Chapter 25
Flashback
She walked into his room at God knows what hour, and woke him up from his sleep.
"Rachel?" he asked confused as to whether this was a dream.
"Tell me," she demanded.
He stared at her, not understanding, but then she sat on his bed next to him. "Tell me about your HIV, tell me how you got it."
He shook his head and she took his hand and squeezed. "Tell me. I'm here."
So he nodded because she promised to be there for him and it was time to face his fears. "I think it was the heroin needles. I can't be sure though, because I know I never cheated, but I can't say the same for her."
"Her?"
"April, my girlfriend back then. It all started with her. I met her at a club my band played. She was so happy and bubbly, I was attracted to her right away."
"We'd been dating for almost a year when she brought it up. She'd already done it a few times and wanted to try it with me. So we did, that night, then again a few weeks later, and again and again until the heroin was controlling us instead of the other way around."
Rachel stayed calm. At least she looked calm and if she was only pretending to be so was doing a really good job.
"We self-destructed. There was fighting, possible cheating, stealing and everything else that comes from being a drug addict. Then one day I came home to a note, 'We've got AIDS' it said, and there was April, dead in the tub, her blood everywhere."
"Oh my God!" her hand went up to cover her mouth.
"It took me a long time to move on from that. But I did, finally. Sometimes I can still see her in my dreams but those don't come as often as they used to."
She cuddled into him to let him know she was there for him. "Thank-you."
He looked at her, confusion in his eyes. "What for?"
"For telling me. I know it took a lot."
"You deserved to know."
They spent the rest of the night together and talked about their day and about Life Support. She was out of the room before anyone was awake. When he woke up alone, he couldn't help but wonder if it had all been a dream.