Nick:

I awoke to Mollie's light breathing and a bright flash of light peeking its way through the curtain. I'd been leaning on her all night and there was a pattern on her shoulder where my vest had been. I turned over and looked at the clock.

9:17AM.

Jeez. I never sleep in this late. I kicked back the covers and stretched my arms as I got out of bed. When I got up I turned to watch Mollie sleeping. Her hair was spread across the pillow and the duvet was bunched up either side of her, like a protection. She'd always had problems sleeping. Whether it was about the dark, or the door being kept shut, or generally just getting to sleep. I turned the lamp off and went to wash my face and take a quick shower.
When I came out with fresh clothes on, Mollie was sitting up filing her nails. I sighed playfully, "Mollie Monroe, what are you doing?"
She looked up and smiled, "Well, Nicholas what does it look like I'm doing?" She giggled.
"Sorry Miss. You are so cheeky." I said walking over to the bed ruffling my hair. She put the file down and turned to me,
"I do try." We both shared a gasp of laughter. She flopped down flat onto the bed.
"Do you want some breakfast? 'Coz I was just going to get some?" I asked.
"Oh yeah, but I've got to have a shower first, I'll be there in a few."
She shot out of bed, grabbed her clothes that were on the floor and ran into the en suite, slamming the door shut. She seemed in a bit of a hurry.
When I got to the kitchen everybody was already sitting either at the table or on the stools. "Hey honey, pancakes or toast?"
"Er, pancakes." I said with a nod.
"Go and ask Mollie what she wants." My mom nodded in the direction to my room as she flipped a pancake.

I could hear the shower running when I walked into my bedroom, I leant on the door and knocked. "Mollie?" I cooed. No answer. "Mollie?" I said a bit louder. No reply. "Mollie?" I said, my voice a bit more shouty than it had been a few seconds ago. She didn't respond. Nothing. I kept knocking but Mollie didn't say anything. Joe appeared at the door, startling me a bit. "What's going on? Why are you shouting?" I breathed, catching my breath.
"Mollie isn't answering."
"Well, she probably can't hear you."

Suddenly, a voice from down the hall called,
"Tell Mollie to turn off the shower now, the hot water isn't running!"

I turned back to the en suite door, "MOLLIE!" I waited. Nothing.
Joe moved me aside and leant on the door, "Mollie Monroe, if you do not get your skinny butt out here right now you're gonna pay!" He boomed.
No voice came from inside the bathroom.
"Oh come on, there's no way she couldn't of heard that!" Joe thundered his fists onto the door. Still, nothing.

My heart pounded on my chest. Joe was right. There was no way she could of not heard that.

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Mollie:

I stepped into the shower, my tanned skin becoming darker as the drops of water splintered my body. I rubbed down my arms, dark purple circles all over them. I felt my torso, the gash across my lower stomach was still sore and under the water it looked even more pink and raw. My legs were cut, bruise, graze and scab free, apart from my upper thigh, a slight wound where the buckle of the belt had caught it.
When I stepped out of the shower, I quickly put on my underwear and oversized t-shirt before turning off the shower. But when I turned to do so, my foot slipped and my head fell onto the side of the bath. I'd soon fallen into a dark unconsciousness.
My parents were right. I was always too clumsy.

I was nothing but trouble.

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Nick:

When we finally broke the door down, we had no idea what state Mollie would be in. Unfortunately, it was worse than we thought. My dad turned off the shower and opened the curtain where Mollie was half in half out. Remains of the blood from where she hit her head trickled down the bath edge. "Oh my god." Was all I managed to say. My best friend was always ok. Nothing ever bad happened to her. Ever.
The ambulance was here in a few mere minutes and Kevin rushed off to tell her parents.

I just watched Mollie's body being moved and placed onto a stretcher. "Can I go with her?" I asked. I was quivering, my voice had never sounded so shrill.
One of the medical assistants nodded.

When we got to hospital, Kevin came in after with Big Rob. His face looked solemn. "We had to make two emergency calls today." He said slowly.
"What?" I said, furrowing my brows, but never taking my eyes of my best friend in the glass room next to me.
"Mollie's parents are dead." I turned to him.
"What?" My voice was barely a whisper.
"Her parents committed suicide early this morning."
How was this going to affect Mollie? What would she do? Of course the first thought that popped into my head was that she stayed with us. We had the room, that was no problem. But they were her parents. She never spoke much about them, and they mostly kept to themselves, but... but. I don't know what I'd do without my parents.

If and when she recovered from her ordeal, how were we supposed to tell her? What were we meant to say?

The next few days were the worst days of my life. We were told we couldn't visit Mollie until she was completely stable again. It must have been terrifying for her. And, to save us the pain of telling her about her parents. A social worker had told her hours after she woke up. I'd be waiting for her. She needed me now more than ever. I was going to be there for her, just as she had been there for me.

FLASHBACK

I held her tightly, and she rocked me back and forth. "Sssh, hey." She said softly. My tears seeping through her t-shirt. "Nick, she doesn't deserve you." She held my head in her hands. "You are so much better than her Nick. So much better." She kissed my forehead and I layed on her laps as she played with my hair soothingly. "If I was her I'd be ashamed. Ashamed and embarassed that she's let go of an amazing person. You needn't worry babe. I'm always here for you, no matter what the problem. You got it?" She said and stopped playing with my curls.
I nodded. Mollie was great. She was the best friend I could of asked for. My brothers told me I should date her. She was incredibly beautiful, no doubt about that. She was smart, funny, witty, caring, sweet, understanding, and was the most trustworthy, loyal and honest person I've ever met. We go on really well, we fooled around together, like brother and sister. We've never fought about anything serious, ever. But when I try to hint at a date, she'd turn off. She just wanted to be friends. And that was fine, she was an outstanding friend. If there was a competition on being a best friend she'd win it for sure. But I did take her out places, but there was never any touching of the lips. For some reason, when you kiss someone on the lips the relationship goes from flirty to full on in the media's eyes and it didn't help being papped everywhere.
Another reason why I liked having Mollie as a friend was because she dealt with the attention. I guess she secretly liked it, and there's no shame in that. But she dismissed it, didn't care what people said and always told me all she ever wanted is to be a good friend. She didn't fail.

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Mollie:

After I was discharged from the hospital all I wanted to do was see the Jonas family. I wanted to cry and cry and cry. Until I was drained of tears.

My parents were dead. I wasn't sure what to make of it. I loved my parents, you had to love your family. But I found it hard to find any sympathy in myself. The things that happened in my house, were unspeakable. I'd never want to involve anybody in what goes on behind my front door.

When I arrived back at my street, my house looked the same as it had done before, only with bright orange and white taping surrounding the outside.

I'm guessing they heard the car pull up.

Nick pulled me out of the car and held me tightly in his arms. I started to bawl into his shoulder as he rubbed my back. "It's going to be ok Mollie. I promise you." He hushed into my ear.

I lifted my head back so I looked him right in the eyes. "I'm so sorry," I spluttered out, "I'm so..sorry. I'm sorry I'm nothing but trouble."

Nick clasped my head and forced me into an embrace and I felt a tear dampen on my back. "Don't you dare say you're sorry. None of this is your fault. Don't you dare believe for one second this is your fault."

But the thing was, I had to dare. Maybe it was all my fault. Maybe I was the reason for this tragedy.

For one second, I dared to believe this was all my fault.