Ch 5

Sunday was laundry day. I wore most of the clothes I possessed in the last two weeks. As I gathered my laundry items, Kris walked by and paused with an intent look on her face. "You're doing laundry? Can I come?"

"Yeah, of course." She then ran and grabbed her bag as if it had been ready for days. I've done my own laundry since I was eight years old, when I discovered Renee would always put the darks, red, and whites in one load. She never paid any attention, just dumped it all in. It ruined my favorite white flower printed shirt. I commandeered two washers and systematically sorted my things. Humming to myself I finished my task, Kris shortly behind. If I had looked I would've seen how she copied my movements after I did them. Her eyes wide as she observed and made mental notes.

As I turned to see her progress, she was looking between her laundry softener and detergent, as if she didn't know what went where. Catching my eye, her quick smile covered the questioning look on her face as she randomly put in the detergent where the softener goes. Ah well, it wouldn't exactly hurt her clothes. Slamming the lid with more force than necessary she breathed out while consciously dropping her shoulders. I was starting to notice when she was stressed she got quiet. Was this one of those times? And why? I didn't want to pry or ruin her moment of introspection so I opened my history notebook and read chapter three. I missed having a washer and dryer in the house. It was much easier and I could do laundry whenever. No, this was fine, normal.

After an hour Kris's mood improved, She started to read her geometry book with her usual perfect posture. The question I had in my mind ended up just spilling out my mouth. "Ineedaridetoastoreplease." Her face scrunched up in confusion.

"What? Can you repeat that Marie?

Blushing I took a breath before I repeated "I need a ride to a store, it's 15 miles away. Do you mind taking me?" Kris looked amused before redoing her ponytail.

" Course. I wouldn't mind in the least bit."

"Thanks" relief flooded me. Why was that so hard? "I had an old truck back home but left it there. It's weird not having a vehicle."

"Well I love driving, except maybe towards the end of that road trip. I was starting to sing my own lyrics to each song. The last line I sang was 'the elephant danced in the yard' I was tired.." Kris remarked as she flipped a page.

"You did drive for days, it's understandable." A proud look in her eyes appeared simultaneously with some tears. She wiped them away quickly nonchalantly.

"After our laundry is done we can go." she said, faking a casual tone.

"I'll need to grab some things from the dorm first."

"Aye aye, captain" she mock saluted, before returning to her book.

"Welcome to my shop, dears, what can I help you with?" the older lady asked kindly. She looked at us with keen observation. I raised my arm before speaking.

"I have a list of things I need and instructions. I've never done anything with herbs before. " I then handed the list to her to see.

Kris said "I'll be looking around," as she made herself scarce.

"What's your goal, dear?"

"It's uh, well these books. I attract mosquitoes like crazy. I want to fix that. " I forced the words out. The lady put out her hand indicating she wanted to see them. I handed them to her as she flipped through and paused at certain pages. What I didn't see was that she had paused on the crescent moon scar on my wrist as well. Her eyes had a sudden understanding. Her face moved as if to say something, but she looked at my apprehensive posture and shallow breathing. I held my hand to my heart and tapped on it out of habit since Ed- left and was doing so now. I assumed by her knowing look that she understood my list and request. The lady took a quick overall look at me, information quickly gathering before she cleared her throat.

"Of course I can help you dear. Are you ok getting more things than are on your list? I have some ideas for you."

"Yeah, that would be great actually," I smiled gratefully.

It took an hour, as I gathered the herbs I needed, tincture bottles, teas, mortar, carrier oil, and other little things. She took me around the shop and gave me instructions. She went to grab an item but paused as if deciding. Finally she grabbed the cayenne comfrey supplement and put it in my hand. "Here this is a gift, no charge. I want you to have it. This supplement won't help with the mosquito problem, but it will help with your mind and body," she said broadly, not going into any specifics.

"But how? What?" I felt confused.

"It will help dear. Now if you have any questions, stop by anytime," she said, not letting the subject continue further. I checked out and quickly grabbed a book to purchase. Kris was engrossed in a book called "Healing Power of Water." The book came home with us as well. I liked that lady and already felt better about things.

I was slightly overwhelmed from the download of information I received and decided to write everything down. A few hours later at home I was organizing my new items. I decided to trust the lady about the cayenne capsules. In the herb book I bought, it said it helped with heart and digestive problems. I had no way of knowing without having actual vampires around if this would work, but herbs had so many benefits there was no harm in trying them.

It took a few days to add the herbs to my routine. I had tea in a travel mug during school, tincture around noon, and the salve I made at night on the bottom of my feet.

