Torn

22.

     I awoke to the sounds of someone knocking softly on my apartment door.  My head pounded.  I had not been sleeping.  Insomnia plagued me.  I wanted to just roll over and go back to sleep.  A month of uninterrupted sleep might about do it.  I groaned and crossed the floor to the door.  I peeked through the peephole.  Mike stood in my hallway.

     I unlocked the door and pushed it open.  Mike smiled a shy smile at me.  

     "Hey, how are you feeling today?"

     It had been two weeks since the incident.  My cuts had healed for the most part and the swelling had receded.  Most of the bruising was a lovely shade of yellow.  When I did manage to get some sleep I was having nightmares.  I had been prescribed an anti anxiety medication.  It kind of put me in a fog, but a fog was better than the anxiety attacks that had started.

     Mike had come over every day for the last two weeks to check on me.  Not that he should have.  I am pretty sure that a week of bed rest would have done him some good.  I think he was just too stubborn.  He was going to have a nasty scar on his forehead when it finished healing.  Right now it was an angry red line.  The stitches had been removed though.  He had indeed broken a few ribs during the crash, but didn't puncture his lung.  His rib cage was still bruised.  He has some major deep tissue damage.  

     "Hey Mike, come on in.  Is Josh with you?"

     "Nope."  Mike shook his head.  "Josh is in the studio today.  He told me to tell you that he would call you later and that he was sorry that he couldn't make it."  

     I nodded.  In a strange way I was a little relieved.  I loved having Josh around, that wasn't the problem, it was just that things between us felt a little strained.  He was having a really hard time with what Darry had done to me.  As if it were his fault or something.  No matter how many times I tried to tell him there was nothing that he could have done, he would throw his hands up and get all huffy.  I had made the decision to walk home alone.  Me.  He had told me not to.  I had chose not to listen.  It was just hard on him.  I figured a day apart might do us both some good.  I kind of felt as if he were suffocating me with his guilt.  He felt so bad about not being able to prevent it that he was over compensating now.

     Mike sat on the edge of my unmade bed.  He looked at me and chuckled.

     "What?"  I asked.  I then realized that I just woke up and that I probably looked far less than presentable.  "I have bed head, right?"

     "Just a little."  Mike smiled.  "It could be worse, there could be drool."

     I ran my fingers through my hair in a futile attempt to calm it down.  "So, what can I do for you today?"

     Mike's jovial expression changed to one of a serious nature.  "We have to go to the police station today.  I got the call this morning and was told that they needed to see both of us."

     My blood seemed to freeze in my veins.  Just when things were starting to get back to normal.  "What?  Why?"

     "They said something about the case coming to a close."

     I was a bit stunned.  Part of me was relieved, and part of me was scared to death.  "This is just a formality right?  Like, we go down there and they say, okay it was all in self defense, and we go home right?"

     Mike nodded.  "I think so.  I mean, what else could it be?  I did what I had to do in order to protect you.  If they find fault in that, then that is their problem.  I know what he did to you and he had everything coming to him.  Besides, if they thought any different, wouldn't I have been arrested and brought in on charges?"

     I took a deep breath and exhaled slowly.  "I guess we should just get this done and over with."

     Mike stood up.  "I'll, um, wait over here while you get dressed?"  He gestured towards the "kitchen area" of my bachelor apartment.  Everything was crammed into less that six hundred square feet.  

     I smiled and squeezed his hand.  "Make yourself a coffee.  I should have milk in the fridge and coffee beside the Keurig.  I will just grab my stuff and hop in the shower quick if that's okay?"  

     Mike nodded and busied himself with the Keurig.  "Do you want one to go?"

     "Yes please-"

     "Two milk, no sugar, right?"

     I smiled.  "Yup.  Thank you."

     Mike nodded and I hurried towards the shower.