Tiffany trudged into the dorm with little to no care about who she woke up. And turns out, she woke up Jessica, who was sleeping on the couch waiting for the girlfriend she had not seen since that afternoon, and then only for a few hours.

Jessica stirred on the couch and immediately bounded up to give Tiffany a check-up. She knew the girl would be bruised and hurt again. She always was.

But what she saw was different this time, and Jessica didn’t know whether she liked the difference or not.

Tiffany was dirty and grimy from head to toe. Her face was covered in black specks of dirt and dust and she looked like something out of cheap low-budget horror movie.

Jessica tried not to get angry. She tried to reign in her torrent of emotions that were now swirling like a hurricane in her head. But seeing Tiffany standing there in front of her, looking back at her like there was absolutely nothing wrong with anything! It frustrated Jessica to no end. But…the brunette took one breath and walked slowly up to her filthy girlfriend.

“Baby, where have you been?”

“No where.”

“Coming home like a coal miner does not tell me you’ve been ‘no where’ Tiff,” Jessica was careful about using Tiffany’s name, the younger girl seemed to bristle at every mention of ‘Stephanie’ nowadays and Jessica didn’t want to set something off that she couldn’t control.

“No where is no where Jess. I need a shower.”

“You can’t keep doing this.”

“You said you would wait. You promised you wo–”

“AND WHAT?! WAIT FOR WHAT?! WAIT FOR YOU TO SLOWLY SLIP AWAY AND WATCH YOU SLOWLY KILL YOURSELF LIKE THE MASOCHISTIC THAT YOU ARE?!” Jessica screamed, suddenly unable to contain anything anymore. It was all too much. Tiffany needed help and if she didn’t step in, Jessica was almost sure she would lose her.

“YOU PROMISED ME YOURSELF THAT YOU WOULD WAIT! DON’T YOU DARE FORCE ME TO GET LABELED AND PSYCHOANALYZED LIKE SOME RAT IN A CAGE!” Tiffany roared, spittle flying from in her incensed rage. She knew where Jessica was going with this and she had no intentions of complying. Unless Jessica could somehow get her hands on that characteristic inhumane barred white van for the insane to forcedly manhandle her into an asylum, Tiffany would not go.

“ON TOP OF PROMISING TO WAIT FOR YOU I ALSO PROMISED TO LOVE YOU NO MATTER WHAT! OR DID YOU FORGET THAT?! DO YOU KNOW HOW PAINFUL IS IT TO WATCH THE PERSON YOU LOVE SLOWLY SELF-DESTRUCT RIGHT BEFORE YOUR VERY EYES?! YOU THINK I WANT TO FORCE YOU TO DO ANYTHING?! BUT I PROMISED TO LOVE YOU! I LOVE YOU TIFFANY! DO YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT THAT MEANS?! IT MEANS THAT I AM MORE THAN WILLING TO MAKE YOU HATE ME IF IT MEANS THAT I CAN STOP YOU FROM SLIPPING AWAY! I GODDAMN LOVE YOU! CAN’T YOU UNDERSTAND!” Jessica shrieked.

The other girls were up now and Taeyeon was standing between the two, trying to push Tiffany away from Jessica. The leader did not like the look Tiffany had in her eyes, almost like there was a hint of a ferocious caged animal looking out from those dilated hazel orbs.

Tiffany could stop what she said next, and the moment the worlds fell from , she wanted to kill herself. But it came out anyways and she knew she had gone too far. The result and Jessica’s reaction gave her a little comfort, because she knew very well she deserved it.

“WELL THEN MAYBE YOU SHOULD STOP LOVING ME IF YOUR ARE HURTI–”

*SLAP*

Jessica had lunged forwards, pushing Taeyeon roughly to the side and slapped Tiffany as hard as she could. She could have stopped herself. She had the control to. She had not lost her rationality and she had more than enough time to think her actions through. But Jessica wanted and needed to slap Tiffany in that moment, because Tiffany had truly gone too far. And they both knew it.

There was a stunned silence all around, and then the girls surged forwards and separated the two as far as they could. But it was no use, what needed to be said was already said. What needed to be done was already done.

All that was left was to see whether Jessica had gotten through to Tiffany.

Everyone was praying that she had, praying that Tiffany would lift herself out of her downward spiral, praying that Tiffany would stop doing things to hurt herself, praying, praying, praying.

…

…

…

Tiffany knew what Jessica said was right. She had never lost her rationality and logic this entire time. She was not unawares of what she was doing, who she was becoming, who’s footsteps she was following and where it would lead. But she still could not bring herself to let go.

Jessica took one look into her girlfriend’s eyes and knew she had lost Tiffany. The younger girl had a hopeless, hollow look, devoid of all faith and will to fight. Or…no…the will to fight was still there, but Tiffany was no longer fighting for life. She was fighting to purge herself of guilt.

And it seemed that road was leading her to Death.

And Tiffany was more than glad to follow.

Tiffany knew that Jessica understood the road she had chosen, so she stepped forwards towards the brunette.

Six girls tried to wedge themselves in between, thinking Tiffany meant to harm Jessica. Taeyeon alone saw the hollow look in Tiffany’s eyes and knew that was not her intention. The leader gently pushed the girls aside and allowed Tiffany to approach Jessica, who stood there, defiant and unblinking, unflinching.

Tiffany stood in front of Jessica and slowly, slowly, slowly…turned her other cheek.

Anger flared in Jessica’s eyes.

Tiffany was completely unwilling to fight for her, and it was an insult to Jessica’s very being as well as everything they had shared between them.

And insult to their love.

Jessica raised her hand and without hesitation, balled up her fists and punched Tiffany in the face with all her might, tears sliding down her cheeks slowly as she did so.

It hurt Jessica to do it, perhaps even more than it hurt Tiffany.

But it needed to be done.

The other girls had tired to move in between the two estranged lovers again, but Taeyeon stopped them once more. This was between Jessica and Tiffany. No one else should step in.

Tiffany stepped forwards once more so that she was flush with Jessica. She wrapped her arms around the brunette and hugged her tight. But the tighter she hugged Jessic