Chapter 2

Binky woke up to his phone going off in his pocket. He sat up and yawned. He must have fallen asleep for a few hours. It was till light outside, but the sun was setting soon. The cut on his wrist had stopped bleeding but had yet to scab over. To Binky's annoyance, his phone kept ringing. He pulled it out of his pocket and looked at the screen: Sue Ellen. He didn't want to talk to anybody at the moment, especially her. She probably wanted to talk about why he punched his locker at school today. After a few more moments, the phone became silent. Thank goodness, she will probably be gone now.

A few minutes later, the phone went off again. Binky couldn't believe it. What did Sue Ellen want? He thought about it for a moment. Maybe it was just a school-related question that could be answered quickly. Well wait, why didn't she just text him the question then? Binky wasn't sure what to make of Sue Ellen calling him twice. Part of him wondered if Sue Ellen was in some kind of trouble and needed help. If that was the case, then he could help her and she would leave him alone. Yeah, that might be it. Binky sighed and answered the phone.

"Hello?"

"Binky? It's Sue Ellen."

"Hey."

"Can I come over? I want to talk to you about something."

Now Binky was suspicious. What on earth did Sue Ellen want to discuss? They were never close friends. Mind you, they were never enemies, but it's not like they hung out all the time. Binky knew she wasn't attracted to him, that much was made clear back in freshman year when Sue Ellen admitted she had the hots for Brain. He didn't answer Sue Ellen's question for a few passing moments as he tried to figure out what she was thinking.

"Binky? You there?"

"Yeah."

"Can I come over? I don't mean to intrude."

"Sure, come whenever."

"Great, thanks. I'll be over in 10."

Binky hung up the phone and realized what he just did. He just gave permission to Sue Ellen to come over and "talk about something". He figured he just made a big mistake. It had been months since a friend came over to his house. Binky thought of his house as his sanctuary, where no one could bother him, except his idiotic mother. Now, someone else would violate the privacy of his home. Still, he was slightly curious as to what Sue Ellen wanted to converse about. If anything goes in the wrong direction, he could always just change the subject like he normally would do at school. Yes, that would work.

Binky looked down at his cut wrist and saw all the dried blood. He knew he had to wash off the blood and cover up the cut so Sue Ellen couldn't see it. He always wore long sleeves to cover up the other scars on his wrist, and so far no one noticed. The only problem was he never swam anymore, because he wanted no one to see his wrist scars.

He walked into the bathroom and place his wrist under a stream of warm water. It took over a minute of scrubbing with his thumb, but eventually the dried blood on his arm was gone.

"Binky, I made dinner," called Mrs. Barnes from the kitchen. Binky was surprised she was willing to talk to him after that last fight, but then again, they got into fights almost every day now.

"Not hungry," Binky called back. He dried off his arm and looked at himself in the mirror. Nope, he needed to see more. He took off his shirt and stared at his torso. He had lost a significant amount of weight over the past few years. He was now the skinniest guy out of his group of friends. Binky knew his deliberate starvation could be costly, but he didn't care. He rarely felt like eating, so he just didn't eat much. It was that straight forward. Some people just thought he outgrew his chubbiness. Nope, he just eat a few times a week. Sure, he was pretty tall, but he weighed less than Arthur, who was at least five inches shorter than him.

He put his shirt back on and walked back into his room to wait for Sue Ellen to arrive. A few minutes later, he heard a knock at the front door. Great, here we go. Hopefully this "conversation" will be short and sweet and she can get out of the house. Mrs. Barnes opened the door and greeted the visitor, then pointed her towards Binky's room. Binky looked down at his wrist. Okay, everything was covered.

Sue Ellen walked up to the doorway. "Hey Binky! Can I come in?"

"Yeah," replied Binky reluctantly. He desperately hoped she would sit in his bean bag in the corner of the room, as far away from him as possible. To his dislike, she plopped down on the bed next to him. This made Binky extremely uncomfortable. Was she going to try and seduce him to get him to talk about his feelings? Sue Ellen turned to Binky.

