Night shift - Completed

Chapter 50

Poppy's PoV

The dawn of a new day. Hopefully one where I'd finally be out of this hellhole of a room. I wouldn't mind but I've not even been allowed in the corridor for a second. I've memorised every issue with this room. Crack on the top right corner of the door frame, chipped tile four tiles in from the bathroom door, hot tap slightly loose but still works, floorboard that creaks on the left side of the bed, two steps out. Everything about this room was now in my memory and no offence to it, I wanted to be away from it all. Terry had chased the saliva sample and had said the results would definitely be there by the morning and he himself was going to make sure he gave me the answer. For someone I loathed not too long ago, fate has sure thrown us some weird things that have made us better. I wouldn't call us friends just yet, but we definitely weren't as bad as we used to be.

A knock at the door confirmed my thoughts as I saw the tall man standing, getting himself ready to come in the room in his protective gear. The door slowly opened and Terry walked in holding a single piece of paper that could change my life. Please be good news.

"Miss Knight." He greeted me more formally this time with a smile on his face.

"Mr Shine." I nodded as I greeted him back. He scanned his eyes over the report and smiled to himself. It was finally something good.

"Saliva report is back. You're all clear." He said, yanking the mask off his face as he said it. "At least we don't have to wear this shit any more!" He laughed as he pulled the eye protection off too.

"Thank you so much!" I jumped up and ran to him, flinging my arms around him in the first hug I'd given anyone in a week. He froze for a second, scared of what I was doing, before relaxing and patting me on the back with his free hand. After the initial excitement faded, I realised what I'd just done and slowly peeled myself away from him, sitting myself back down on the bed with an embarrassed expression on my face. "Sorry." I added, hoping it would make it better.

"It's fine Poppy, I get that you're excited! You went through a lot, it's nice to have some good news." He laughed it off, rubbing his hand on the back of his neck awkwardly. "Anyway, I spoke to Mavis, she's happy for you to go home. We will need a follow up in about a week to check on that bite mark but other than that everything should fade. Luckily, there's no lasting physical damage." He smiled a sorry smile at me before excusing himself and leaving me to collect my thoughts. Yeah, no lasting physical damage but what about mental? Every single day his face was in my thoughts; the way he glared, the things he said to me, the fact I had to kiss him... it wasn't going anywhere anytime soon. I had nothing to pack up, I came literally in the clothes I was wearing, which had since been changed to a gown, but there was nothing more for me to take - and to be honest I didn't want to touch those clothes any more unless it was to throw them in a fire. I wanted every single thing that reminded me of that day to be removed from my memory. I had done so so well to overcome the challenges with Kyle and Amelia once, to build my life up and change it completely, only for it to come back and bite me. Literally.
The door went again but as I looked up, I didn't see quite who I expected.

"L-Luke?" I quizzed as he came in my room without any protective gear on. It made me smile to see I was finally free of this awful burden that Kyle could have given me some disease or infection. I was clear.

"Hey Pops." He smiled, walking over and throwing his arms out for a hug. I hugged him back straight away, happy to finally see someone I wanted to.

"What are you doing here? I literally only got told I was clear two minutes ago!" I laughed, smacking him on the arm.

"We spoke to Mavis. She said you may need some things before you left." He threw a backpack down and I opened it, smiling as I saw a new set of clothes and some toiletries.

"Thank you so much." I said, full of emotion. I bit my lips together as I waded through the stuff, pulling out what I'd need now.

"H-how are you feeling?" Luke said, scared to ask the inevitable question I was now going to get for a while. I shrugged as his eyes scanned my body, stopping on my neck.

"Yeah, the bite isn't great." I said as my gaze fell to the bed. Despite being in this room for so long, I'd tried my best to avoid looking in mirrors in case what they projected back wasn't what I wanted to see.

"It's the bruise I was-" he cut himself off as I brought my hand to my throat, wincing at the pain a mere brush against my skin had caused. Kyle must have gripped it pretty bad. "Never mind. I'll let you get ready, I'll just be in with Mavis. Let us know when you're ready and I'll take you home." He offered me a sorry smile just like Terry had before leaving the room and heading to Mavis's office. Without hesitation, I flung the covers off me and ran to the mirror for the first time. Just as Luke's eyes had, mine fell straight to the dark blue/purple hand print bruise that surrounded my neck. I stared down at it for a while as tears filled my eyes. That asshole was going to get it.

**

After showering and getting dressed into my clean clothes, I brushed my teeth and hair and looked back at myself in the mirror.

"Well this is as good as it's gonna get." I sighed to myself as I looked back down at the bruise on my neck, a big gauze taped over the bite mark beside it. I grabbed the rucksack and headed out of the room, waving bye to everyone and thanking them before I headed to Mavis's office. I knocked loudly and Luke came straight to the door, smiling at me as he saw me up and about. I thanked Mavis for all her hard work and hugged her before Luke led me to his car and drove me back to the apartment block. We rushed through the back entrance and into the lift, excitement filling us as I was finally going to be back with the gang.

"We really missed you." Luke said as he looked me up and down again. "Calum went crazy. He'll be so happy when he sees you!" I grinned back at Luke at the mere mention of his name.

"Doesn't he know you came you get me?"

"Its a secret!" Luke shook his head. "Mavis called his phone but I answered it. She remembered I was his friend so she told me and I said I'd sort it out. I thought I could bring you back and surprise everyone." Luke twitched with excitement too at the idea of surprising all his close friends.

"You're the best Luke! Thank you." I threw my arms around him and hugged him tightly. This was going to be amazing. I couldn't wait to see Calum's face when he saw me for the first time in a week. The lift pinged and we tip toed out of the lift and down the hall to the door, where Luke used his key and code to open the door. The moment the door opened, the argument that was happening the other side was now clear for us to hear. Luke and I exchanged glances as we shuffled through the door to see everyone standing in a big crowd, shouting and arguing with each other.

"Calum, you have to understand that she is a liability! She could have got any one of you injured!" Dave shouted at Calum who threw his head back in frustration.

"That's why she sent us away!" He argued back, rubbing his hands over his face.

"She's not a normal girl. All this stuff is coming out about drugs and prostitution. We don't need someone like her ruining the rep of this band!" Jack added, crossing his arms and shaking his head.

"Not to forget that you've been acting like a dick." Mike spat, clearly agitated by something recent.

"You guys are crazy." Calum turned his back on them all.

"Cal, you need to finish it with her and quick... or you're going to ruin this band."