After a busy and a very stressful day, Zane needed to catch a breather. The chemotherapy went alright, but his mother had to stay the night at the hospital. His sister was working the night shift, and his dad never was never home before midnight. The neighborhood park's lake was the calmest place for him.
He wanted to sit on the grass near the lake and glance at the sky. But nothing was going perfect today. Not at least for him. He was worried about his mom as it was. He called Winter after his mood was slightly back to normal, but much to his dismay, she never picked up the call. The kind of bad day Zane was having, if he gave any tests today in school, he would surely get a big ‘F' in the paper.
Just when he reached a certain spot where there were barely any people, he saw a petite girl with long black hair, who seemed familiar, was cutting herself with a sharp object. When he walked closer, his heart leaped in fear seeing Winter cutting herself with a knife. It felt as if the world stopped for a while, and all he could think was to stop her from taking such a step.
Instantly, he walked towards her, pushing the knife roughly from her hand. 'Are you on drugs?"
Winter got startled and looked up to meet the worried pair of blue eyes. 'What are you doing here, Zane?"
"You tell me first. What are you doing?" he snapped. He could not believe that he was seeing Winter do such a heinous thing. Thankfully, he always carried a roll of bandage in his pocket. He immediately started wrapping the bandage around her arm.
"You don't have to do this." Winter tried to snatch back her arm, but Zane wouldn't budge.
"Shut up." His eyes squinted at the other scars on the arm. "Is that why you always wear long sleeves?"
Winter remained silent, knowing he wasn't asking for an affirmation, rather he wanted an explanation. She always thought he would yell at her and be disgusted with her, but that wasn't what was showing on his face—it was only concern.
When Zane was done bandaging the fresh wound, he grabbed her other arm and rolled down the sleeves to check for any other injuries. His stomach twisted in knots as he saw the cut marks. "W-why?" His voice trembled slightly.
"I don't need to answer that." Winter turned away her head and pulled her knees closer to her chest, curling up in a ball.
"Hey, look at me." He made her turn towards him. He wanted to scold her and smack some sense into her head. But as soon as he met her gem-like eyes filled with tears, it broke his heart. His anger was all forgotten as he reached out and grazed his thumb over her cheek, wiping the lone tear that slipped past her eye.
"Please leave me alone," she mumbled in a taut voice, restraining herself from showing her weak self to him.
Zane shook his head and placed her head on his shoulder while rubbing circles on her back. "Being alone sometimes is nice. But once in a while, you need someone to lean on." As soon as he said that, Winter let out a choked cry and wrapped her arms around him.
Zane just stroked her hair, giving her the time to calm down. Crying in front of him like a baby wasn't the best feeling. However, it felt nice to have someone to hold for a change.
Once her sobs quieted down, she straightened up and placed her chin on her knees, staring at the lake in the darkness.
After a few moments of silence passed by, Zane spoke up, "When are you going to tell me?"
"Tell you what?"
"What's going on with you? Why were you trying to harm yourself?" Just the mention of self-harm was enough to get his stomach to twist into knots. "And why were you crying by yourself out here at this time of the night?"
"Like I said, I don't need to answer you," she said in an almost emotionless voice.
Zane couldn't comprehend what was going through her head. He sighed and said, "Okay, fine. Don't answer me. Just don't ever harm yourself."
"It helps me not to focus on the current issues," she responded.
"Ignoring your issues is no solution, Winter." He ran a hand through his hair, preparing himself to give a motivational speech. "Listen, self-harm won't earn you anything. It may feel good at first. Your body gets pain but your mind eases up. I understand that. But when your mind is at ease, it asks for another cut, and it turns to four from two. In the end, you only lose your precious blood. Instead of doing this meaningless action, you might as well as donate it to the blood bank," he paused as she didn't seem to be getting his message. "I suck at this," he muttered under his breath.
"My mind doesn't work," Winter spoke up after a while. "When everything gets too much…" she paused briefly before continuing, "I feel relieved and less anxious when I cut myself. The emotional pain just seems to seep away in the physical pain."
"Why do you have to depend on these stupid blades? Why don't you try talking to someone about it?"
"Who would listen to the rants of a person like me?" Winter let out a humorless laugh.
It hurt Zane to think that Winter had such a self-loathing mindset. "I would." Winter looked up in surprise. He sounded firm when he said that, which meant he wasn't lying.
"Why would you do that?" She looked at him as if he was some kind of god of aliens.
"It's not just me. Anyone would be willing to lend an ear to you when you are in need. It could be me, Lucy, Leon, your best friend, anyone. We are always there to help you up when you are down, so please don't depend on these blades anymore."
Winter hummed in response, not buying it completely. Zane understood that it would take time for her to heal. But it was okay as long as there was progress. All he hoped was that one day the scars on her skin and heart would heal up.
Zane placed his hand on top of hers and gave it a light squeeze before trying to put some wise words in her head. It wasn't until half an hour had passed that he felt like his words got through her.
"Promise me you won't cut yourself again," Zane said to her.
Winter smiled slightly and replied, "What if I break it?"
"I won't ever talk to you." Winter chuckled at his silly condition. "What? I'm serious," he objected.
"Sure, whatever you say."
"Just think of me when you pick up something to hurt yourself. Remember that you would lose me. Therefore, don't ever do this again," he warned and Winter laughed lightly. "Pinky promise me."
Winter sighed and wrapped her pinky finger around his. "Okay, pinky promise." She flashed him a genuine smile. Usually, it would take her days to recover from her initial depression, but this time, she was feeling livelier than ever. It was all thanks to the person sitting right beside her.
