ride the bus. I wasn't complaining but I've been waiting out here for the last 10 minutes and still no sign of him. I took out my phone and sent him a text.
Isabelle: Jack! Where the hell are you ? It's cold :(
I put my phone in my back pocket and walked over to his car in hopes one of the doors would be unlocked. I jiggled the handles and sighed in frustration.
"Fucking great." I muttered.
"Breaking and entering are we ?" Alex's voice came from behind me, making me jump a mile out of my skin.
"Alex!" I yelled, punching his arm.
"Ow! I'm sorry." He said, laughing.
"It's not funny!" I tried to stay serious but failed miserably.
"I came out here to tell you that Jack's inside, trying to convince his history teacher to give him a extension on a project he didn't do." Alex said.
"Typical Jack." I said and we both laughed.
"Why are you here ?" I asked, trying not to come off as rude.
"Well, instead of taking the bus home then going to Rian's, I'm catching a ride with you and Jack there instead." he said with a smile.
"Ah. Any particular reason ?"
"Well, that's what I wanted to talk to you about.." he trailed off, looking nervous. Which made me nervous.
"What is it..?"
"Uh..I don't know if Jack told you or not but..we have a gig tonight at the local venue and I..we wanted to see if you could come. And since it's a Friday night and the rest of the guys are coming over to mine afterwards, I thought maybe you would want to also come and hang with us.." he rushed, avoiding eye contact.
"Alex..I don't know. I wouldn't want to intrude on your guy's guy time and I doubt you guys want a girl around anyway." I said.
"Pleaseeeee." he said, dragging out the 'e' and taking both on my hands in his.
I felt all warm and fuzzy inside, butterflies filled my stomach at contact and I was pretty sure I looked equivalent to a tomato right about now. I didn't answer him and I guess he took that as a bad thing because he dropped my hands and put his to his sides.
"Sorry.." he mumbled, looking at the ground.
"Don't be..I..Uh.." Dammit Isabelle. "I'll come to both the show and yours." I spit out quickly, in attempt to cover up my awkward start.
His face lit up and he pulled me by my arms, into a hug.
"Shit!" I gasped in pain, backing up and holding my arm without even thinking.
"Iz, what's wrong ? What did I do ?" he asked frantically.
"Uh..nothing. You didn't do anything." I said quickly.
It wasn't exactly a lie. He didn't do it, I did it to myself.
"Then why are you crying ?"
I went up to touch my face and I was in fact, crying and that's when I also noticed dark red bleeding through my gray sweatshirt. Shit. He must have opened one of the cuts. Fuck. Fuck. I quickly put my arm behind my back, hoping he hadn't noticed.
"Alex, I have to go." and with that, I ran towards my home.

Alex's P.O.V

"Alex, I have to go." Isabelle said and before I could say anything else, she was running towards the direction of her house.
What the hell.
"Isabelle, wait!" I yelled, running after her.
She didn't stop and when we finally met up with her house, she ran inside. Damn this was a distance and man could she run. I went up to the door and noticed her parents weren't home so I walked in.
"Iz ?" I called out. I've never actually been here, Jack was always at my house so I had no idea where anything was. I heard a loud bang come from upstairs so I ran up, checking all the rooms. I ran into one and Isabelle was stood there, first aid kit spilled all over the floor and a bloody sweatshirt on the ground with even more blood running down her arm.
"Isabelle, what the hell ? Are you okay ? No, of course you're not. Oh my god." I managed to snap out of my initial shock, running towards her.
"Alex, just go away." She said a little aggressively.
"Go away ? No." Was she crazy ?
"I said go, Alex." She said more firmly.
I ignored her, taking her by good arm and pulled her towards the bathroom in her room, picking her up by her waist and setting her on the counter top.
"Stay." I ordered. I went back into the room, picked up all the supplies that fell from the first aid kit and walked back to her. She had her head down, swinging her feet and gripping the counter tightly.
I gently pried her fingers from the counter, taking her cut up arm and put it under the sink, letting the water rinse away the access blood. She flinched, I'm pretty sure because of the pain and as much as I wanted to let her go, I held it there. When I pulled her arm away from the running water, I quickly grabbed the towel hanging on the rack and pressed it firmly against it to stop the bleeding. She clenched her fist and I quietly apologized.
When I was sure the bleeding had stopped, I removed the towel, accidentally gasping a bit too loud at what I saw. The cuts were deep, really deep.
"Why ?" I asked in a whisper, afraid my voice would give away the tears I was trying to fight back.
"You wouldn't understand." She said.
"Try me." I pushed.
She shook her head and more tears fell one after the other like it was never ending.
"Please."
She looked like she was having a battle with herself but finally spoke.
"The images wouldn't stop." she whispered, sending chills up my spine,
"The images ?" I wasn't getting what she was saying.
"They were so horrible. I-I" She choked up.
I brought her to into my chest, wrapping my arms around her tightly, trying to give her some comfort. After a few minutes, her breathing had subsided and she had the ends of my shirt in her hands lightly.

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