That night Cor was sitting in his room thinking about what he was going to do the next day and praying to Aslan, quite literally, that he would be able to get by without cutting. With his busy schedule it would be hard to find an excuse to get away. He knew he had to do something soon before someone found out.
At that moment Cor heard a knock on the door. He quickly hurried to hide the knife that he had been contemplating using and pulled his sleeve down. At that moment he heard a voice that sounded like High King Peter's.
"Cor, you don't have to hide anything." Yes, that was definitely High King Peter's voice and he sounded worried.
"Please let us in Cor. Like Peter said, you really don't have to hide anything. We just want to talk to you." King Edmund, and he too sounded worried.
Cor glanced worriedly at the door as he started to pull down his sleeve. They both sounded as if they knew something. But there was no way they could. He had only seen them a couple of times, and there was no way they could know. They would have confronted him if they had noticed before and he had only seen them during this visit when they arrived. There was no way... He slowly turned the key to unlock his door, but his heart was heavy. If they knew, then he was in trouble. Slowly, he opened the door.
"Cor," Peter said softly, "Is it okay if we come in and talk to you for a few minutes?"
Cor simply nodded and let them in. "High King Peter, King Edmund, I can explain, I..."
Peter cut him off gently, "Cor, don't try to until you know exactly why we are here. Although, I suspect you are pretty sure why."
Edmund gently reached over and put a hand on Cor's shoulder. "Why don't we sit down and talk?"
Cor complied, but he wasn't sure how to start.
"Cor," Peter said softly. "When we first got here, your sleeve was up and we couldn't help but notice."
"Cor, I don't know exactly what you went through before your family found you. But I do know that cutting isn't going to help things. You have to believe that you will be okay, and that you haven't done anything wrong. I KNOW you think you have, but it is simply NOT true. Do you understand me?" Edmund was almost screaming at this point. What he hadn't noticed was that Cor was pulling away and was almost cowering as he pulled as far away as possible.
Peter had quickly moved next to Cor and gently pulled him away from Edmund. Edmund would never hurt Cor intentionally, both Edmund and Peter, saw Cor and Corin as younger brothers, but in Edmund's worry, he had a way of getting rather rambunctious. But Peter could see that, whatever Cor had been through it had deeply affected him and he seemed to be very nervous, even now, seven months later. "Cor it's okay. I know you are nervous about talking to us, but you need to let us help you." Peter's voice was not only calm and even, but also gentle.
Edmund had quickly realized was going on and had put a firm hand on Cor's shoulder. "I hope I didn't upset you too much. I was just worried about you."
Cor took a deep breath and said simply, "It's okay. And King Peter..."
Peter raised a hand, "Before you say anything else please drop the titles."
Cor smiled sheepishly, "Okay. I know I need to talk about it. I just don't really know where to start."
Edmund listened intently and then responded after a moment, "My suggestion would be to start from the beginning."
Cor looked at him apprehensively, "The beginning? Of what?"
"Whatever started this whole thing. Why? When? How? That would be a good start. And I think you will find it easier than you think to talk once you start." Peter gave Cor's shoulder a squeeze. Both he and Edmund saw Corin and Cor as their younger brothers, and were very worried about Cor.
"Peter, Edmund, I don't know where to start. It is kind of a long story and it is really complicated."
"Come on Cor. Edmund and I aren't going anywhere. We have time to listen. Just start somewhere and you can give us the details as you go."
"Well, I guess I guess it was all because of what that man did to me. It was so horrible. He hurt me and I just took it. He pretty much treated my like his personal slave. I was so scared and all I could do was let him do it. He hit me sometimes. I was so shocked when I got here and everyone treated me so nice. I couldn't get the things he told me out of my head. He called me names and treated me horribly. I knew that the words weren't true, but when I got here, I didn't think I was good enough to be here." Cor paused for a few minutes trying to think of what to say next.
Edmund took that as an oppurtunity to speak. "Cor, I want you to know that isn't true. You are not worthless. I don't care what he told you, it isn't true. Your'e right, the only reason he wanted you was to treat you like a slave. But your family wants you because they love you. I know it's hard to understand, but it will be okay. Please know that what he did to you wasn't right, that what he told you wasn't true, that the way he treated you was wrong. I know it's hard, but you will be okay. Even though it is hard now, you will be okay."
Peter cut Edmund off, and interjected, "Edmund is right. You have to believe that Cor. I know this is hard for you, and I cannot claim to understand, but you CAN stop."
Cor didn't let the two Narnian kings continue. "I guess I can. But I don't know how to deal with things if I don't cut. I am scared to stop cutting and scared not to."
A/N: Aren't I mean, cutting it off like that? I will update soon, just as soon as I finish the next chapter of A Narnian Mystery. Thanks for reading and I would really appreciate a review. I will update regardless, but they encourage me to keep writing.
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God Bless You,
Ashleigh