Swimming in Pain

Chapter 1

Asphera rolled over and pulled the blanket over her head in order to block out that one single stream of light that was peaking through her blackout curtains. Today was not one of her better days. Yesterday she had decided to go shopping for groceries by herself even though she usually had Stephanie do it for her or with her. Unfortunately, she had woken up and felt better than usual and decided that she could do it herself.

It was degrading, made her feel guilty and that she was a worthless waste of space every time she had to have someone else do things for her. When she was in High School the only thing she prided herself on was her independent motivational personality. Everyone flocked to her in droves because of her willingness to help those around her. She'd even volunteered as a Mentor for the younger students to help them break out of their shells in order to create a happier High School experience.

Thinking back to Mentoring always reminded her of a friend she lost though. Alyssa had been two years younger than Asp  and suffered from an illness that made it impossible for her to be a healthy weight. Due to the weight, it damaged her knees and she had to have a surgery for it. . Unfortunately during recovery a blood clot made its way to her heart.

(R.I.P. Alyssa This truly happened in real life and I wanted to 'immortalize' a very close friend of mine)

"Ugh, I need water," she groaned weakly from beneath the mound of covers she was currently burrowed beneath.

A golden tanned hand crawled it's way out from beneath in search of the large jug of water she always kept beside her bed. Most days she went through at least three of these jugs. One of her friends had remarked on the amount of water she drank but seemed to shrink into himself when Asphera rounded on him in her fury.

It wasn't as if drinking water was something to get that angry over but to Asphera it was yet another thing to set her apart from being 'normal'. She quickly opened the cap before chugging the water incessentally. It wasn't until the jug  reduced by almost half that she replaced the lid again. 

Asphera rolled out of bed, stumbling to the bathroom, and her phone rang just before she reached the door. It made her groan in disappointment before turning back to grab it from within the scrunched up sheets. Looking at the screen, she was greeted with a picture of her friend and her back in Freshman year of High School doing cartwheels down one of the Hills near the P.E. area. 

"Hmm," she answered the phone and merely hummed to the other person. 

"Pher? Are we still going to the Ocean today?"

Asphera rolled her eyes at even the mere suggestion that she would skip going to the Ocean. 

"Yes, Cass. I'm just about to head into the shower now. We've still got," she pulled the phone away from her face in order to check the time before saying, "another four hours until the boat is supposed to leave the dock. The paperwork we were given said 2:30 on May 27th; Saturday. We're not going to be late."

Cassie must've been inside of her kitchen because Asphera could hear her banging plates and bowls together. 

"I thought it said 12:30; are you sure?"

"Yes," Asphera replied as she walked into the bathroom and turned the shower on, "You've got your own paper with all the information.. Why aren't you looking at it?"

"Eh. . Well, Mikey drooled all over it and ripped it apart while I was making him his dinner," Asphera could hear the chagrin in her voice. 

"Mm, okay. Anyways, I'm going to jump into the shower and get ready. Afterwards, I'll drive over. Make sure to take Mikey to daycare unless Joshua isn't working today."

"Josh told me that he called in sick because he knows how much you were looking forward to this trip." 

Asphera blushed a bit at how much her friends knew her but then asked, "Your Husband isn't upset that I'm going to steal you for a few days?"

"Pfft, Josh probably can't wait until I get the hell out of the house so that he can drink a couple of beers and watch football. Trust me, you aren't upsetting anyone." 

"Thanks Phera! You can keep Cassie as long as you want!" There was the sound of someone hitting another person over the phone before Cassie's disgruntled voice spoke up. 

"Like I said, Josh doesn't mind. I'll see you when you get here."

"See ya," Asphera responded before hanging up the phone and stepping into the now warm water. It was refreshing and made her skin feel as though it were attempting to breathe in the liquid. Her originally painful body seemed to lessen a bit underneath the spray. As soon as she stepped out of the shower though, all the pain seemed to come back. A frown permanently graced her features as she began to dry herself off and pick out the clothes she was going to wear today. 

Glancing out the window, she realized that it wasn't cloudy today and the thermometer said that it was 84 F at the moment. It was surprising that it wasn't raining during this time of year so she decided to wear a bathing suit beneath the off the shoulder shirt and shorts she pulled on. Lastly, she slipped on a pair of flip flops and wrapped her hair in a messy bun. She was still in too much pain to add any makeup today. Her skin was naturally golden tanned from all the days she's gone to the beach and just sat in the sand, enjoying the Sun shining off the waves. 

By the time Asphera was completely ready and had grabbed the keys to her car, she felt slightly out of breath. Luckily she still had one of her water jugs in her hand so she merely lifted it up to take a drink. This calmed down the unsteady breathing that she had originally been producing. Asphera walked outside and locked up her house before getting inside of her small, junk of a car. 

'I'm so excited to go on this trip.'