The Blackout Girl ✔️

chapter fourteen

Chapter Fourteen

Lexi was avoiding her phone. She hadn't charged it in a while, and the battery finally died after the last few work-related texts had come in. She contacted her boss once, to let him know she was taking some sick days. Her coworkers were asking questions, but she wasn't ready to answer them. She kept to herself by nature, and considering she'd been off the map because she was arrested, there was a lot they probably wanted to know and even more that she wasn't ready to tell.

She spent most of her time roaming around her house, trying to find things to do. She didn't have much to keep busy with outside of work. It was a bit pathetic if she was being honest with herself.

Quinton left at one point. She figured it was probably school-related or something. He didn't explain himself, and she didn't ask. They'd been raised to be independent. It was largely how they functioned.

She'd been trying to find it in herself to bring Nolan his book. She didn't want to face him again, even if it was under different circumstances.

Eventually, she was sitting in front of her closet, flicking through old diaries. She was skimming her eyes over the words, reminding herself of her progress. After she woke up from the coma, she had taken quite some time to go back to normal. She taught herself to take steps again, speak coherently. She was young, which made her resilient.

The therapists had encouraged her to write things down. It was a part of cognitive therapy and served as documentation. When Lex felt herself getting worse, she poured herself over the journals. It was her way of comforting herself when she didn't know how else to do it.

She heard a knock at her door as she closed one of the notebooks. She put it away quickly, shoving the box out of view.

"Hey, sweetie," her mother said, popping her head in. "What are you up to?"

"Organizing," she responded. "Gotta clean my room out at some point."

"You're not going into the office?" Mom asked.

"I'm not feeling well," Lexi explained.

"Do you need medicine? We probably have a bottle of cough syrup if that's what it is. Maybe something for the flu?"

"I'm okay," Lexi interrupted before she could go on. "It's only a headache. I took some Advil."

Her mom nodded. "Alright. That's good. I'm making grilled cheese if you'd like some."

"I'd love that," Lexi said. "Be right down."

Since her mother shifted between working in her graphic design space and working from home, she was around when she needed to be. Even though Lexi and Quinton were keeping the worst aspects of her condition between them, her mom had a sense of when something was wrong. It was probably why she'd been hovering all afternoon.

Lexi let her mother make the sandwiches since she was better at burning the cheese to the pan than anything else. They ate together, enjoying the company before Mom needed to get back to her job.

Lex did the dishes to occupy herself. As she scrubbed one of the knives, she caught a glimpse of her own reflection. Sometimes, her own looks felt foreign when she spent too much time away from the mirror. It was jarring to face herself when she spent so much time inside her own head.

She plunged the blade back under the surface and put it away before too many minutes went by.

The rest of her day was a lot like the previous hours had been. Uneventful. Forgettable. Dreary.

She pointedly did her best to ignore all thoughts of the investigation, hoping to get the case out of her mind before it drove her mad. Unfortunately, it was everywhere, and she couldn't escape it.