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P2 - Chapter Thirteen

October 13th, 2020:

"Moon..? What are you doing..?"

My heart instantly dropped. Kinkajou's wide, concerned eyes trapped me in her gaze. I quickly reached over and tore a piece of paper out of the roll on the island and wrapped it around my arm.

"Kinkajou," I grumbled, turning my back to her in annoyance. "What are you doing up this late? Go back to bed."

"Moon, I saw that," Kinkajou cried way too loudly. "You cut yourself!" She suddenly gasped. "Wait, a chipped bookshelf wasn't what cut you at school, either, was it? Moon, you've done this before?"

"Shh!" I hissed, whirling around. "Be quieter! The others are still sleeping!"

"Who else knows about this?" Kinkajou demanded. "Or are you doing this in silence? Moon, why—" I reached over and pressed my hand against her mouth, cutting her off.

"Kinkajou, shush!" I cried. "I don't want the others knowing!"

To my absolute surprise, Kinkajou's lips started quivering against my hand as her eyes filled with tears. I pulled away in astonishment as a tear slid down her cheek and a sob slipped from her lips.

"What–no, don't cry!" I whispered as I quickly took the piece of paper off of my arm, the bleeding had already stopped. I reached for Kinkajou and pulled her into a hug, slightly wincing as my cut brushed against her shoulder.

"Moon, why..?" Kinkajou quietly sobbed. "Is it me? Did I do something?"

"No, of course not!" I said as she squeezed me back. "You did perfect, Kinakjou. It's not your fault."

"Then why?" Kinkajou asked, her voice hiccuping as she pulled away, looking me into my eyes.

For a lot of reasons you wouldn't understand.

"I just get stressed easily," I said, which was true, but that wasn't the main reason. "My dad left, Winter left—it's just a little overwhelming. But I promise you, Kinkajou, it isn't as bad as it seems."

"But it is!" Kinkajou cried as she sniffled. "Does Qibli know?"

I frowned. "No, and I intend on keeping it that way, so please don't tell him."

"But–"

"It'll break his heart, Kinkajou," I desperately whispered. "And I hate seeing Qibli upset."

That was also true, but there was a deeper meaning as to why I didn't want him to know.

I was afraid he'd look at me differently and realize it wasn't worth wasting his time on a girl with a lot of mental problems. Maybe he'd even break up with me.

Or maybe I was just paranoid, but it didn't matter. Qibli couldn't know.

"Let's go to sleep for now and we can talk about this tomorrow," I suggested, wrapping an arm comfortingly around her shoulders and leading her up to the stairs, turning off the kitchen lights.

When we finally got upstairs, I led Kinkajou to Turtle's room, where he was peacefully sleeping. Kinkajou sent me one last worried look over her shoulder as I gently nudged her into the room, a look that said she wasn't going to be able to sleep for the rest of the night. She finally succumbed to my nudging and crawled back in bed with Turtle.

Without a last glance, I closed the door to Turtle's room and walked across the hall toward the guest room Qibli and I were sleeping in. I walked past Anemone and Tsunami's room, where they were both also peacefully sleeping. Anemone had a small smile plastered onto her face as she slept with elegance while Tsunami's blanket was on the floor and her pillows were everywhere as she slept face-first into the sheets, her hair everywhere.