The Silver Owl

4

Today is Friday. I wake up and my eyes are glued shut. I stumble out of bed and try not to run into too many things on my way to the bathroom. I get a hand towel and wet it, and I dab it against my eyes. Once I finally get them open I get ready for school. I grab my backpack and run out the door.

Today is the 13th. Today is Friday the 13th. Oh the irony. I couldn't even touch the 'It' this morning. I was to scared. I want to know. I want to know so badly. But I am to scared. I want Zac to be there, too.

I see Zoe walk down the street. I make sure we are not going to be late today. Nope. Not today.

I catch up to Zoe. And as we walk to school she starts rambling about something.

"-bout! You get it, right?" She asks for my opinion on a topic. I didn't even listen to. I can't focus. I feel bad I didn't listen. But I am to deep in thought.

"Yes, totally." I pretend I fully understand the situation.

The sidewalk is cracked in one spot. It sticks up from the rest. Everyday I make sure I don't trip on it. Today I forgot about it. I trip.

I don't have enough time to react to the fall. I scrape my knee on the pavement. I feels like it is on fire.

"Lizzie, this is not the time to be giving the ground a hug," she tells me. She extends a hand to help me up. I turn to get my knee of the sidewalk. It's bleeding. Someone stabbed a knife in my knee. Or at least a it felt like it.

"Yeah, okay," I trail off. It hurts.

"Oh! Lizzie!" She's almost yelling now. "You're bleeding!" She swings her back pack off her shoulder. Almost hitting me in the process. She pulls out a heavy red text book and plops it on the ground next to her. She reaches into her bag and grabs a bent cardboard box. She lifts the lid and pulls out a thin piece of paper.

No, it not paper. It's band aids, I realize. She rips them in half and fumbles to open the first one. She puts it on my knee. It's bleeding bright red blood.

Zoe is so smart. She reads a lot. More than me. She loves to learn. Her brows are furrowed with concern for me. I feel bad, this is why I'm not an athlete.

Zoe looks again at my knee. "You either burst a capillary, or your have thrombocytopenia."

"What is tromboc- I don't even know how to say it."

"It were your platelets are low and you don't stop bleeding." She states.

"Oh-"