Thirty One Days

Dress

The doorbell rang, glancing outside my bedroom window before heading down, I spotted Chelseas white Honda Accord outside. As I walked downstairs I wondered if I dressed enough like the old me to pass as mentally stable.
When I opened the door Chelsea threw up her hands, "Too happy to see you two twice in one week!" After pulling away from a hug she looked over my sweater and jean combo. "Love the outfit, even after all of this your fashion taste is still better than mine." We both laughed before climbing into her car, and before leaving the drive way I made sure that I had my medicine. I had already taken twice the amount this morning and was ready to pop another one if needed.
"So what have you been up too? Staying at home all the time must be a bore," Chelsea said after merging into the highway.
Going through a mental timeline of the last seven months, all I could do was shrug. "I'd say boring is a good word."
She glanced at me, "What about all the appointments? I couldn't handle as many needles as you've take." She shook her head with a small grunt.
Wreaking through my memory I attempted to count the amount of times that I had been stuck with a needle. And lost count. "Too many times for sure," Silence settled in for a moment, "What about you? What have you been up to? School wise?"
Chelsea laughed and followed it with a shrug, "Nothing has changed at school, literally. Mrs. Garza is pregnant, that's about the only interesting thing to happen."
"How's swim?"
"I don't know if I'm doing swim this year,"
"Why not?"
She took a deep breath and glanced at me with a unsure look. "We got a new coach, who is so full of himself, the uniforms suck and don't even match, and plus. You're not there." Our eyes meet again as she turned off the highway and into a subdivision.
"I'm sorry Chelsea," I said as I looked down at my lap and felt even more out of touch with the world than I currently had.
"Hey! Don't worry about it, your health matters." She said reassuringly which made me smile, as I looked out the window I noticed construction workers. Dressed in orange and black, I chuckled to myself for a moment until they were not longer wearing helmets. Instead, where the orange hat sat, a billowing flame appeared.
Holding in my breath as we passed the smell of burning flesh found its way into the car as I fought to tear my eyes away. Their skin had started to melt, similar to a candle, and one mans eye hung outside of his eye socket. Another was missing his head and the top part of a spine stuck out of his torso.
My throat began to constrict as I tried to blink the images away but nothing was working. The man just stood there as their skin was melted away. My body began to shake as I reached into my bag and took another pill, attempting to not overdose.
The sound was almost as deafening as the sight was. As the men dug into the earth I could hear the roots snapping with the image of veins being plucked until they snap in half. The sound of the machines rotating echoed like teeth grinding on teeth. The shouts of the men were similar to whispers that often visited me at night, whispering in my ear horrid things for me to do to myself.
"Are you alright? You're pale." Chelsea noted as we pulled through the end of the construction zone. However, she was focused on the road and couldn't see me in the mid state of panic, thankfully.
"Fine," I mumbled as I squeezed my eyes shut, "sometimes I get carsick due to the medicine." I lied and sunk into the passenger seat. It'll pass, It'll pass. It always does.
As we drove further and further away the nausea began to subside and I was able to open my eyes again, with a sigh of relief. The rest of the car ride to the mall was quiet but I didn't mind because it was what I craved. It's what I needed.
When Chelsea parked she turned towards me, "Are you for real okay? Like, did you have a panic attack or something? Do I need to call someone?" Her hooped earrings rocked with her as she pulled out her phone. "Your mom?" I grabbed her phone.
"No!"
"Why not?" Chelsea snapped back, I knew it was out of concern but it made me flinch. Don't be weird, please, not today.
"Because she'll never let me go to homecoming with you which will be the most normal thing I've done since leaving school," I pleaded with her then pulled my pill bottle out of my bag. "Plus I brought my medicine just in case."
Chelsea watched me for a moment while glancing at my bottle occasionally before putting her phone away. "Okay.." She said reluctantly, "if you say so,"
"Thank you so much!"
"But! If any more weird shit happens, I'm calling your mom." She threatened.
"Deal!"
"Okay, lets go look for dresses." Chelsea said as we stepped out of her car and headed towards be front entrance. "I'm thinking blue or gold,"

Later that night, after I returned from dress shopping, my phone dinged. Which I was only able to hear because there was a break in the T.V. Series that I was watching. Turning away from my dress, that I had pulled out for mom to see, I picked up my phone to see that I had a text from Istvan.
'Madam Luna got a letter. Call me tomorrow. See you :)'
A smile twitched onto my lips, were things finally starting to look up for me? After so long of struggling myself?
Someone knocked on my door, very faintly. "Come in," I said as I replied to Istvan's message.
The smell of swear and cologne intruded into my room, followed by the scent of bread. Turning around I was surprised to see Dylan, my brother.