Luna's Ghost

19

Monday morning came too fast. Dad was going to drop me off at the house so I could grab my school stuff. Grandma Marie was going to drive me to school, something I was definitely not looking forward to. I knew she was still incredibly angry at me--Mom was too, but Grandma was still scarier--and I knew it wasn't going to be a pleasant car ride. I knew she would get over it eventually and we'd be back on good terms, but for now, I was going to stay out of her way.

At twelve-thirty at night on Saturday, Madison had texted me the details of the party she'd told me about at school. I texted her back, telling her I couldn't come and left it at that. I didn't want to go anyway. She already got me in enough trouble to begin with. If I tried to sneak out to go to a party, I'd find my happy little butt six feet in the ground for sure.

I got about ten minutes earlier than I usually did so I could get ready faster since it was about a twelve minute drive to Grandma Marie's house.

I was in the bathroom, brushing the knots out of my hair when it happened again. The terrible, pounding headache came over my skull. I dropped the brush on the counter as my hand trembled from the sudden pain. Thick, chunky blood started running from my nose, gushing down my chin, neck, shirt. My body began to feel fatigued. My knees buckled. I braced my hands against the counter, trying to keep my balance, but my legs gave out anyway.

I fell on my butt on the cold tile floor. Blood continued to gush out of my nose. My whole body felt terribly weak. I groaned, clutched my head and fell back against the floor. My chest rose and fell rapidly. It felt like all the air was leaving my chest. I couldn't breathe.

I laid like that for who knows how long. The blood continued to gush. My body still felt weak. I couldn't get air into my lungs. My skull continued to pound heavily, a hammer beating against it.

Then, as abruptly as it had begun, it went away. I laid there for several seconds, trying to catch my breath. After feeling like I was okay to move, I slowly sat up. I touched my upper lip and felt warm, thick liquid. I grimaced and slowly climbed to my feet.

A look at the mirror told me I looked like someone out of a horror movie--something I normally wouldn't mind, except it would totally freak Dad out--with blood stained on my skin and pajama shirt, a little bit in my hair.

I groaned and glanced down at my phone that was sitting on the counter. I had only ten more minutes to get ready and I had to wash this blood off.

I quickly stripped off my pajamas, stepped into the shower, turned on the warm water, grabbed the body soap, the sponge, and began washing the blood off of me. I scrubbed as fast as I could, trying to hurry.

I grabbed the towel that was hanging over the shower rail, wrapped it around my body, and gathered up my pajamas on the floor. I rushed out of the bathroom, locked the door behind me, and hastily got dressed.

I was so glad Dad didn't catch me like that. He would have been freaking out if he'd seen that. He would have taken me to the hospital, the doctors would run tests on me and find nothing medically wrong with me, and the cycle of what happened that year would occur all over again. I couldn't take it. I couldn't take going through that again.

As I was putting my bag together, Helen and Johnny appeared in front of me--fortunately, not behind me to startle me, thank goodness--and were gazing at me with concern.

"Are you okay?" Johnny asked. "Did it happen again?"

I knew what he was asking. "Yes," I said quietly. "But I'm okay."