The Rise and Fall of Mary Colley

Chapter 8

Sunday June 1st, 1975. 10:48 AM

"Hey," I heard a familiar voice whisper. I was still asleep in Thomas' room. The voice continued, "Hey, you need to wake up. Jimmy's looking for you." A felt a large hand touch my shoulder. I opened my eyes and saw Thomas.

"Did you say Jimmy's looking for me?" I asked, still half asleep.

"Yeah. I didn't tell him you were here though. I didn't want him to think we did anything."

"I don't think he would think that." As I spoke, I realized that I had bled out in the bed. I felt horrible and disgusting. I also no doubt had bled all over my pants. I was so embarrassed. I didn't want to get out of bed. I didn't want Thomas or Jimmy to see my blood stains. I decided to be straight forward with Thomas, "Thomas," I softly said,"Listen to me."

"Okay." He said.

"Last night, I got my period. I bled out all over your bed. I'm so sorry."

He gave an understanding smile and said "We're leaving today. It's okay. Room service will clean it and I'm sure they see this kind of thing all the time."

"Okay," I said, still embarrassed, "I also have blood on my pants. I don't want Jimmy to see."

"Uhh. Let me think about this. I'll go get Jimmy and take him to the lobby. You can go to his room and change. Your bag is in there right?"

"Yeah. How am I going to get in?"

He picked up a newspaper that was lying on the desk and said "I'll put this in between the door and the frame so the door stays open. After I get Jimmy I'll walk past this room and knock twice on the door as we pass, after that wait about 30 seconds and go to his room."

"Okay. Thank you so much." I sat up and hugged him. He patted my back.

"I'll go do that now." He said as he walked out the door. Not long after, I heard the door knock twice and I could hear their footsteps. Thomas was saying something to Jimmy. I waited about 30 seconds and then cracked open the door, I could see the elevator in that hall. They were in it and the doors were closing. I watched them close and ran to Jimmy's room. Like Thomas said he'd do, there was a newspaper in the door.

I walked inside. The room was trashed. I had no idea where my bag had been placed. I quickly searched and found it in the bathtub. Weird. In the bathroom, I changed clothes. I changed into a red knee length sundress.

I fished around my bag for a smaller bag. I found it. It was full of tampons. I got one and made good use of it.

My hair looked bad so I thought about pulling it into a ponytail but I didn't have a hairtie so I just brushed it. It was kind of oily but oh well. It didn't look any worse than most everyone else's hair around here.

Suddenly I heard the door open. I walked outside of the bathroom. It was Jimmy. He smiled and put his arms around me. "Hey. I was looking for you."

"I just woke up." I said.

"Where'd you sleep?"

"In Thomas' room."

Jimmy looked frustrated and said "He said that he didn't know where you were."

"Yeah. He said he didn't want you to think anything suspicious was going on."

Jimmy looked even more frustrated and said "I wish he had just been honest. Anyway, why'd you leave last night?"

"I was tired. I wanted to fall asleep somewhere quiet."

"I see. I didn't know you and Thomas were friends."

"We are now." I said proudly. I was glad we were friends. I wish everyone could know that we were friends.

"So did you think about coming with us for the rest of the tour?" He asked with his eyebrows raised.

I hadn't. But right then, I thought about Thomas and said "Yeah. I want to come."

He smiled widely and said "Good," He touched my shoulder and quietly said "I missed you last night."

"I missed you too. Maybe you could make some time for just us tonight?"

"Of course. So we're all leaving in a couple hours. We're going to Denver. You'll like it there. "

"I'd like it anywhere with you." I said.

"Have you eaten yet? We can go grab something if you want."

"Alright. That sounds good. I'm really hungry."

"Okay, let's go."