FATE

35. A Cup Of Hot Coffee

JONAH

"Hailee?", I call for the third time as I walk into the room. It's dark, stuffy, the window blinds are closed and the room is hot.

The light in the bathroom is turned on so I walk towards it and open the door.

Hailee is seated on the floor in a corner, crouched so she's able to wrap her arms around her knees. She looks up at me, her eyes meeting mine, she looks terrified.

"Jonah", her tone is soft but her breathing is fast and intense.

"Hey", I say moving quickly towards where she sits, "what are you doing here?"

"I'm hiding", she says, turning to stare at the light bulb and then back at me, "I'm hiding from her and from him. I don't want them to hurt me again Jonah"

"They're not going to hurt you", I say holding her shoulders and trying to raise her up, "come on, you need to rest"

"I don't want to. They're everywhere, even in my dreams"

"They're not going to hurt you in your dreams either. I won't let them"

I hold her hands and she flinches, pulling away from me quickly and standing up on her own. I grab her hands once she's on her feet and turn her wrists to face me.

They're bleeding. Not much but they're bleeding.

Fuck.

"Let's go get this cleaned up okay?", I say and she nods.

We leave the bathroom and I glance at the clock. It's almost 9:30. Hailee's parents will be back anytime soon and she needs to go home.

She sits on the bed while I grab a little box, she keeps under my bed for moments like this. I open it and tear open a new pack of cotton wool.

Hailee sniffs, "I'm sorry Jonah", she cries, "I'm so sorry"

"It's fine. There's nothing to be sorry about"

"You could be with Brooke right now but you're here", she says, "I don't know why you're here. I don't know why you're my friend. I'm not okay Jonah"

"I'm right here because I love you, because you're my best friend", I say, "and I'm not okay too. We're both not okay". I pour some disinfectant on the ball of cotton wool in my hands and begin to clean Hailee's wrist. She watches me and says nothing more. She sniffs occasionally so I can tell she's still crying.

"I swallowed a bunch of pills before you got here", she says when I'm done.

"That's fine. I'll get you some water. You're going to be okay", I say, closing the box and placing it under the bed.

She nods.

"We have to talk about what happened at school today and I think to do that, you need a clear mind", I say.

"My mind is clear right now, I promise, let's talk"

I clasp my hands and lean forward while she lays on her back. "We have to stop her from coming", Hailee says.

"I know"

"If she knows where I go to school, maybe she knows where I live too. My parents don't know about all of this. I can't let her get involved in our lives"

"I know"

"I can't go back to school either. At least not until I'm sure she's going to stop coming"

"That's the only part I've been thinking about", I say turning to face her as she sits up to stare at me. "We have to find a way to keep you away from school for a while. Maybe a couple of days or a week. Then I'll have enough time to figure out how to get rid of her"

Hailee frowns slightly, "How are we going to do that?"

"It's simple", I say, "you have to be sick"

***

When we reach her house, we head straight for her room. The guidelines to getting a couple of days or even weeks out of school are pretty simple.

Fake a mild fever. It's the easiest part. Lock all the windows in the room, wear thick clothes to get the body warm and drop a thermostat in a cup of hot coffee.

Next, acting. Acting well enough to convince the parents that the days taken off school are actually for health benefits, but remembering not to overdo it so they don't call a doctor because if they do, then it's game over.

Hailee lies under a blanket, droplets of sweat on her forehead. She shivers and then smiles at me as I stare at the thermostat in my hand. It's 9:35. I hear the door downstairs open and close. Mrs. Hartford is right on time.

There's movement downstairs for a while before the footsteps walking up the stairs and toward the room are heard. Hailee sighs as her mother walks into the room.

"Hey baby", Mrs. Hartford says before a frown covers her face, "what's wrong?"

"She's not feeling too good", I say.

"Well, this room is pretty hot", she says, "why don't you open up a window?"

"No no", Hailee says, in between fake coughs, "I-it's cold"

Mrs. Hartford smiles and then turns to me. Her eyes moving to the thermostat in my hand. "Jonah honey, can I see that?". I hand it over to her and she stares at it, "wow, that's pretty high", she stares at Hailee whose eyes look beyond tired at the point, "you'll be okay. I'll make you soup and there'll be chicken in it. Is that okay?"

Hailee glances at me and then back at her mother, "I'm not really hungry. I just want to rest right now"

"Okay, no chicken. Just have the soup at least, please", Mrs. Hartford pleads and Hailee nods.

The woman stands up and smiles at her daughter and then at me before leaving the room. Once the door shuts, Hailee jumps out from underneath the blankets.

"It's so fucking hot!", She laments.

"Sorry", I chuckle.

"I can't believe I just rejected chicken for this", she says, "you have to get rid of her Jonah because I don't think I'm going to survive much longer"

I smile at her. The sadness isn't quite evident in her eyes anymore. I wish we were faking a fever for totally different reasons, maybe just to skip school to spend all day watching movies and playing video games or to go out. Sometimes I wish Hailee and I were that normal.