Song: Battlefield by Svrcina
Day 5:
When I woke today I decided I should go and see if any of the nurses needed help, Katie had also asked me if she could get another bottle of pills. I was walking through one of the more nicer hallways when I finally spotted French doors that led to the lobby. I walked up to the doors and tried to push one side open. The door opened a little but got stuck on something on the other side. With more effort this time I heaved the door open but saw a terrifying sight. There were about 20 dead bodies laying across the room, the body that I was trying to push out of the way... Was Claire, the sweet old lady I had met five days ago. I gasped and turned away, not baring to look at the faces of any of those people.
I ran down the hallway that I had come from, motivated to get back to the room I was staying in. I looked back to see if anyone was there. When I looked back I almost bumped into Dr. Cannerts. "Sorry." He said as he took a step back from me.
"T-the lobby... Have you seen all those bodies?" I asked breathing hard, tears stained my eyes.
"Ah yes well, more people are being infected here and we are currently trying to sort everything out. I'm sorry you had to see that... walk with me?" Dr. Cannerts started walking the way I came, not wanting to be alone I started to walk with him.
"There's so many." I said still thinking about all those people that I saw.
"What were you doing?" Cannerts asked, pulling my attention back towards him.
"I was going to see if the nurses needed any help and get Katie some more of her pills." Dr. Cannerts gave a curious look causing me to look down.
"What does she need?" I hesitantly told him the name then rubbed the back of my neck nervously. "The pharmacy closed but I'll see what I can do." He said before walking into a lab room. Before walking back to the classroom I had happened to look in the lab and I saw a bunch of white lab mice in big plastic containers.
As I walked back into our room that we were staying in, I noticed Katie sitting on the bed, Jake and Quentin were talking about girls on the floor with some model of the city between them. "No why? Do you?" Jake had asked Quentin who chuckled and shook his head. Jake looked behind him at Katie who sat on the bed trying not to laugh, then looked at me and smiled. "Yeah that's right, girls are gross."
"Guys" Katie said as she got up and stood in front of Jake.
I walked up next to her and playfully glared at Jake. "You're supposed to be a role model."
"Hey hey, this is guy talk, you girls aren't supposed to be listening." Jake pulled himself up and I noticed how exhausted he looked.
"Ya it's guy talk!" Quentin put in as Katie shrugged.
"Hey Quentin, where'd you get that hat?" Katie asked. It took me a second to register that Quentin did in fact have a hat on his head that I'd never seen before.
"Oh, I snagged it for him at the lost and found." Jake put in quickly so Katie wouldn't start getting mad. "Looks good right?" Katie nodded in approval then turned to me.
"Did you get it?" Katie asked with hope in her voice.
I looked down for a second then shook my head. "The pharmacy is closed." Katie looked sad and I noticed Jake gave us a curious look. "I guess that means we have to live without toothpaste." I said quickly covering up for Katie.
"See," Jake said as he turned to Quentin and dropped his voice to a whisper "girls are gross." Quentin burst into giggles causing Jake to chuckle,
"Shut up." I said as I rolled my eyes, but a smile danced across my lips.
After that, Jake had to leave to do God-knows-what and I was stuck worrying about my family yet again. "Iris" I heard someone say but I wasn't paying attention. "Iris" the person said again. "Iris stop!" The person shouted causing me to focus on them. When I turned my head in the direction of the voice I saw that it was Katie who looked worried.
"W-what?" I asked as I finally stopped pacing across the room.
"You have been pacing since Jake had left, that was two hours ago. You are really worrying me." Katie said just as Jake walked in the doorway.
"Sorry I was thinking about my family, but I-I'm fine now... I'll stop worrying you." I said reassuring Katie who had now noticed Jake.
"Hey" Jake said to both of us and put his helmet on his bed. "Where's Quentin?" He asked as he glanced around the empty room. I then glanced around the room too and noticed everyone was gone. Was I really not paying any attention to them?
"He's playing with the other kids." Katie said as she took a seat on her bed.
"We should do something to take our mind off of things." Jake said to both of us but I knew he said it to me mainly. Katie nodded looking at me with an questioning glance.
"I guess, anything to get my mind off my family." I said after a second of hesitation. Jake and Katie rejoiced and gathered up a few things.
