Journey to Psitharis

Chapter 25

Chapter Twenty-Five

A quick trip to an urgent care a little later in the day revealed all the cuts were pretty superficial, and the deep cuts weren't so deep as to require stitches. My tetanus shot was sadly out of date so I got a nice shot high up on my leg as a result. When the doctor asked me what I had been doing to get these lesions, I had to be honest. "I have no idea!" I exclaimed, bewildered. He gave my mother a strange look and asked to speak with her after our visit was finished. The truth of the matter was I didn't know where those cuts came from. They matched the ones I got while I was dreaming, but how did they get there? The only explanation I could come up with was sleepwalking. Perhaps I was acting out my dreams and wandering through the brush near our development. Seems the doctor agreed with me, because he questioned my mother about any stressors in my life that might spur my sudden bouts of sleepwalking.

Without going into too much detail my mom told him about the bullying in school but how it had gotten so much better in the past few months and I had had no complaints. "Well, just because she isn't complaining now doesn't mean she isn't facing stress from the situation. We'll try her on a small dose of clonazepam for a few weeks, see what happens." I was mortified. Now I was the crazy sleepwalking girl who took medicine for anxiety disorder. I begged Aurora to keep her mouth shut about my new prescription.

"Are you kidding?" She asked. "I catch enough crap having you as a sister. I don't want anyone knowing you're on medicine for batty people." I would have argued but she had a point. I was going insane. I dreamed I scraped my legs up, and somehow I wound up with my legs mangled and looking like ground round. I didn't remember getting out of bed, I didn't remember going out of the house. But it happened. I had to be a lot more careful if I ventured back into the land of my dreams. Obviously it was getting dangerous for me in either realm.

After I got home, put my filthy sheets in the laundry and scrubbed my mattress to get the blood stains out, I was too tired to deal with anyone. I crawled on my still damp mattress and just laid there. I stared at the ceiling for what seemed to be hours, though it was actually only minutes. Eventually there was a light knock at the door.

"Mer?" My mom implored.

"I'm a bit tired. Can we talk later?"

"Umm, there's a girl here to talk to you." I shot up. Who could be here to talk to me? I walked out of the room to find Jordan sitting in our living room, with a knockout of a woman I could only surmise was her sister Miriam. With her hair pulled half back in a half bun and her face devoid of makeup, Miriam was still a stunner that had even my sister staring in awe. Nervously I sat down. "This is my sister Miriam. Miriam, this is Medora and her family." Jordan introduced us. For her part Miriam barely looked up. We were sitting in the waiting room of the urgent care when you walked out. I tried to wave at you but you were looking down. I saw you kind of limping. Are you okay?"

I couldn't believe it. It was the first time I had someone other than my grandmother or my Aunt Charlotte visit me, concerned about my welfare. Miriam sat straight on the other side, looking down at her hands. The demure look on her face just made her look more extraordinary. Jordan reached out and grabbed my hand, genuinely worried. "Oh, thank you for worrying about me!" I exclaimed, perhaps with a little too much enthusiasm. "It's not worth mentioning. I got into a fight with a huge pile of shrubbery near the woods; I lost." I laughed. Jordan laughed with me. Miriam, unsure of whether she could laugh or not, simply smiled. Aurora scoffed and turned on her heel, taking her leave. Miriam made a little coughing sound under her breath, an obvious reminder to her sister.

"We can't stay long. One of the twins sprained his ankle when he fell out of a tree. We thought he might have broken it, which was why we were at the urgent care. Esther's probably pulling her hair out by now!" We all laughed, at least I think Miriam laughed. It was really hard to tell. Jordan asked if I could expect her at school tomorrow; she looked panic-stricken that I might not show up.