Concrete Angel

Lilly sat in the filthy living room of her parents' house, debating with herself whether or not to stick the rusty needle into her chest. Both her mother and father had been sent to prison not even one month ago for neglecting her and her older brother. She remembered clearly all the pain and suffering the two siblings were put through. It had given her horrifying nightmares every night. Her arms had so many bruises on them that she had to wear a hoody to cover them up. Even her best friends never realized the monstrous things she'd been put through. Her older brother, Will, had been the only person to protect her and try to keep her safe from their parents. Whenever he was around and saw that their parents' were about to kick or punch his sister, he stepped in front of her so he would take the beating instead.

She kept the needle right above her chest, her eyes watering with tears. What was she doing? She would ask herself, knowing she wanted full well to end her life. Lilly was tired of being treated like an animal by her own parents, she was tired of being called a freak by her classmates, but most of all she was tired of being alive.

Right as she was about to end her life, her elder brother ran in and whisked the needle out of her hand. Will threw the needle to the ground, and then wrapped his arms tight around his sister maneuvering her to lay her head against his chest. He looked down at his sister with deep, deep concern for her as his eyes filled with tears.

"Lilly, what on earth were you about to do? Please don't you dare tell me you were about to commit suicide!" He spoke softly but in a firm voice. The young man couldn't believe what he saw, he couldn't comprehend that his baby sister had almost ended her life just moments ago. He kept his firm, but loving hold on his sister making sure she wasn't able to reach for the needle again.

The younger sister quivered in his arms as she tried so hard to reach and grab the needle. She had not wanted to live anymore, she felt she didn't deserve to. "L-l-l-let me die." Lilly managed to squeak out as she battled with her brother to get the needle.

Will held her tighter, standing up, and deciding to leave the house so she couldn't harm herself. "Honey, I will not allow you to do any such thing to yourself! You are my baby sister and I will not stand to see you commit suicide! What I want to know is why you were about to stab yourself with that thing! Please baby girl, tell me why you were about to end your life?" He looked down at his sister with tears in his eyes as he softly kissed her forehead.

"Because I hate living! I just want my life to be over!" The blonde girl shouted in tears as she tried so hard to get out of her brother's arms.

He kept his hold on her, sadness overtaking him as he heard his sister saying she wanted to die. As they walked down the street, Will had seen a few of his friends and decided to stop them. They turned to look at him, their eyes filling with concern when they saw his younger sister quivering in his arms. "Hey Will. What's the matter with your sister? Is she okay?" A girl with long brunette locks and sparkling blue-green eyes asked, looking at the two with much concern.

The older brother stroked his sister's back continuously as he looked at his friend with melancholy. "If I tell you, none of you better tell a soul. She is my sister and I don't want anyone to hurt her because of what I'm about to say." He said sternly to his friends, continuing to hold Lilly close. His friends nodded, anxious to hear what happened. "I walked in on her with a needle in her hand about to commit suicide! She was this close to ending her life! My God if I hadn't walked in when I had she would have been fucking dead! And I swear none of you better mention this to anyone cause I don't want anyone giving my sister a hard time!" He said with tears pouring out of his eyes like a rainstorm.

His friends looked at them in shock, sorrow, and concern. They couldn't believe his sister had tried to kill herself. The brunette haired girl glanced at Lilly, who was buried in Will's chest sobbing her eyes out, with sympathy for her. She found it heartbreaking to know that the girl felt there was nothing to live for anymore.

Will sighed as he looked towards his friends with a pleading gaze in his eyes. "I need one of you to let her stay with you. Our house is disgusting, cause' of our awful parents. I'm going to clean it up but I don't want Lilly to be there right now, not after she almost ended her life! So please will one of you have the heart to let her stay with you? Just for a few days I promise. I don't want her to be left in that filth any longer."

"I would allow her to but you know how weird my parents are Will, I wouldn't want your sister around them." A young man with red, spikey hair spoke up. He felt awful for his friend; he knew what it was like to be neglected by his parents.

The blonde haired brother glanced over towards the brunette, knowing how much she'd cared about his younger sister. He gave her a pleading stare while hoping she would be okay with allowing Lilly to stay with her. "Miley, would you be okay with having Lil stay with you? It's just for a few days, I promise. I trust you completely to keep my baby sister safe." He said sincerely, he knew Miley would take great care of his sister for him. Will knew that he could trust her to protect the young girl.

