Chapter 2: Hurricane Will Take Its Turn

~One Hour Earlier~

Frank pulled into the di Angelo driveway, Hazel sitting by his side, in his father's brand new sleek black Mercedes. Once he was parked, Frank gently opened Hazel's door and extended his hand to help her out. Hazel graciously agreed and slipped her fingers into his. Frank walked her up to the door and released her fragile hand.

"It was really good seeing you tonight," Frank said shyly, dropping his gaze to the ground.

Hazel brushed a lock of curly hair behind her ear and blushed. She could practically feel her entire face burning bright red.

"I had a fun time," Hazel blushed.

Frank awkwardly shuffled from foot to foot and stuffed his hands into his pockets.

"I guess I should go now-"

Hazel rose on her tip toes and brushed her light pink lips against Frank's. The tall boy hesitantly wrapped his arms around Hazel's slim shoulders and pulled the younger girl closer. Time stood still as the newly formed couple stayed intertwined in each other's arms.

After a few moments, they both pulled away for air. Frank blushed and gave Hazel on last chaste kiss on the lips.

"i'll see you tomorrow, lovely," Frank said.

Hazel hid her shyness behind her hair and pulled her front door open.

"Same time tomorrow?" she asked sweetly.

Frank nodded his head eagerly. "Same time tomorrow."

"Ok-okay," Hazel stuttered before stepping inside, her bright grin never leaving her face.

She slumped herself against the front door and bit her bottom lip. Hazel was so happy she thought she could die. Hopefully Hades and Nico wouldn't notice the dark pink blush which was still spread across her checks...

"Papa, Nico, I'm home!" Hazel shouted happily, trying to casually mask her excitement.

"Ah, my darling!" Hades called from inside the kitchen. "You're right on time! Go get your brother so we can all enjoy a nice meal together!"

Hazel smiled and quickly bounded up the stairs.

"Nico!" she called from down the hallway. "Come on, get up, get up!"

Hazel waited for a few moments down the eerily quiet corridor. On a normal day, Nico's speakers would be blasting either Green Day or The Fray. Also, on a normal day, Nico would come darting out of his room and pull the golden eyed girl into a bone crushing hug. That moment never came.

The thin girl raised an eyebrow and started inching closer to Nico's silent bedroom.

"Hey Nico, dinner's ready," she said from outside the door.

No answer.

She snickered and started knocking loudly on his door.

"Oh, don't tell me you fell asleep again, lazy bones!" she teased before pushing the door wide open.

The sight before her looked like a murder scene. Her brother was lying face down on his bed, unconscious, with rivers of blood rushing down his slit opened wrists. Pools of vomit surrounded his head. Hazel screamed.

"Dad!" she cried frantically. Hazel could barely keep her voice from breaking. "Dad! Daddy, help! Please!"

Hazel rushed into Nico's room and grabbed the skinny boy by his arms. She dragged him against the floor and into the hallway bathroom. Hazel threw the thin boy into the bathtub and turned on the cold water.

The curly haired girl joined him in the bathtub and shoved her fingers down the pale boy's throat. As she suspected, he coughed up a large amount of pills. Hazel yanked two pure white towels, which had been hanging against the shower rack, and tightly wrapped them around Nico's wrists to limit the blood lost.

"Dad!" Hazel screamed from within the pitch-black bathroom. She didn't know how much more her mind could take. She felt like she was on the blink of fainting.

She could hear the obsidian eyed man stomping up the stairs.

Hazel looked down at Nico and continued shoving her fingers down his throat. More and more pills came spilling out. She felt like she was going to be sick.

"Nico! God dammit, Nico!" she sobbed over the sound of the running shower. "Don't you dare die on me! Wake up! Wake up!"

She poured cold water onto Nico's ghostly pale face, praying he would respond to the sudden pressure. When Nico didn't make any movements indicating that he was okay, Hazel slapped him across the face several times. Half of her was hoping for some type of response, the other half was fueled by pure frustration.

Hazel cradled the unconscious boy in her arms and continued screaming. "Please don't leave me!"

"I just got off the phone with 911," Hades explained as he stepped into the bathroom. "They should be arriving shortly."

