Chapter Three

                Fifteen minutes passed and they left the restaurant.
“To the bookstore!” Nikki shouted out happily.
“Now how much time do we have left?” Ryou asked.

“Thirty seven minutes.”

“Okay. Then let’s go.” He replied, Walking through the parking lot. They walked inside and Nikki automatically ran to the CD section.

“Oh my God! They have it! I can’t believe they have it! May I please have it, Ryou?” she turned to him with the Norma Jean cd in hand.

“I don’t care. It’s your money.” He shrugged.

“Yes! Dude… You’re the best!” she hugged him and ran to the cashier with a smile and then swooped back around to her brother.“Hey Ryou!”

“Yeah?” he looked at her after looking around.

“Do you want something?” Nikki offered. Ryou grew a smile and nodded.

“Sure. Why not?” he replied looking around and finding a cd he wanted.

“Found something?”
“Yep. Thanks.” He smiled, Handing it to her.

“Anytime.” She kissed his cheek and ran off while he sat looking at the other cds in stock.

 

                She paid the price and skipped back to her brother who was almost jumping up and down in excitement.

“What did you find?”
“They have Ermy here, Too!”

“No way!” she gasped.

“I know! They also have Everyday Sunday and Echoing Angels.”

“We have eighteen minutes left.”
“Okay. We’ll leave soon.” He told her as they kept looking around. About ten to twenty minutes passed before they left and started to walk to his house. They talked and laughed along the way and then ran up his porch steps and rang the doorbell and waited until the door was answered. They couldn’t wait for a fun care free weekend with nothing to worry about.

“Hi guys, Come on in!” a girl opened the door.

“Thank you, Serenity.” Nikki bowed and set her things down.

“More than welcome. Joey! Your friends are here!” she screamed up the stairs that he plunged down not even two seconds after he called with a doughnut in his hand.

“Hey!” he said with a mouthful of jelly doughnut, Making it difficult to understand him.

“What?” Nikki laughed. He held up a finger and swallowed his bite.

 

                “I said, ‘Hey guys!’” he smiled.

“Oh. Hey!” Ryou replied.

“How have you guys been?”
“Uhhh… We’ve been good. Very good! Uh yeah.” trying to hide the lie.

“Oh.” He stared at her for a moment, An awkward gaze in his eyes.

“I told you no.” she looked at him and blinked.

“I didn’t say anything.” He defended himself. Nikki turned around to face Joey again.

“I know what you were thinking. I can read it in your eyes.”
“No you don’t… Can’t…”

“Yes I do and can.”
“Prove it.” He mocked.

“Okay. You kept saying, ‘Wow. She’s hot. I wonder if I ask her, If she’ll go out with me…’ Again!”

“Okay. You got it right… But still.”
“Still nothing.” She crossed her arms.

“Okay then… Will you please go out with me?”
“I said no!” she threw her hands up in the air.

“Fine… Be that way.” He slumped.

“Fine. I will.

 

                She turned and got out her binder and cd player, Sat down and went to her own world. She drew long and hard, Drawing a dead, Demented , Gothic puppet girl. Then, Grabbed her eraser and redid half of it. She stared at it, Thinking it was going to be herself one day and then became teary eyed, Wiping them away quickly so no one would see. Joey walked over and kissed her on the cheek as she pulled her headphones down.

“Go away, Joey. I said no.”

“I know. I came over to say sorry for arguing with you and sorry for asking even though you’ve said no.” Joey said sitting down, Nikki closed her binder quickly.

“I-It’s fine… No problem… I-I over reacted.”
“What did you draw?”

“Nothing… Nothing at al..”
“Lemmie see!” Joey said, Smiling and playing around.

“No!” she said, Trying to hold on tight to it.

 

                He grabbed the binder and flipped through her notebook. She covered her face as he went through all of her poems full of suicide and death, Stories and pictures. He found the one she most recently made. Written was ‘The dead puppet girl that I will become to be.’ And

‘One day I’ll die,

I’ll never again run and hide.

No more tears will fall to the ground,

Like my emotions inside wound.

I’ll be a demented little gothic girl,

A puppet, Controlled by the dead.

Never to see the sun again,

Staying in my dark coffin.

No one ever cared for me anyway,

So why care for them in every way?

Tonight I might be suicidal,

No one ever was my idol.

I’ll take my razor,

And slit my wrist.

And die a slower death,

At least no one will see me.

And some one can take over me,

So tonight,

It’s the night.

I’ll become my little dead demented gothic girl,

Controlled by the dead.

And tonight,

I’ll take flight.

And be a puppet,

Forever.’

 

                Joey looked the paper over countless times and then back at Nikkis face, About to cry.

“Nikki… H-How could you? How could you draw… And write something like this?”
“Because it’s true… And that’s how I feel.” She stared at the floor.

“All of them?” he asked.
“All of them.” She agreed.

“But why? Why do you do that?”
“Because that’s how I feel most of the time… So I write or draw it down.”

“Do… Do you cut?” he worked up the courage.

“Yes.” She replied nonchalantly.

 

                She looked at the ground to her side as Joey stared at her with a blank expression on his face. He looked from her to her wrists and back and took her wrist and moved her sleeve. She stayed still and didn’t fight him off. He gasped in shock and let her arm drop and grabbed the other one, Doing the same. She covered them up after he saw the countless scars and looked out the window crying.

“Why? Why do you do this?” a sudden rush of fear and anger swept over him before cooling down a smidge.

“You wouldn’t understand.”

“Yes I would… Just tell me, Nikki.” He said, Clenching his fists at his side.

“There’s seventy scars… Thirty five on each wrist. I cut in twos… Sometimes more.”
“But why?!” Joey spazed.

“Because I want to die!” she flipped out, Turning to him, Trying to hold the tears back. “I don’t want to be at home! It’s the hells house of horrors over there…” she started to bawl, Unable to hold them back any longer. “I don’t want to go back ever again! I hate it there! I just want to die! I wanna die…” she said as Joey pulled her in for a hug. She laid her head on his chest and wept. “I-I don’t wanna… I just want to die… To get my life done and over with.” Joey stroked her head and wiped some tears away.

“Shhh… It’s going to be okay. I’ll be okay. Don’t cry.” He sat with her and thought. “Does Ryou know?” She nodded her head, Not wanting to say any more.

“Oh. Okay.” He brought her closer to him and gave her a hug and placed his chin on the top of her head, Holding her as she sobbed.