“Gabby?” I called out. There was no answer, and I looked into the kitchen to see that she wasn’t there either. I walked along the hallway to find that the bathroom door was closed, so I knocked on it. “Gabby?” I called again. This time I heard a sniff from inside and I knew that she was crying. “Gabby are you ok?” I asked through the door. She didn’t reply so I turned the door handle and opened the door.

Inside, I found Gabby sitting on the floor, tears streaming down her face. She was holding her arm up in front of her and I immediately I noticed the blood that covered it. In her other hand I spotted the razor blade. It was if she didn’t even notice me there, as she moved to hold the blade against her arm again. I ran towards her and knelt down beside her, reaching for the blade and taking it from between her fingers. Finally, she seemed to acknowledge my presence and she looked up at me, looking shocked that I was taking it from her. I reached for a towel and took hold of her arm, placing the towel over the top and pressing down to try and stop the bleeding.

Gabby was acting really weird and I realized why when I saw the empty vodka bottle lying beside her. I sighed and looked at her.

“Gabby, why didn’t you come and talk to me? You know this isn’t the answer don’t you?” I said to her, looking her in the eyes.

Gabby just nodded and she started to cry even harder, her body moving up and down as she sobbed. I sat down on the floor beside her and took her hand. “I mean it. I’ve been where you are now. I never told you this but I was a self-harmer a few years ago”.

As I said this, Gabby looked up at me again, looking slightly surprised. I continued. “But we can get you help for this, self-destruction is not the way to deal with the pain”.

Gabby didn’t seem to want to talk at all, so I spent the next few minutes trying to nurse her wounds. The cuts were not too deep so I was quite sure that she didn’t need to go to hospital. I found some antiseptic cream and spread that over the cuts, before putting a dressing on and wrapping a bandage around it. As I did this Gabby remained silent, looking away and I could see tears continuing to drip down her face.