Orphic

Spring nine - Cassius

I was back at square one.

The farm was in worse shape than it had been when I arrived a little over a week ago, unfortunately I was in way to much pain to do any heavy lifting.

I hadn't been able to get much sleep at all, spending most of the time sitting in the ice cold bath because it helped soothe my back.

I was now making a very late night delivery of cigarettes to Abigail's window. Her parents had locked her up and she called me in the worst panic.

No one seemed to be awake, i'd never heard Pelican town so quiet and despite the storm, everything seemed to of been cleaned up in the last couple days.

I climbed up, ignoring the obvious pain in my back and knocked slightly at her window. She was sitting in her bed, wearing barely anything and reading a book.

I seriously doubted that Abigail of all people enjoyed reading in her free time but I really didn't feel like saying anything.

She checked the hall before coming to the window and lifting it open. I climbed in halfway and took a seat on the window sill before handing her the cigarettes she requested.

"You're my saviour." She sighed.

"Yea? light me one."

She reached into a small cup on her floor and tugged out a lighter, completely unconcerned with the fact that her bedroom door was open and her parents were likely just down the hall.

She took a puff before handing me the rest of the cigarette and grabbing another for herself.

I taught her well.

"How's your back?" She asked.

I shrugged, "Fine, just a small cut."

Liar.

"It didn't look like such a small cut."

I ignored her and continued my smoke.

"I'm just saying, we have doctors he-."

"Drop it Abigail." I warned.

She turned her attention to the floor and nodded. I wasn't about to walk over to Harvey and ask him to stitch up my already ruined back, he'd be absolutely terrified and I didn't feel like dealing with someone like him.

He may be a doctor, but he wasn't the kind that dealt with people like me.

"What happened to your roof anyways?" I asked, changing the subject.

She glanced up at me and rolled her eyes.

"I've got no idea, but it must be my fault since I'm not allowed to leave my bedroom for the rest of forever." She complained, rubbing her cigarette out on the window sill.

"Just move out."

She hit my arm, sending a shot of pain down my back but I somehow avoided wincing.

"It's not that easy Cass."

Woman.

I glanced at my phone and shrugged, "I've gotta hit Joja mart before they close, talk later." I promised, climbing out of her window and tossing my cigarette butt onto the grass.

I needed ice, and lots of it.

~

My bathtub was filled with the six bags of ice I bought and whatever water I could fit, I could already feel the goosebumps on my arm and I hadn't even climbed in yet. The majority of my day before Abigail called had been spent in bed, silently complaining about how sore I was.

Ice baths were painful. I remembered the first few I took when I was six. My mother would forcefully hold me down while Richard was gone, we never had much time and it was the best treatment she could think of doing for the marks Richard left on my back.

It took weeks for me to get used to the baths. Now, I don't think I could manage without them.

I took a deep breath and climbed in, trying to ignore how my legs immediately went numb from the cold.

I let myself sink as deep as I could until my head was just above the water and I waited for Bella to return my call.

I wouldn't be able to do much until I did something for my back and there was no way I could stitch it up myself.

Bella was the only person that had done any kind of checkup on me before. I was reluctant to let anyone else see.

~

The phone ringing is what woke me up, I'd fallen asleep in the tub and I knew that my lips had to be purple.

I forced myself out as quickly as my body would allow and reached for the small cell phone on my counter.

"Cass? I've called you seven times, what's going on?" Bella sounded worried but I could hear the music from the club in the background.

"I fell asleep."

"Okay? But why did you call?"

"I need you to come look at my back."

She scoffed, "Why? because you won't let the doctor there look at it? Did you rip a stitch or something."

I laughed, "Probably, I cut it up pretty badly trying to lift a tree so you'll have to come look at it, or I can just take another Ice bath, that might help."

I heard her let out a small swear before she replied, "Stop taking fucking ice baths and falling asleep, you're going to get sick. I can't come right now, you'll have to talk to the doctor th-."

"No."

"Cass don't be a child."

"Either you come or it stays like this, I was just letting you know." I snapped before hanging up the phone.

I grabbed a towel from the floor and wrapped it around my waist.

I was shivering, most of the ice in the bath had melted even though I hadn't even been asleep an hour yet.

I turned to examine the damage in the mirror. My skin was red from the cold, making the cuts look worse than they actually were. The movement of the tree left me with several small cuts and a few that were deeper while also ripping the stitches from my most recent surgery scar, that was the one that kept bleeding.

Bella had already stitched it a few times for me, thank god for her. If only she'd stayed in med school.

I grabbed another shirt a didn't care about and pulled it on, ignoring the way it stung and hoping it would last longer than the other three while I tried to fall back asleep in my actual bed.