The Silent Letters

Chapter Three.

The next morning, the sun had been seduced by the clouds, to hide away and let the rain take over, just for a day. Esme rolled over groaning as her alarm screamed into her ear. She hit the button, making it stop aggressively as her hands itched at the layers of bandaging covering them. Her headache had ditched her a while ago and King was curled up at the end of her bed like a fluffy grey pillow. As she rolled her legs out from under the sheets, he stirred and looked up at her before jumping to the ground. She grabbed her phone as she moved to fling her bedroom door open allowing King access to the rest of her apartment. As her phone opened a bunch of notifications rolled over the screen, her group chat taking about 150 of those notifications. Asher alone had sent her over 80 messages between when she saw him last to now, she smiled as she opened the chat with him scrolling through the messages.

*Hey did you leave?*

*Excuseeeee meeeee*

*ESMEEEEE ARE YOU ALIVE???*

*I will send out a search crew if I do not receive a response by first lecture tomorrow.*

She laughed at the increased panic erupting over his messages, she typed her response and pressed send. She threw her phone to the bed as she slowly trudged into her bathroom tugging at her pajama pants.

*No search crew please. I don't wanna end up in the newspaper, I will see you at school. <3*

She stepped into the steam filled shower, after stripping out of her pajamas that Kim must have had her change into yesterday. She peeled the thick layers of bandages from her hands forcing the fresh wounds under the warm water, emitting a hiss from her as she stepped further under the stream of the clean water. Her palms screamed against her as she soaped her body with the best smelling vanilla soap she could get her hands on. She ran her hands through her brown hair pulling the wandering strands away from her face, she brushed through shampoo and then conditioner. She forced herself to clean away the oiliness, the dirtiness as her hands continued to scream at her as the wounds puckered open and close like a fish out of water.

She stopped the flow of the burning water with a quick brush of her fingers against the tap. She turned to place her hands on the tiled wall, laying her forehead on the wall between her wrists. She needed to apologize to Kim for yesterday and get to school before Cecila threw a tantrum. She dried herself off with a fluffy towel, got dressed and bandaged her hands. Adjusting the white bandaging as she proceeded, proving that she really was a medical student.

She walked out into the middle of her apartment, watching as King stretched himself on the couch before jumping down, bolting for the kitty door on the entrance to her laundry. She opened the door, topping off his food bowl and adjusting the water level in his bowl. Her meds sat on the kitchen bench and she swallowed them quickly before grabbing her bag and her discarded phone. She called out a goodbye to King, closed her front door behind her as she started to head downstairs, preparing her apology mentally.

Wrapping her hand around the door handle was more painful then she remembered and thus Esme spent ten minutes trying to open the door in 20 different ways before finally knocking, she hoped that someone was close to hear. She suddenly received the urge to go back upstairs and not leave her apartment as the handle of the door jiggled before finally opening.

Turning to thank the customer provided her with a more awkward discovery as Alice smiled down at her. "Alice?"

"Esme."

Esme thanked her for the door walking further into the cafe as Alice slowly followed. Kim stood behind the counter serving customers and making coffees as Esme walked over, placing her hands on the counter carefully, curving her palms to once again readjust the itchy bandage. "Kim?"