Heal My Scars (A Lapidot Dystopia) (ON HIATUS)

XI-Lapis

The thought kept scrolling through my head.

Jasper saved you. She stood over you and protected you from the debris. She saved you.

It all felt like too much to bear, to the point where I was walking with my head on Peridot's shoulder and sobbing uglily. She had her arm wrapped around my waist in a sweet, loose way. Even throughout my crying, she stayed calm and just kept saying nice things to me.

"Don't worry," she whispered. "I'm gonna find us somewhere safe nearby so we can get some sleep before we keep going, okay? We're not gonna do this walk today."

"Jasper," I responded.

"I know," Peridot said soothingly. "It's gonna be hard without her, but she left us some money and these clothes. We're gonna be okay, I promise. I bet I can even find us a shower."

"That would be nice," I mumbled.

We kept walking for a while, and the weight on my shoulders kept getting worse and worse. I was getting so tired from just thinking and crying. Peridot, on the other hand, never seemed to lose energy, and she had practically stopped crying. I did notice that she was trying to focus on something else: finding us a place to stay. I understood how that would keep her from thinking about Jasper, but I didn't get how she stopped so quickly.

"There," I heard her whisper. "That's perfect."

"What?" I asked, looking up.

"There's a hotel right over there," Peridot answered. "We can wash up there."

"We're covered in dust," I said. "How can we fool them?"

"Trust me," Peridot responded. "It won't be terribly hard."

We walked up to the hotel, which was brightly lit and very large, intimidating almost. Peridot had to pull me to get me inside. The lobby was huge and looked like it was made of gold, but I knew they couldn't afford that type of thing. There were plenty of adults holding wine glasses and watching their kids that were running around nearby, and others were checking in.

I felt self-conscious as we walked through the large room, while Peridot didn't seem at all bothered. She just kept walking calmly. She took a left, and as we passed a couple holding hands, I saw her quickly stick her hand in the guy's pocket and pull out a room card. My jaw dropped as I watched both the man and the woman walk off, completely oblivious. Peridot and just taken the thing without any visible effort at all, and neither of them noticed.

"Now we shower," she said. "I-individually."

Peridot read the number on the card and took us to the room. Lucky for us, it was on the bottom floor. She unlocked the door and got us in, and I was immediately hit by the smell of perfume. It wasn't pleasant, but it certainly wasn't the most terrible thing I'd ever smelled, either.

"You wanna shower first?" Peridot asked, locking the door behind us.

"Sure," I answered.

I walked into the bathroom and took in the smells of the different soaps in it. It was much better than the perfume smell, that was for sure. I took off my clothes and washed the dust off of them by wiping them with a damp rag. Then I laid them down on the vanity and let them dry.

In that time, I got in the shower and washed myself off. It felt good to get the dust off finally. It had felt like I was walking around in a suit of very light, sweaty, and uncomfortable armor.

When I was done washing the dust off, I stepped out of the shower and dried myself off quickly. I found a brush from the hotel and used it to fix my hair while it was still damp. I let it dry to the point where it wouldn't drip on anything it touched, and then I put my clothes back on. They felt cleaner than before, but they were a little cold from being wet. It was nothing I couldn't handle.