Invisible String

Chapter 11: Long Story Short

"long story short it was a bad time, long story short I survived..."

🦷

"Stop, please." Lizzie tried to say in one breath. "Have mercy on me, Dawson."

"I warned you that I wouldn't be easy on you just because you're Jay's sister." Antonio smirked.

"I never expected you to do that, but killing me kind of defeats the purpose of this, doesn't it?"

With the feeling of her lungs being on fire, Lizzie never felt so compelled to kick someone before that night. Starting with her therapist, who made the recommendation that exercise would help to manage the anxiety, then the second kick would go for her brother who gave the idea for Lizzie to go to the gym where Antonio taught boxing to teenagers so he could teach her as well. Jay had said it would give something to let out some of the anger that she had bottled up and it would be an opportunity to review the self defense lessons he had given her when she was younger.

"Stop complaining and start punching, baby Halstead." Antonio ignored her protests and held the punching bag so it would stand still while she punched, or at least tried to. "C'mon, my grandmother punches better than that."

Lizzie let out a few curse words that would make her mother ground her for months. Her hands were trained to be steady and to hold instruments firmly and with precision, not to give strong blows on a hundred-pound bag. But she couldn't deny that once she got used to the feeling her arms were about to fall off her body, it was nice to be able to put all her strength on a few punches while imagining that it was someone's face. And Antonio did make for a good companion, when he wasn't making fun of her lack of ability. He even told her some stories of old cases and a few of his weirdest arrests while he was still on patrol.

After a while, Antonio decided that Lizzie had enough bruises to last until the next lesson and finally called it a night, going so far as to give her a ride home so, in his own words, she wouldn't die on the way home.

Inside the apartment, Lizzie found her brother with his head buried inside the fridge.

"If you stare hard enough, maybe food will magically appear." she chuckled while locking the door behind her. Will turned around to face Lizzie as she walked to the kitchen to get some water.

"We definitely need to go grocery shopping. I was thinking of getting a pizza, are you in?" he asked. Elizabeth finished drinking an entire cup of water before shaking her head.

"I'm feeling sick again." she confessed when Will stared back at her with a question in his eyes. "But go ahead. I might eat the leftovers if I'm feeling better later."

"You said the nausea was getting better." Will's tone was slightly accusatory, probably thinking she was hiding more symptoms from him.

"It was. It is." Lizzie paused. "I just have some days where it gets a little worse."

"Lexapro does have that effect on patients. It usually goes away after a few weeks, don't worry. But the nausea gets worse if you don't eat anything."

Elizabeth smiled at his attempt of reassurance and the concern. When she officially became Dr. Reese's patient, Lizzie was prescribed Lexapro for her anxiety, and unfortunately that had a few side effects that were making her life a little more difficult during these past three weeks. She also was prescribed Klonopin to help her sleep and for when the anxiety reached that unbearable point where she got overwhelmed and felt like she was going to die. The medication was definitely helping and the constant sleepiness and dizziness were fading away, but the nausea was persisting a little more.