~Peter and Michelle - Book II~

Chapter 16

Michelle barely slept throughout the night. What Karen had said was definitely correct, the bruises became more and more painful. It was impossible for her to find a position to sleep in that wasn't total agony. The only one that didn't hurt was her laying on her stomach, however she had to crane her neck to the side, and not only did she know that putting more strain on her neck was not a good idea, it also started to hurt after a few minutes. Eventually, at almost 4am, she tried grabbing all the spare pillows in the room, stacking them up and laying down with her head resting on the top. Her entire body was completely elevated, with her arms hanging on either side of her and her legs splayed out behind her.

She imagined that it probably looked ridiculous, and that she was the hypotenuse on a right-angled triangle. Betty all but confirmed how silly she looked when her roommate woke up and saw her. "What on Earth are you doing?" She had said. "Trying to sleep," Michelle had answered. Despite knowing she looked stupid, and it was definitely the weirdest position she'd ever slept in, it was also the only one that didn't hurt at all, completely relieving all the pressure and strain from her back, shoulders and neck.

Eventually she had to get up, which was certainly difficult, not only mentally but also physically. All Michelle could think of was sleep. She just wanted more, as she knew she only got maybe one hour of light sleep. At least I don't have to go anywhere today. After breakfast I think I'll return to bed and try to sleep more. She started to move herself off her pillow mound and immediately her body screamed in reluctance. Wincing and groaning, she eventually made it onto her feet and stood up.

Betty came out of the bathroom and looked at Michelle. "Wow, you look like shit." Michelle snorted, but quickly winced from the pain it caused, "Feel like shit too." Betty sat down by her bags and started to put some stuff into her backpack, presumably stuff they would need for the day. "You're not coming with us today, are you? I don't think your in the state to even go downstairs." Michelle smiled at her concern, "No, I spoke to Ms Warren last night after I saw Peter and Ned. She's letting me stay behind. I would prefer to stay in bed all day, but I need to eat, so..."

Michelle was afraid to move. Every time she did it felt like she was being stabbed hundreds of times in the back. She stood there while she waited for Betty, breathing deeply to try and relax herself. "You ready?" Betty asked. Michelle opened her eyes and saw Betty had her backpack and everything ready. "Yup, let's go. I'm not going to bother getting changed, it'd probably hurt, and I don't care who sees me in my pyjamas." Betty nodded and walked towards the door. Michelle loosely followed, trying to walk while staying as upright as possible, although her back and shoulders still hurt.

She looked out into the hallway, and could see that Betty was already walking over to the elevators, having spotted Jason, Abraham and Flash waiting there. Outside the room neighbouring hers was Peter and Ned. When they spotted her they approached and stopped by her door. She watched as Peter looked her up and down, in all of her pyjamafied glory. "How you feeling?" He asked. Michelle smiled. "I feel about as good as I look right now – exhausted and in pain." He frowned sympathetically. "Could you not sleep?"

"No, and that mound of pillows behind me," she opened the door further and gestured behind her, "Is what I tried to sleep on." She could see that they both felt bad for her, but she didn't really mind too much, so she just shrugged. As soon as she did it though her body screamed in pain and she winced, gripping her left shoulder with her right arm. "How is the bruise?" Ned asked her. "I don't know, I haven't looked. Do me a favour and check for me?" The three of them walked back into her room so that she didn't have to show her bruise to everyone in the resort.

Peter came over to her and helped pull off her cardigan, which had been concealing her bruise. She heard him gasp when he pulled it off, Ned following suit. "Has it spread?" She asked. She heard another shutter of a camera. "Yeah, and it doesn't look great." Ned came over and showed her the picture he took. She winced looking at it. It had become a lot darker, and was covering pretty much the entire top left part of her back and shoulders. It was also covering her neck as well. "No wonder it was so hard to sleep."