Miley gave a soft, yet sad smile towards her friend. "Of course she can stay with me. I'll keep her safe, you know I will. And if you need any help cleaning your house, just give my brother a call. You know he'll help you in a heart-beat Will." The brunette said softly, knowing full well she would be more than happy to have Lilly stay with her. Especially since she had no one to stay with her in her freshly bought apartment; she would take any company she could.

Lilly's brother gave a thankful smile towards her, wrapping her in a small hug and whispering into her ear. "Thank you, Miley. I appreciate it so much. But please make sure if you see anything sharp to hide it because I don't want Lilly to try and commit suicide again. Make sure to keep an eye on her no matter what; she's really upset right now. I don't want her to do anything she'll regret."

Miley softly walked Lilly into the door of her apartment, already glancing around to make sure nothing sharp had been out in the open. Unfortunately a knife, that she had been using to slice a piece of bread earlier that morning, had been lying near the sink in plain sight. Before the blonde girl could get to it, Miley hurried over to it and placed it in the dishwasher.

The blonde looked at the dishwasher, knowing that her brother's friend had put the knife in there. She wished so badly that she could take that knife and stick it through her own chest. Feeling eyes on her, she turned around to see Miley watching her with concern.

"Lilly, would you like to lie down and nap for a little bit?" The taller girl asked softly, taking Lilly's hand as she led her to the spare bedroom. She softly sat Lilly on the bed before taking a seat beside her, looking into her eyes with sympathy. "You could use a nap, couldn't you honey?"

Lilly shook her head as she continued thinking of the knife in the dishwasher. She knew she wouldn't be able to get it with Miley watching her every move and that made her resent her brother for what he said to her. All the young girl had wanted was for her life to be over. She felt as though she had nothing to live for anymore; she felt that all she deserved was death.

The brunette gave a sad look towards her, knowing for a fact that the girl needed to rest. So she gently unfolded the blankets while carefully laying Lilly down underneath them. "It's okay, Lilly. You can sleep! I'll be right here if you need anything." Miley said softly, wrapping the blankets around the younger girl's body. She then sat at the end of the bed, making sure Lilly was able to fall asleep before she left the room. She pressed a soft, motherly kiss to her forehead. "Sleep well, sweetie. You're going to get through whatever it is you're going through. I promise."

As Will made his way back to the house, he looked disgustedly towards the rusty needle he saw lying on the ground. It angered him that his baby sister wanted to stick that through her chest and torture herself. He loathed his parents for causing Lilly to turn to suicide for comfort. Yet he was thankful that he walked in when he had, because if he came back and saw his sister drowning in her own blood, he would have murdered both of his parents.

Before he could get any further with cleaning the house, a loud knock came from the kitchen door. Throwing the rusty old needle into the garbage can, Will slowly made his way to the door and opened it. Standing in the doorway of his parents' house just happened to be Lilly's best friend Parker Brown. She got a clear view of the filth her friend had been living in and sighed loudly at the fact that she'd never known what had been going on in her dear friend's life.

Parker looked up at Will with confusion and much concern for her friend. "Where's Lilly?" She asked, worried that something happened to her. She hadn't heard from the girl in days, which she knew was unusual. "How come this house is so filthy? Why are you two living in this?" The dark haired girl realized she'd been asking too many questions at once but when it came to her best friend, nothing mattered to her.

"Lilly's staying with my friend for a few days while I get the house cleaned up." He said, realizing his sister's friend had no idea what's been going on in her life. "Some bad things have been happening and it's really hurting Lil right now."

Lilly's friend took in every detail of the filth the girl had been living in and sighed. "Can you tell me where that is? I need to make sure Lilly's okay, and I need to know what she's gone through…I can't believe for all the years we've been friends that I never knew what horrific conditions she's had to live in! My god this isn't safe enough for an animal to live in!" Parker spoke out angrily, wishing she could have been there for Lilly.

Will hated the anger he heard in the girl's voice. He could tell that she was blaming herself for not knowing what he and his sister had been living in. "It's not your fault for not noticing the mess Lilly's been living in. She's good at hiding things like that. I didn't even know she was hiding that from you, I thought she told you everything. But please, please don't be mad at her; she's already so upset, I really would hate for her to be even more upset. And my friend's apartment is just a few blocks down from the high school. Her room number is GH5659." He said softly, hoping she'd be there for his sister instead of yelling at her for not saying anything.

The girl shook her head. "I'm not mad at Lilly! I don't blame her for not telling me, but God I should have known that she was living like this! She's my best friend, who I care about more than anything in the world; I should have known something was wrong!" She loathed herself for not noticing anything and carefully made her way out of the filthy house. Parker hurried to her car, then drove off to find her friend.

