Love In A Battlefield

Chapter 3

      

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"No!" I woke up with a jolt. The sudden wave of realization hit me much quicker than the wave of horror. The nightmare came all too soon in my opinion.

I sit in the bed for a couple minutes and re-cooperate my train of thought and make sure my breathing goes down to a normal pace but it never does. I keep my head rested firmly on my knees, my hands clutched around my legs in fear that if I let go, I'll crumble.

I look at my phone clock, clicking the power button as my eyes adjust to the sudden light:

5:45 A.M.

My back is sweaty and the tank top and shorts I am wearing completely soaked in body odor. I rarely have this nightmare until something is happening that involves the cancerous part of me to be disclosed. I have a doctors appointment today. I wring my hands through my hair and sigh in agony at the thought of being poked and prodded with by a three inch needle. I put the thought in the back of my mind and get up from the safety and terror of my covers. I gently wave my hands over the blue covers my mind goes back to that ten year old girl who spent her childhood in a hospital.

Without thinking anymore of it I let it go. Leaning down to my battered up drawer to grab a sweater and jeans. There isn't any use in getting up to only go back to bed and have the nightmare all over again, that scared me more than the three inch needle that would be jabbed inside my vein. It scared me much much more. I decide to take a shower since I smell like I have just come from a boy's locker room. No one is possibly away so I quickly gather my things and walk along the creaky wood floor.

With sheer hesitation I carefully balance myself to the bathroom without causing too much commotion to the rest of the house. I carefully twist the bathroom knob and the door hinges squeak with agony each time the door grows wider. I swing it open and close it again before turning on the light...the darkness surrounds me before I find the switch. The bathroom window not shedding any light since it's not even close to daybreak.

The water faucet begins to grow warm as I turn up the heat slightly, my finger tips trace over the warm water. To my satisfaction I turn the knob to make the shower turn on, I take no time to hop in and let the warm water tear itself in half so now it covers my face and my hair. My hair growing heavy along my bare back, my face warm to the touch of my cold fingers. I don't want to leave the comfort of the warm water but the water begins to grow cold.

I step out and fold the robe over my cold body, the steamy mirror forces me not to see my own reflection in the reflective area. I look away and use my own intellect to glide my toothbrush over my teeth, counting the minutes with the clock I use in my bathroom. I pull my sweater over my head and smooth it over my jeans before finding a beanie that matched. The light begins to peek through the window I look up and see the ray of sunshine casting it self upon the blurred mirror.

Deciding that it is time that I leave the bathroom I pick up my clothes and try not to make any sudden extreme movements. I open the door and notice the kitchen light on along with the patter of not one pair, but two pair of feet. Drew and my mother. I carefully open the door and only manage to get so far down the hallway before they catch me with clothes in my hand.

"Quinn?" The coffee cup clinks on the marble counter as I drop my clothes in defeat by my front door.

"Yes, mom it's me" I walk towards the kitchen and my mother's face is the first thing I see, she has a robe on and her hair is pulled back into a messy bun that I suppose she did as she woke up. I can tell by the way her eyes are slightly squinty that she still isn't awake.