It’s been twenty minutes, and the road is peaceful. I watch Riley as she takes a seat in the front. Everyone is in quiet mode, and it’s the first time I feel at ease being in silence. We’re finally going to Wilmont.
I know this long road will end and that we should expect to encounter another horde in another town but as we’ve lost half of us might give us an advantage. The lesser, the safer. Not that I’m grateful we’ve been diminished, it’s that it’s just easier to keep our guards up with each other because we’re lesser than before.
The dog lies on its chest as it chews on a bone snack that George gave. He must love him already. I study his fangs as it exposes when he chews, then flashes pop into my mind. I flinch away. I just don’t get why this dog has to do its thing right in my face. I stand up, attaching myself hard to the seat in front of me as I try to get away from him while avoiding him. I take a step far from its face, and my pessimistic self just thinks about getting my foot mistaken as the dog’s another bone snack. I hastily jump away from him and end up at Riley’s row of seats.
I sit beside her, rubbing my terrorized heart as I deeply breathe. I turn to my other side where I find Riley furrowing her eyebrows.
I smile widely. “Hi!”
“Hey,” she greets back in a rising tone.
I clear my throat as I sit up straight, rubbing my sweaty hands on my jeans. “So, uh… How are you?”
“Fine, but not good,” she replies in her normal monotone voice.
“Why is that?”
“I don’t feel good. It’s my…” She squeezes her eyes shut and shakes her head. “Never mind.”
Wait, is she hesitating to tell me?
“No, no, no. You can tell me anything. Like anything.”
“You wouldn’t understand what I’ll say.”
“I’ll try.”
“One of the things I don’t like in a guy is that they force someone to do what they’re hesitant of.”
Though she’s being honest, her words kinda hurt my feelings a little. I drop my head down as I say, “Oh. I’m sorry, I just… I just wanted to know you better.”
Silent air flows between us as we look away from each other. I hear her deep sigh, and I sense the frustration in it.
“My stomach is aching. Nothing much really.” She says as she looks at me again.
I lean to my side to face her, concerned about her feeling right now. “Did you eat something?”
“No. It’s not that kind of pain. Something else.”
“Like, uh… Diarrhea…?”
“No!” She hisses. “You know what, never mind. For real. I can take it anyway.”
“Hey, don’t be like that. I’m right here, facing you, worried. Tell me how it feels.”
It takes her a few seconds to answer, maybe thinking about what to say. “My period is coming.”
“Oh. I know what a period is. I used to buy Nathalie tampons and ice cream when she’s in that month.”
She grins. “Quite unexpected of you, though.”
“Why, because I’m a guy, and I don’t know anything about it? You’re mistaken. I know a lot about it. I know how painful it is.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Yeah, it’s as painful as a heart attack.”
“You must have done some research.”
“My father… My adoptive father didn’t trust me at first. So, I did everything to gain it. Including caring for his daughter. Nath’s mother told me what to do, not only to take care of her but of someone else, I may be with in the future.” I smile as I reminisce about their faces.
“They must be really nice to you.”
“They were. How about you?”
She sighs. “Well, all I can think about now is the pain in my stomach. And I can’t think straight when I’m sick.”
“Right. I almost forgot. Do you have painkillers in your bag?” I ask as I glance at her stuff right beside her.
“I don’t. I didn’t have time to visit the pharmacy.”
I snicker. “Don’t worry, I gotcha.” I head back to my original seat and thankfully the dog is gone. I look above to find Nathalie’s bag in the overhead luggage and dig in to find the medicine. As a painkiller is in my hand, I go back to Riley and give it to her. She grabs a tumbler of water from the side of her backpack and takes in the medicine before chugging some. She takes a second to shut her eyes before returning her tumble back to her bag. She leans her head on the headrest, her eyes are still closed. I ask her, “Do you feel better?”
She weakly shakes her head. “Now my head hurts,” she answers, massaging the temples of her forehead.
“Do you wanna lean on me?”
She slowly opens her eyelids as she looks at me. Her beautiful hazel brown irises make my heart beat faster. She replies, “Can I?”
“Of course. Come here.” I tap on my right shoulder as I welcome her.
She then places her head gently and closes her eyes again. She crosses her arms as she does so and I thought she was going to hug my arm. I mean, why did I even think that? But having her on a part of my body is enough for me to have a heart attack now. I perform a heavy inhale-exhale. I look down and see the roots of her hair, and it smells astonishingly good. I want to pet her head but I don’t think we’re there yet.
I clear my throat to ask her about the same topic. “Uh, did you wear any tampons yet?”
“What?” She replies without making a move.
“I’m sorry if that sounded a bit wrong. I didn’t mean it in a strange way.”
“I already have, yes.” “Oh, good, good. You can take a nap now.”
“Wait, I have to ask you something.”
“Yeah?”
“As we were talking about before we got breached in, I know this is a bit personal to you and I don’t want to bother you about it but I’m curious. You can call me a hypocrite but I just want to know why you’re scared of dogs. And the dog seems nice so I don’t think you should be scared of him.”
“Riley, did you forget it bit you on the arm?” I reply as I look over her bandaged injury.
“I didn’t, but I forgave him. What I couldn’t forgive is that you pointed a gun at him.”
I flinch. I thought she forgot about it but she didn’t. “I was… worried. Though worried is an understatement.”
“About what? Me getting rabies?”
I scoff. “I had flashes when it bit you.”
She looks up at me, our eyes are now inches away. “Did you have trauma?”
“Nah, I don’t think it’s something like trauma. It’s kinda a bit more of a dark past.”
“Right. Well, trauma can be a dark past. Did you get bitten before?”
“No.” I become reticent about what I’m about to say next. No one has ever asked me about this and I’m not used to bringing it up. For a long second, I continue speaking, “I had a sister. Her name was Marcielle.”
I flinch again as I finally mentioned her name. For years of living my life with my new family, I did my best to forget her name, not realizing how stuck it was in the back of my head.