Beautifully Damaged

5. Choices

It was silent in the hallways as I made my way unsteadily to the nurse’s office. The world was still tilting and occasionally spinning, I kept forgetting to breathe, strangely enough. Bear was quiet but nudged my hand every so often and pulled me along when I wasn’t going in a straight line. I felt so tired. It would be easier just to lie down… at this point, Bear was whining quietly, not knowing what to do. There was no one around to alert. Neither of us noticed someone else had entered the hallway and had noticed my stumbling.

            “Blaise?” Drake called and jogged to my side.

            Bear’s low keening turned into a hostile growl at the sight of Drake. I couldn’t manage to speak, angry at myself for being so weak.

            “Alright I’m taking you to the nurse.”

            I was about to protest, and tell him that that’s where I was going when he picked me up. Weakly I struggled, and gave up as a wave of nausea passed over me. If my conscience had decided to come in at any point, it should have been telling me that this wasn’t right. I knew it but there wasn’t anything I could do about it. Drake took me to the office and led me down on the bed in there. Straightaway the nurse started to ask me questions.

            “What medications are you on?”

            “None.” I rasped, trying to breathe more deeply than I had.

            “Have you had this problem before?”

            Miserably, I shook my head. This was worse than dying, I was pretty sure.

            “Did you have breakfast this morning, been sleeping well?”

            I thought about that… I was pretty sure that I had- but I hadn’t. This morning I had woken up late and had to scramble to get to school on time. In the rush, I had fed Bear and not myself. “No.” Not to mention that I never really ate lunch, so I’d gone most of the day without eating. Surely that wasn’t enough to set off something like this. Come to think of it, it had been hard for me to sleep as I constantly worried about the voices coming back.

Drake frowned from the corner as if he had been expecting something worse than that.

“Some people just can’t take skipping meals, it can really make you feel horrible, and exhaustion really wouldn’t have helped that either. You need to go eat and rest.” The nurse informed me.

“I’ll take her to get some food and drop her off at home.” Drake offered.

“Wait-”

“That’s kind of you,” She cut me off. “I’ll excuse both of you from your classes for the rest of the afternoon.”

I looked at her incredulously, she probably thought she was doing me a favor. However, he’d offered up a little too fast, if you asked me. Drake Landry was strange, and I wasn’t comfortable with going anywhere with him.

I rose to my feet, a little unsteadily, but now that I knew what was up I wasn’t freaking out as much. To my relief, I stayed upright. Drake, to my dismay, insisted on holding my hand so that I wouldn’t fall. I was confident that it wasn’t the case, but was too tired to protest anyway. Bear was tense at my side, but stopped growling after a little while.

As soon as we stepped into the fresh air, I felt my head clear. I pulled my hand away from Drake’s, shooting him an unimpressed look. His response was a dazzlingly white smile that took my breath away. The sun felt good on my skin as we walked toward the parking lot. Instead of veering toward my car, Drake directed me in the opposite direction to his modest pickup truck. I stopped in my tracks.

“Uh no, I’m just going to go home now.” I objected weakly, still feeling slightly faint.

Drake shook his head, all seriousness on his face. “No, I don’t think it’s safe for you to drive.”

My jaw set into place and I crossed my arms over my chest. “I can’t just leave my car here. How will I get to school tomorrow?”

He laughed, a strong sound. “We can come back for it later, if you really want, but you’re not driving now.”

It sounded like an order. I narrowed my eyes. “I don’t know you, remember? Why should I jump in a car with you?”

Drake sighed, running his hand through his dark brown hair, “Okay, I know you don’t have a reason to trust me but I’m not going to murder you or anything.”

“Oh, I feel so much better now. I totally believe you.” I remarked dryly.

He opened the passenger side door and motioned for me to get in. “Look, you either kill yourself in a car crash, or take your chances getting killed by me. Either way.”

The response caught me off guard, a shocked smile broke across my face and I shook my head, mystified. I passed Drake with a small punch in his arm and slid into the car, Bear close behind me. The truck had a worn feel to it, the scent of a rainy day circulating in it. Bear laid himself across my lap and I tilted my head back, feeling tired. I heard Drake shut the door and climb in on his side. The engine roared to life and then the scenery started to blur outside.