Page 26 of Found

Quickly, I get dressed and throw my unruly hair into a ponytail. I brush my teeth and pack up the little belongings I have that aren’t already in my suitcase.

Pulling my suitcase behind me, I venture out of the bedroom to find Boss sitting at the table, his head propped up in his hands. He looks exhausted.

“I’m sorry,” I say.

“What are you sorry for, Lexi?” he snaps.

“Everything?”

“Do you even remember yesterday?”

“Not much,” I admit.

He stands from the table and begins pacing back and forth on the tiled kitchen floor. “Well, let’s see. I was at work, fighting a fire, so I didn’t get your texts right away. When I got back to the firehouse and read all your messages, I was freaked out of my mind. There were so many, and they made no sense. So I left work early to come home and check on you. When I got here, I found you in a pile of your fucking puke. You were covered in blood. You had your bikini top wrapped around your head. I don’t know if you were trying to strangle yourself or what. You were crying and talking about burning skin and peeling eyelids. You were legitimately terrified that your eyes were going to fall out of your head for some fucking reason.”

I cover my face and shake my head. I have a vague recollection of falling and my scraped-up legs are evidence of such. There’s also a blurry memory of puke which could’ve been from the sight of blood, which makes me sick every time, or a reaction to the bogus pain pill that fuckface Kyle probably concocted in his toilet with cat shit and bathroom tile cleaner for all I know. The images of yesterday are confusing, faint, and blurry, like a dream I’m trying to recall after a long night’s sleep.

“I’m so sorry, Boss. I truly am.”

He points a finger toward me. “You know how I feel about drugs. We’ve talked about this. You know that’s a hard limit for me. And I had to come home to that?”

“I’m sorry.”

“I was up all night. First, I gave you a shower and cleaned up the cuts on your legs and palms. I held your hair back as you puked for hours. I cleaned up the vomit from the kitchen floor and the blood all over the carpet.”

I whip my head toward the living room, and the cream carpet. There are patches of wet carpet throughout the space. I feel horrible.

“I watched you sleep, terrified you were going to choke on your vomit.” His eyes are haunted. “What happened yesterday?”

My lip trembles as tears prick at my eyes. “I went to the pool, and some kid offered me a pill,” I choke out. “He said it was a harmless high. I thought it would be fine, like drinking a few beers.”

“What kind of pill?”

“I don’t know. He said it was a pain pill.”

“It was obviously laced with something. You can’t just take the word of some crackhead. You were out of your fucking mind.” He shakes his head. “Come on. Grab your stuff.”

He hurries out of the condo, and I follow him. “It was dumb, I know. I said I’m sorry.”

Boss clicks his key fob to unlock his car. He opens the driver’s side door. “Taking an unknown drug from a stranger is more than just dumb, Lexi.”

Opening the passenger side door, I toss my suitcase into the back seat and slide into the front, pulling the seat belt across my chest before Boss can remind me.

He drives toward Cam’s place, and I wish it were farther away. I need to figure out what to tell him so he’ll know how very sorry I am. Surely, if I explain it correctly, he’d understand. It was a freak thing. The mess he found lying in her own vomit on his kitchen floor isn’t me, it can’t be.

“I just think…” I start to say as he pulls alongside the curb in front of Cam’s apartment.

He holds up a hand. “I don’t care to hear what you think. You’re not the person I thought you were. I don’t ever want to see you again.”

My mouth falls open at the finality of his words. He faces forward without so much as a glance in my direction. His tense, rigid posture tells me he’s not in the mood to talk about this anymore. I open the car door and retrieve my bag. The second I close the door, he’s speeding away.

My tears fall as I watch him leave, and my heart breaks.

* * *

I creakopen Cam’s bedroom door. “Cam, are you awake?”

“Lex? What’s up? Why are you back so early?” she asks through a yawn.

---