The Last Time

Chapter 1

She'd been acting weird for about an hour now, barely focused on the conversation at the table, eyes frantically looking around as if she needed an escape.

Now, she made her way up the stairs in a sneaky, suspicious way. I followed quietly behind her, my eyes on her rigid back and the handbag she clutched close to her body. She slipped into the first guest bedroom on her left, and I quickly snuck my foot in the doorway to make sure it wouldn't close behind her.

I hated that I was physically stalking her, but gone were the days when she'd openly talk to me about things. Long gone.

I watched as she sat down on the bed and closed her eyes for a second, taking a shaky breath before she unzipped her small bag and pulled out a tiny drawstring cosmetic pouch. I was convinced my eyes were deceiving me when I saw the capped syringe she pulled out. She pulled up the hem of her sundress and used a sterile wipe to disinfect a part of her thigh.

I burst into the room as soon as she uncapped the syringe, my mind working at lightning speed as I walked up to her, grabbed the syringe from her hand and whisper-shouted, "Are you seriously in here doing drugs?!"

Her eyes were wide open in alarm, the sight of her mouth tilted up at the corner cementing her obvious disbelief.

"Why on earth would I be doing drugs, Koffi?" she asked, her hand subtly pulling her dress back down over her thigh.

"You tell me!" I said. "You're the one who snuck up here looking all suspicious, only to pull out a syringe with Lord knows what in it and--"

"Insulin, Koffi." she said, looking pointedly at me. "There's only insulin in that syringe."

"Insulin?" I said through a heavy breath. My mind took a moment to process the information, putting two and two together. "You're diabetic?"

"I am." she confirmed. "But that's not something I ever wanted you to know. Why would you even follow me up here?"

My face instantly contorted into confusion as a headache slowly formed from her words. "Who else doesn't know? 'Cause there's no way you snuck up here to keep it from only me."

"That's not your business." she said, the scowl I'd grown used to seeing on her face back in its rightful place. "Give that back and get out."

"No one knows?"

"Koffi..." she urged and tried to reach for the injection, but I pulled it away and took a step back.

"You're gonna have to answer my question." I said firmly. "Diabetes is a serious disease. It's manageable, but it has taken a few lives. There is no way you're going through this alone."

"Now you want to worry about the things I have to go through alone?" she scoffed and folded her arms over her chest.

My heart ached at the sound of her accusatory words and I squatted to be at eye level with her. "Don't do that. This isn't about us."