Cover Up

Chapter 24

"I don't quite know how to say how I feel." -Chasing Cars/Snow Patrol

*

It was quiet.

Not the room, no.

The room was loud, it was like a circus. Too many things going on.

But my mind, it was quiet. I didn't have all the voices in my head yelling at me. They're all gone now, hopefully.

My Aunt Casey sat away from my bed, her back facing me. She was rummaging through my things.

"Can I help you?"

Her head turned to me, but it wasn't her face.

It was mine.

-

I sat up straight from the bed. My breathing was faster than usual. I ran my fingers through my sweaty hair.

"You okay?" A voice came from the other side of the room.

Liam sat next to my window. My hand flew to my chest.

"You nearly scared me to death." I breathed out.

"As did you," he said. "You were mumbling and shaking. I didn't want to wake you because.. you know." He said getting up.

"Yeah." I said. I got up and walked over to the bathroom and washed my face.

"You know it's almost noon, Jo." He said peaking through the door.

"And..?"

"You've been sleeping for a really long time. I've been here since nine. You seemed like the person who wakes up early." He said.

"I wake up whenever, really. Time doesn't matter much to me. I just don't care anymore." I walked out of the bathroom and searched through my suitcase.

"It's not healthy if you don't care about anything." He said.

I looked up at him, "I'm a very unhealthy person, Liam. Can't you tell by now. Look at me. I'm skin and bones and I'm not proud of it. No, I don't care about my appearance or what other people think of me. I just don't like who I am. I am very unhealthy, but I don't care."

He shook his head at me, "You should care. I care, the boys care, and Lily cares. Isn't that enough for you to?"

"Everything is enough. But enough is just too much. And if something's too much, it doesn't need me."

He sighed. I got up and went to the bathroom to change. I let out a deep breath when I closed the door behind me.

"Why does everyone care?" I said through the door.

"Because caring is nice, and everyone needs someone to care for them, in my opinion." I finished changing and opened the door back up. He was leaning against the door frame. I brushed past him, but he caught my arm.

"You need my help." He smiled.

"With what?"

"Life," he said. "You need to live your life and not worry about fear anymore. There is more to life than you know." He said. I stayed quiet and put on some shoes.

"C'mon, let's go." I said opening the window up.

"Are we close to where you used to live?" He asked once we climbed out.

"Um, yeah I think so. I'll figure it out," I paused. "What city are we in?"

"Southampton." He answered.

"Shit. I thought we were closer. Okay, whatever. I used to live just outside of London. In a city called Elstree, probably never heard of it. But anyway, it's like an hour away.. is that alright?" I said.