When Winter Comes

Chapter 28: Winter's Nothing

IGNORE ALL ERRORS

Chapter 28: Winter's Nothing

It was a blessing. Reese opened up her house to me, and I was so grateful for that. After my long melt down in her arms, she realized my fragile state. I was supposed to head back to my dorm, because really, where else was I supposed to go? But then Reese cleaned up to go home for the day, and she told me that it wouldn't be right for her to just let me go back to that school.

She was right, too. That school was torture. The true reason that I went into a deep depression after my parents died was because of that school. It made my personality change. I went home for the funeral only to realize how self-absorbed I was at that school, so I forced myself to change and unfortunately that showed my darker side. It became known that I was bipolar, and that I was suffering from anorexia. But that school, it made me ignore that whole side of me. That school was the death of me, whether I was still breathing or not.

"Honey, why don't you take a shower?" Reese asked while she was pouring food for her cat. The white Persian cat sat at her feet, tail sweeping across the floor, eager for the food. It was a pretty cat, but she wouldn't let me near her, so I had to follow the old rule of "look but don't touch."

"Yeah," I mumbled. "I'll do that." To be frank, I didn't know what to do with myself. I had no idea where I was going to go either. Running away from the school was most likely not a good idea. Hopefully, I had April to back me up. She seemed like a girl who really understood me, or at least she tried to. The only scary part about her was that she reminded me too much of Emma. Perhaps it was because she so easily accepted me. She was easy to be around and easy to talk to. She was an easy friend, like Emma.

After my shower, I lay on the sofa staring at the ceiling. My fingers picked at the blanket covering me. Sleep pulled me in quickly. It seemed that my injury took mostly only energy out of me. I feel asleep to the sound of Reese humming a toon while she washed the dishes, and that night I dreamt of homecoming, but it was a better homecoming. It was one where Jace never got mad at me. It was perfect.

. . .

I woke up to eyes staring at me. They were eyes that were far too familiar for my liking. They were my eyes.

"Carl," I sneered and pushed him away from.

My back was sore from the couch and my mouth was dry. Anger pulsed through me at the sight of Carl. It wasn't surprising that he was here. The school most likely called Marie to say that I was missing. She had a hard time dealing with those kinds of situation, so she always sent Carl to take care of it. Reese called Carl. I knew that. She always said that she was doing what was best; I believed that, but Carl was never what was best.

"Come on." He responded with the same attitude I greeted him with. Reese stood behind him with a frown. She felt bad that she was forced to call Carl when I spiraled too much. I could tell by the way she bit her lip and pinched together her tired eyes.

"I'm not going anywhere with you." I made eye contact with Reese. "Tell him, Reese."

"Sweetie-"

"No. I'm not dealing with this, Winter. I'm bringing you back to Brinston. You're going to pack your shit and we're sending you back to the hospital." He shook his head while he spoke.

"I'm not going anywhere, Carl!"

"It's not up to you Winter! God dammit. Why can't you see that? You're screwing up everyones lives," he screamed and yanked the blanket off me. "Reese has had to call me twice this school year because of you and it's only December."

"Why do you even keep coming? It's not like you care about me," I spat out the truth. It wasn't like anything I said would actually effect him.

Carl shook his head and began walking to the front door. Reese's apartment was small enough so I could still see him from he couch. Reese stayed quite the whole time, watching us bicker. How could she not see that my family was killing me more than the school?