Meant To Be #Wattys2015

Chapter 9

Chapter 9

“Uh..” I croaked, as I opened my eyes with a considerable effort. Something isn’t right, was the first thought that came into my mind. Bleary-eyed, I folded my hands and tried to sit up, the soft bed sinking underneath my elbows. Wait… Soft?

I looked down, and then up, then down again. Okay, so this is definitely not my room. And from the looks of it, it’s not my house either. This raised a bigger question.

“Where am I?” I wondered out loud in a scratchy voice. Now that I think about it, my mouth tastes like sandpaper and my head is pounding mercilessly. “Ugh!” with that I sank back into the nest of pillows, with both my hands rubbing my head in hopes of finding some relief. When it didn’t work, I groaned and turned to my side. Just as I was about to burrow back into the covers, something caught my eye.

“Oh, thank god.” I muttered as I carefully sat up and took the glass full of water and the two tablets lying beside it. Swallowing them in one big gulp, I took few more small sips of water. The coldness of it burning a path down my throat, providing me with sweet relief. That’s the moment my sense of self-preservation decided to make it’s presence known, making me second guess of my decision to take those pills. I groaned again, this time due to my still-active overthinking brain. “Oh, for heaven’s sake!” I muttered as I gave up trying to make sense of things.

“Mark..” His name jumped from my memory and suddenly, it all came back to me. I sighed in relief, at least I was safe. I slowly peeled off the covers and sat up, the pounding in my head reduced to a slight hum. I was still wearing the same clothes, but my cuts had been bandaged and the errant blood trails had been wiped off. I got up and tried to walk but ended up limping due to the nasty gash on my knee. I slowly limped towards the door at the side of the room, which was looking like a washroom.

I look like crap, was the first thought that popped up in my head as I looked at myself in the mirror. My guess had paid off, and I thankfully found the washroom in one go. After taking care of my personal needs, I braced my hands against the washbasin and took a good look at myself in the mirror. There was a fine layer of dirt on my face, my hair resembled a birds nest and there were faint bruises on my cheeks. The dark smudges under my eyes were not helping my case either. Well, what did you expect? I thought as I took a towel from the rack and dampened it and wiped my face with it as my hands were covered in bandages.

“That should do.” I muttered as I took a rubber band from the pocket in my shorts and carefully put my hair up in a ponytail. Not wanting to dwell much on anything else, I exited the washroom and walked into the room only to find Mark sitting on the side of the bad. He stood up as soon as I entered the room.

“Hey” he said softly, moving towards me. I shook my head and slowly made my way towards the bed.

“Hey” I said in a rush as I finally sat on the edge.

“You okay?” he asked softly as he reclaimed his seat.

“Peachy” I said with a strained smile. “And, thanks for uh..” I said awkwardly motioning towards the bandages.

“It’s okay.” he said as a faint blush snaked up his cheeks. This time, my smile was more genuine.

'*'*'*'

“Yeah mom, I’m fine.” I said for the tenth time.

“You had lunch yet?” she asked, her voice less worried.

“Yes, I’ve had lunch.” I replied with a small smile.

“Okay, but come home on time. You still have school tomorrow.” She reminded me.

“Yes mom, I know. I will. I, uh, I gotta work now. See you later, okay?” I said quickly as Mark entered the room.

“Okay, bye honey. Take care.” And with that I cut the call. 

“Everything okay?” he asked as he took a seat on the sofa.

“Yeah, that was my mum. I figured I should tell her that I’m gonna be late.” I shrugged.

“Yeah? And what did you tell her?” he asked with an amused smile as he leaned forward slightly.

“That I have a science project.” I mumbled. He raised an eyebrow at that. “I’ve been meaning to ask you something.” I finally said, effectively changing the subject.

“And that is..?” he prompted when I didn’t speak.

“How did you know where I was?” I finally blurted out. At first, he seemed surprised by my sudden question. Then, he turned sheepish.

“Well, I was Mrs Hall… I had to take some notes from her for the finals so…” he trailed off as he scratched the back of his head and for the first time that day, I laughed. It probably wasn’t all that funny either, but seeing him get all flustered and embarrassed over such a small thing bought a sense of normality to me. Made me feel like I was free of all the pain and darkness that had been overshadowing me for all this time.

I laughed simply because it felt good to.

Well, before you guys say anything, I know I took a whole lotta time to update, and updated a crappy chapter but this is just to tell you that mamma's back in business!!

And that I've already started working on the next chapter and it'll be up in a few days! Happy?

And also, I'm just lovin' the new Microsoft Office 2013, if you don't have it, you're missing big time!

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Anna