Story #46: Pushed Too Far

Pushed too Far

     The alarm rang for the third time that morning. Jasmine flipped over in her bed and

looked at the time, 7:45 am.

     “Oh crap, I’m late!” she screamed, and she bolted out of bed and to her closet. She

quickly grabbed a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. She grabbed her usual sweat shirt and got

dressed as fast as she could.

     7:50 am “Crap, Crap, Crap!” Jasmine rushed into the bathroom and threw her make up

hastily on. Quickly running a brush through her hair and pulling it into a pony tail, she

ran out of the house, almost forgetting her books. She ran all the way to school,

walking into her first class as the first bell rang.

     8:00 am. She collapsed in her seat in her first hour science class. She threw her

sweatshirt over the back of her chair and started opening her books when she noticed

the silence. Usually, it was chaotic and loud. She looked around the room and noticed

most people looking at her before quickly looking away, but some just openly stared.

     She didn’t realize why they were staring at her until she looked down.

     She didn’t have her bracelets on, and her sweatshirt was on the back of the chair.

“Oh no...” she said quietly as she realized what the whispers were for. She threw on

her sweatshirt as fast as she could to hide her scars.

     She had completely forgot about all her self harm scars. Some were old, some were

fairly new, maybe a few days old. Only one person knew about her self harm. Ethan,

her boyfriend, had been trying to help her stop since they had started dating four

months ago.

     Addison, the most popular girl in school (also the meanest), stood up and walked up

to Jasmine. “What were those on your arm?” she asked, even though Jasmine, and

everybody else, suspected that she already knew.

     “I don’t believe that is any of your business,” Jasmine retorted.

     “Well, I believe those were from you cutting yourself. That’s seriously disgusting,”

she turned to Ethan and continued. “Did you know your girlfriend cut herself? It’s gross.

We always wondered why you stayed with her. She’s fat and ugly. I guess we found

out why, it’s pity. You’re satisfying her need for attention.”

     “I don’t have a need for attention!” Jasmine said as quietly as she could while trying

to control her anger.

     “Yes, you do! That’s why you do that to yourself. You just want everybody’s pity.

You’re such a pathetic attention seeking who...” Addison was cut off as the teacher, Mr.

Branch, walked in.

     “What were you about to say Addison?” He asked her loudly, cutting off her

sentence.

     “Nothing, Sir,” she responded like a scolded child. She slowly went and sat back

down in her seat.

     “Now, what was going on here?” Mr. Branch asked before taking morning

attendance.

     “Addie was asking Jasmine about all the scars on her arms.” A girl replied.

     “May I see these scars Jasmine?” he asked her quietly.

     “I would really rather not,” came the soft reply from Jasmine, who had her head bent

and was looking at her hands.

     “You know I have to report this to the Guidance Office. Why don’t you just go show

the counselor,” he said gently. She got up and gathered her books before walking out

of the room.

     Mr. Branch walked out behind her and they started towards the GO. As he opened

the door, Jasmine took off running the other direction. “JASMINE!” he yelled after her,

but she just kept going, all the way down the hall and out of the school. Only Ethan

noticed her running past their class. He quickly ran out of the school, following her the

best he could.

     Ethan ran to her house and let himself in. He looked all around the house but he

couldn’t find her anywhere. He took off running, out the door, and to the abandoned

Fire station down the road. The roof was her favorite place to just sit and think.

The fire station was three stories tall, with no elevator. Ethan ran as fast as he could

up the steps to the door of the roof, opening it to find Jasmine sitting on the edge.

     “Are you okay?” he asked, walking over to her.

     “Why am I so stupid?” She asked mostly to herself. Ethan could tell she was fighting

a battle deep within herself over what she should do. “I was late, I was rushing so I

wasn’t late for school, I forgot to put on my bracelets. Gosh, I’m stupid! I didn’t even

put on my sweatshirt. What’s wrong with me!? How can I forget about something that’s

so important to hide? I don’t know what I’m going to do now. I can’t go back to school,

not with what they’re saying about me. It’s already all over Facebook, Twitter,

Instagram, everything!” She started crying at this. Slowly, Ethan sat next to her and

put his arm around her and brought her into his strong embrace. “Babe, nothing’s

wrong with you!” He reassured her, “they are just trying to find more ways to gossip.

You know how they are. They’re rude and cruel, they don’t understand what you’ve

been through, why you do it,” he said, still holding her in his arms.

