weapons † hs [two]

24. memories

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can you believe there's one chapter left after this?

"Caroline?"

The sound of my name from across the hall quickens my pace in opening the plastic bottle, sitting criss-cross on my mattress as I hastily pour way over the dosage of my fix into the palm of my hand.

"Babe? I'm about to shower," Ryan's voice rings through the small apartment again. "I heard you in the kitchen, do you need something?"

I encompass myself under the covers and lie down, cupping the sleep inducing remedies and stuffing them in my mouth, starting to chew right as Ryan opens my room door. My eyes shut automatically and I stop chewing, hoping he'll let me be so I can continue.

"Caroline, are you up?" He whispers, his feet pattering closer to my body against the hardwood floor.

"What's this— this bottle was more than half full like a day ago," I hear his pajamas rustle against the sheets as he leans over across my body and finds the bottle we share poking out from the sheets, and I internally curse at myself for forgetting to hide it.

"Caroline, are you trying to overdose on fucking herbal gummies?!" Ryan suddenly uncovers me in a fervent manner and sits me up, my eyes shooting open wide as he scowls in panic at my full mouth.

"You spit that out right now!" My best friend orders as I begin chewing rapidly, but he grabs my jaw to halt my efforts.

"Spit those out, or I fucking swear I will Heimlich you right in the bullet wound and get them out!" He threatens, and I let out a harsh, defiant breath before releasing the mushy, salivated melatonin chews right into his palm, glaring as he in turn makes a disgusted face between me and the gummies.

"Not exactly where I had in mind for you to regurgitate," he crinkles his nose, grossed out, and grabs the nearly empty tissue box at my bedside and cleans them off.

"Those don't even have medication in them. They won't hurt me. They're made with herbs that make you sleepy," I spit, knowing he overreacted that I'd go so far as overdose and die.

"Do I look like I care? This is not okay Caroline! First off, we share these, so you do not hoard them in your room." He mothers me, shoving the nearly empty bottle in my face for emphasis. "It says take two, not twenty! And it's almost eight in the morning, this is when people wake up."

"I need to sleep," I attempt to steal the bottle from him to get the last remaining ones, repeating the four words I've blabbed like a broken record since I came home a couple of days ago.