I hold out my hand, hoping the girl will trust me enough. I mean, I've not given her a reason to not like me. Have I? "Can I see something, dear?" she looks down at my hand for a moment, and I look to Frank. He's watching, obviously not understanding what's going on. I look back to the girl and smile. She sighs and puts her hand in mine, I can feel her trembling. I turn it over in my hand and roll up her sleeve as gently as I possibly can. Just as I had thought, her wrists are completely covered in deep gashes that go above her elbow,the ones closer to her wrist are so fresh, they barely even scabbed at this point. Could it have been just last night? Her chin trembles as she watches me "I'm sorry..." she whispers it so quietly that I can barely hear it, I roll her sleeve back down and pull her into a hug, as tight as I can. She completely bursts into tears, crying into my shoulder.Those words mean so much to me, and I almost break down myself, but I know this isn't a good time at all for me to sympathize with myself. "Oh, dear Clementine. Don't apologize. Please, don't apologize." she wraps her arms around me, "I've been through it... I know... just don't apologize.." she lets go of the hug and pulls away, she wipes her eyes, which have makeup smeared around them. "Wh- what do you mean?" she sniffles. I hold out my hand for her. She takes it, and examines it. She runs over the scars with her fingertips. "Are these- burns?" I nod. She pushes my sleeve up a little bit, and sighs. "I didn't think that anyone else-" she lets go of my hand, and wipes her eyes again. "They do. You wouldn't know though, because they suffer in silence. They hide it away, leave the people closest. Sound familiar?" she looks down at her feet, and nods. "I'm not going to tell you to stop because I know how hard it is, but you can try, right?" she looks back up to me, tears still filling her eyes. "I- I don't know how to- to cope without-" I sigh and shake my head "Please, just try." she nods, her chin trembling. Frank is still just staring at the two of us. "I will..."

Thanks for the ride." Clementine smiles slightly, her eyes are still red from crying. She steps out and closes the door. She takes a few steps closer to the apartments, and then stops. She stares up at the building, her shoulders are trembling, and she buries her face in her hands. She falls down to her knees in the snow, and sits there alone, crying, with Frank and I still watching. "Should we-" Frank goes to open the door, but I shake my head. "Just leave her." he looks back at me like I've lost my mind. "She needs to be alone." he sighs and puts his seat belt back on. "Okay, then." I glance over to Clementine one last time, and then pull away. What I want to know is why such a beautiful girl would ever do such a thing to herself. What would cause her so much pain to cause her to mutilate her own body that way, it must be bad. Everyone has a reason. The worse the reason, the deeper the scars, that's how it seems, at least. I try to help as many people as I can- I've been through the same experiences as them, most of them. And they don't realize that what's going on is only temporary, but the scars that are left will remain there for the rest of their lives. There's only one that I've lost.. she was my first love. She reminds me a lot of Clementine, she was so lost before I met her. I think I helped bring her back, before she did it. She was so happy, too. I don't understand why she would have done it. One day she showed up at my house while I was sleeping, and gave an envelope to my parents, to give to me. Inside was a note that read-

I'm sorry.

Notes

oh, right in the feels.