Warnings: self-harm, abuse.

Chapter Four

The rest of Eric's night was a little hazy. He didn't remember doing much after the dinner with his dad. His dad had gone out to do god only knows what so Eric had the house to himself for a bit. He was too afraid to ask where he was going and truthfully he didn't want an answer

It was nice when it was his dad wasn't here. He had time to think. Time to think about how messed up his life had gotten since coming back from the island. Truth to be told, he would rather of stayed on the island.

Sure it was't the greatest experience in Eric's life, but it was better then his life at home, where he got beat up and abused everyday, where he had to lie to his friends, where he was miserable every single day. He hated it.

Often when his dad wasn't home he would try to think back to a time where his life was happy. Back to a time where his mom was still alive and back to a time where they were a happy family. But he couldn't. Everything was hazy since his mom's death and from being on the island.

The only good thing that he had was his friendship with Nathan, Daley, Melissa, Taylor and even Jackson. He didn't think that they would have still been friends after they had come home or if they would still tolerate him, because lets face it - he wasn't exactly the nicest guy when they were on the island. Even after Melissa had saved his life.

After they had come things were awkward with them but they still remained friends and now nothing could come between them, it was as if the whole island adventure didn't happen. Sometimes they would talk about, but other than that they never brought it up.

Eric was mostly surprised at his friendship with Jackson that had come from the experience. He never thought that the two of them would become close. He hated to admit it but Jackson was then person that he would get along most with, which was starting to become worrying to Eric. Especially because of what happened today.

He knew that Jackson was starting to figure out his secret, he knew that he was starting to become suspicious and Eric knew that he would eventually have to come up with better lies than 'walking into the door' or 'falling out of his bed'. He knew that Jackson didn't believe him and yet he hasn't confronted him about it.

Eric sighed and rolled over to face his alarm clock, the numbers 20.00 read back at him. He groaned, it was only eight o'clock in the evening. He thought it was much later than that. How long had he been lying here? Because it sure felt like the whole night to him.

He stood up and walked into the bathroom and looked at his reflection in the mirror. He winced at how pale and tired he looked and it didn't suit him. His eyes were all red and puffy and there was dark bags underneath the making it look like he hand't slept in years, which it felt like he hadn't. He face was pale and almost sickly. None of his troubles were having a good effect on him and it was taking a toll on his health, which was why Eric turned to cutting.

On instinct, his reached to his cut that he had done to himself earlier and winced slightly at the contact. He sighed again before going back to lie on his bed once. Five minutes had passed and seen as his night wasn't going to get any more exciting - not that he was up to doing anything - he was going to go asleep.

As soon as his head hit the pillow he immediately fell into a sleep not noticing that he had a missed call from Jackson on his phone.

Jackson frowned at his phone when Eric didn't pick up. "Something wrong Jackson?" asked Melissa and Jackson turned around to face the girl that was sitting beside him.

He bit his lip and fiddled with the phone in his hand. "Have you noticed anything...weird about Eric lately?"

Melissa raised her eyebrow and lifted herself away from Jackson's body as they were curled up on her ouch. "This is Eric, Jackson. He's always...and an ass." She added, smiling slightly but stopping when she saw that he was being serious.

"Okay, if I'm being honest...I have noticed that something hasn't been right with him, especially when he came into school today with the bruise on his face." she looked at Jackson with an expression he couldn't quite read.

"You're thinking what I'm thinking aren't you?" Jackson asked her, sitting up straight on her couch.

Melissa nodded. "Unfortunately." She bit her lip. "But what do we do? It's not like we can ambush him and he probably won't tell us anything.

Jackson thought about it before saying "We'll do something." He told her, but what that was an entirely different question!

Authors note: I'm BACKKKKKKK! So uh...how much do you guys hate me for abandoning this story completely? I'm so sorry! I kind of went of track with this story and writing in general and didn't know what to do with it but now I'm back.

I can't believe it's been four years since this was updated and six since it was published. I'm surprised if people will still remember this. If I continue I might change the pairings up a bit to Jackson/Eric I dunno or have no pairings at all.

But there's chapter four, hope you guys don't hate me to much and if you read it please review!

-UnpredictablyReckless