“Y ... You don’t have to do all this yourself!” Claire suddenly burst out, a little too loud for comfort. “I can take care of all that! Well ... except the drugged up office part, but I don’t want you working despite having a sick note! The doctor wouldn’t even release you without someone to look after you!”
“Thanks, but I’m good. I can work while sitting in front of a computer. Not that strenuous.” I dismissed her while taking the last sip of my coffee.
“You can rely on us from time to time, you know?” Aaron offered. Was he joking?
“Sure. Because asking
Looking around, I noticed three embarrassed and almost hurt looking faces. Maybe I should get myself one of those automatic coffee makers with these little capsules. I could keep it in my room, so they could enjoy their mornings in peace.
As I stepped into my shoes after getting dressed, Claire suddenly showed up next to me in the hallway.
“I know we weren’t the best family for you, Honey. But please ... I’d really like to help you! I
“Uh huh. I had cracked ribs before and was perfectly fine taking care of myself.” I replied, ignoring her obvious wince upon hearing my words. “So, thanks, but I’m really good.”
“Be safe. I love you!” she quickly added as I stepped out of the door, but the only answer she got was the sound of the door closing behind me.
As planned, I first dropped off the doctor’s note at school. Then I got to our GP who immediately let me in after seeing my face to make sure the incisions were still good, and gave me prescriptions for more of the opiates to sleep. He also gave me a new sick note for the next four whopping weeks!
Since he had my medical history, he didn’t want to risk anything, and this was apparently how long it would take until it was “safe to ‘bump’ into people in the hallways” as he phrased it while making air quotes with a meaningful look.
This was fucking awesome! The sick note spanning four weeks would mean that the first day I could go back to school would be the first day of the two-week long Christmas break. This meant that I wouldn’t have to go back into that shithole for the next six fucking weeks! I made a mental note of calling the school as soon as Thanksgiving break was over, to check if they had some kind of online study program. The pharmacy was right next door to our GP and, within fifteen minutes, the ibuprofen had taken the edge off the pain, so I could spend the day working somewhat effectively.
After a few hours, however, I noticed that I wasn’t just sitting around like I had claimed in the parents’ kitchen. My chest started hurting whenever I let my left hand rest on the keyboard for more than two minutes, which turned typing into a quite tedious task. I was just groaning again when Bill came through the door, looking somewhat pensive.
“Hey, Kid. You know you don’t have to be here, right? Why don’t you at least stay home until you can use both your eyes again?”
“Nah, I can manage. But thank you for the offer.”
“Oh, thanks for dropping the adapter at my office yesterday.”
“No problem, Boss! Did it work? If not, I could take another look.”
“Worked perfectly fine.” he waved me off. “Got the first three videos digitized already. I came because of something else, though.” he said, but didn’t elaborate further. I had never seen him so hesitant before.
“Did I screw up something?” His behavior started to unsettle me...
“No. But maybe I did. I just got a call from John. Did you ever tell your folks about ... what happened with ... Tess?” he asked disturbingly cautiously. Bill knew how badly I had taken her death. He was the only one I had talked with before I came back from my vacation. And I’m pretty sure my behavior at Tess’ funeral wasn’t lost on him either.
“No, I didn’t. Wasn’t really eager to discuss it with them. Especially John’s wife. She has that tendency to meddle in things, trying to help, but making everything worse.” I answered, while shifting my attention back to my monitor.
“Well, they somehow heard. And, since they knew about the two of you being together in the office, they called me to confirm it. Sorry, Kid.” he explained.
“Not much you could do there, Boss. Thank you for warning me.” I said, with sincere gratitude in my voice, and he left after giving me a short nod.
How did they suddenly hear about Tess? They didn’t have any mutual friends or even acquaintances ... except for me, that is. Why did they even care now? They saw me when I was obviously grieving, but couldn’t be bothered to ask about my mood then. I didn’t understand these people, but I was sure there was a surprise waiting for me back home. I spent the remainder of the workday trying not to think about it and, on my way home, actually picked up a coffee maker with a full assortment of different capsules, and a few cups fitting the model.
