Days had finally passed by, and I was home with Kim. I had been so nervous about being released from the hospital, afraid that someone would be waiting for me. My first experience with drugs, and let's just say, I didn't enjoy it! I laid in Kim's bed, silent.... just thinking. Why me? Why did this have to happen now? And what if it had been Kim? I can honestly say, that I would have wanted to kill someone. No one would hurt her, I wouldn't let that happen! They could hurt me, or try to hurt me all they wanted, but if they touched Kim..... I would snap! Ike and Taylor had proved to me just how much they both loved me. Not one of them left my side the whole time, and I couldn't have loved them more. I had never seen them be so...... brotherly! And Isaac had taken me aside the night I was released from the hospital to let me know that Julie, the girl from the airport, had been caught. Marvin had identified her and she was taken into custody. I was just happy knowing she was off the streets.... but Lauren was still out there somewhere, plotting and planning. She was the one I was worried about.
"Zac?" Kim asked quietly.
"Yes, what's the matter?" I asked as I looked up at her from under the covers.
"You hungry? Tay and I made some lunch."
"Yeah, I'm starving. I'll be out in a minute." I smiled at her.
"Ok." She grinned back and turned to leave.
"Kim......"
"Yeah?"
"I love you, you know that right?" I asked.
"Yes Zac, I know. And I love you too." She smiled again and walked out of the room, leaving me in the bed with my boxers pulled up my legs, my hair sticking up in every direction and a huge grin on my face.
I stood up and stretched my long legs, feeling my back crack in a couple of places. I absentmindedly rubbed my stomach and felt the small raised bump on my skin. I looked down at it.... the telltale mark of what had happened to me just a few days before. The experience I would remember for the rest of my life, my brush with death. I swallowed passed the lump in my throat and I pulled on a pair of my jeans, leaving the button undone and running my hands through my hair roughly. I walked out into the kitchen where Taylor, Isaac and Kim were standing around the counter eating something and talking. They all looked up at me and smiled.
"Hey there, welcome back from the dead." Taylor smiled.
"Yeah, I know. I'm sorry I slept so much... just tired." I said ruffling my hair again.
"No worries, Taylor made you lunch." Ike said handing me a bowl of mac and cheese.
"Oh Tay, such the culinary wonder!" I laughed.
"I know it." He smiled and puffed his chest out. "I'm ready to become a chef for Donald Trump."
"Yeah, cause I'm sure he still eats Mac and Cheese from the box." Isaac laughed.
It was good to see us all going on with life. Things weren't changed much, I was just scared of things happening..... scared of what was to come. I knew it wasn't over, but I kept to myself about it. They just needed the old Zac, the Zac that cracked jokes at every waking moment. The Zac I had yet to rediscover. The walls were up, and it would take a bulldozer to bring them back down. I knew that...... but I couldn't lock out the ones I loved. It would just take....... time.
Go Home?
Or go to the next chapter?
