I stroked her arm still, my breathing even and calm. “Where were you for two years?” she asked. “Not in a hospital.” I knew what she suspected, but this was all so much more complicated than she knew. Not everyone needed help to stop hurting themselves. Some of us just traded in one coping mechanism for another. She didn’t see me for two years, because Damon was trying to stay away. And then he was at college. “Someone taught me a long time ago that pain releases pain,” I explained. “So when I was younger, I cut, poked, scratched, and burned myself, so I wouldn’t feel everything that hurt. And
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