Figuring Out Foster

Chapter 9

Saying that I screamed would had been an understatement. The feeling of Foster's hand as he held my wrist made me stumble back. Forcing myself back another step, my foot caught on a shirt that Foster left on the ground. I gasped as I began to fall back.

Swiftly Foster sat up and yanked hard on my arm and my upper body was jerked forward. I landed awkwardly face down on the bed in front of him with my legs still hung off the side.

"Breaking into my house again, Maggot?" He asked groggily as he hovered over me. I felt the dip his hands made in the bed as he held his weight above me.

"The front door was open." I said into the mattress, and then flipped myself on my back, to get out of my vulnerable position and to glare at him clearly, instead of shooting daggers into the sheets. I rubbed my wrist leisurely, "And I didn't mean to wake you. I was just about to leave."

"Not before spying on me," he said matter-of-factly and nodded his head towards the pill bottle next to the bed. I didn't say anything, because he didn't ask If was spying he already knew, and I wasn't going to be stupid enough to deny something so obviously true. So, yes he caught me as I snooped.

For a moment, he watched me before leaning back to give me room and allowed me to sit up on the bed next to him. I took the opportunity of a little space and freedom, quickly. I felt a bit more at ease now knowing I could run from the room now he wasn't blocking me. That was if I wanted to run, but I wasn't finished with him, yet. Secretly, I glanced out of the corner of my eye to read the label of his medicine. And I almost did a double take.

"Where's the lithium?" I asked to myself without thinking. Although, I asked it mistakenly out loud. I cringed when I heard Foster give an aggravated moan because of it. The tension, I could sense within him, built. My shoulders clenched in anticipation for whatever was going to happen next as I felt him move around, wobbling the bed with him.

But seconds later, he sighed. I gave a quick peep in his direction finding that he had his head in his hands as he rested his elbows on his thighs, still seated beside me.

"You know back when I broke in, I um...saw, I saw your medicine, I noticed one that you've..."I was trying to tread lightly without upsetting him further. But, I wanted him to know where I stood with my knowledge of him, "Well... Jess looked it up for me—" I stopped mid-sentence and mentally cursed myself. I didn't want to involve Jess in this.

"You've been talking to Jess a lot about me?" He said looking up from his hands.

"It's not like that and you know it... she was here, too. Anyway, she enjoys finding things out... not spreading it, if that's what you were worried about."

"What did she find out?" He rubbed his disheveled hair from sleeping, tousling it more.

"I'd rather hear it from you than guess it and get it wrong."

"Did I do that with your mom?" His eyebrow rose when he asked that.

"I thought you weren't going to bring her up anymore."

"I won't but I thought it was a mutual agreement to leave each other's problems alone." I felt guilty once he said this, but still my deal with my mom and his disorder were completely different.

"I'm not leaving you alone if I think you aren't safe."

"What part of me isn't safe, Maggie?" Pissed, he looked at me from the corner of his eye, making me feeling smaller and fragile but I haven't backed down that easily before. So I wasn't going to now.

I crossed my arms facing him completely.

I waited for him to speak about it but he doesn't say anything. Was he really was going to make me say it? Maybe he didn't think I really knew all that I knew or maybe I am wrong about the Bipolar Disorder. If I say the wrong thing, he wouldn't have to tell me what he truly had.