"Fine, I better not catch you breaking the promise," he said and noticed her feet. "By the way, nice bunny slippers."
Winter didn't get the chance to change her shoes before running out of her house. She opened her mouth to reply but was interrupted with a stomach growl. Her cheeks flushed red, instantly burying her face in her knees. She wondered if she really should take up her best friend's suggestion and open up 'how to embarrass yourself 101' YouTube channel.
Zane chuckled heartily and stood up. Dusting his jeans, he forwarded his hand to Winter. "Let's get you something to eat, shall we?"
Winter groaned before taking up his hand. "I'm sure there won't be restaurants open at this time," she mumbled.
"This is California, you know? There are 24 hours open shops everywhere," he told her and started walking towards the park exit. Winter followed close behind him.
Their walk to the restaurant right across the park was mostly quiet. Unknowingly, a smile crept up on Winter's face as her eyes fell on the bandage wrapped around her forearm. As far as she remembered, this was the first time someone treated her wounds; it made her extremely happy.
As they sat inside the rundown restaurant with barely any people, Winter placed her order. "Are you sure you don't want to eat anything?"
Zane shook his head. "I already had dinner back at home."
"Speaking of home, can I crash at your place for tonight?" she requested, flashing him her best puppy eyes.
Zane shot her a glare and curtly replied, "No."
"Why not? Your mom and sister would be there too," she reasoned out.
"The two of them won't be home tonight, and my dad lives in Canada. Still, wanna stay with me?" Mischief was evident in his voice.
Winter's pale cheeks reddened with embarrassment. "Never mind. I will just go back to my home. By the way, how is your mom doing? Did the chemotherapy go well?"
"Yeah. That's why she is staying at the hospital tonight," Zane answered. Winter noticed the sadness laced in his voice but didn't pry as he seemed like he didn't want to talk about it.
The two of them talked over a few other kinds of stuff until her hamburger and french fries arrived. When Winter started digging into the food, she caught Zane staring at her. "Want some?"
"No." He placed his chin on his palm while watching her eat the burger.
"Oh, okay." She was eating messily, taking huge bites, not caring about his gaze; as if she had been starving for decades. The corner of her lips were filled with sauce, and mayonnaise was smeared on the tip of her nose.
Zane couldn't help but laugh at the cute sight. He wondered how someone could hurt the feelings of such an adorable, innocent person.
°°°°°
"Please I don't want to go in," Winter whined, standing right in front of her house.
"Your dad must be worried," Zane urged.
"Trust me he doesn't care one bit about me. It's because of him that I was so sad," she complained and tugged onto the edge of his light blue shirt. "Please, please don't send me in. I want to stay out tonight."
"You have school tomorrow," he reasoned.
"Doesn't matter. I'll wear your uniform," she cried out, which made him chuckle. She was scared to death of her father's wrath. He would probably raise his hands on her this time. "He would scold me."
"Okay, how about I make sure he doesn't scold you?" Zane said, and Winter arched an eyebrow. He flashed her a bright smile before pressing the calling bell of her house.
"Oh, my God! What have you done? Let's run. Hurry!" Winter was already prepared to run for life as if she was playing ding-dong ditch, but before she could do so, the main door opened up.
"Good evening, Mr. Candace," Zane greeted politely as the tall brunette man in his mid-forties stepped out on the porch.
"It's Weston, you idiot," Winter whispered to him.
Zane dropped his smile and glared at her sideways. "You should have said so sooner. And why do you guys have different surnames?" he hissed lowly.
"That's because she took her mother's last name," replied her father.
"Oh, I see." Zane smiled nervously. Looking at Winter's scared expression, he sucked in a deep breath and pulled off his confident self. "Mr. Weston, can you please forgive your daughter and let her in your house?"
David arched an eyebrow and asked, "And who are you to ask that?"
"I work at the same coffee shop as her. My name's Zane," he answered.
David eyed down the two of them suspiciously. He was not about to let Winter in, but when he noticed the bandage on her hand, a gush of guilt hit him. "Winter, you can go upstairs."
"Really?" she asked in surprise. She couldn't believe David was not kicking her out yet. She was totally ready to grab her thrown-out luggage from the streets.
As soon as David nodded, Winter ran inside, not before wishing goodnight to Zane, who just returned her smile in the same manner.
"You seem like you have a lot to say to me, young man," David spoke up.
Zane exasperated a sigh and said, "The only thing I would like to say is, please be more sensible about your child's mental health. I don't know what sort of relationship you guys share, but I do know it's not on good terms. Still, I hope at least you would treat her better."
"That's just pointless. Go try to preach to someone else. I don't want to have to do anything with that girl's friends or colleagues." With that, David closed the door on Zane's face.
Zane stood there stunned. Someone just closed the door on his face; something he had never experienced before. It just went to show how much of a bad day he was having. Realizing that he was unable to convey the message, he hollered from outside the door, "Please contact me if you ever see Winter hurt herself. If something happens to her, I will press charges against you for child negligence."
David scoffed at the threat. As if something like that would make him adore Winter all of a sudden.
Carla chuckled, standing on the threshold with her husband. She finally spoke up, too eager to know the answer to her questions, "Why are you so concerned about Winter?"
Zane was about to leave but stopped to reply, "Because I care for her."
David glared at Carla for her stupid question, who just gave him a sheepish smile and went closer to the door and asked Zane from inside, "Then why do you care for her? Do you like her?"
