Nineteen

Chapter Forty-One

We wait in a cold room for someone to see me. 

"So. Do you not have any more classes today?" I ask Link.

"Yeah, but they aren't important anyway."

I give him a half shocked look and he just smiles at me.

"Good morning, Miss Shay," a young woman says when she walks into my room.

"Good morning," I reply.

"So let's go ahead and get started. Follow me and we'll get a cast on your hand." She nods to the door.

"Thank you, I'll see you in six weeks," I tell the doctor as we walk out of the room and head for the exit. I chose to get a plain black cast covering my hand, and it is already so sore.

We step outside and it's already hot. As we walk, Link takes off his sweatshirt reveling an old t-shirt from high school.

I can feel my face heat up as I remember him wearing that shirt a time we went to the river one night. I was on his back and he was running and laughing.

I smile slightly at the memory, and then I store it away in my brain.

"Do you plan on going back home any time soon?" he asks me as we get to my car.

"I don't know. I've talked to my mom a few times but we haven't talked about it. Maybe for winter break."

We sit down in the hot car and I roll my sleeves up to get a little air. He says "Yeah maybe we could travel back together."

I actually like that idea. It doesn't settle with me to go that far alone, especially now.

"Yeah. Let's do that."

I start the car and begin the drive back to the dorm.

When we pull back into the parking lot of the dorms, I don't see Collin's truck anywhere.

"Thank you for going with me," I say.

"It's no problem. I'm the one that asked, remember?" He smiles at me.

We get out of the car and say our goodbyes. He walks across the grass, heading for his next class.

It's only 2 o'clock, I could easily make my last class of the day, but I decide against it.

I start the walk back to my room, hoping for a nap to take away some of the dark bags underneath my eyes, almost darker than my black eye itself.

As I shut the door behind me in my room, I let out a sigh. My room is spotless. I know Jade hasn't been here, so Collin must of took it upon himself to clean things up.

I take off my shoes and slide into the bed. I check my phone one last time before falling asleep, reading a message from Collin that asks me to call him when I get home.

I wake up to my phone ringing, but I'm too tired to answer. I let it ring and close my eyes again. 

I lay and lay but I can tell I won't be sleeping anymore. I raise up and go to the mirror to brush my hair out.

The person looking back at me is almost scary. Her makeup is ruined and her hair is a mess. Worst of all, she has a giant black eye with a red eye to match. My eyes well up at the thought of how I look and what happened that day.

I feel low again and I sink to the floor. My eyes start to swell as I sit on the floor with my legs crossed. I lift my shirt to look at my torso and it's black as well. The tears begin to fall and land on my legs.

I lay back flat on the floor as I cry. Before I'm aware, I'm fast asleep again.