Hey guys! This chapter gets a little…dark towards the end. There is in fact a suicide attempt in this chapter; who attempts it and whether or not they succeed is for you to find out, but I just wanted to provide a warning for those who may be sensitive towards things of that nature. Well, let's get on with the chapter!
xxxx
"Joey! Joey, wait!" Alissa screamed, grabbing her things and following Joey as he stormed out of Burger World. After she kissed him, he had pulled away as if he was burnt. The pain in his eyes told her that she upset him a lot.
"Joey, please!"
"Don't."
"Joey I'm sorry! Please, I didn't think that you'd be upset!" He stopped and turned to face her.
"Dat's da problem!" he yelled, grabbing his hair in frustration. "Ya don't think! Ya just do stuff without worryin' about da consequences!"
"Okay, you're right, I wasn't thinking! I'm sorry! I just…when Seto walked in I got upset and I just wanted to make him upset. I thought if he saw you and me he'd get jealous!"
"Christ! Ya just don't know when ta stop do ya? He broke up wid' ya, so what? He's an ass, but he obviously did it for a reason! Get ova' him! He's not da only one in da wrong. I'm not sayin' dat I hate him any less, but based on da story ya told me, you said some pretty hateful comments ta him too! Stop makin' yourself out ta be da victim, 'cause it's startin' ta get old!" She swallowed thickly and blinked rapidly to stop the tears from falling.
"I'm sorry."
"Just leave me alone, Alissa." She sniffed and dropped her gaze as the rest of the group approached her.
"Why'd you do that, Alissa?" Tristan asked in a harsh tone.
"I didn't mean to upset him."
"Well what did you expect? Joey's liked you for ages! Of course using him would make him upset!"
"I wasn't using him!"
"You're not fooling anyone, it's obvious that you kissed him to get under Kaiba's skin!"
"Well, if he liked me why didn't he ever say anything?"
"Because you were with Kaiba!"
"Tristan, enough. She didn't mean to hurt Joey," Yugi's soft voice said.
"That doesn't justify what she did! She's selfish! She's always only worried about herself!"
"I said that I'm sorry!"
"I'm not the one you should be apologizing to. I gotta go."
"Tristan-."
"See ya guys later." Alissa clenched her hands tightly in front of her as she watched Tristan leave.
"Hey, Alissa. Don't take what Tristan said too hard. He and Joey have been friends for years so they kind of rely on one another."
"No, Yugi. He's right. I am being selfish. I shouldn't have done that to Joey. I need to talk to him."
"Let him cool off for a couple days first," Tea advised. "He's more likely to listen to you after he's let off his steam."
"Yeah, you're probably right. Hey, you guys don't hate me now do you?"
"Of course not! Neither do Tristan or Joey."
"You don't have to lie to me, Tea. I saw the way you all looked at me after I kissed Joey."
"I think we were all just shocked, Alissa. But we don't hate you."
"Thanks for the reassurance, Yugi. I should head home, I'll see you guys around okay?"
"Bye, Alissa."
xxx
"Seto? Are you okay?" Mokuba asked as soon as he and his older brother were settled in their limo.
"I'm fine, Mokuba. Why wouldn't I be?" he asked in response, staring carelessly out the window.
"Well…Alissa was kissing Joey."
" She can do whatever she wants with Wheeler. We aren't together anymore."
"But didn't it bother you?" Yes, he thought.
"No." He paused in speaking to Mokuba to roll down the separation screen to speak to the driver.
"After we drop Mokuba at home, drive me back to the office."
"Yes, Master Kaiba."
"You're going back to work tonight?" Mokuba asked as Seto rolled up the protection screen.
"Kaiba Corp doesn't run itself, Mokuba. You know that."
"But you've barely been home this week."
"There's a lot of work that needs to be done."
"You haven't been sleeping have you?"
"You don't need to concern yourself."
"I do if you aren't taking care of yourself again. Seto, Doctor Swanson said-."
"I know what Doctor Swanson said and I told you I can handle myself so leave it alone, Mokuba." The younger Kaiba fell silent. Seto drummed his finger against the door and continued to stare out the window. Could he get me to my office any slower? I have a lot of work to do, Seto thought. The reason he'd been at work so often the past week or two was because he needed to distract himself long enough to forget about her. And at that moment, he needed a distraction badly.
xxx
Two weeks passed, and Alissa still had yet to hear from Joey. She had called him several times over the span of the two weeks, but every time he ignored her calls and sent them straight to voicemail. She had even sent him texts, none of which he responded to. She had also tried to get in touch with Yugi, Tristan, and Tea, but they all were ignoring her as well. A couple days before, she had gone out to get groceries and she spotted the four friends at the arcade. When she saw that it had hurt. The group of friends was obviously more upset with her than Yugi and Tea had lead on. She dialed Joey and put her phone to her ear.
"Dis is Joey Wheeler. Leave a message." She sighed and hung up. Ignored again. She set her phone down on her nightstand and curled her knees into her chest. Why did I have to be so stupid? God, I'm such a fuck up! Her phone suddenly started to ring. She grabbed it and answered without even looking at the caller id.
"Hello?"
"Hey, Sweetie. I wanted to call to let you know my shift is going to run late."
"Okay, Mom."
"Will you be okay on your own tonight?" No.
"Of course I will."
"Okay. I'll be home by eleven."
"Okay, Mom."
"I love you, Sweetie."
