Chapter 34: "A Door Between Me and the End"
The blade sat still in her hand.
There was no shaking now.
No fear. No panic. Just numbness. Heavy and quiet like a thick fog pressing against her chest.
She didn't know how long she'd been on the bathroom floor. Maybe minutes. Maybe hours. Time didn't matter anymore.
Her sleeve was already pushed up.
Her thoughts weren't screaming—they were whispering, soft and persuasive: Just one more. Just a little deeper. No one will know.
No one ever really noticed.
Except Jasmine. But Jasmine couldn't save her from herself.
The phone buzzed again, lighting up the counter.
She glanced at it, blinked slowly, but didn't reach for it.
Then she heard something.
Not in her head.
Real.
Knocking.
Not the gentle kind. The desperate kind.
"Zariah?" Jasmine's voice cracked through the silence like lightning. "Zariah, are you in there?"
Her breath caught.
Her fingers tightened around the blade.
How did she get here?
"Please," Jasmine said. "Please open the door. I know you're in there. I know."
Zariah's vision blurred. Her chest felt like it was caving in.
"I don't want to break it down," Jasmine whispered. "But I will."
A tear slipped down Zariah's cheek before she even realized she was crying.
She wasn't supposed to cry.
She was supposed to be done feeling.
She was supposed to be gone by now.
"Don't leave me," Jasmine said. "Please don't leave me."
Zariah's arm dropped.
The blade clattered against the tile.
And for the first time that night, she moved—not toward the blade, not toward silence—but toward the door.
Her fingers trembled as she unlocked it.
And when it opened, Jasmine didn't say a word.
She just stepped forward, wrapped her arms around her, and held her like she was keeping her stitched together with love alone.
Zariah broke.
And Jasmine stayed.