The Greek God

22

I woke up to the sound of my phone buzzing. Groaning, I turned around, sat up straight and opened the notification.

Congratulations! You've been sober for a total of :
11 months
335 days
8030 hours

Keep it up!

Keep it up.

Like that was going to motivate me.

Those three words aren't the reason why I've been sober for the past eleven months. In fact, it was my mother's diary that made me realise that I could've continued down the road of self destruction after Emilia's death. It was those wonderful memories that I shared with my mother and my best friend that have kept me alive all these months. But now, belonging to a group where I feel so appreciated and loved, was the best feeling in the world. Not only that, but being with Daniel also made me realise that I could still fight this fight.

However, they still don't know my past. Daniel may know the overall summary of my life before I moved to the States, but I know for sure that if I tell him about my depression and addiction, he will look at me in a different way and that shit scares me. So yeah, for a former addict, eleven months is a lot, but it still feels so little.

I sighed and tossed my phone to the side and headed to the shower. Whilst the steam filled the bathroom, I glanced at the mirror, where my naked body was reflected. At first, nothing special is shown, but the more you stare, the more you realise that the tiny little details can make a difference, like the scar on my hip when they removed my appendix, the birthmark of my left leg or the tattoo that showed on my rib cage. But the most important ones were the scars on my wrists. They were faint, however, the more you stared, the clearer the lines became. Once my reflection was translucent with the steam, I hopped into the shower and placed my forehead against the cold wall as I allowed the scorching hot water cascade over my body.

11 months...11 months...11 months

And more were to come.

***

"Yo Astrid!" Jack called out. "Daniel needs your help for some Spanish shit."

"And why wouldn't he text me?" Mason asked. "I'm always the one who helps him."

Oh boy, isn't he oblivious?

"Because, this is Daniel's attempt to flirt with Astrid," Alex explained. "I mean seriously, are you that dumb?" I laughed at his comment, that caused Mason to frown. However that frown quickly disappeared once Gigi kissed him on the cheek.

"Ew stop!" Stephanie groaned. "I can't stand your guys in a relationship!"

"Yeah it's exhausting!" Chelsea backed her up. "I mean, Steph, Astrid and I are the only single ones here."

Hehe, if only they knew...

"What about me?" Alex complained. "I'm single too!"

"At least you have girls throwing themselves at you! I have no one!" Stephanie pointed out as Alex grinned at her.

"What can I say," he pointed himself. "Girls can't resist this masterpiece." Stephanie threw a scrunched up napkin in Alex's direction, which he managed to avoid. I laughed as picked my bag up and headed to where Mason was.