Craft II (The Craft Saga)

22 - Mother Nature Calls

When I next awoke, I felt surprisingly fresh and well-rested. The sound of heavy breaths close to me made my fluttering eyes open wide immediately and I glanced to see Ollie sleeping soundly beside me. Even though I'd fallen asleep, he'd still stayed with me as promised. A gentle smile graced my face as I watched how peaceful he looked, even with the horrendous torture marks all over his face. He was on his side facing me and had an arm resting across my stomach. Maybe that was why I'd woken up feeling so well. Maybe it was because he'd been beside me all night.

I reached up and softly grazed my fingertip across his forehead, moving a thin strand of hair back into it's place. The movement didn't cause him to stir at all and that's when I realised just how exhausted he must've been. During the whole torture ordeal, I doubted he'd slept well or maybe even at all. It was better to leave him be and let him regain his energy.

Slowly and quietly, I escaped from underneath his arm and got out of bed, exiting the room without a sound. Once downstairs, I made myself a toasted bagel with cream cheese and a coffee, taking it outside into the warm morning sun to enjoy. Now that Ollie was home, I felt like I could begin to enjoy this new life again. Without him by my side, it had began to feel like an eerie, unsettling new world that I was a stranger in, but now he was back, it felt like home again.

After finishing breakfast I returned to the house and cleaned up. As I put away my dishes, I felt a wet feeling down below and gasped, hurrying to the bathroom quickly. I was bleeding.

'Shit,' I mumbled, stuffing toilet paper into my panties before looking through the cabinet in the bathroom for tampons. Nothing.

I left the bathroom and returned downstairs to the kitchen to check the cupboards in there, wondering if Ollie had maybe left something for this situation downstairs somewhere when he'd done the grocery shop for me but I couldn't find anything.

'Damn it,' I whined, letting the cupboard door swing shut.

'Looking for something?' Ollie's sudden deep voice made me jump and I screamed a little as I turned to see him entering the kitchen. His eyes widened at my scream before his face turned into a wide smile and he laughed loudly. 'Jesus, jumpy much?'

'Sorry, I had gotten used to it being deathly silent around here with you gone,' I chuckled.

'Is everything okay?' he asked, signalling to the cupboard I had just been looking in.

All I could focus on was the fact that he was topless and only wearing shorts. His physique was impressive and I desperately tried to stop looking incase he caught me. 'Ummm...yeah everything's good! Breakfast?'

'Sure,' he replied, slowly. 'Is there something you need?'

I felt my face burn up slightly and then I realised that I was getting flustered over something so silly.

He is an adult. You are an adult. It's not a big deal, Cece!

'No, actually,' I sighed, rolling my eyes. 'I got my period. Did you by any chance buy-.'

'Oh, shit, I didn't!' he interjected, letting out a breath of frustration. 'I didn't even think of that, sorry! Want me to run out quickly?'

'That's okay, I can go,' I told him.

'Are you bleeding right now?' he asked, pointing down at my lower half.

I chuckled awkwardly. 'Kinda...I wasn't expecting it. I was on the pill for a while and then stopped taking it when I was at Newton Factory obviously, so this just kind of came out of nowhere.'

'I'll go get you what you need,' he said, immediately looking around for his car keys. 'Can't have you wandering through the neighbourhood and town bleeding everywhere.'

'It's really not that bad; I can go,' I laughed.

'Say no more about it.' He held a hand up at me and gave me a humorous grin. 'I know what I'm doing; I can get you what you need.'

'Okay, thank you,' I giggled, turning to wipe down the countertops.

'Yeah,' Ollie mumbled, from behind me. 'What is it that you need again?'

'Just grab some tampons,' I told him, smiling at his uncertain look. 'Just light flow ones; any brand will do.'

Ollie nodded firmly. 'Light flow, any brand - got it.'

He dashed off out of the room and upstairs, returning fully dressed and he left the house quickly. I watched him from the window as he hurried to his car and sped away and I couldn't wipe the smile from my face. It was the weirdest feeling, but I figured this was what normal people did. By normal people I meant two people that lived together. I knew Ollie and I weren't a couple, but this was probably what couples living together were like. The guy dashing out to the store for tampons for the girl. Such a simple thing but it made me feel happy.

Ollie finally returned and handed me a box of tampons before holding open the carrier bag he had. 'I also got you chocolate, ice cream, a hot water bottle, some red raspberry leaf tea...'

'Red raspberry leaf tea?' I questioned, giggling at his expression of such confidence in everything he had returned with.

He glanced at me quizzically raising an eyebrow. 'Yeah, the lady at the store said it was the best stuff for cramps.' He stared at me as if he were stating the obvious and I was dumb for not already knowing that.

'Oh really?' I asked, smirking at the fact that he'd gone all out to accommodate my period as best he could. It was completely endearing. 'Then I will certainly put that to the test.'

'Want me to make you some?' he asked me.

'Sure,' I replied, smiling at him gratefully. Smiling was all I could do since he'd returned and I hoped it would never stop. 'I'm going to shower and stuff first.'

'I'll make some for you getting out,' he told me, heading around the kitchen island.

I stood and watched as he pulled the items from the carrier bag and placed them on the counter. I liked this feeling. I liked playing house with Ollie. The reason we were here may have been because I was in hiding from my drug-dealer ex-boyfriend and Ollie was his trafficker who was secretly hiding me so I wasn't murdered by him, but pretending we were just a normal couple, living a normal life in a normal house in our quiet little suburban neighbourhood was a much better story. It was the story I would continue to convince myself I was living, because I seriously hoped that one day it would be my reality.