Momma's Little Soldier

Chapter 25

Getting out of this bed was something I did not want to do today, this is the most comfortable I have been in a very long time. My body has gotten so used to the hard mattresses in the dorms and the hospital bed, that I completely forgot what real comfort felt like. Also, it seemed like any time I would try and lift up a body part, my body would scream at me to stop it, but I'm not going to lay down all day. Slowly, I got up and made my way out of Eric's room, I never wanted to take his bed; hell, him and I argued about it for 20 minutes until I gave up and just wanted to lay down, he insisted that I take his bed while he stays on the couch. I walked out of the room and saw that he was putting his vest on, "Good, you're awake. I need to leave and work on somethings, but I'll be back later. I put out your pain pills and the other medications the doctor wanted you to take and I got you breakfast as well." Am I still dreaming or is this actually happening? I looked at the small counter and noticed the pill bottles and food, which I'm probably not going to eat, but I might as well try, "Thank you. How long will you be gone?" He shrugged his shoulders as he walked to the door. "Not sure." I watched as he turned the doorknob and opened the door. "What am I suppose to do while you're gone?" Eric looked at me over his shoulder. "You'll figure it out, but under no circumstances are you to leave this apartment." With that he left me alone, shutting and locking the door as he left.

For a guy who was hell-bent on me staying here so I wouldn't be alone, clearly doesn't care that he is now leaving me alone. Alone... The other day at the hospital, I felt guilty and disgusted at myself for letting Bryce go too far, but with Eric next to me, I wasn't as caught up in my own thoughts; this is different now, I have no one here to make sure that didn't happen. I need to do things that will take my mind off of this, I walked over to the counter and looked at the pill bottles, picking up one of them, I saw it was an antibiotic to help heal the gash on my chest. It had been cleaned before I left the hospital and last night, thanks to Eric, but I still refuse to look at it, probably because I want to believe that I'm fine and nothing happened to me. Setting the bottle down, I noticed another one was pain killers, but the bottle that confused me was the third one; my doctor only mentioned the two so why are there three? It didn't have a lot of information on it and never mentioned what it was used for, but if it's here then I must need it to help with something, Or maybe they are just forcing me to take something that is going to screw me up. Shaking my head to get rid of that thought, one by one I gathered all of the pills I needed then popped them into my mouth, swallowing them without water, most people find that difficult, but I really don't. My eyes looked down at the plate of food in front of me, it wasn't anything too big, just a couple of different muffins and some fruit, not really in the mood to eat, I made my way towards Eric's room to grab my bag Max so graciously got for me. It felt like it had been a few days since I have last showered even though it was at the hospital the other day; as I rummaged through my bag, I noticed that not all of my clothes were in it, "Who did Max have pack this thing? Tom?" It definitely wasn't Sonja, that's for sure, at least she would've thrown in some of my sweaters. I picked out a pair of shorts and some other things I was going to need when my eyes landed on a black sweater laying on the bed, "Sorry Eric, but I am borrowing your sweater."

I padded my way to the bathroom, finally ready to get what felt like layers of filth off of me, I placed my clothes on the sink, turned on the shower, and took a look at myself in the mirror. A lot has changed since the last time I saw myself in the mirror, my face had bruises on certain parts of my face, my throat had small bruises peppered about it, but it mainly looked like popped blood vessels, my dark circles were very prominent, but that didn't surprise me. I slowly stripped out of my shirt, trying my hardest not to disturb my bandage and the damage underneath them, my fingers lightly ran over it, maybe I should just remove it, what's the worst that could happen? I would finally be showing myself that I'm actually not okay and what happened could've lead to my death. I quickly pulled my hand away, finished getting out of my clothes, and hopped into the shower, feeling my body relax under the warm water. At least here I don't have to rush, I can take my time, plus there are no guys staring at me while I'm in here.

Once I was done, I turned off the water and dried off, just wanting to put on something comfy; throwing on my underwear, shorts, and sports bra, I took a look at the sweater knowing all too well that this thing was going to be ginormous on me, but at this point, I don't care. Putting the sweater on instantly gave me comfort, it was like I was being wrapped up in Eric's arms, I never realized that he smelt like cedarwood and lavender, then again I don't take time out of my day to learn what this man smells like, that is the definition of insane. The sweater dropped down and stopped right above my knees, this thing hangs on me like an oversized dress, also since he has very broad shoulders this sweater won't stay on my shoulders without hanging off to the side. No matter how I tried to adjust it, I was going to have to deal with one side dropping to one side while the other stays on my other shoulder. As I walked out of the bathroom to put my things away, my mind and body started itching to do something, anything, looking around the apartment I noticed that a few things were out of place or just throw about. Eric didn't have a messy apartment by any means, but it wouldn't hurt to clean it a bit, just give me something to do to make the time pass by and to get this feeling I am having out of my system; so that's what I am going to do.

The sound of the door didn't pull me from putting one of the books that I took off the bookshelf, back where I found it, I had finished cleaning an hour ago and now I had just finished reading a short story book that Eric had in the big bookshelf he had in his living room, "Looking for something to read," I turned to look at him, pushing a piece of my silver hair that had fallen in front of my face, "is that my sweater?" I looked down at it for a moment before making eye contact with him again. "Yeah, I'm sorry. Whoever packed my bag forgot mine, I saw it on your bed so I took it. If you want it back, I will change into a shirt." I answered back. Judging by the look on Eric's face, his attention was somewhere else, I can't blame him though, a girl in his apartment wearing his clothes? That would throw off any guy, "What? Oh, no it's fine. Make yourself comfortable." His voice was taut as he turned around to go into the kitchen. It sounded like he was mumbling to himself, but I couldn't figure out what he was saying, so I just dropped it and told him thank you, "What did you do today?" What didn't I do is the question. "I cleaned your apartment, and I'm not saying that it was dirty, actually you do a good job of keeping this place clean, but I don't know- I just, all of a sudden, got this feeling to just do something. So I did and then I started looking at your books and I've got to say that I love your collection. You have books that are very first world stuff, plus books that were my favorite growing up."

"Guess you can take the guy out of Erudite, but can't completely take the Erudite out of the guy." The corners of my mouth pulled up into a slight smirk, he was using my words against me. "I didn't realize you still had a soft spot for reading." I watched as he shrugged his shoulders and made his way to the bookshelf, sending shivers down my spine when his hand brushed past mine. "It gives me something to do when I'm not working, believe it or not, I do have a life outside of scaring people. What book is your favorite?" I turned my body to face the bookshelf, standing very close to Eric. "Well Great Gatsby is a personal favorite of mine, but between me and you, I've got to say it's To Kill a Mockingbird." When we locked eyes, I could've sworn that the atmosphere in the room changed completely. It was calming and safe, but there was this warmth that I couldn't explain; it was almost alluring, it felt like we were the only two people left in Chicago. Maybe staying here with Eric isn't going to be that bad...