See What I Hear

Chapter Seven

Chapter Seven

TWO MONTHS LATER...

"Have you gotten all your school supplies?" Mom yells from her bedroom. I pull my hair up in a messy pony tail and groan.

"I'm going to go do that right now!" I yell back. I hear her moan something unintelligible and shrug. She needs her sleep. She hasn't had a good night's sleep since Alex...

Ugh... I could've gone the rest of my life not thinking about him. The last time I thought about Alex was a month ago and a half ago... He'd been discharged a full five days after or big fight about the letters, from which I'd never gone to visit him again, and that was the last I'd seen of him. I didn't want to get to know him any more that I already had and so I quickly forgot about him and focused more on the things and people that mattered. So now I'm forced to go to med school and forget all about what I wanted... which I still have no clue as to what it was.

Stepping outside, I let the wind blow away all the negative thoughts I had that surrounded Alex, and my forced future, and jumped into the driver's seat of my 2008 cherry red Cobalt. I didn't like wearing scrubs anywhere but the hospital, but since I was too lazy, I'd decided it'd be fine to just go to the store in them.

School started tomorrow and, being the notorious procrastinator I was, I'd waited to till today, the day before school started, to get all my supplies.

I made the ten minute drive to the local store in comfortable silence. The parking lot wasn't really full considering it was a Sunday and people were probably trying to wrestle their kids into bed early so they could be up and ready for school so I easily found an empty parking spot and shut off the engine. My car was a mess of empty Coke bottles and leftover meals and I quickly made a mental note to clean it out before tomorrow. Knowing Brandon, he was going to call at the last possible second tomorrow morning and beg for a ride and I didn't want my car to be a mess.

I walked quickly and quietly into the store and headed over to the aisle that claimed to provide all the things I would need for school. All I really needed was a handful of pencils, a new USB, and a butt load of paper, whether it was for me or for lazy people that school actually required paper and a pencil. Senior year meant, if anything, research papers and notes... lots and lots of notes. And since Mom had forced me into taking a Doctor's road to a future, it meant even more notes.

I was just in the midst of deciding which mechanical pencil was more reliable when a tap on the shoulder caused me to turn around.

"Hello, my name is Janice. I was wondering...are you a nurse? or a doctor?" the lady asked. I was about to begin wondering how she knew I was studying to be a doctor when I remembered what I was wearing. She had vibrant brown hair and beautiful green eyes. She was almost my height but then I realized she was wearing heels so I assumed she was much shorter than she appeared.

"Sorry if I'm being too straightforward, but I'm desperate and kind of in the middle of a crisis..." she explained. I laughed and shook my head.

"No, it's fine. I am actually studying to be a doctor but I've grown up with a doctor for a mom so I practically know all the things to do with that sort," I answered. She seemed to visually relax. Wow, and I thought I was having a bad day...

"Great! I was wondering if you could help me out. My son has been complaining about horrible migraines and his doctor told me to get a specific brand of painkiller but i left the prescription at home and my youngest son is out at a party and I wanted to know what the best kind of medicine was," she blurted out quickly. I chuckled and led her into the medicines aisle, one I was very familiar with growing up. Having a doctor for a mom meant you rarely ever got sick, or when you did, you made a quick recovery.

"I've just never really been good at these kinds of things and I wanted to be sure..." she trailed off. I smiled, reassuringly.

"It's no problem at all. How old is your son?" I asked. She smiled back.

"Eighteen," she answered. I nodded and went through all the good painkillers with a sufficient amount of codeine.

"Alright, since your son is eighteen, I picked the best painkiller with the right amount of codeine so h e should be fine with this," I said, "and it's PM so he should get better sleep." I handed her the correct medicine and she took it from me with a relieved smiled.

"Thank you so much! I don't know what I would have done without you!" she pulled me in for an unexpected hug and I was momentarily baffled before returning the hug. As if just realizing what she was doing, she pulled back abruptly.

"I'm so sorry for my rudeness but my son has been having a hard time. He just hasn't been the same," she looked down and sadly and I rubbed her arm sympathetically.

"I'm sure it'll turn out all right," I said. She looked up and, for the first time, I noticed purple bags under her eyes, making her look years older than she probably was.

"I know I'm probably asking too much of you, but you seem so nice and you look to be around my son's age, would you consider helping him recuperate? I'm willing to pay as much as needed," she said. I was taken aback. I didn't know what to think...

"I'm sorry, but I don't think I can," I answered honestly. I don't know what was holding me back from saying yes. I had the knowledge, I had the experience, I even had this woman's favor. But something wasn't right.

The woman, Janice, looked down and nodded.

"It's alright, I understand. Thank you for your help anyways," she said, referring to the medicine. I smiled and started walking back to the school supplies aisle.

The guilt hit me a full five steps away from the woman. Why had I said no? I could have really helped her! She looked so stressed and worried; she was just trying to do the best for her kid...

That's when I decided to change my mind Why couldn't I help? I knew I could do it, so what had stopped me? Another factor in play was Mom's option. She'd still offered me the school year to find a job concerning the medical field, but I'd told her that the chances of me randomly finding a job that specific was pretty much never going to happen in a matter of months,, and besides, with all the tests and research papers senior year asked for, I wouldn't even have the time to juggle the responsibility between everything else.

But I knew I could do this. If her son went to school, maybe we could help each other. His headaches probably weren't anything big, they were probably just an exaggeration at best. We could help each other out if he was my age.

"Janice!" I called, running towards the registers where I'd last seen her headed. I searched every single one, not seeing her in any. Finally, my eye caught her stepping into her car in the parking lot. No way was I gonna catch her now...

I watched her as she backed out and sped away, not knowing I'd changed my mind...

**Hellooo! Thanks for reading! If you're liking the story, don't be shy! Comment, vote and share!

-Jenny20