By the end of week three my routine was more established. I had an internal alarm clock that was used to Washington time, that I have not been able to shake. So most of the time I woke up two hours before my classes generally started and that became my serious study time. Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays were crazy while Wednesday and Friday were more chill. I neglected to call Charlie the first week but planned to call him at least every few weeks. I felt a little bad but I never called Renee in general. Sometimes I even forgot to email her. I didn't do it on purpose. I just left Arizona and never came back to it, even in my mind. I was not popular there and was pretty much invisible. Except for when they wanted to cheat off me.

I was getting better with archery. I actually enjoyed it too. I liked archery because you don't have to be super fast or tall. I could be ordinary and still do well. It was about skill, not strength. The English class didn't completely enamour me like I thought it would. It was the basic class... Perhaps if I took a focused class on Poetry, Creative Writing, Expository Writing, or American Literature it might get better. I did not take a math class this semester but Kris reassured me she would help when I did. She had two math classes, Intermediate Algebra and Intro to Statistics. She called these classes 'fascinating and fun'. Honestly, these first semester classes weren't too far off from high school classes, but they added more specific details in the subject. Later on when I pick a major, it'll get better. I just needed to get the prerequisites done first.

It was not all smooth sailing. The building where my English class was taught was as far apart as it could possibly be from my next class. I arrived windblown, sweaty, late three times a week. It was hard to ignore the authoritative stare I earned each class period. I really needed that bike I kept forgetting about. Right now I was scrambling to finish a history paper because I accidentally fell asleep at 7pm last night instead of working on it. Oops. The headache that had been drumming behind my temples was starting to pulse. It had been a heavy class day and the white boards were a tad blurry. I was starving! Now that my appetite had mostly returned I forgot how often I needed to eat. Focus, Marie! Time is ticking.

Afterwards I was sitting on a bench outside the building. I closed my eyes with my head in my hands, bluh. I let my mind rest while I tried to calm my grumpy mood. When I looked up I saw a girl from behind who had Alice's body type and hair color. That didn't help things. I hoped for the fiftieth time that she wouldn't get anymore visions of me. That I could hide myself from her gift as well as her brothers. It might be a false notion but the idea gave me some hope. A few stray stress tears slipped out. I quickly wiped them away while I walked in the direction of the cafeteria.

A few days later Kris walked in the kitchen and stopped mid-step with wide eyes. "Woah….what is going on here and why do we have like a hundred cookies?" Kris questioned before looking at me. I was as messy as the kitchen. As she saw me she ran her hands through her hair and blew some air.

"I was stress-baking. It's been a hard day." A hard week actually.

"You baked ten dozen different cookies?"

"Nine actually".

"Marie, come sit down, please." She looked at me while I was rapidly doing the dishes. "Put the sponge down," her tone commanding but kind. I was going to refuse, but the look in her eye stopped me. I was led to the couch. "What was going on today?" What could I tell her? That I was having repeating dreams of a cherished memory with a past family that always went sour? Or how I couldn't concentrate on anything? How when I sat down my head wanted to explode with crashing thoughts?

"Hm.." I looked down at my hands flexing and unflexing my hands. To her credit Kris managed a clear expression while being patient with my plodding response time. Fine, I'll call a spade a spade. "I'm having repetitive disheartening dreams every night and I dread sleeping. It makes concentrating difficult. I'm having a tough time getting my mood happier. I just... can't shake this feeling." I started speaking in a normal volume but it had dropped each sentence to a dull whisper. I cleared my throat and resumed the original volume. "I need to keep busy, so I won't give my thoughts any heed." Kris looked thoughtful while she hugged herself and closed her eyes. After a short lapse of time her eyes opened, they held an understanding and empathetic look.

When she had found her voice, she simply stated "So you baked an abundance of cookies."

"I thought it would help…but I got carried away instead."

"The best of us overcompensate, M." She sat up into her typical perfect posture and her face brightened. " I have an idea, trust me?"

An hour later our dorm was filled with people flowing in and out. Kris had invited everyone for a "cookie party" in our building; "BYOM." Bring your own milk. The kitchen and I had been cleaned up. Music was playing with the pleasant hubbub of laughter and conversations. I had managed to be less shy, and I found myself talking to people I just met or always walked by. I had fun and Kris did as well. I could tell because she was cracking jokes to a small audience and was flirting with one of the random boys who showed up. We got along very well with one other dorm below us. They invited us to their movie night on Saturday. All in all, we had a great time. I didn't have to eat a hundred cookies by myself and made friends.