A Suicide Note

She thought that Heather must be her friend now. She walked with Lexie to all her classes, and stuck up for her when the Eleanor's made snide comments. And when someone wrote "SLUT" on her locker in black permanent marker, Heather helped her try to get it off. It wouldn't come off, but hey, at least she tried. The one thing she didn't do was sit next to Lexie in the classes. But Lexie didn't mind, because she knew that Heather only didn't sit beside her because that was Karen's seat. And Lexie knew that she could never replace Karen.
Karen. Lexie had been thinking about her a lot lately. The tears that wouldn't come before wouldn't go away now. She would tear up randomly in her classes, but the teachers ignored it. She cried herself to sleep, she never ate anything. She just pocketed the lunch money her parents left out for her. And they didn't notice as she slowly wasted away. How could they? They were never home. Lexie spent most of her time at Karen's house, with Karens mum and grandad. She usedto sit in Karens room, and remember everything. The noose was still in the door frame. Her mum hadn't been able to take it down. She could hardly bear to look at it.
Lexie remembered the time that Karen had told her about her dad. How he abused her and her mum. How neither of them ever stopped loving him, even after he ran away with the girl from his work. How he came crawling back after she dumped him, and they acepted him without a word. And how he got drunk one night, and came home in a rage.

"It was all very sudden," Karen told Lexie matter-of-factly. "He came storming in from the pub one night. Could hardly see the door in front of him. But he had no problem seeing us. Mum and me, I mean. Nah, he had no problem with breaking the beer bottle he was holding and turning on us..." Her voice had taken on a bitter edge, and she sounded on the verge of tears.
"Of course, it was easy for him. He was always a rotten, stinking bastard, if you ask me. I was just too stupid to see it at the time... Anyway, he took the broken bottle, and started trying to hurt mum and me. Nearly killed mum, too, if I hadn't got in the way... Y'know the scar on my arm?"
Lexie nodded. She remembered the scar. It was long, pale, and jagged.
"Yeah, he gave me that. Threw a couple of vases as me too... I don't think he ever really liked me much, anyway. Me stopping him killing Mum just peaked his hatred..."
Lexie remembered all the scars Karen had. On her face. On her back, on her stomach, on her legs...
Karen seemed to read her mind.
"Yeah, he gave me all them too... And then, the son of a bitch, he went and jumped out a window. Cause that's what you do when you're a smart, responsible father..."

Lexie choked back tears. She had to keep it together. It was another two hours until school ended, and if the Eleanor's spotted her crying, she'd never hear the end of it....