As she made her way up the long case of stairs, she couldn't help but wonder what her dear best friend had been going through. Finally reaching the top, she hurriedly made her way to the door to the apartment. Parker slowly knocked on the door as she hoped the person would open it soon.

Opening the door, Miley looked at the girl in confusion. She'd never seen the girl before and was thinking that she was at the wrong place. "I think you're at the wrong apartment, sweetie." The young adult said in her soothing voice as she prayed in her mind that Lilly was still in bed sleeping.

"No, I'm at the right place. I was told my friend Lilly is staying with you for a few days. I came to see how she's doing; I'm so worried about her!" She said softly, impatiently waiting to see her friend.

The older girl smiled sadly at her as she motioned for her to come in. "Oh that poor, sweet, little thing is in the spare room resting right now. You can sit in the living room with me until she wakes up. I'm sure she'll be happy to have her friend here. She needs you right now, more than anything. I can't say what's happened to her but that poor baby needs some love in her life. I'll be here for her if she needs anything, that's for sure, but I'm sure she'd be happier to have her best friend there for her." She said softly, trying her best not to wake the sleeping girl as she walked the two into her living room. She gestured for the girl to have a seat on the couch. "Would you like anything to drink, sweetie? And please don't be offended by my calling you that, I call everyone names like that. I don't do it on purpose; it's only a habit I picked up from my momma."

Parker sighed at the fact that something horrible must have happened to her best friend since her brother was having her stay with his friend. "Maybe a glass of water would be okay, thank you. It's all right; I call my friends' names like that all the time so I'm immune to it." She stared blankly ahead at the blank television. How could she let her friend live in such awful conditions?

Miley watched her desolately as she poured her a glass of water. She could tell that the girl had no idea what Lilly was put through and felt bad that she didn't know. After putting a few ice cubes in the glass, she gently made her way back into the living room and handed Parker the water. "Don't beat yourself up for not knowing what Lilly's gone through." She said softly, taking a seat beside her. "You had no way of knowing sweetie. And poor Lilly was too scared to say anything."

"I hope she's okay. I really hope no one's hurt her." She spoke with sadness, fearing the worst.

A few hours later had the blonde girl awake from her restless sleep. Already, thoughts of wanting to get the knife were running through her mind as she slowly got out of bed. She wanted to end her life, whether people liked it or not.

Lilly quietly made her way out of the room and into the living room where two sets of eyes were fixed on her with concerned expressions. "Did you have a good nap, sweetie?" Miley asked softly, helping Lilly to sit down. After sitting her down, the brunette decided to get her a glass of water. Lilly shook her head no in response to the other girl's question. "Your friend, Parker, is here honey, go sit with her and talk to her. She wants to be there for you." Miley spoke in a gentle tone, before getting up to go get her some water.

Within seconds, Lilly felt her body being wrapped up in someone's soothing embrace. She could easily tell that it was her best friend and that caused her to relax. "Lilly, Lilly, Lilly…" Her friend said sadly, holding the blonde close to her. "Honey you have to tell me what's going on. I walked into your house and my god, sweetheart, it was awful! That thing isn't livable for a goddamn animal much less a human! How the hell could you live in that, Lil? How could you live in such a condition and not tell me? You know I would have helped you in a heart-beat, Lilly! You know I would have! And I still will help you, sweetheart! But please, please tell me why you haven't told me about this. I'm not mad at you, baby, I'm just concerned about you." Parker looked down at her friend with her eyes nearly in tears for the girl.

Her friend looked away, still thinking about the knife. She didn't care what happened to her, all she wanted was to die. Lilly wanted to stick that knife through her chest and into her own heart, to die a slow and miserable death. The girl knew that she deserved it. If her parents wanted her dead, then that's what they'd get.

"I w-w-was s-s-scared…" Lilly's voice cracked as she spoke for the first time in several hours. She continued to look away from Parker, who kept her arms wrapped lovingly around her.

The dark haired girl shook her head sorely as she pulled Lilly closer to her chest, trying to turn her around so she could look the girl in her eyes. "Please look at me sweetie." Lilly continued to look away; she couldn't bring herself to look Parker in the eye. Not after she didn't tell her about what's happened. "I c-can't." Was the blonde's weak reply as she felt tears come to her eyes.

"Sweetie, what's the matter? What has happened to you? Please, Lilly, tell me what happened. I need to know what's going on so I can help you baby."

The blonde felt her body tremble even more as she tried to come up with the words to tell her friend about what she had been dealing with. She couldn't even bring herself to admit that what she'd gone through was even real. Coming out of her horrifying thoughts, Lilly felt her head being placed on her best friend's chest and her eyes were met with concerned, dark hazel eyes.

