Ally shut her eyes tightly, letting a few tears slip out.
But despite her craving for pain, it never came.
To her surprise, she winced but not from pain on her exposed left hand, but because of a tight grip on her right.
Confused, Ally opened her eyes to the shocked expression of her blonde companion.
"What in the world do you think you're doing?" His usually frightening voice echoed with a slight edge of fear in them. Saying so, he snatched the knife from her hand, dropping it into the sink.
"What does it look like I'm doing?" She snapped for the first time in the past six years.
"I am being accused of murder- something I wouldn't evem dream of doing. And like the idiot I am, ran out, leaving behind enough evidence that I was there. Moreover, I lost my father, the only remaining family member I love and the worst part is I saw it! I freaking saw it! Now who would believe me. Huh? Who? You? I can see the look in your eyes and it sure as hell ain't reassuring me of anything! I don't see a reason to live. No one needs me OK?'' Ally finished breathlessly.
This was followed by silence, the only sound being the heavy panting from Ally after her outburst.
Austin looked at the girl in front of him. She seemed to be secretive...a big fat mystery he wanted to resolve. Ally was nothing like what she put herself to be. He had assumed that she was a confident, independent young woman with a perfect life.
He was surprised that he found himself to be angry, not at the fact that she decided to resort to self harm in his house (which would eventually have trapped him in some enquiry had she been successful) but at the fact that she simply gave up so easily.
Little did he know she was just like him: insecure, sheltered and broken. Despite her efforts to regain some of her facade back, he refused to believe her angry, dangerous and sarcastic attitude. He liked her way better when she was her usual self: sweet, dorky, sarcastic (a normal amount), opinionated and adorable.
At least that's how her best friend Trish described her to be. She never showed him that side of her...well, only a few times, but not consciously.
And right now, she was snappy, vulnerable and hiding behind a brave mask. He couldn't count the amount of times she had already cried, since he found her. There was so much he wanted to ask her.
Austin noticed that the girl was still sobbing her eyes out. Though he was burning with curiosity, he couldn't stand to watch the girl cry.
Sighing deeply, he stepped forward and engulfed her in yet another hug. From the time he picked her up, hugging seemed to be a natural thing for them.
As if on instinct, her arms found its place around his neck and she sobbed into his T-shirt as he whispered of comforting words into her ears and rubbed her back gently.
"I need you, Ally," he whispered to her.
Ally never found comforting words to be..well, comforting, but suddenly these meaningless words and overused phrases seemed to give her hope that things would be alright.
Yet again, she was incredibly grateful for the presence of Austin in her life, though she could tell that he wasn't very convinced.
But, at that moment, Ally made the split second decision to seek temporary happiness to the sensations and emotions she felt in the hug.
"Tell me Ally," he whispered into her ear, "Just trust me enough to tell me what you saw."
Ally grew silent yet again. She knew Austin for no more than five years. Yet she only actually took comfort in him for the past few hours...but somehow, she knew she trusted him and to her that was not normal!
Austin had taken her silence as a bad sign. But the second he saw her nod subtly, he couldn't contain the small smile on his lips.
Gripping her wrist gently, he pulled her upstairs to his room and sat beside her on his comfy bed.
Her eyes were still downcast but she started to speak feebly, "Last night, after the party, since no one offered a ride, I walked home. It is like a fifteen minute walk and I made it safe, fortunately. So I made it to the living room, thought that dad and I would argue and I would walk out, so I left the door unlocked. On switching on the light, I screamed, I..I..my...my dad..he was," her lip quivered as she described the incident. Austin listened intently, squeezing her hand in support as she recounted with how she saw a man run, what he looked like, how he found her and all that she witnessed that morning. He heard her vivid descriptions carefully, like how the man wore a yellow shirt and a mask and how he had a tattoo on his arm and how his hazel eyes pierced into hers. Soon, he found himself pulling her into him and whispering words like, "You are so brave" and "It's not your fault" to the girl, something he never thought he would ever do, no, not even in a million years.
Then she wasn't crying any longer. She was quiet and her sudden muteness worried him.
He had just witnessed the girl try to take her own life, because she thought of herself as a failure? Which to Austin seemed weird. He found her to be brave and endearing, but not someone who would give up that easily.
He could tell that someone had hurt her beyond repair and her father was like that rope holding her together and stopping her from falling apart.
Her story seemed similar to his and for some reason he found himself hoping to be the rope that held her in place.
He wondered if she was reliving the incident, but his thoughts were interrupted by a rather unexpected giggle from a rather unexpected source. He looked at her, rather confused.
"I had a curfew of 10 pm and I was determined to break it!"
Austin was trying hard to hold back his laugh, "Goody two shoes," he muttered.
"And yet you seem to believe that I murdered my father, " she grumbled and he realized that her walls were slowly building itself back up.
He shook his head and took her hands in his, "Ally, look at me," he urged, "I don't for one second believe that. Yes, the headline threw me off guard, I admit, but it was more along the lines of why someone like you would be pulled into something like that."
She was still not convinced.
Taking a deep breath, he continued, "You do realize that if I thought you were a killer I would have kicked you out right? Or at least reported you? " he asked.
This got to her. She finally raised her eyes to his level and nodded. Her brown doe eyes, radiated innocence yet again and this time, he was determined to keep that glint burning,
"Besides, you girl are so petite, you can't even hold a knife, much less stab with it," he joked with a smile. He knew that it was wrong of him to try to joke about something like this, but he was already missing her smile.
At this she let out a laugh. The angelic sound, one she had guarded for very special moments, the one that was music to his ears.
"Thank you, Austin," she said almost cheerfully, and he was glad to see the traces of his Ally in the broken girl.
"Now tell me who hurt you. Why did you try to kill yourself?" he asked her, the question that had been bugging him for sometime now.
Her eyes widened and she opened her mouth a few times contemplating what to say, but they were interrupted by a frantic knock on the main door, followed by the doorbell and by the sound of it...it did not seem pleasant…