LEARNING TO FORGIVE YOU

4.

["That bad, huh?"]

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The woman shook her head. "No, I just need to relocate it," she said, looking over Alex's body for any other injuries. "I'm going to need to treat that abrasion wound too," she added, placing a gentle hand on Alex's back as they walked inside. When they did, the older girl saw Madison chastising her daughter for her actions.

The woman, who Alex heard Travis refer to as Liza, sat the girl down beside Alicia on the couch before moving to grab a towel. As the two girls sat in silence, Alicia gave the older girl the meanest glare before Liza came back.

"Bite down on this." she said, handing the folded towel over to Alex.

"What are you doing?" Alicia asked Liza, as both she and Alex looked confused.

The woman didn't answer, instead, she just nodded at the towel in Alex's hand, waiting for her to bite down on it. Once she did, Liza moved beside her, placing one hand on her injured shoulder and the other on her hand before quickly jerking her arm down, putting her shoulder back in place.

Alex yelled out, but the sound was muffled by the towel she was biting down on. Alicia watched with wide eyes as it happened.

After a few seconds, Alex released her bite on the towel, slowly leaning her head back on the couch as she removed the towel from her mouth. Her chest rose and fell as she panted.

"Stay here, I'll be right back." Liza said, standing up from the couch to get a first-aid kit.

A couple of minutes later, Liza returned with a first-aid kit and a wet rag. She first used the rag to clean around the wound before putting a bit of iodine on a clean cloth and dabbing it on the wound. Alex hissed in pain, wincing and trying to move away. "Stop moving," Liza warned, continuing to gently dab the iodine on the wound. She then wrapped gauze around Alex's upper body to cover the abrasion wound.

When Liza was done, she wished Alex and Alicia goodnight before leaving the room. Once she was gone, Alicia stood up from the couch, throwing a pillow at Alex before saying, "You should be with your parents right now."

Alex gulped, nodding in agreement. "Yeah, you're probably right." She moved to lie down on the couch, while Alicia left the room to head to her own. Before she was completely out of sight, Alex said, "Goodnight, Alicia." 

>>>

The sentence Alicia had said to her the previous night had kept Alex awake for most of the night. By 3 in the morning, her body had given in, and she had finally fallen asleep. Now, at 6, she was jolted awake by searing pain in her shoulder. As much as she wanted to take Oxycodone, she couldn't risk it.

She sighed, rubbing the sleep from her eyes as she sat up on the couch with her feet touching the floor. Glancing around, she spotted two ibuprofen pills on the table alongside a glass of water. She also noticed Liza sleeping on the floor, which caused her to frown slightly.

She quickly took the ibuprofen and then walked over to Liza, gently shaking her shoulder until she woke up.

As Liza stirred awake, Alex smiled softly and said, "Take the couch, I'm up."

Liza smiled gratefully before getting up. "How is your shoulder?" she asked as she moved over to the couch and took a seat.

"Hurts." Alex answered, shrugging her right shoulder. "But not as bad as it did."

Liza nodded as she lay down. "Are you sure you don't want to take something stronger? It might help."

"Recovering addict." Alex replied, pointing to herself with a chuckle. "Should probably pass."

Liza nodded in understanding before laying her head down and closing her eyes, quickly drifting back to sleep. Only after she was asleep did Alex notice the boy from yesterday, whom she recognized as Liza's son, also sleeping on the floor.

Alex pulled up her sagging sweatpants as she walked towards the kitchen, not expecting anyone else to be awake yet. She soon realized she wasn't alone when she noticed Alicia in the kitchen as she entered.

Alicia ignored the older girl's presence and continued making her cup of coffee. Alex played along and walked past the younger girl to the fridge.

"I'm sorry for what I said." Alicia muttered halfheartedly as she poured some milk into her coffee.

"What?" Alex asked, looking confused as she glanced at the brunette before refocusing on finding something to eat in the fridge.

"My mom told me about your parents after you went to sleep." Alicia said, turning around to lean against the counter.

"Oh." Alex mumbled, grabbing a pack of blueberries before shutting the fridge and turning her attention to Alicia. "It's fine."

Alicia shook her head in disagreement. "No, it's not fine. Especially your response to what I said."

Alex sighed. "If you knew the shit I've been through, you'd understand." she said, reaching just above Alicia's head to grab a cup from the cupboard.

Alicia gulped, looking up at Alex before quickly looking down at her cup. "We're leaving later this afternoon, and you're one of the only people Nick listens to." she said, taking a sip of her coffee as Alex stepped back to pour herself some coffee. "So, I wanted to ask if you would like to come with?" The brunette asked, uncertainty clear in her tone.

Alex nodded. "I'll think about it."

She then left the kitchen and walked to the back of the house. She noticed Nick and the boy from earlier standing out in the yard and went out to join them, finishing her food on the way.

As she walked out, the two boys turned towards her. Nick gave her a small smile while the other just stared at her.

"I'm Alex." she said, sticking her hand out to the younger boy as she stood next to him. "Nick and I used to be best friends back in high school."

"Chris." the boy replied as he took her hand, finally giving her a small smile. "Travis is my dad."

Alex nodded, and soon the three turned to look at the woman who had tried to attack Alicia the previous night. She was moaning and making gnarling sounds, her arm sticking out through the fence. It saddened Alex to see the woman suffering, even though the woman probably didn't realize she was dead. At least, that's what they all thought.

After a while, Chris walked inside, leaving Alex alone with her ex-best friend. "Hey, I'm sorry for texting you." Nick said, turning to Alex and pulling her focus away from the woman.

"I'm not." she replied.

"Why? My whole family, like, hates you. No offence." Nick said, crossing his arms over his chest.

"And whose fault is that, huh?" Alex replied harshly, causing Nick to turn his head away from the girl, gulping slightly. "Sorry... I didn't mean for it to come out like that."

"It's true." Nick said, shrugging his shoulder as he turned his head back to the older girl.

"I'm sorry they think of you that way." he apologized sincerely.

"If I were to tell them the truth, they probably wouldn't believe me now, though." he added.

Alex nodded, looking down as she kicked a rock. "Yeah, I know."

"It doesn't matter anymore. As soon as this shit dies down, I'll be outta your hair." she said, looking back up at her ex-best friend.

"You think this is gonna die down?" Nick questioned.

Alex stared at the woman in front of them, still trying to get through the gate, moaning and making biting sounds. "I have no fucking idea."

(1252)