"You two deserve a shopping spree." Jake said as we all walked out the door. Katie and I glanced at him with curiosity then at each other. "What is he talking about?" I mouthed over to her. Katie just shrugged and continued to follow Jake down the hall.
"What about this?" I asked as I pulled a red, white, and blue sparkly tank top out of one of the lost and found bins the hospital had. We were in another hallway with three bins full of clothes and accessories. Apparently this is what Jake meant by 'shopping.'
"Oh my god yes! That is true class right there." Jake stated as he and Katie were laughing. I made a duck face which caused both of them to double over and laugh harder. After they composed themselves Jake gasped and pulled out a colorful hat. "This is so me." He said as he put on the hat.
"Now you have to take up Ceramics." Katie said as we both giggled at how dorky he looked.
"I actually gave my mom a mug at summer camp a long time ago." Jake said as he took the hat off and set it on his lap.
"I bet she still has it!" I said throwing the tank top in my lap. I am definitely gonna try this on in a few minutes.
"Well she-she passed away." Jake said sadly. Katie and I both looked at each other then back at him.
"We're sorry to hear that." Katie said sympathetically as I nodded.
"It's fine, it was a long time ago. I have it at my place now. It's ugly, it leaks, and it mocks me from the cupboard." Jake said smiling.
I smiled then noticed something. "Wow, this is possibly the first time I've gone a full day without checking my phone."
"Me too, the first time in like, ever" Katie said as Jake just smiled and played with the hat. "It's kinda nice though."
Jake and I nodded in agreement as I pulled out three pairs of sunglasses and threw one at both of them. Jake had some yellow slit glasses and Katie had some dark brown ones. I had some giant blue ones that I put on. "Well hello there." Jake said to me tipping his yellow glasses down a bit. I blushed but was able to hide it with my black hair.
"Hello there to you too." I said then looked at Katie. "Do these glasses make my nose look small?" I acted very self-conscious causing her to laugh and nod. I fake gasped and stuck my tongue out at her.
After a second she got serious and looked at Jake. "Thank you... For the pills. I have a problem with my highs and lows. I got into some really bad stuff with Quentin's dad... I went clean and he didn't, which of course his parents blame me for. I've been keeping myself in check, so thank you."
Jake sat there for a second then looked her in the eyes. "We've all got our crosses."
"T-that's it?" Katie asked confused. "It doesn't scare you?"
Jake and I chuckled quietly then I looked at her "What, that you're human."
Katie just looked at her lap and nodded. "I guess I've been too used to being punished for it."
I took a deep breath and looked down. "A few years ago I got pregnant. Unlike you Katie, I decided I was too young and too stupid to be a mother. My family had enough money for me to get an abortion... But we quickly went into debt because the clinic wanted more and more money. Even though my family doesn't blame me for us going into debt, I still feel like it's my fault. Sometimes I wished that I never would have gotten pregnant in the first place."
"Don't say that." Jake said causing me to finally look up. Jake beckoned me to sit next to him so I did. I looked over at Katie who didn't even know what to say, she just gave me a shocked look. "Iris, it's not your fault that you decided to give up the baby, you weren't ready. Even if you were, it probably would've costed more money. You did what you thought was right." I nodded and looked at Katie who agreed with Jake.
"So what's your cross?" Katie asked Jake who threw the hat back into one of the bins. "I don't think girls are gross, I've actually... been with a lot of them, it's a cope. My childhood wasn't a picnic so I've always had a hard time letting people in." I thought back to when my parents got divorced and how hard that was for me. "When I let people try to get close, I end up running. We don't know each other well but given our situation, we've all been getting close... So don't let me run." Jake looked at me then at Katie and touched one of the hats that was in the middle of us, I reached out a little and touched the soft fabric of the hat, Katie did the same. "We won't." I told him.
A while had passed and we had a full dress up party. I put on the tank top (which Jake whistled loudly at) and put on a black shaw. Katie put on a tie dye shirt and bandana and played with a tennis racket (which I whistled loudly at). Jake wrapped a pink shaw around his head, put on thin glasses and acted like a girl (which Katie and I both ended up making fun of him for).
It might not seem like much but all we have is each other, and I hope it will stay that way for a while.