Parker looked directly into the other's eyes with so much concern, that she could almost feel the pain in her friend's life. She softly stroked Lilly's arm as she continued to try and get her to talk. "Lilly, please sweetie, don't be scared to talk to me. I want to help you. Tell me what's been going on, okay? I'm not mad at you, Lils, I'm concerned for you! The condition you've been living in isn't healthy." She spoke firmly, but in a gentle tone as she tried to encourage her friend to talk to her.

"M-m-my p-parents…t-they …" Tears were suddenly streaming down the blonde girl's face as she tried to tell her what happened. Every time she thought about it, she grew weaker. Instead of trying to tell her what awful things her parents put her through, Lilly rolled up the sleeves of her shirt to reveal many bruises and one nearly broken arm. Her body quivered as her friend gently stroked her arms. She never let anyone, including her own brother, touch her bruises.

The taller girl felt her own eyes fill with tears as she examined her best friend's horrifying bruises. What kind of person could do this to such a sweet girl? Was one of the many questions running through her mind. She looked back up into her friends eyes, which only shown much distress and sorrow. "Where else did they hurt you sweetie?" Parker continued to hold her friend close not being able to comprehend how a parent could beat their own child.

Again, Lilly only rolled up her pants, which revealed even more terrifying bruises. The bruises on her legs had been even worse than her arms. Not only were there black and blue marks but there were also scratches, burns, and even bite marks. This is what had really frightened Parker.

More questions ran through her mind. She couldn't and never would understand how her parents were okay with treating their own daughter, their baby girl, with such evil and hateful abuse. Just staring at the bruises made her want to kill the people who'd done that to her. "Oh, Lilly; sweetie, I'm so sorry this happened to you! You didn't deserve any of the pain and suffering you've had to deal with. And you better not think you did!" The girl said with overwhelming sympathy for her poor friend.

The blonde looked down, hiding her face and the tears that soaked it. She knew all the pain her parents caused her was because she deserved it. Lilly felt she deserved every last bit of it, that's why she started causing some of the harm by herself. She deserved it. And she would continue to inflict herself with harm until it destroyed her.

"No, Lilly…please don't tell me you actually deserve this! You can't possibly believe you deserve to be treated like an animal, can you?" To Parker's dismay, the smaller girl held out her wrists to display the many knife marks that covered them and she could tell that they'd been pretty deep. "Oh, Lil…sweetie, why would you do this to yourself? Don't you love yourself, honey?"

Lilly only continued to look down as she poked and prodded the scars on her wrists. No one would ever be able to understand the agony she's had to deal with and how it's shattered her self-worth.

After spending a week with Miley, Will decided that his sister needed extensive therapy and rehabilitation before she did something drastic to herself.

Will and Lilly were nearly halfway to the rehab clinic when the young girl decided to speak up. She looked to her older brother, who would occasionally glance at her to make sure she was okay, and quietly cleared her throat. "How long do I have to stay there, Will?" She asked so softly, that he almost didn't hear her.

He could easily sense the uneasiness in her voice, so he gently grabbed one of her hands and stroked it in his. "Just a few weeks sweetie, I promise. And once you're done, you'll feel a lot better. Everyone there is going to help you, Lils. They're good people and they'll look after you. You may even make a few friends while you there, sweetheart." He spoke soothingly as he continued driving down the windy road.

The next twenty minutes was quite silent as the brother focused on driving and the sister had been deep in thought on what would be happening while she'd stay at rehab clinic.

Finally arriving at the clinic, Will watched as his younger sister resentfully got out of the car. He sighed, feeling awful that she had to deal with so many obstacles. Though he knew staying here would help her out tremendously. Slowly he turned the car off and got out of the car, grabbing Lilly's suitcases out from the trunk.

They slowly and gloom fully made their way into the depressing building where they were told to follow the receptionist to Lilly's room. It took them nearly ten minutes to get there, seeing as her room had been located all the way up on the top floor.

The receptionist, who they soon found out was Mrs. Collino, opened the door to her room which revealed a quite large two-bedroom room that had a nice sized bathroom with a shower in it and a 36" flat screen television hanging on the wall. The two siblings also noticed a brunette haired girl sitting at the desk over near the bed on the left side.

"This is where you'll be staying, Miss Truscott. And you have a roommate, her name is Sunny Da'Glorgin. And you will not be allowed to see your family at all during your stay here."

