Athena’s POV
Alex hasn’t talked to me since the day I asked her to stop being my TA, I tried talking to her, but she ignored me and avoided me. She seemed to be doing better, I haven’t noticed any bruises on her, and she seemed happier. Perhaps her parents are still away.
My boyfriend and I have been arguing a lot lately. He keeps making moves on me, but I don’t feel comfortable sleeping with him. I like him, but he annoys me a lot.
For the past few days, I’ve been feeling a little under the weather. On Tuesday, I almost passed out, and when I woke up on Wednesday, I felt awful. I called in sick and went back to sleep.
When I woke up again, I was cold, and my head was hurting. I put on a thermometer, and sure enough, I had a fever. I made something to eat and went back to sleep, I felt exhausted. I kept waking up in the middle of the night.
On Thursday, my throat was tingling, I was dizzy, and I couldn’t stop coughing. I also had a fever. I was exhausted, and I could barely move, I managed to make a quick meal and went back to bed, but I couldn’t sleep. I called my boyfriend to come over, but he said that he couldn’t risk getting sick and missing work. He apologized and hung up.
I thought I was going to die. I tried to sleep, but I kept waking up, I felt like I couldn’t breathe. Tears started rolling down my cheeks, and I started panicking and decided to visit a hospital. I called my boyfriend, but he didn’t answer so I took a cab to the hospital. They assigned me a room, put me an oxygen mask, and I spent the entire night. I managed to get two hours of sleep before I had to go home.
I spent the entire Friday laying around, I was dizzy, and I was still coughing, plus now I had a sore throat. I was too weak to do anything, and that included cooking. The house was a mess, but I couldn’t care less.
I spent the entire Saturday in bed as well. I managed to fall asleep at some point but woke up to the sound of my doorbell ringing. I looked at my phone and it was almost five in the morning.
Alex’s POV
A month passed by, and Ms. Davis and I haven’t spoken since that day, she tried talking to me, but I shut down all her efforts, I felt betrayed, I opened up to her only to push me away the next day.
My parents haven’t been back, but my mum has been sending me 200 dollars a week. Charlie and I have been going out clubbing every weekend and for the first time I felt normal. I was still on top of my class, I was having fun and no one has bothered me in so long. I should be excited that everything was going great but it seemed unreal and I was always worried that something was going to happen. I have gained a little bit of weight , since I started eating more and I must admit it looked good on me. The PE teacher was really excited with the way my body has changed and so was Charlie.
It was now Wednesday and we were on our way to English but as we got there Ms. Davis wasn’t there, instead there was a substitute teacher.
“Hello kids, I will be replacing Ms. Davis for a couple of days.”
“Why, what happened to her?” another student asked.
“Nothing serious, she’s just sick.”
The lesson was alright, he was a good teacher, not as good as Ms. Davis but quite decent.
She didn’t show up for the rest of the week, it was now Saturday and I got ready to go out with Charlie, we decided to go to the gay club again. Every time we went there, I would always end up drunk, making out with some random girl. This time was the same. When I got home there was a car in the driveway. My heart dropped, I knew my happiness wasn’t going to last long, I cautiously entered the house, and I came face to face with me furious dad.
“Where were you?” He hissed.
“I went out at a club with Charlie.” I expected him to hit me, but the pain never came.
“You went out with Charlie, and how many girls did you fuck tonight?”
My stomach dropped and my eyes widened. I gulped.
“What?”
“Don’t play stupid Alexandra.” He yelled.
“How did you find out?”
“Your friend Jason, Mark’s son saw you and he told me, he also got a nice picture of you two.” he said showing a picture of me kissing a girl at the club.
“I left for a month and that’s how you start acting?” He yelled and slapped me. “I’m so done with you. I provide for you and that's how you pay me back? By embarrassing me and our family? Shame on you. You are a disgrace, a complete disappointment and I wish you didn’t exist” Tears started streaming down my face and he tried to punch me, but I ducked and made a run for the door, I managed to grabbed my backpack on my way out.
