Fuzzy Images; Forced Apart (Book two)

Chapter Six / Work and nightmares

[AN: So at first the nightmares were going to be a bigger thing than they turned out to be, but I didn't want Kerri to have too many problems lol. Anyway, since she doesn't ever talk about them to anyone, they mostly just eat at her subconscious for a little while. However, Mrs. E is really smart and can tell that she's having problems, and since she's a nice old lady, she wants to help. Anyway, here's the new chapter, I hope you enjoy it, please feel free to comment, vote, message or just read!]

Kerri walked up to the low brick building she worked in. It had been a week, or two; she was losing track.

Almost every day was the same; get up, go to classes, work in the danger room a little, free sixth period, get ready and ride the bus to work by six.

She probably could have driven, but this gave her more time to read and get homework done on the way so she didn't have to do it in the middle of the night. She still only had half shifts, from six until eleven, just so she could get the hang of how to handle things, then they might change her shifts.

She went to the locker she had claimed and stuck her bag into it as another employee came into the room, a woman who acted more like a petty high schooler sometimes, Niki, if she remembered correctly.

Kerri took her bag out enough to stick in her MP3 player and headphones while Niki pulled out her purse and grabbed a pack of cigarettes and a lighter while giving her an almost dirty look that Kerri was sure Niki didn't think she saw.

It was hard, but Kerri managed not to laugh out loud. It wasn't that she though it was funny, more that she thought Niki was so ridiculous; she didn't like Kerri because she wasn't like her; petty, obsessed with image, covered in make up, just over all girly, she guessed.

Kerri clocked in and clipped her badge to her scrub shirt. She had never known that scrubs were so comfortable, but she was finding out now.

She sat at the nurses station to read all of the reports that had gone on before her shift; Mr. Andrews had gotten a bad case of diarrhea after having been plugged up for two days, Mrs. Domingo had another episode of dementia, forgetting where she was, claiming that one of the staff was trying to kidnap her when they came to take her to dinner... On and on they went.

Since dinner was already served and everyone was already there eating, Kerri sat at the station and read about the patients some more, finding out more about them, until Niki came back and sat in the chair next to her.

"So, Kerri, why don't you wear make up?" She asked.

Kerri looked over at the at least thirty-five year-old and felt bad for her kids if she had any; she had a feeling that Niki was the kind of woman that wanted to feel young, hanging out at frat houses and hitting on teenage boys to do it. "Well, I never really learned how to use it," she thought of Kitty, telling her about some of the things in her make up kit and how they worked as they were getting ready for the formal last year.

"You're a girl, it should come to you naturally, didn't you and your girlfriends ever give each other makeovers when you were younger?" She asked.

Kerri took a deep breath. She didn't go around telling people about how she had grown up, usually, but maybe, if she said it right, it would make Niki leave her alone. "Well, when I was nine, my dad died, and my mom married a giant ass hole. I wasn't allowed to have anyone over, go over to anyone's house, watch tv, or talk to anyone on the phone. I didn't really have any friends, except one, but she decided I wasn't a good friend to have, and left me to join the group of girls that made my life suck. I didn't have an allowance, and my mom never bought me anything like make up, so I never even had a chance to learn or practice."