Her brother grew a little angry at that, he wasn't going to leave her here without being able to see her for the whole time. He softly rubbed his distraught sister's back while looking back at the receptionist. "What do you mean she's not allowed to see anyone? She's my sister, she needs me! I can't just leave her without being able to see her at all. I need to know she's okay. Lilly's a very frail person, she doesn't do well on her own."

Mrs. Collino looked at them and sighed. "I'm sorry but that's the rule. You can call whenever you'd like, to talk to her. But for us to treat her and heal her properly, she is not allowed to have outside contact while she's staying here. Besides she can make friends with her roommate and we have other staff that will help look after her."

Will sighed, hugging his sister close to him. He hated that he wouldn't be able to see her for a while but was reassured to know that she'd be well taken care of here. The older brother placed a gentle kiss to Lilly's forehead and said softly, "I love you Lilly; you give me a call if you feel upset, okay? You can call me whenever, sweetie." He wrapped his sister in one last, tight hug, rubbing her back in soothing circles. "I'll see you soon, Lil. Try to be happy. I promise once you're done here, you'll feel so much better angel. Bye Lils; I love you." And with that, both he and the receptionist were gone.

The blonde looked down sadly, meekly making her way to the empty bed nearest the door and sat down as tears made their way to her eyes. She hated having to be away from her brother for so long. She never was on her own before and was terrified on how she'd react.

The other girl, who'd been sitting quietly at the desk writing, turned to look at her with empathy. "It's okay to be scared." She said softly, knowing how hard it is to transition to being in a strange place without any familiar people or surroundings. "I remember when I first came here, I was just as scared as you. But I promise everyone here is extremely kind and you'll make a ton of friends, sweetie. And I'll be your first." The brunette spoke softly with a small smile. She slowly got up from the desk and made her way over to Lilly, taking a seat beside her.

"So what's your name, sweetie?" She asked softly as she watched the timid girl continue to stare at the ground. It was easier for her to tell that the girl must have gone through a lot of suffering and misery.

Lilly was still very nervous and really hadn't want to talk but had reluctantly given in. "L-Lilly." She shyly replied as she looked at her hands. "W-what's yours?" The other girl sitting beside her let a sad sigh, hating how scared she sounded as she spoke.

Grabbing one of her shaky hands, she gently stroked it hoping it would calm her down a bit. "Honey, you don't have to be scared to talk to me… or anyone else who's here. You're not going to get hurt here, Lilly, I can guarantee you that." She said, feeling quite sympathetic towards her. "And I'm Sunny." She gave a soft smile to her, hoping to ease things up for the hurting girl.

A few hours later, the girls' were called down for lunch, which caused Lilly to become extremely anxious. Being at the clinic had caused her to become even worse than before. She was so desperately craving to find something sharp to harm herself with so as Sunny was leaving to go to the cafeteria, she stayed back to find a needle of some sort.

As the brunette was leaving she glanced at Lilly with concern. "You coming, Lilly?" She asked softly, realizing the girl hadn't moved from the bed. The other girl looked up at her and nodded. "I have to use the restroom real fast. You can leave though, I'll find my way." She said quickly, getting impatient on waiting for her to leave.

"Lilly, I'm not allowed to leave you by yourself. Mrs. Collino gave me very strict instructions about that. I'll be right here, waiting for you." She said, knowing what the girl would be doing if she had left her alone. She had done the same thing when she had just gotten there, and she was not going allow her new friend to do that as well.

The blonde sighed sadly, looking down. "I'll be fine, I just need to use the bathroom." She tried protesting but the older girl refused to leave the room without her. "I know what you're going to do, Lilly. You're going to try to hurt yourself. I know that because I was the exact same way when I first got here. And what you're here for is to get away from that, sweetie. So I refuse to let you do something that will harm you." She said softly while wrapping an arm around her shoulder. "Now let's go, before they start worrying."

Lilly refused to eat any of the food that sat before her, instead she lied her head on the table, wishing she were back home with her best friend, Parker. They had so much planned for their future. The two of them were going to have their own wedding business with three of their other close friends. Lilly was going to decorate and create the wedding cakes along with their friend Laurel while Parker would help the couples plan and organize their weddings. The other two girls were going to be the photographers and the florists. She wondered if they'd still do this after the awful things Lilly had done.

Her roommate saw that she wasn't eating and sighed; she softly tapped her back, hoping to get her attention. "Lilly, you need to eat. It'll do you good; especially since you don't look too well. And after you finish your lunch, I'll introduce you to my friends. And I'm sure they'll like you sweetie, you're such a precious girl."