I made it outside and started running. I run until I got to the park, that’s when my phone rang. It was Charlie.
“Bro, your dad called my parents and told them everything, are you ok?”
“Yes, I’m at the park, can I come over?” I didn’t have anywhere else to go and it was freezing outside.
“I don’t think it’s a good idea, my parents say they don’t want you around me anymore, they won’t let you in.”
“Are you serious?”
“Yeah bro, I’m really sorry I wish I could do something about it, but I already got grounded and there’s no way I can sneak out. They check up on me to make sure I’m not talking to you.”
“Shit, we’ll talk at school on Monday then.”
“I’m sorry bro, please text me when you figure something out.”
“Okay bye.”
It was now 4 in the morning and I was sitting at the park wearing a shirt and jeans. I was tired and I was freezing, I couldn’t go home, and I couldn’t go to Charlie’s either. I started walking around searching for an open store to sit in but everything’s was closed and they wouldn’t open until four hours later. I couldn’t stay outside for that long.
The only place I could think of going was Ms. Davis’s house. She is the only person I know that might take me in. Shit, it’s going to be awkward, and I’ll probably wake her up, she might not even let me in.
Thankfully I had memorized her address, so I entered it in goggle maps and start heading towards it. It was a twenty minute walk and by the time I got there I was shivering. I rang the bell and waited for her to answer. After a couple minutes she opened the door.
“Alex what are you doing here?” She said with a sleepy tone.
“I’m sorry I had nowhere else to go.”
“Come in, you are shivering.” She pulled me in and locked the door behind us.
She went into the bedroom and picked up a fuzzy hoodie, pair of sweatpants and socks . She handed them to me and told me to go get changed. I went into the bathroom and took clothes off. I quickly wore the ones she gave me because the house was cold.
I got out of the bathroom and heard noises from the kitchen, I went in and saw her making what seemed like a cup of hot chocolate. She was wearing an oversized hoodie with sweatpants as well, and her hair was messy. She turned around and I could see dark circles under her eyes, as if she hasn’t slept for days.
“Here.” she said handing me the drink, it was warm and I was still shivering.
“Thank you.”
“Let’s go to the living room.”
I sat at the couch and she went to her bedroom. She came back a few minutes later and covered me with a blanket. I looked at her and I felt like crying. She was so nice to me even when I completely pushed her away. She sat next to me at the couch and coughed a little.
“Alex, what happened?” her voice was raspy.
“My dad found out about my sexuality, and I managed to run away. I’m sorry I showed up at that time but I had nowhere else to go, he called Charlie’s parents and told them as well. They said they don’t want me near their daughter anymore.” A few tears escaped my eyes.
“That’s awful, how did he find out and when did he come back?”
“Jason ratted me out and sent him a picture as well. He came tonight to confront me about it I guess.”
“This motherfucker, how does he know your dad?”
“Our fathers are friends.”
She turned the other way, and she started coughing, which soon turned to heaving. I patted her back because I didn’t know what else to do. After a while she stopped.
“Have you been like that since Wednesday?”
“I’ve been sick since Tuesday.”
“But you came to school on Tuesday”
“Yes, I had a headache and felt lightheaded but I brushed it off, by the time I left school my head was throbbing and I almost passed out when I tried to take a shower.”
“Oh, have you gotten any better?”
“Yes, I don’t have a fever and hadn’t had a headache since that day. I keep coughing and feeling dizzy though, to the point where I can’t sleep. I even had to go to the hospital for an oxygen mask”.
“Oh shit, now I feel even worse for waking you up.” I looked down.
“No, you did the right thing, you would freeze to death if you stayed out.” Her voice was raspy, and she was pale.
“I think you should go back to sleep, you don’t look well.”
“Will you be okay here on your own?”
“Yes, don’t worry.”
“Okay, goodnight, Alex.”
“Goodnight.”
I laid on the couch and tried to fall asleep, I could hear her coughing from the other room and I felt awful for waking her up. I set an alarm for 11.3 and got comfortable . I soon started falling asleep.