"So, what have you been up to? I feel like we haven't talked in a long time."

Binky didn't know how to respond. What was he supposed to say? That he's been up to cutting himself and starving himself to the point of anorexia? Besides, since when has Sue Ellen cared about him? It's not like they were ever close friends. Binky shifted his weight away from Sue Ellen as a precaution. She was trying to get him to spill out his secrets. He wasn't going to let that happen.

"Uh, just school and stuff," Binky finally said.

Sue Ellen didn't appear to want anything deeper than that. "Yeah, same here. This year is even tougher than last year, ya know?" she replied casually.

Binky felt relieved. Maybe she just wanted to shoot the shit with a friend. "Totally," muttered Binky. He honestly just wanted her to leave, but she hadn't said or done anything dangerous, at least not yet.

All of a sudden, Sue Ellen stood up and face Binky. "Binky, I want to show you something," she said in a serious tone.

"I thought you wanted to talk about something," asserted Binky, who was confused as to what Sue Ellen was up to. If she wanted him to leave the house to go somewhere, he would refuse.

"Well, I want to show you something, then talk about it," said Sue Ellen sincerely. Binky had no clue what she would show him, but he hoped it would be quick so she could leave him alone.

"Alright, what is it?" asked Binky reluctantly. He was waiting for Sue Ellen to pull of her mask and be a mass murdering alien underneath the façade. As it turned out, that couldn't be further from the truth.

Sue Ellen lifted her skirt up to her waist, and pointed to her right leg. Binky was taken aback that Sue Ellen would flash him like this. Did she like him? Did she want to fool around with him? He then saw what she was pointed at. The sight made him extremely triggered. He stared in disbelief: from Sue Ellen's mid-inner thigh up past her underwear, was dozens of scars, each over two inches long. That part of her leg looked horrific, because the scars made her skin bumpy and discolored. It honestly looked disgusting. Those scars were bigger than his. Maybe she was insane.

Sue Ellen lowered her skirt and looked at Binky with an intense face. "I know you self-harm, Binky. I wanted you to see my scars so you know you're not alone."

Binky felt his face turn red. "I don't self-harm!" he protested. He stood up and looked down at the petite girl. How arrogant of her? She assumed he self-harmed without any proof? Who did she think she was? Some kind of golden child who was never wrong?

Sue Ellen hugged Binky. "I've noticed your wrist for a while now. It's okay, Binky. I just want to help." Binky pulled his friend off of his slender frame. "You can help me by leaving right now," he growled.

Sue Ellen looked like she was going to cry. "I know it's been hard for you with your dad and all, but trust me Binky, cutting is not the way to handle it," she said softly.

Binky walked to the doorway and pointed towards the front door of the house. "Get out, Sue Ellen," he said sternly. He wasn't going to discuss this with her. Not in a million years. She was out of her mind.

Sue Ellen's eyes were watery. She looked down at her feet as she shuffled out of Binky's room. "I'm here for you, Binky," she said over her shoulder. Binky slammed the door shut without saying anything. He then pressed his ear up to the door. He heard Sue Ellen leave the house, which gave him a sense of relief. Was she psychotic? She had dozens of nasty scars on her leg…but even worse, she wanted to discuss his scars. That was not going to happen, especially since they weren't even close friends. Then she tried to tell him cutting wasn't the best way to cope. Cope with what? He was fine! Nothing was wrong, except that he sucked at school. She was making a big deal out of nothing. Stupid girl.

Binky waited for his mom to knock on his door and ask what happened with Sue Ellen. The knocks never came. Binky knew why: his mom had taken her antidepressants with liquor again, and that always knocked her out cold. If anything, she was passed out on the couch in the living room with a bottle of pills and a bottle of booze in her hands. Good, that meant peace and quiet for the time being. He somewhat hoped his mom would OD one day with her medication habits, but he also suspected it would not happen. His mom was disturbed, but not to the point of being suicidal. Binky then laid in his bed and stared up at the ceiling and thought about what Sue Ellen did. Hopefully that would be the last of such "scar talks".