"Love you too." She hung up and sighed. Ever since her mom got her new job at a restaurant in town, she'd barely been home. And when her mom did return home, she was always exhausted. Her mother had been taking extra shifts to pay rent. Not having her mom around much made her feel even lonelier than she already had been. She soon found herself thinking of all the problems she'd caused her loved ones. Maybe I'm more trouble than I'm worth. All I ever seem to do is make things worse for everyone. Maybe they'd all be better off without me. It's not like I have friends anymore. But did she really want to die? Had it really reached that point? She realized that it had. She really didn't want to live anymore. She wanted to die. She was tired of things going wrong when they finally seemed to be going right. She was tired. Tired of the loneliness, tired of the tears, and tired of living. She suddenly realized that she had been crying and she brushed the tears away. Before she did anything, she had a couple things to sort out. She grabbed her phone again and dialed Joey. To her surprise, he answered.
"Hello?"
"You picked up."
"I didn't look at da caller id. I gotta go."
"Joey, wait! Please. It'll only take a minute."
"Fine. What is it?"
"I really am sorry I used you, Joey. I thought that you'd enjoy seeing Seto pissed off as much as I did. If I had known that you liked me, I never would've done it."
"Who ever said dat I liked ya?"
"Tristan told me. Joey, I really am sorry."
"What ya did was really messed up, Alissa."
"I know it was. I guess I'll let you go now. I just wanted to apologize for everything before I go."
"Before ya go? Are ya movin'?"
"No, I'm just going away." Her tone made Joey freeze on the other line. She doesn't mean what I think she does, does she?
"Whaaddaya mean you're going away? Going where?"
"I just want to disappear."
"Alissa-."
"Bye, Joey."
"Alissa! Alissa don't! Stay on the line! Alissa-!" The dial tone sounded through his ear. "Shit!" He slipped on his shoes and ran out of his apartment. He quickly dialed Mrs. Todd as he ran.
"Hello?"
"Mrs. Todd, it's Joey-."
"Joey, can I call you back? I'm right in the middle of my dinner shift-."
"No! Mrs. Todd ya need ta get home now! Alissa called. I dink she's tryin' ta kill herself!" He hung up the phone and began to run even faster. Please don't let me be too late.
xxx
Seto yawned and took a large gulp of coffee before he continued typing. It had been a long day and he still had tons of work to do. He heard his cellphone ping and he ceased his typing. That must be Mokuba. He was shocked instead to see a new message from Alissa. What does she want? Even though he knew opening it wasn't the best idea, his curiosity got the best of him. He opened the text and as he read he felt his heart drop.
Hey Seto. I figured it would be better to send a text because I don't think I'd be able to get through talking to you. I'm sorry for all the trouble that I've caused you since I moved here. But you don't have to worry anymore. I'm leaving. I know I've asked a lot of you, but once I leave could you just drop in on my mom from time to time? Make sure she's okay? I know you don't owe me anything, but she'll need somebody. Bye Seto. I'm sorry. He slammed his laptop shut and paged his secretary.
"Get the limo ready now!"
"Your limo is ready Sir," the secretary paged back after thirty seconds. He grabbed his coat off the back of his chair and strode towards the elevator. As soon as he reached he ground floor, he rushed to his limo and got in.
"Take me to the Todd's apartment now! And step on it!" The whole ride there, he felt like he was about to throw up. It wasn't hard to tell from her text message that she was going to kill herself. What if he didn't make it in time to stop her from killing herself? The thought made him fill with dread. This is exactly what he had been trying to avoid. He didn't want her to get hurt, but she was about to hurt herself in the worst way possible. As soon as the limo stopped, he jumped out and hurried to the third floor. He was shocked to find Joey standing in front of her apartment door and trying to get in.
"What are you doing here, Wheeler?" Joey turned to Seto, his eyes clouded with tears of worry.
"I don't have time to fight wid' ya, Kaiba! Just help me get through dis door!"
"Where do they keep the spare key?"
"They don't keep one out anymore. We gotta bust it down or somethin'!" Seto came to stand on the other side of the door next to Joey.
"On the count of three, ram it with your shoulder."
"Got it."
"One, two, three!" Between the combined strength of the two teens, the door gave way and fell open.
"Alissa!" the blond and brunet called together. "Alissa!" The two ran through the small apartment. Seto finally found Alissa in her bathroom, struggling with the cap on a bottle of pills.
"Alissa, stop!" He rushed forward and pulled the pill bottle from her hands.
"No!" Alissa screeched. Joey rushed into the small bathroom and held onto Alissa. "Give them back!"
"Alissa, stop! Please!"
"No! Give them back to me! No! I wanna die!" Her voice cracked and she fell to her knees. Joey hugged her body close and stroked her hair.
"I wanna die!" she sobbed. The sound of sirens pierced through the air. Paramedics entered the apartment soon after.
"Alissa, you need to go with the paramedics," Seto said as he reached his hand down to help her up.
"No!" she shrieked. "What did you do? You ruined everything!" She threw herself at Seto, scratching and hitting him. It took two paramedics to restrain her.
"I wanted to die! You ruined it! I wanna die!" She tried to go for Seto again, but the paramedics stopped her when they stuck her in the arm with a needle. Her energy began to leave her and everything went black.
xxxx
Phew! That chapter's done, and I could NOT be more relieved. Writing chapters that are dark and depressing always drains me. Well, I hope you guys liked this chapter despite the dark turn. I love you all and I'll talk to you guys in a week!