**Highest Ranking : #1 in Chicklit**
[ A WATTPAD FEATURED STORY ]
Mabel Carter traveled half way across the country to attend college and get away from her dark past. After so many years she finally feels as though she's the one in control of her...
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I skip my classes for the next week, and my boss Diane lets me help out on dish during the first weekend so I don't have to come into contact with very many people. I can hardly manage even crawling out of bed, so I know I'm nowhere near ready to throw myself back out into the world. When I do leave my bedroom, it's only to use the bathroom and brush my teeth. I don't recognize the girl staring back at me in the mirror. Her cheeks are too hollow, her green eyes too dull and puffy, and her skin is far too pale to be my own.
I'm shuffling back from the bathroom, my robe cinched tightly at the waist, when I overhear Hazel arguing on what I assume is the phone from in her room.
"I just don't know what to do," she says helplessly, her voice rising. "She won't eat, her night terrors are getting worse, and she's not even going to her classes." There's a short pause, and I listen intently to the sound of her bare feet smacking against the hardwood floors. "Yeah babe, I know that...she's my best friend so of course it's my problem, Tyler...yeah, I know, I'm sorry. I'm just stressed...I want to see you too, baby, but you can't come over right now..."
A wave of guilt punches me in the gut with enough force that I have to grip the wall in order to keep from doubling over. I never meant to interfere with Hazel and Tyler's relationship. I never meant to take anyone else with me in my downward spiral.
"No, I can't leave right now, not until I know she's okay," Hazel continues.
I suck in a shaky breath and retreat back into the bathroom. Silent sobs rack through me, burning my lungs. How did everything get so...fucked up?
I turn on the shower, letting the steam fill the bathroom before I shed off my clothes. My entire body aches, but this is something I have to do. I need to get back on track, to force my life back into at least some form of normalcy, and the first step to that is a hot shower.
The warm water cascades down around me, but it does nothing to relax my tired body. I'm exhausted down to my very being.
