based on "The Last Night" by Skillet
"You're such a waste of time, Haley! I don't even know why I try with you anymore!" Mrs. Nelson yelled, leaning against the kitchen counter and swinging a finger in Haley's direction. Her other hand propped her weight against the edge of the counter. Dinner was in the oven, Mr. Nelson would be home any minute now, and she had just found that Haley had forgotten to take the trash out again. She was supposed to have done it that morning before she left, but time had gotten away from her and there wasn't time left. Now she was paying for it with the harsh, stinging blow darts shooting from her mother's mouth.
The barrage finally ended and Haley was free to leave the room. She walked quickly upstairs to her room, shut the door and looked around. The pressure to be the perfect daughter was just too much; the anxiety it caused her was just too much. "I have to get out," she thought, "I can't handle this. I can't put up with it for any longer. I have to do something." She sat sideways at her desk, tapping the thin edge of a random notecard against the desktop while she stared at the floor, thinking and plotting.
She made up her mind. She was leaving.
She paced back and forth in her room, getting things ready. Opening the top drawer on the side of her desk, she brought her little box of tools our from the very back. She changed her clothes, putting on her favorite hoodie and best-loved pair of sneakers. From the bottom of one dresser drawer she pulled a folded up bunch of papers which she unfolded and laid out in plain sight on the desk. She slid the little box into her hoodie pocket and put in her iPod without hitting play yet. With the light left on and the door shut behind her, she walked out of her room and snuck out of the house, unnoticed by her mother.
Haley remembered that her friend Josh was at the local coffee shop tonight, and walked in that direction, her hood up, hands in her pockets, and music on. Josh hung out at the shop in the evenings pretty regularly- had been for a few years now- and Haley had joined him there only twice that she could recall. She wasn't particularly close to Josh; she wasn't very close to anyone really. But he was the one friends she knew she could trust, because he seemed to really care about her and was genuine with her. He could take anything you would throw at him, and he never freaked out.
The bell above the door tangled quietly as she entered, barely audible over the music playing overhead. Which was just soft enough that you could be heard over it speaking at a normal voice level to those around you. The shop was relatively busy, making Haley feel less attention-grabbing, the way she preferred it. She found Josh at a table for two near the middle of the room and next to a window. She paused long enough to pull her earbuds from her ears and turn the player off before she approached him. He looked up as she was a couple of tables away and watched her come toward him, obviously stopping whatever homework he had been in the middle of.
"Haley! What a great surprise!" he greeted her.
The corners fo her mouth tugged a few millimeters upward in a quite lame attempt to smile. It was the closest and only attempt her lips had made all day. She silently hopped up into the seat across from him, not bothering to wait for the invitation, and ignoring his greeting.
"So what brings you here to hang out with me tonight, huh? Do you want me to get you something to drink? They have a really good pumpkin spice latte you would probably like."
As he talked, she glanced out the window, and at what he had spread on the table. Then she looked around the shop, taking in the calm, friendly activity, and pushing up her sleeves due to the unexpected warmth of the place. By the time he was done speaking she was looking at him again, and watched him look down at her arms resting on the table. She had them out in front of her with her hands clasped together. She knew he was seeing the scars the cutting had left on her wrists, the work of the tools inside her little box nestled in her hoodie pocket. All year long she had worn long sleeves around him; this was the first time she was allowing him to see any part of her arms bare.
His facial expression transferred from happy to see her and in a cheerful mood to pain at seeing the marks on her skin and an air of sadness and compassion. She tried to swallow but suddenly found herself only able to do so with great difficulty and felt tears starting to slip from her eyes. She reached up to wipe them away and said, "Josh, I'm not staying. This will be my last night feeling like this. I just came to say goodbye. I -I didn't want you to see me cry. I'm fine, really.
He shook his head at her, still sad, maybe sadder. "Look, I know that's a lie. Yes, this is the last night you'll spend alone. Look me in the eyes, so I know you know I'll be everywhere you want me to be." He slid down out of his chair, came around, and wrapped his arms around Haley from behind.
She started telling him about what really went on at him, the full extent of it. "My parents say everything is my fault."
"But they don't know you like I know you. They don't know you at all."
She detailed how she really felt on a day to day basis, and what happened when she had tried a few times to talk to her parents about it. "I'm so sick of when they say, 'It's just a phase. You'll be okay. You're fine.'"
"I know that's a lie, too. I won't let go, Haley. I'm everything you need me to be. This can be the last night you spend alone."
"But the night is so long when everything's wrong. People are usually less reachable for help and company then."
"If you give me a chance I will help you hold on tonight. Tonight this was the last night you'll ever spend alone. I'll keep you wrapped in my arms for as long as you need. Whatever you need I can get it for you. I won't let you say goodbye, and I'll be your reason why. This was your last night away from me."