Why do I really want a Catrine DeMew Monster High doll? Maybe because I like cats. Even though I never wanted a Toralei doll... Meh, Catrine is 1000x cuter than Toralei anyway.

I am a fifteen-year old girl talking about Monster High dolls. Wow.

(What  I'm listening to: Invisible -- Hunter Hayes)

~ JM/SS/CW

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"Why?"

Riley looks up at me, and I stare back with tears threatening to spill down my cheeks. "W-Why? I'm not sure, honestly. I just wanted to... Know what it felt like, I guess."

"And?" I take her hand in mine, trying to calm her down. "What did it feel like?"

"It felt painful. But like a good kind of painful, you know?" She sniffs, laughing a small bit and looking at the ground. "Never mind, of course you don't know."

I hate to tell you, but I know exactly what you mean. "Hey, Riley, what do you say we go back to your apartment? I need to show you something."

She nods, before pulling up the sleeve of her jacket and whispering, "This is where I did it."

I look down at her arm, and want to cry when I see that she burnt herself. As I reach out and touch one of the few burns softly, she pulls away with a small gasp of pain. "I'm sorry..."

Nodding her head and smiling at me, she wipes away her tears and stands up. "It's fine. Let's go home."

As soon as we get back to the apartment, we go straight to Riley's room without saying a word to either one of her parents.

"I'm going to show you something now, Riley. Please don't freak out." 

"Okay..."

Grabbing a pair of her pajama shorts, I go into the bathroom to change. Once I put on the shorts, I start to think that maybe showing Riley is a bad idea.

After staring at my legs in the full-length mirror for a few seconds, telling myself that it'll be okay, I finally walk back into Riley's bedroom, where she's sitting in the window.

"Oh my God, Maya..."

The scars covering my thighs were once cuts, horribly nasty ones.

"I was like you once. Hurting myself on purpose. But at the time, I really didn't have a guardian that could find out about it. You, though, you have Cory and Topanga, your amazing parents. Please don't be like me and let it go on for too long. I'm begging you, Riley, don't fucking be like me."

I don't even realise that I'm crying until Riley is wiping the tears from my eyes. "I won't."