A Life Worth Living

Chapter 8

I opened my eyes and welcomed the rays of sunlight. I sat up in my bed, but I got a sudden sharp pain on my arm. I looked at to see that there were cuts on it. "That's right." I said. I cut myself last night. I then looked to my side to see Sissel on the mattress. He was sound asleep. I probably should have bandaged my arm. Leaving it open can cause bacteria to slip through. I got up, and put some sweatpants and a blue t-shirt on, and went to the bathroom to find the first aid kit. After bandaging myself up, I decided to go into the kitchen and make some breakfast. I went to the fridge to find four eggs and two slabs of bacon. "I'm going to have to go shopping in a bit." I thought to myself. I started making some eggs, and as I was, I heard footsteps enter the kitchen. It was Sissel. He was wearing some sweatpants and an oversized gray t-shirt. "Whatcha cookin'?" Sissel asked. "Eggs and bacon." I replied. "That sounds good." Sissel said. "How do you like your eggs?" I asked. "Scrambled." Sissel replied. Sissel sat down at the table. There was no school today, because it was Saturday. "How did you sleep?" Sissel asked. "I slept fine." I answered. There was an awkward silence, well except for the sizzling of the pan. "So last night..." I started to say, but Sissel put his hand up to signal that he didn't want to talk about it. I don't think I wanted to talk about it either. I finished making breakfast, plated them, and placed them on the table. We ate in silence. "Hey, I gotta go. Are you going to be okay?" Sissel asked. I nodded. Sissel left after he ate, leaving me alone. I was still sitting at the table. The whole apartment was silent. I decided to wash some dishes, then after that I took a shower, and got dressed. I wrote down a list of things needed at the store and left. Since I didn't have a car I had to walk to the store. It was a long walk, but I made it. I looked at the list of things I needed. Eggs was the first thing on my list, so I walked to where the eggs located. I wasn't looking at where I was going and bumped into someone. "Ah! I'm sorry." The person apologized. "Oh, it's okay!" I quickly said. I bumped into a girl. She seemed younger than me. She seemed to be about 4'7". She had long red hair. Her left eye was blue, while the other was brown. She seemed a bit tan, but yet a little bit darker. She had freckles and wore glasses. "Wait...do I know you?" I asked. "Maybe, but I don't know yo- wait...your Ken Fry, the sole member of the Health Committee." The girl said. "Yeah, that's right." I said. So this girl is from my school, but I don't know her, and I know everybody. Wait a minute...I remember now. "You're Juniper Thorne." I said. The girl nodded. Juniper Thorne is the smartest person in our whole school. She's been that way since day one. She's 13 now if I remember her file correctly. She's never gone to the nurse's office before, yet she knows who I am. "Why are you here?" I asked. "I'm looking for groceries." Juniper answered. That was a stupid question to ask. "Well, I gotta go now, see ya later...maybe." Juniper said as she walked off. After she left I continued with shopping. After I got everything, I payed, and I left. On my way home, I heard some commotion. "Please...stop..." I heard someone cry out. "Shut up slut!" Another voice said. I discreetly walked over to where the voices were coming from. It lead me to an alleyway, and when I got there, I saw Juniper on the ground being kicked by some guy I didn't recognize. Juniper's glasses were on the ground, broken. I could hear Juniper crying. I dropped my groceries onto the ground and grabbed a metal pipe. "Hey!" I yelled out. The guy stopped kicking Juniper and turned to look at me. "Who're you?" He asked. "Are this whore's boyfriend or something?" He asked. "No I'm not." I replied. "I'm the guy who's gonna send you crying to your mommy." I said. "Why you little-" The guy said aggravated. He got a knife out and attempted to slab me with it, but I moved out of the way. The guy hit me a few times, but nothing too serious. After some time I finally got an opening to attack, and so I did. I swung the pipe onto the guys back and he fell over. He was unconscious. I ran to Juniper. "Juniper!" I exclaimed. Her eyes were closed and her breathing was light. She was bleeding and she was bruised everywhere. I grabbed her glasses and picked her up. I also grabbed my groceries. I then took her to my apartment. I did what I could to stop the bleeding and such. She seemed like she would be fine. It didn't dawn on me that I had to remove a bit of her clothing to do so, and thanks to that thought, I got a nosebleed. I put Juniper on the bed in my room. I then checked Juniper's bag to see if she had any contact information. I found her Mom's phone number and called it. I told her mother what happened, and what I had to do, and where to get her daughter. After the call, I sat down on the couch and sighed.