𝐋𝐔𝐃𝐈𝐂𝐑𝐎𝐔𝐒. ᵒᵘᵗᵉʳ ᵇᵃⁿᵏˢ ¹

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 11.

━  𝗯𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁𝘆.

    𝐈 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐍𝐃𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐈𝐍 front of the mirror, looking at the bruise on my side, when Caroline and Daryl returned home later that day.

    A large, throbbing, purple and blue mark covered my right hip, where I had fallen, but it was less visible than I'd expected. My shorts were halfway pulled down to reveal the dark injury. I glanced over to the pack of frozen peas still resting on my bed covers, which I'd found in the freezer upon arriving home.

    "Charlotte?" Caroline's voice shouted out through the silent house, startling me.

    The sound of the screen door hitting against it's end entered my ears, and I quickly pulled up my shorts, buttoning them as footsteps neared. In a fast motion, I reached for the pack of frozen peas, which weren't really frozen anymore, and shoved them under the bed before hopping on top of the covers.

    "There you are," her face relaxed into a soft smile when she laid eyes on me, through the already open door.

    I pried the book away from my face, pretending to have read it, "Hey," I greeted casually.

    "Come out, we picked something up for dinner," she announced, her voice soft. She smiled at me once more before turning on her heel and stepping away down the hall.

    I let out a stressed breath, placing the book down beside me. My legs swung over the side of the bed to let my feet meet the ground, and I trotted towards the door, following her out.

    Daryl was sitting at a chair of the round table, a plastic bag in front of him, with steam coming out of the top. He looked back to see his wife, and soon after, me, entering the kitchen, a wide smile on his face.

    "I hope you like burgers," he chuckled at me, while reaching a hand into the bag.

    I delicately pushed a piece of hair behind my ear, not realizing it was dinner time already. "Yes, of course," I laughed in return, while approaching my usual spot, near the window.

    He was still grinning as he placed a cardboard platter in front of the chair I was about to sit in, the fresh smell of food filling up my nose. Caroline smiled with anticipation as she sat down across from me, a platter placed in front of her soon after.

    "I thought everything was closed because of the power outage," I said with a curious tone, my eyebrows only softly narrowing, remembering how all the stores I had passed while bike riding, on the Cut, weren't open.

    "We picked em' up over on Figure Eight," Daryl hummed, while taking out his own platter, and dropping the empty plastic bag on the floor beside him. "They got their generators and stuff. Must be real good hamburgers though," he laughed, glancing to Caroline who nodded in agreement.

    "What's Figure Eight?" I asked kindly, while opening my cardboard platter to reveal one of the biggest hamburgers I'd ever seen.

    Caroline waved her hand in the air as if swatting something away, her eyes rolling, "just the rich part of the island." She said, before taking her first bite.

    I thought about the beautiful beach houses I'd looked at on my bike ride, and the intersection with all the fancy boutiques.

    "Did you go on a bike ride?" Daryl asked, as he swallowed the food in his mouth.

    "Yeah," I nodded, my voice normal. I told them about it, leaving out the part where I almost got run over, and the purple bruise on my hip.

    Both of them smiled at me and nodded calmly, happy looks on their faces. No one talked for a few minutes after that, while each of us devoured the food from our platters.