1. Don’t doubt me when I use past tense. Don’t call me into your room every night so you can check for new cuts. When I have an overnight school trip, don’t make me do this for my teacher.

2. Don’t talk on the phone with your mother, enunciating how much of a disappointment this is. Don’t let me hear you. Don’t make me feel worse for being honest than I did for lying.

3. Don’t look me over, and ask me to define each scar. Don’t laugh when I tell you. Don’t erase the pride starting to grow in my survival.

4. Don’t threaten to pull me from school. Don’t threaten to hide me from my friends. Don’t threaten to take me to the mental hospital. Or, if you do, don’t make it conditional on my not cutting again. Make it conditional on my getting better. Prove you care even that much about something beyond my skin.

5. Don’t let my brother refer to me as Cut-sy. At least don’t smile at him when he does. Don’t validate his destruction. When we were little, and I would mess with him, you told me that when he and I grew up, he’d hit back. Are you happy now?

6. Don’t yell at me on the way to the doctor. Don’t make this about you. Don’t tell me how angry you are that I wouldn’t tell you about this. Don’t talk about how this makes you feel. Don’t forget to ask about me.

7. Just love me. Please.