~One Hour Later~

Hazel couldn't comprehend what was happening. Yes, her brother had overdosed three times before in the past, but his attempts were never this drastic. The pills... He had taken so many of them... The doctor's weren't sure if he was going to be able to recover. And then there were the newly formed slashes that ran all the way down his left and right wrists...

The golden eyed girl sobbed into her hands and cringed. Nico was currently in the intensive care unit. His primary care provider, Doctor Chase, had shoved a tube down his throat and was forcing charcoal into Nico's stomach. They did that in order to absorb all the toxins in his system and make him throw the remaining pills back up. Doctor Chase and several other doctors were trying desperately to stitch Nico's violently slit wrists back together.

Hazel was afraid it wouldn't be enough. The cuts ran all the way from his upper wrist to his lower arm. Nico was losing too much blood... There were too many pills in his system... What if her only brother didn't make it?

With shaking hands, she reached into her back pocket and made another fruitless attempt to contact Nico's boyfriend, Will Solace. No answer. Hazel tossed her phone in frustration and sighed.

Hazel grabbed the blood soaked paper lying next to her. She found it after returning into Nico's room and collecting a few of the boy's possessions. Her bloodshot red eyes scrolled down the paper, her heart growing heavier with each dreadful story she read.

She remembered Nico telling her about the first passage. Maybe he wrote it down because it was the easiest to remember. Maybe he remembered it the most because it left the deepest scars. Even after three years, he never forgot all the awful things Brianna Gomez said about him.

~Flashback~

Nico had no idea why Brianna Gomez started tormenting him. All he knew was that one day, right before the end of lunch, she approached him and announced exactly what she thought of him.

It went something along the lines of, "You're fat and ugly and no girl is ever going to love you. The world would be a better place if you just disappeared."

The dark haired boy merely nodded his head and walked away. He could feel the crowd watching his every step. He could hear Brianna and her friends laughing in the distance. He could feel the emptiness take him over.

Thankfully, none of the other students ever saw him cry. He waited until he got home to let the tears fall. Nico would throw his backpack aside, rush up the stairs, slam his bedroom door shut, and cry for hours.

As middle school went on, Brianna's bullying intensified. She made it her own personal mission to remind Nico how worthless he was. On some days, she would even get her "popular," friends to participate.

Girls and boys he didn't even know were throwing things at him, calling him names, tripping him in the hallways, etc.

The chocolate eyed boy knew he had to make a change. He was tired of missing school or making up excuses on why he didn't want to go. He was tired of putting on a brave face in front of his peers, then sobbing for hours after school. He was tired of feeling like a useless failure.

Nico stopped eating completely. He did whatever he could to make the pain go away. In sixth grade, after over five months of torment, he made the first slash across his wrist. He hasn't stopped since.

By the time eighth grade rolled around, Nico had lost fifty four pounds. People were finally starting to be nice to him. They thought he was beautiful.

Nico knew he wasn't beautiful. He was disgusting. He spent all of middle school pushing away his plate or shoving fingers down his throat. Instead of hanging out with friends he isolated himself from, Nico ran blades across his wrist so he could feel some form of emotion.

They were all wrong. Nico di Angelo was not beautiful. Not even close. Not at all.

~End of Flashback~

Hazel folded the blood stained piece of paper back up and shoved it into her pocket. Nico's past was a dark place neither of the siblings liked revisiting. Now she finally understood just how dangerous his thoughts really were.

End of another chapter!

I'm sorry it was so short, I promise the next chapter will be a lot better.

Thanks to all the people who encouraged me to keep writing this story, but more importantly, thanks to all the people who tried (and succeeded) in making me feel better. Your kind words inspired me to see the bigger picture (: I feel better now and I don't want to hurt myself in any way.

Side note: To those asking if the stories in the last chapter actually happened to me, yes they did. In sixth grade, my mother actually died, but my sister did not. I just added Bianca for the sake of this story. I was bullied by a girl named Brianna (I changed her last in this story), my water polo team did bash me, my first kiss did spread awful rumors about me, etc.

FYI, the whole force feeding someone charcoal after an overdose is one hundred percent real. The memory is literally making me gag right now x'D

If you could drop a review, follow, or favorite this story it would be greatly appreciated!

~The OG Judicorn