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CHAPTER EIGHT: JUST SURVIVE SOMEHOW
( tw! mentions of self-harm )
🥀🖤
MELANIE WAS KEPT overnight in the infirmary for observation. Denise wanted to make sure that there was nothing else wrong with her, which thankfully, there wasn't. It was just a severe case of heat exhaustion. According to Margot, Carl had tried to visit to check on her but Melanie denied his visits. She was still being ordered to have no blankets or long-sleeved shirts and she didn't want Carl seeing her scars. She and Carl were growing closer but she wasn't ready to show him that part of her.
When Melanie was finally able to leave, she was excited. Denise was kind but Melanie was tired of the IV in her arm and the sound the EKG machine made as it mimicked her heartbeat. That same morning, Margot was leaving with the rest of the people that would be driving the herd west. When Denise cleared Melanie to leave, Margot came to say goodbye. She kissed her forehead and promised her that she would stay safe and come back alive. Melanie told her she was going to hold her to that.
When Melanie got back home, she changed into clothes that didn't belong to Margot or Denise. Melanie walked upstairs and the first thing she did was take a shower. She had yet to take a shower since the heat stroke and she reeked of body odor and dirt. Melanie scrubbed her skin of the dirt and sweat that had caked onto her skin. When Melanie stepped out of the shower, she wiped the steam off of the mirror before staring at herself.
Melanie stared at all her scars. She was still ashamed and insecure about them but Margot helped her hate them a tiny bit less. Being told by her older sister that it was okay made Melanie feel better. She didn't feel good enough to show her arms but she felt good enough to not hate herself when she looked at her naked body in the mirror.
Melanie got dressed, throwing on what she normally wore. It was always black jeans and a long-sleeved shirt, usually white but sometimes she did black on black. She rarely wore color and whenever she did it was usually dark blue or dark red. Melanie slipped her boots on as she decided she was going to go sit in the gazebo for a couple of hours. She knew that it probably wasn't a good idea to be outside since she had just gotten heat exhaustion but it was cloudy and she was going to be under the gazebo in the shade, so Melanie thought it would be fine.
Before Melanie left her house, she put on her gun and knife holster. The new rules permitted that everyone needed to be armed inside the walls. Melanie inserted a filled magazine into her handgun and then racked the slide before stuffing the gun into her holster. She placed one of her bigger knives in her knife holster before taking another, smaller butterfly knife and putting it in her boot.
