Serenity of the tears

Her head was pressed agains the toilet bin, her knees hard against the cold bathroom floor, the tears came to her eyes as she did it once more.

Suddenly, she heard a loud thump across the hall. Someone was coming, she had to leave, but she didn't have the strength to get up.

Jennifer opened the bathroom door with a single push and, as she walked in, she saw a flicker of brown hair. 

"Is there anyone in there?"

The answer came as sobs, barely audible, like the girl was trying to hide the fact that she was there, crying, alone. Jennifer could've pretended she hadn't heard it. She could've ignored it. She could've turned away. Still, she walked towards the crying stranger.

And that's when she saw it, that's when she realized the truth. She was no stranger at all. She recognized the grey shirt, the shiny hair, the blue backpack now fallen on the floor. The girl who was fallen, crying her eyes out was no one other than Hanna.

Jennifer and Hanna had been friends since the moment they first looked into each others eyes, they were the same, really, they had a connection. Although they'd known each other for only a few weeks, it felt like they'd known each other forever. Little did she know Hanna had been keeping a huge secret from her. 

It was worthless, trying to hide it, what was going on there was more than obvious already. The blood filled the toilet bin, her throat hurt, her toothbrush was fallen by her side, dirty, never to be used again. 

Hanna slowly turned her head, just enough so she could see Jennifer standing behind her. She then looked down, embarrassed. She'd been caught in her darkest moment and there was no way to explain what she'd been doing, there were no lies on Earth that would ever be able to cover it. 

She didn't yell at her. She didn't walk away. She didn't say a word. All Jennifer did was sit down on the floor right next to her friend, pull her hair back with one hand and, with the other, wipe the tears from Hanna's gorgeous face. They were both quiet. No words were said. No words were needed.

And in that moment, time froze. It no longer mattered that Jennifer had found out her worst secret, it no longer mattered that now someone knew. For a moment, Hanna wasn't ashamed anymore, because, something in Jennifer's eyes told her she understood. 

It was like a picture. The two girls on the bathroom floor, arms wrapped around each other, the tears breaking the serenity of the moment...