     “Sometimes even I don’t understand why I do it. I just have the need. I hate that I do

it. I’ve tried to stop, but it’s addicting; it’s like a drug. For a second, just a second, the

pain on the outside, overpowers the pain on the inside. The monsters in my head, they

tell me the same things that Addison said. Everything she said was true: I’m fat, I’m

ugly, I’m disgusting. Why do you stay with me? You know how gross I am. I’m probably

going to end up in a mental institution.” She was starting to get hysterical now. Gently,

Ethan pulled her farther away from the edge of the roof.

     “Babe, you’re not fat, you’re not ugly. You’re the most gorgeous girl I’ve ever seen.

Screw them! They don’t understand. Don’t do this.” He lifted up her arm and pulled the

sleeve of her sweatshirt up revealing the scars, he bent his head down and kissed the

scars on her skin. “I still think you’re beautiful, and I don’t ever want to loose my best

friend. Who cares what they say?”

     “Ethan, if you really love me, you won’t stop me.” She said as she stood up and took

a step closer to the edge.

     “I can’t live without you..”

     “I’m not going to ask you to come with me, I couldn’t do that to you. Stay here.

You’re family loves you. You have friends, what about your little sister? Don’t kill

yourself just for me. Think of them, think of her. She needs you. To protect her from

the world, protect her from what happened to me.” With saying this she leaned down

and kissed him softly on the lips. “I love you, Ethan,” and with that she stepped to the

edge and jumped.

     “NO!” Ethan yelled and crawled to look over the edge. He looked down at the

ground to see her body sprawled on the sidewalk. Even from where he sat, he knew

she was dead. He let the tears fall. He scooted himself away from the edge. He could

hear somebody screaming down on the street and knew somebody had seen her. He

could hear sirens starting in the distance.

     “It’s just a dream! It didn’t happen! I’m just dreaming.” He kept repeating to himself,

he shut his eyes tight, hoping and wishing that it was all a dream. He opened his eyes

to see the edge of the roof before him and the sound of somebody coming up the

stairs behind him.

     “Hey! There’s a kid up here!” He heard somebody yell behind him. Slowly, he turned

around to see a cop standing behind him.

     “I-I tried to stop her. I-I tried. She wouldn’t l-listen.” He stuttered out before the sobs

overtook him. He felt the cop help him up and led him down the stairs. When he got to

the street he heard a person, who he guessed, had been the one to find her, talking

with a cop.

     “I was walking my dog when she started barking. I looked up thinking maybe she

had seen a bird to see the girl just walk off the roof. I heard somebody scream ‘NO!’ as

she jumped.” The women said to the officer.

     Ethan tuned them out and sat down on the floor of the ambulance.

     “We’re going to have to ask you a few questions about what happened. Are you up

for that?” The officer that had brought him down from the roof asked. He got out a

notepad and asked him to start from the beginning. So Ethan started telling the story

from the point that he walked into the science room that morning.

     Once he had finished retelling the story of what had happened the officer walked

away to call the school to confirm the first part. He looked to the spot where Jasmine

had been laying, to find it empty with a black van pulling away from the curb. “The

morgue,” he said quietly to himself, this was the last time he spoke aloud, as he

collapsed into shock.

     The paramedics checked him over and took him to the hospital for he was in shock.

When he arrived his principal was there to confirm who he was and call his mom to

him. He just sat and stared at the wall.

     His mom and little sister, Angel, walked in. His mom hugged him and tried to get him

to talk, but he still couldn’t say anything. Angel climbed into the bed and hugged him

before just sitting on the bed with him.

     Trying to break the silence his mom turned on the news. There was a story on the

news about Jasmines death; his mom quickly tried to change the channel but stopped

as a quiet “Don’t” was heard. She turned to see Ethan staring intently at the TV.

“Breaking news! A teenage girl was found on a sidewalk after jumping off a building.

Her boyfriend was found sitting on the roof in hysteria. Some were questioning if it was

suicide or murder. The boyfriend was questioned and the police have ruled this a

suicide due to bullying and abuse from students, and her own parents. No names are

being released at this time,” the announcer said before the screen went to a

commercial.

     Ethan looked down only to have his head being lifted. He looked into his five yearold

sisters bright blue eyes and heard her speak. “Now Jaz is an angel. Just like me.”

She said smiling.

     “Yeah, she is.” Ethan said quietly and hugged Angel, silently promising himself that

he would protect her from everything that had happened to Jasmine. Telling himself

that he would try with all his might to protect his baby sister from all the horrors in this

world.