Yellow Lines

Chapter 9 - Take a Deep Breath

"Mr. and Mrs. Mc Intire, please, can't Cara just stay with me for at least two days before she leaves?"

They both looked at each other and then checked their phones.

"Leila, honey, time is money, the longer we spend here, we are losing money," her dad said.

Cara joined into the charade. "Mom, dad, please? It's just two days. You can stay and wait or go and come back. At least let me have the last two days with my best friend."

Cara was freaking twenty-seven. Twenty-seven! Why the heck did we have to beg like this? I swore we were in highschool begging to go to the movies. No wonder she left.

"Alright, but we will have to go and come back. No funny business, Cara. You need help. We'll be back Saturday morning," Mrs. Mc Intire finally said.

Cara rolled her eyes.

At least this would give me time to figure out what went down.

"Two days honey C, two days."

Cara eyed her father and rolled her eyes again. Then her parents watched the wall clock at the same time before hustling out the door.

"Cara, I'm sorry, I didn't know they were that bad. Now, look at what I've done. What am I going to do without you?"

She sighed, "Come on, let's go. I'm tired of this place."

We checked out of the hospital and stopped by her place to gather clothes and other important stuff to take to Maryland.

As we entered my apartment, I keeled over, clutching my stomach. "Ow." It was as if someone had punched me in the gut.

"Lei? Lei, what's wrong? Are you alright?" Cara gripped my left arm.

I stifled a groan. "Yeah, I'm... I'm fine. It's just my period cramps."

"But you don't get period cramps. So, now you get them?"

"Yeah..." I moaned. The pain got lighter but it lingered on the left side of my abdomen. "This is the first time in years, actually."

The last time I got menstrual pains, I was sixteen years old. A week elapsed and my period still flowed as if it were the second day. It scared the hell out of me because it normally lasted three days. Three light days.

"That's weird, Lei."

I felt Cara's eyes stalking me as we walked to the couch. I plopped onto it, avoiding her gaze.

"Oh my God! Your nose is bleeding." She rushed to the bathroom and returned with tissues, handing them to me. "You don't seem freaked out by this, are you okay?"

I plugged my nose and faced her. "Don't worry about me. I should be more worried about you, Cara. You're the one that almost died a few days ago."

"Jeez, Lei. I'm fine, the doctor gave me a good bill of health. So, what's happening to you?"

"Nothing!"

I'd been bleeding in the nose the entire week, every day, twice a day. Yesterday, a student pointed it out while I wrote on the board. It only bled for a few seconds, but my period pains were sharp and lasted about two minutes. I was just stressed out, which was also the reason why my period had been so long.

"So..." I pulled the matching throw-pillow onto my lap, "Are you ready to talk?"

"About?"

"The incident? The bruises and the pills."

Cara made her way over to my window, "Lei," she sighed. "I already told you it was just rough sex. He tied me to the bed and after all the hype I couldn't sleep so I took the pills."