His Scars

A Damn Lot of Blood

"We need more coffee."

Laura grabs the coffee jug and tips it upside down, a single drop of coffee drips into her mug.

"That's our fourth cup each."
"I know but look."

She holds the still upturned coffee jug and looks at me with an exasperated expression.

"We could go to the shop down the road."
"To far." She says.
"I might have some instant stuff in the cupboard?"
"Not good enough."
"Well... We could just you know... Have breakfast not just drink coffee."
"Ughhhh, fine. But are we making it or are we going out?"

I look at my fridge and remember I have to go shopping today.

"Let's go out."

We hop in the car and Laura puts on her music again.

As we're singing along I notice she hasn't said anything about last night. I wonder was it all a dream or does she just understand it's not something I'm comfortable talking about.

I grab the knob that turns down the music and I can tell she looks at me without me needing to look at her.

"Did you come into my room last night or was that all just a dream?"
"No... I did. You were screaming pretty loud."
"Could you make out words or was it just screams?"
I immediately regret saying this and hope she doesn't get curious.

"No... Why?"

Dammit!

"No reason."
"Were you having a nightmare or something 'cause you screamed pretty loud and I'm surprised the police weren't at the door."
"Yeah it was just a bad nightmare." I lie, hoping she can't see through it and feel a blush coming on.

A turn is coming up and I turn my head to try to stop Laura from seeing but I'm not sure if it works.

Eager to change the topic I check how her night was.

"Yeah, well it was going well until you screamed but I was able to get back to sleep pretty quickly, I just wish you hadn't of scared Dan off."
"I didn't mean to!"

I pull up into a parking space right in front of a cafe I like to go to. As well as making great omelettes they make fresh, rich coffees which I know Laura will love.

I open my car door at the same time as Laura and close my eyes.
The smell of coffee slaps my face, waking me up even though I've already had 4 cups.

I step out and stretch, lifting my shirt up a bit. I turn around a wait for Laura to close her door and lock the car.

It's about 9 in the morning and most of the tables are full but I spot a table next to the big window near the front.

We sit down and the wooden chair under me squeaks, I put my arms on the cool wood of the table and wait for Laura to look through the menu. I already have an idea what I want but I like to look anyway.

"Hi, are you ready to order?" A young woman with badly dyed brown hair and a big smile says.

"Ummm," I look at Laura and she nods for me to go.
"Yep, ummm, I'll have the breakfast omelette with cheese, ham,corn, and a latte please." I  say, trying to not focus on her hair.I look to Laura.
"And I'll have a BLT and a long black please."

The woman scribbles on her paper.
"Thanks loves!"
And she walks away.

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"You're bleeding!"
I looks down and a large cut has opened on the back of my hand, bleeding into my omelette.

"Goddammit!"
I grab for a napkin and see that that hand is covered in blood as well.

"Ahhhhhhhhh!"
I spot the bathroom to the side and run to it, knocking over my chair and about four others. I try the handle but I can grip it with my bloodied hands and without thinking use my shirt as a grip, soaking it's white in red.

I jump in and go for the tap, again having to use my shirt as a grip. I try to wash off the blood but it's coming out at an alarming rate. I grab some paper towels, (thank god they had them, I hate the air blowers) and try to close the wounds.

The blood rate has slowed down enough to wash and clean it.

The sink is completely covered in blood and the mirror looks like it's from a murder scene. My face is covered in blood as well, making my hair a sickly red instead of its natural dirty blond colour. My brown eyes striking and scared.

My shirt is completely ruined and my jeans are gonna need a long soak to get rid of the stains.

I lift my shirt and see little cuts all over my chest and stomach, not as bad as my hands, but still bleeding, my face is the same.

I check behind me and see a very worried, very still man standing and a wall length urinal.

"Ummmm..... Do you need help or want me to go or something?" His voice rising a bit at the end.

"I,.... I think I'll be fine." I say stuttering, "But, if you could tell them I'm fine, I'm sorry, and I'll be out in a minute would be great!"

"Uhhhhh, oh, yeah okay!"

I turn around and hear him pull up his zipper and leave while I try to make a makeshift first-aid kit with what I have, and what I have's not much; water, foamy soap, paper towels and my shirt.

**************************************

"Thank you! And I'm so sorry, I wish this haven't of happened."

The nice lady who served us, whom's name I now know is 'Kat', looked at us and said with her biggest 'I hate you, never come back' smile, "It's fine, we didn't need a men's bathroom anyway. Loves."

I feel Laura tense beside me and discreetly grip her arm, "Oh that's good, I wasn't sure if you went to the bathroom or you just used it to colour your hair, love." Only someone like Laura could pull that off.

As soon as we get in the car, we burst of laughing. I no longer care that I lost a good lot of my blood or that I probably will never be going back to that cafe, I don't even care that my soul mate is probably seriously hurt. It just feels so good to truly laugh.

After about five minutes I realise we should get going and I'm probably not in the best state to drive.

"Okay Laura, this is gonna be a one time, for now."
"You can drive the car."

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Hi guys! I'm so sorry I haven't updated in forever but I've been having a lot of family problems recently and Christmas is a very busy time so I hope you guys understand 😊😊😊

Thanks 😊

~O