Listen

    My combination lock opened surprisingly easy that morning. The door screamed as I opened it and my geometry textbook stared back at me from the top shelf. People were filling the cramped hallways quickly, like water when the dam breaks. Hurrying, I grabbed at my morning class books, until my forehead hit the bottom bar of the top shelf.

    "Oh s**t! Lily, I'm sorry!" A male voice said. I turned to see Tyler Mason staring at me with wide, worried eyes. My breath caught in my throat as I looked at him. He had changed so much.

    "Don't worry Tyler, I'm fine." I smiled. Actually, my head was pounding, and Tyler wasn't buying my lie.

    "No, that idiot just shoved me and I stumbled... I'm really sorry." He ran a hand through his hair, which he had just cut not long ago. It had taken everyone by surprise because he had longish, perfect brown hair. His eyes got darker every day, as if covered by a shadow. They weren't the eyes I'd fallen for that summer.

     I met Tyler while working at the pool the summer before last. He was a lifeguard and I was the snack-bar chick. I noticed his eyes and smile and polite nature right off the bat. We began to talk and bonded quickly over jokes, interests, and Snickers and Milky Ways. I had liked him ever since, but was always too afraid of being rejected to tell him. We remained very close friends instead.

     He reached up and brushed my side bang away from my forehead and ran his finger over what I was sure was a red mark.

     "I'm really sorry. I feel really bad." He said. I smiled at his overreaction. He had been like that ever since we had met. I smiled even more as I remembered the time I tripped at the pool last summer. He almost had a conniption over my cut knee. He had made me sit down for the rest of the day with my leg elevated and gauze pressed firmly on the spot.

    "Seriously, no harm. I'm completely fine." I said, taking his hand in an attempt at comfort. I didn't want him to beat himself up over it. That's when I saw the marks on the inside of his arm. "Tyler..." I said shakily. His eyes got wider and jerked his arm away and started to turn, but I grabbed his hand again. "Tyler, is there something going on?" I said calmly. I saw a slight flicker of fear as he swallowed hard and I almost saw the words in his head.

    "No, I'm fine." He said and tried to pull away. Again, I stopped him. I took his hand and rubbed tiny circles into his palm.

    "You seem like you need to talk to someone. Ty, you aren't fine." I said. "Now come one, we're going to talk." I pulled him away and locked my locker.

    "Lily, the bell is about to ring." He protested, looking around. I shook my head.

    "Doesn't matter." I said. I knew the front doors were off limits, so I stopped to think for a second. We needed to get out of the school, but stay on campus without being seen. Then, it clicked. I knew where to go. I pulled Tyler toward the side doors and, surprisingly, got out without an alarm sounding. I led him towards the woods at the side of the school.

    "Are you insane?" He said. "We'll get caught." I didn't listen to him, I just pulled. We walked through the brush and trees before we reached a clearing. We were on top of the ampatheater that hasn't been used for years. It was perfect because it was surrounded by trees except a small path, so we were easily hidden. I sat down on the soft green grass and patted the ground beside me.

    "What's going on?" I asked as he sat. He wouldn't look me in the eye. My first instinct was to scream at him, ask him why the hell he felt self mutilation would help any of his problems; but my second was to wrap my arms around him and hold him close. I did neither of the two. Instead, I took his hand and looked at the marks on his arm. They were medium sized and not too deep, but deep enough to bleed. They were mostly scabbed over. I ran my finger over them and he clenched his jaw as he looked down at his feet. "You know you can tell me whatever is going on Tyler, I want to help you." He looked at me for a while before speaking.

    "I just don't feel right Lily. I feel sad all the time." He said. "I feel like sleeping more than usual, and I feel like nobody cares. My friends wont listen to me. I feel like I shouldn't be this emotional, but I can't help it. It's killing my manhood. But ever since my dad left..." He said. I remembered how hard his dad's departure had been on him. I stroked his hand as he talked. "I feel like such a baby, blubbering at you like this now." That's where I put my foot down.

    "You are not blubbering." I said firmly. But his strange behavior was fitting together like a puzzle. She hadn't thought very much about it when he gave her his favorite CDs. Of course she'd asked, but all he said was "I don't need them. I've listened to them enough." Then, he went and cut his hair off. His beautiful brown locks, who knows where they are now? "Tyler, you haven't thought about..." I asked. He still wouldn't look at me. "Come on, you know that is not the answer. Do you know how many people you would hurt?" I said. This wasn't processing. Tyler, the boy who could make anyone smile, who used to wear bright clothes and go with me to my museums, the Tyler who made me smile every day I thought of his sweet face. He's thought about suicide. It didn't make sense.

    "I feel like everything is falling in." He said slowly, calmly, as if this was a normal conversation. I wrapped my arms around him and held him there, tightly.

    "Nothing is falling Ty. That's not what you need." I said. He shrugged.

    "You cannot tell anyone what I just said."

    "I can't promise you that." I said. "You need to talk to someone." I said as I stood up. He looked at me in confusion. "We're going to see Mr. Pierce." I said, but he was shaking his head before I said the guidence counsler's name.

    "I can't do that." He said. Again, I took his hand and pulled him up.

    "Look, you're my friend and I care about you more than anything. I'm not going to let you do that to yourself, or to me, or to anyone else who loves you." He was tearing up, as I expected him to. "So I'm coming with you, and we're going to talk to the guidence counsler." I said in a firm voice. I started to pull him toward the hill when he pulled me back.

    "Lily?" He said my name softly, barely above a whisper. I turned and he pulled me into his chest, holding me tight. Just like I had wanted for two years. "Thank you." he said.

    "For what?" I asked, stumbling over my words. I was so happy.

    "For listening." he said.

Reviews

[Izzy]

I think it's amazing! :) I kinda wish you'd gone into a little more detail about what was making Tyler so depressed. I feel like there would be more to it than just his father leaving...but it's your story and I really do like it :D