Here's the next chapter. I OWN NOTHING, but the plot. Thanks to Cartifinley, for writing some of it. Thanks I hope you enjoy

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A week had passed and no one was the wiser of my new pain reliever. Even after one week, it had become a habit, which at some moments I regretted. I kept my distance from the gang, but unfortunately I still had classes with them. On Friday, I spotted Melissa coming towards my locker after class. I smiled at her, but felt guilt creeping into my heart at deserving the only girl I had left, who even cared for me.

"Hey Jackson," she greeted me, with one of those electric smile of hers.

"Hey Mel," I replied, feeling the new cuts stinging as if amplifying my guilt towards her.

She brushed some of her back hair behind her ear, lowering her eyes and for a few moments, I thought she had come to break up with me. Yet the next second, she rose on her tiptoes, placing a light kiss on my check. I felt my body grow tense against my will, but as Mel lowered herself, she didn't seemed to have noticed.

"So are we going to see you at lunch today?" she asked, adjusting her backpack on her shoulders. I

shrugged, placing my books into my locker trying to ignore her as much as possible.

"Are you?" she repeated quietly. I paused for a moments thinking, but before I could say anything Nathan called over towards us.

"Hey Guys, how are you?" He asked, giving Mel a high five.

He turned towards me, but I didn't make a move to high five. Lowering his hand, he said, "You guys, coming to lunch?"

"Yeah," Melissa said smiling at her best friend.

But then she turned back towards me asking, "You coming?"

"In a few minutes, I need to do something first," I said, shutting my locker and turning in the opposite direction.

I heard Nathan call out, "See Ya soon."

I ignored him and quickened my pace, my pocket knife pounding against my leg the faster I walked. All the kids were heading towards the cafeteria, laughing and hanging out with their friends and siblings. I cringed as a kid by accident brushed against my arm, pressing my wrist against my leg, I winced in pain, but there was too much noise for anyone to hear me. The kid didn't even apologize, but I didn't care.

"Jackson, please don't it again, it doesn't help, let it go," her voice said pleading.

"What, let you go again, it's MY FAULT that he got you," I argued with her as I continued to walk towards an empty area near the bottom of a flight of stairs.

I sat down in the stairwell, running my hands though my hair, closing my eyes as a chill ran down my spine. Taking a deep breath, I took out the knife, fingering it playfully in between my fingers. After a few moments, I flipped open the blade, almost smiling at it, as it glinted in the light overhead.

"JACKSON!" Serena screamed in my mind, but I pushed her away, just as I was doing with the rest of my friends.

I sighed and winced slightly as I rolled up my sleeve on my right arm, seeing the cuts from this morning. Every two days the cuts were getting deeper than the last, and with each blow brought freedom for just a few minutes, but those minutes were my heaven. I raised the knife and stroke, but in school, it was just a few pricks like from a needle. The blood ran down my wrist and I didn't even feel my teeth grit in pain. Everything was going fine, no one knew my secret and I was relieving myself of pain.

"Jackson, what the hell are you doing?" a voice cried out in alarm.

"That isn't Sere's voice…oh crap!" I thought to myself, as I spun around, coming face to face with Daley.

Her face held every emotion possible all rolled into one, and I couldn't tell which one she had more off. Augur, fear, sadness, concern, terror, anything I could think of as an emotion. My heart fall into my stomach and words escaped me completely and the only thing I could manage was a small wave and a squeak of, "Hey Daley."

"What the hell are you doing, Jackson?" she asked again, coming towards me.

"It's none of your business," I muttered, putting my knife away. "Shouldn't you be at lunch, anyway?"

"I was meeting with one of my teachers for a minute." She glanced down at the bleeding cut and scars on my arm. "We need to get you to the nurse. Some of these look infected."

"No! Just leave me alone!" I began to walk away, but she stepped in front of me.

"Jackson, I know you're hurt over losing Serena, but this," she pointed at my arms, "isn't the answer. If we don't take care of these cuts, you could lose your arm. That's how bad the infection could get!"

"Fine. Whatever. Let's go. But you better not tell a soul. Not even Nathan."
"Okay. I promise. Come on."

We walked in salience for a few moments. Daley kept glancing over at me and shaking her head ashamed and a little out of fear. But what did she care if the cuts got infected and there was no use trying to reason with her, seeing that she was right.

"God, why don't you just take me now, damn it!" I cried to myself as we walked into the nurses' office.

A middle aged woman with dark brown hair looked up as we walked in.

"What seems to be the problem?" she asked, folding her hands together on her desk. I didn't say anything, but Daley nudged me in my side..

I glared at her for a moment, but then said, "I have some cuts on my arms…I got attacked by my cat the past couple of days."

"Attacked?" the nurse asked unconvinced.

I shrugged saying, "I was playing roughly with him, so he clawed me."

"Let me see," she said coming over and escorting me over to a chair. I saw Daley came up beside me, opening her mouth, but I glared at her.

"You tell her, and I swear I'll kill you," my face said. I knew I wasn't going to do that, but it got her to shut up. I had made a mental note that day as I had held my sister's lifeless body to never become like Jed, I was going to keep that promise.

After a few minutes, she had wrapped my wrists in some type of cast and had told me to stop playing rough with my cat. Leaving the office, I had to suppress a laugh at that dump story that she had bought. Once we were far enough away, Daley turned towards me.

"Jackson, you have to promise you'll stop with madness. You'll kill yourself!" she exclaimed quietly, staring directly into my eyes.

I felt my gaze harden and my voice was filled with angry as I spoke. "Did you ever think that maybe that's what I want to do, Daley?"

"You can't mean that Jackson, I know it hurts-"

"Ha, you know how it feels to loose your little sister….Daley what if it hadn't been Serena, what is if it was Lex that had been killed?" I asked, fuming with anger.

For once Daley was speechless, and she was shattered at that every thought.

I stared down at her saying, "What would you do Daley? How could, would you cope with that pain?"

"Give me your knife, Jackson," she said quietly, but didn't meet my gaze.

"NO!" I cried before heading towards the cafeteria, leaving her in the dust.

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I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please review. Thanks