It Started With a Dare

Chapter 21

"Mum, please take me with you! Don't leave me here!"

"Don't be bloody ridiculous. I have to take classes after my job. Don't screw this up for me. Just stay here."

"No, Mummy, please. PLEASE!"

~

I jolted up from bed once again because of that nightmare. I was shaking, covered in cold sweat and goosebumps. I turned and looked at my clock. It read, "2:48."

"Bloody hell," I cursed, running my hand over my messy curls. This was the fifth time I've haven't slept well, and the hours of sleep I've been having before I wake up from my nightmares were getting shorter and shorter. It was driving me mad.

I got out of bed and walked to the living room to watch some TV in case I fall back asleep from the old shows that were on. It certainly worked two nights ago. Last night I tried watching cooking shows, and instead of falling back asleep, I ended up pigging on some potato chips and a bar of chocolate.

I wanted to talk to someone, but turns out that all of my friends are out of town for the entire duration of the Christmas holiday. Can't blame them though since there was nothing much to do when you live here. The only person I could and couldn't talk to at the same time was Alex, and he hasn't spoke a word to me since that day I ate breakfast with his father and sister at the diner.

I wouldn't say anything to him either. After what Puppy Alex did to him and what I said to him, I definitely wouldn't speak a word.

~

"Wow, you look shit," Alex laughed once he spotted me at the convenience store.

I discreetly hid the new tab of painkillers I just bought in my coat pocket. From all the painkillers I've been taking, I'll die from liver failure by the time I'm thirty.

"Thanks," I smiled wryly. "Just what every girl wants to hear."

"You need more beauty sleep there, Annie-chan," Alex said, putting down two liters of bottled water on the counter.

"I would if I can," I mumbled under my breath.

"And..." Alex continued, "you also have to just go to a doctor and stop taking those painkillers. You'll kill your liver before you get better."

I let out a small grin. Just like what I thought. Then I looked at him blankly. "My parents will kill me for this," I sighed.

"You're already sick, and your parents will kill you for that?" Alex said, putting the water bottles back on the shelf. "That's just wrong. If you want, I can go with you to a clinic."

I could already imagine what would happen if my parents found out. They'll roast me alive for not being responsible enough to take care of myself, not to mention the crap my father gave me for my grades. However, Alex's offer was quite tempting.

I fidgeted where I stood, pondering about my answer. "Well..." I trailed off.

Before I knew it, he began dragging me out of the store and out to the streets.

~

Luckily there was a clinic nearby, and there weren't that much people in, except for that kid who caught a cold and that lady who had chicken pox whom Alex was so wary of by sticking his back to the wall in attempts to stay as far away from her. In no time, we were called in inside the doctor's office.

"Good morning, Ms. Alstreim," the doctor asked. She was old woman with gray wiry hair and large round glasses that made her eyes larger. Somehow she reminded me of a neat-looking version of Professor Trelawney from Harry Potter. "What seems to be the problem?"