One Life

Chapter Fifteen

"Aunt Lucyyyy!" I threw myself into her arms, merely knocking her over.

She hadn't expected this, or even to have seen me tonight, and I could see it by her amused shocked laugh, while she hugged me back.

"Elizabeth! Oh dear!" She was on a verge of tears.

I don't know if I'd ever mentioned it being a thing in our family to call each other by your middle names as nicknames. But if not, there you go... She calls me Elizabeth, sometimes. Or my full name when it's a serious matter.

"Don't cry." I laughed dropping my duffel bag and purse by our feet. "And stop calling me that."

I made a stop by home, packing my pills, and a fair amount of clothes, even Harry's leather jacket that he was suppose to come back for.

"Oh, I just miss you, my darling." Her accent was even thicker since I'd last seen her. It doesn't sound the same over a phone call.

"I know, I know." I said sweeping her long straight brown hair off of her shoulders.

"Now let's go cook and talk. Because I'm starving."

My eating was on and off. And right now, I just so happened to be hungry.

Anywho, we did cook and catch up. But... Not necessarily.

She went for making a chicken salad, and I went for cereal.

Nothing could go wrong with a bowl of cereal.

When in doubt, shut the hell up, and go eat a bowl of cereal. Simple, but effective.

See what I did there?

"So... Guess what?" Aunt Lucy chimed.

"What?" I said, switching my spoon to the right side of my bowl, so I could try to eat with the hand I normally didn't use.

"Remember when you went to that family reunion when you were small? Up north, back home?"

"Mhm." I lied, shoveling a small shaky spoon of cereal in my mouth, struggling to balance the spoon between my fingers.

"You probably don't.... As I said before, you were small."

"Mhm?" I nodded, encouraging Aunt Lucy to get to the point.

"And one of your cousins were coming to town, and he'd stop by in a few weeks or so." She smiled at me excitedly.

"Awesome." I said, trying to sound as excited as she was.

"Yes! And until then, you're going to the hospital to get treated."

I choked on milk a bit.

"Wait, what?"

"Yes, Stella Elizabeth."

"I-I'm scared! No! Why? How did you even know?!"

"Because you'll only get worst. And I refuse to let that happen. And if you hadn't noticed, I'm your emergency contact, and your guardian... Of course I was going to be informed and notified about this." She looked calm, and unfazed.

"We can't afford it!"

"You don't know what's in my pocket, dear child." She almost laughed.

That still didn't come down to convince me to do it.

"But I'm scared."

"I'll be there."

"And my hair?"

"It'll fall off, but grow back when you're done. No big deal."

"But I like my pageboy hair." I lied.

"Is that what they call it? That's mad."

Then right on cue I was puking on the kitchen floor.

"See! We're going first thing tomorrow at the crack of dawn."

"No!" I croaked, trying to pull myself together. There was blood in my purge too.

She rushed me to the bathroom.

"Yes. Discussion dismissed."

And then it was let go, and locked into a vault of 'Never Discuss Again' things.

There was no getting out of it. I was just horribly scared. I wanted Harry and Samantha by my side.

Next thing I know, I was laying in my vomit in the bathroom, puking a shit load after half a bowl of cereal.

-

My head was faced into couch, my back faced the rest of the living room. I smelt like soap, and felt utterly clean.

I felt warm. A huge blanket draped over my body.

The smell of Hawaiian Breeze had filled my nostrils... An air freshener.

"Aunt Luce." I groaned, my eyes closed.

"Yes, dear?" Her voice came from the kitchen.

"Did you bathe me?"

She chuckle, then responded: "I've seen you naked plenty of times. Sleep now, child."

It didn't bother me one bit. Just the fact that a middle aged woman had carried a heavy teen like me.

I let out a monstrous yawn, falling back to sleep.