Butterfly Bruises

Cath - Drifting

It was a Thursday morning, and it was raining, again.

The girl stepped outside into the brisk wind, and was immediately soaked to the skin. She fought the urge to scream as the freezing torrent seeped through the cardigan and little black dress she'd worn the night before.

"Kate... Katie... Cathy? Is that you?" a groggy voice called from inside the house, still slurred from alcohol or sleep, probably a combination of both. "Come back ta sleep..." Cath didn't hear the rest; she had already shut the door and was half way down the street, shivering uncontrollably in the early morning dimness, while the headlights of the cars driving to work elsewhere in the city flashed like torches in her tired eyes.

Before long, she was standing in her spluttering shower, having not even bothered to undress first. The shower was truly a depressing affair; being little more than a few inconsistent drips of lukewarm water hidden behind a slightly mouldy plastic sheet. So much for 'superior accommodation', she thought as she stripped the sodden clothes from her limbs. To be fair, when she'd arrived, the shower had at least worked properly, and the heat of the building hadn't been too stifling. Now, the four walls of her tiny bedroom seemed to oppress her, the dark blue making it seem even smaller than it already was.

By the time Cath made it to the kitchen, slightly less damp and dressed in an oversized tshirt and pyjama bottoms, someone had already boiled the kettle. Maybe someone heard her come in and had taken pity on her after yet another drunken mistake. More likely it was Sofia. She had a lecture at 9am today or something; like most students, she couldn't function without her morning caffeine hit. It was strange how little Cath interacted with her flatmates, and yet she picked up small things like that all the time. Like how the boy in the room next to her went running every other morning – his alarm woke her up at far too early an hour. And the girl on the other side was vegan, but still stole everyone else's regular milk. Cath's identity was the burnout, the wildcard, the one who slept at someone else's house every night and rarely appeared from her room otherwise. It might have bothered her in another time, but she couldn't deny the description was accurate.

Complete with a steaming cup of tea and half an apple cut into tiny chunks, she went back into her room, taking care to lock the door behind her. Cath stripped again and stepped onto the scales hidden behind her bed. 50.1kg. She made a note of it in the back of a small notebook on the edge of the desk, and got dressed.

Her first lecture wasn't for another two hours, but she still hadn't caught up from the one she missed last week, so she pulled up my laptop lid and sat down at the desk, opening the .pptx file emailed round by the lecturer. She was in for a long morning.

Rather short first chapter, more of an intro really. The next chapter will be far longer ^.^ Read, Relate, Review! x