"Little do you know,
I'm trying to pick myself up piece by piece,
Little do you know
I need a little more time
Underneath it all I'm hold captive by the hole inside."

   —Little do you know// Alex and Sierra

Thank you impeccable_ for suggesting this song. You guys can also give me some more playlist suggestions in comments/via pm.

• Important announcement in the A/N below.

******

Two bright pair of green eyes were staring at her.

Astonished. Stunned. But a thousand other emotions were covering those tired, sad eyes as well. All of it she could not decipher.

"Br—Brittney?" He spoke in a soft, smooth voice, as he tried to get up. She stopped him. It felt strange to her to hear his voice in real life. Strange in a good way.

"Hey," she said, gently pressing one of his shoulders. "How are you feeling?"

She heard him sigh, a sigh of defeat.

"How are you here?" He demanded, without answering what she had asked. His facing forming a disgusted frown.

Something dropped inside her chest. Maybe the recently kindled up happiness.

"I—" She searched for words. "We just..."

"How did you find me? Especially here?"

"Hey I... It's a coincident. I came here for someone else—"

He cut her off  by mumbling something that she suspected to be a 'yeah whatever'.

An awkward silence filled the room.

"Are you feeling alright?"

He made the disgusted face again.

"I should be calling a nurse or—"

"No. Don't." He stopped her. "Leave me alone please."

"I understand you must be needing some rest now. But don't worry, you'll be just fine. It's a just a matter of time—"

"God!" He said in the same tone. "Just get outta here."

A stab in the chest with a sharp, shiny knife.

"Hey Michael, I seriously didn't mean to hurt you."

"Oh God," He whispered, his face flinched with pain. "Why can't I just die? Ever?"

"You know, it's like I keep trying," he started explaining—more to himself, than to her, she felt. "But I won't die. You don't know how many times I keep trying. Goddamn it hurts. It hurts like hell. But it never ends."

She chose to remain silent. More because she had no words to say.

"It's like a wheel that's running over and over and over and ov—" His shimmering green eyes started glistening with tears. "It breaks me, tears me, sheds blood. But it doesn't end, doesn't kill.

"Why?" He wondered out loud. Finally his eyes looked into hers. "I thought this time it'd go fine. I'll die. Finally. But no!"

"Shhh!" She put a hand over his mouth, restraining him from speaking further. "Why do you keep on looking for reasons to die?"

"Because I'm not worth it."

"And how do you know that?"

"Have you not seen I just am not—"

This time she cut her off. "You know life is so worth living even if there's just one single reason to live. It doesn't matter if thousand other causes are pushing you to die."

"But I don't have one."

She sighed. He was so obsessed with dying he had stopped looking for life. "Oh really? I thought if you give me a pen and a paper I can start scribbling down reasons why you deserve to live, and maybe I'd still not be done with it by tomorrow!"

He smiled sadly. "Hah! Stop it. Just go. Leave."

She felt tears in her eyes. Fuming, hot tears licking her skin, burning her spirits and hopes. "Alright. Keep doing this maddening process of killing yourself. All the best."

With that, she turned around. Walking away from him. This was all she could do. She could not lock him up in a cage and make him live. If he chose to die, she couldn't stop him. If he thought he did not deserve to live, then maybe he didn't.

She reached for the door, pulled the door knob aggressively and walked out of the room—leaving behind a half astonished, half troubled Michael Adams behind.

On her way she met his father. He looked taken aback by her furious, crying face. She stomped out through the corridors fast and quick, in a rattling manner.

Maybe Michael was not so wrong when he had said that them meeting would be disastrous.

******

I'm so sorry I've not updated in a week. Believe me I wasn't lying when I said I am not feeling like writing. Not a writer's block exactly, but yeah kinda like that, in a way.

Expect an early update as an apology.

Vote, comment and add it to your reading lists!

Also, here's a good news for you guys. Since a few requested me to extend the deadline of one shot contest, and I'm aware you guys have had exams, now the new and final deadline for the contest is 26th June, 2016.

The contest is for the readers, so I don't want anyone to not be able to participate because they had exams! Plus I had said earlier the book would be finished by May, but I couldn't. I sincerely hope it'd be almost done by the end of the June.

Thank you for the amazing support even though I didn't update.