Jackson unlocked the front door to his house and flipped on the light in the main entryway. His mother was at work so there was nobody inside the house, the lights off and the darkness soaking through. Both of us slipped our shoes off and wandered into the kitchen where I turned the light on and forced him into one of the seats at the kitchen table.

"Stay here, I'm going to get the medicine box upstairs."

My feet padded down the hardwood flooring towards the staircase that led to the second floor of the large house. Yawning, I didn't even turn on the lights as I made my way to the bathroom. I didn't need the light, I knew this house like the back of my hand. Opening the medicine cabinet to the side of the sink, I felt around for the cool metal box and as it brushed my hand, I pulled it out and turned through the doorway to head back down the stairs.

Letting out a sigh, I walked over to the table whee Jackson sat and placed the box gingerly on the table. I examined his face, carefully running my fingers at the purple splotch that marred his left cheek. Jackson winced and I pulled my hand away, closing my eyes and pinching the bridge of my nose. Why did he have to get into a fight? Catching him banging a girl would have been better, at least I was used to that, kind of.

"You're so reckless," I whispered as I opened the silver metal box and found some hydrogen peroxide and a piece of gauze. Dabbing the liquid onto the gauze, I eased myself onto Jackson's lap, sitting so that I was straddling him so that I could patch him up. I didn't bother either of us as we both knew that there was nothing there, he was my best friend and I was his. I dabbed at the blood that had dried into his hair, the red slowly starting to soak into the white of the gauze. Jackson closed his eyes, biting his lip as the hydrogen peroxide