11. Trauma

Please touch me...

Nova

I open my eyes slowly and immediately squint when I'm met with the harsh reflection of morning sunlight from my window.

Too lazy to stand up and still slightly drunk, with a raging hangover to be able to decipher my current location.

I'm laying on my side in a bed, I'm very sure it's not mine.

I drop my hand from my body trying to feel around for anything like my phone or anyone perhaps but nothing.

I close my eyes and stretch drawing the sheets up to my face unknowingly and that's when I see it.

The blood.

"Oh, my God!" I gasp to myself as my memories from last night begin to come back making all of these make sense to me.

I don't get up from the bed, too scared that whoever I slept with is still around somewhere or he has gone and I have to face the awkward moment when I realize what I did.

I wanted to have sex. At least drunk me did

I remember Tiffany bringing up the idea and at that moment it sounded like an amazing one.

My first thought was just to get rid of it. Get on with it and know you've done it. Know you've lost your virginity.

I drop my hand to the side again and I run it across the bed searching for my phone. All I feel is wetness on the sheets.

"Oh fuck Tiffany!" I exclaim loudly as I jump out of bed fully awake "Oh my God!" I scream and back myself up against the wall as I'm met with the most horrific scene.

The entire bed is covered in blood.

Who's blood? I have no idea. I know it's not mine because I don't feel pain anywhere.

Still shocked and trying to understand what I'm seeing but also too scared to check the room for the obvious thing.

A dead body.

"Please, please" I chant slowly and quietly to whoever may be hearing before picking my phone up from the ground beside the bed I was sleeping on.

I immediately go to dial Tiffany's number hoping that last night made us friends enough for her to offer her help. Because Lord knows I need it.... badly.

I listen to the loud sound of ringing echoing in my ear and the sound of my heart beating loudly and insanely fast, I'm scared it would fall out.

"There she is! Give me the deets wa-

I cut her off immediately "Tiffany did you leave? W-where are you? I need your help please" I rush out quickly trying my best not to stutter too much and also control my crying

"Woah. What's wrong I didn't leave. Never mind I'm on my way"

I mutter a weak "Thank you" before ending the call

Not so long after there's a knock on my door "Who's that?" I answer nervously

"Tiffany." I sigh with relief and walk to the door "Open up" I open it and she stares at me worriedly "You've been crying what's wrong?"

"Where were you?" I asked as I open the door widely and step aside so she could see

I close the door "In the room next to yours I- oh shit!" Tiffany exclaims loudly before using her hands to cover her mouth "Who's blood is that? Was it your first time? Oh my goodness! I-is he dead?" She asks throwing all the questions at me. Answers that I don't have

"What?! I exclaim still frantic "One at a time. I dunno whose blood that is, and yes I was a virgin or I'm still a virgin" I wave it off "That's unimportant now. I don't even remember who I was here with or if I was even here with anyone. I just woke up this morning and saw... this."

"Is there a body? Tiffany asks looking unbothered or maybe she's just good at hiding it.

"What? No... I don't know" I state honestly

"Excuse me! Don't tell me you didn't check for a dead body!" She sighs before walking off to check the room

I flinch at the word dead body "We don't know if he's dead actually" I state having little faith that the blood isn't an escalated issue

Tiffany stops in front of the closed toilet door and looks back at the bed "Nah. Whoever he is, he's dead"

I feel my heart sink into my stomach as I ignore the fact of how she's able to tell that the person is dead just by looking at the bloody sheets.

"Oh, my God!" I exclaim "I'm gonna go to jail, aren't I? I'm gonna lose my nice free house, I won't ever go to another school and I'll have to go back to my neglectful parents in shame" I rant continuously with tears running down my cheeks

"Not if we don't find a body," Tiffany says while searching

"We need to call the cops" They might be able to help. I clean my tears as I tell her about the idea

"Yeah, great idea. Call the number one system that's unjust to black people. And say to them that you a black woman woke up in a room with blood THAT ISN'T yours all over your sheets. But not to worry you're looking for the body and yes officer I'm also innocent" the evident sarcasm and annoyance did not fail to show "Just our colour is enough to land you and me in jail. That's before they even listen to your story" she hisses and moves on to check all other hidden parts in the room that we may have missed.

I'm completely mute from her speech I have no idea what to say at all. Because part of me knows all of what she said isn't just from what we all hear going on in the world.

I'm afraid it's also from experience.

"I'm sorry," I say the most logical thing I can think of

She's done searching and sits on the bed "It's okay. I just hate cops. There's a lot of unfairness towards black people, and being someone who has experienced that unfairness first-hand, it just irks me sometimes. I'm sorry I snapped" she apologises

"It's okay. I'm sorry too. I should have known better"

"It's aight" She gets up and looks around the room "Let's sort this bloody situation up and be done with it"

"Yes. I agree with that" I feel shivers run through my spine as I glance at the blood again. But also relieved that there was no dead body to be found.

"So all we know is someone killed the guy from last night, in here. And left you alive and covered in blood"

"Jackson"

"What?" Tiffany stares at me in confusion

I pace around the room as I begin to recall parts of the things from last night "The guy I came here with his name is Jackson. I remember us talking about a lot of things. He was nice and respectful. He said he had no plans of having sex with me since I'm drunk but we could talk, and we did."

She nods slowly "Okay that's nice. But not for our boy Jackson over here" she points to the blood "May he rest in peace"

"No. That's the thing Jackson had to step out to go get water for me. I remember feeling sleepy and tired so I just took off my shoes and got into bed. When he came back I was dozing off." I walk to the other side of the bed where I didn't sleep and picked up the pillow. Luckily it wasn't covered in blood, so I sniffed it. "I remember asking him why his cologne was different. I slept off I don't remember anything from there"

"So you're saying whoever came in after Jackson left, might not be him"

"I'm saying I'm sure whoever came in after Jackson is probably our dead man or the killer"

"Okay first off let's figure out what to do with these sheets. Luckily for us, I'm sure this kinda place is used to people stealing from the rooms. So all we have to do is take it. Hold on" Tiffany goes around and checks everywhere around the bed before taking off the sheets "Okay good. The bed is clear of blood. We're not fucked"

"Thank you so much. I don't know what I would have done if you weren't here" I hug her and try to hold my tears back

"It's okay. You can thank me when you cook me dinner later today at your expensive house" I chuckle alongside her. Thankful for the little distraction

"Deal. But where are we gonna hide the sheets?"

She smiles "Looks like one of us is leaving here, pregnant"

"What?!" I exclaim "They'd notice"

"Please. This is an underground club that provides cheap rooming services to the people who come here. Whoever works here is probably sleeping or getting ready for tonight"

I stare in awe "Thank God you're here with me. If I survive this I'm never drinking or clubbing again" I begin to fold up the sheets to form a bump

"Not with me as your friend. Here bring it, I'll wear them" she says referring to the sheets "Besides I doubt you know how to play the angry, pregnant wife.

We gather up the sheets and make sure that none of us leaves anything behind in this room and Tiffany's. Before stepping out I check to make sure there are no cameras in the passage, facing the door. She tucks it under her shirt so perfectly that If I wasn't here to witness it happen, I'll probably think she was pregnant.

As we approach the area where we danced last night I see a guy standing by the bar lucky enough, he's not the one that served us drinks last night. So it's probably different shifts

"All of you! I'll make sure I complain and expose you all!" Tiffany yells, fake crying. As I hold on to her and pretend to console her "I'm pregnant with his twins and he came here to cheat on me! Doesn't he love me? Doesn't he love his kids!" She asks fake crying and yelling.

The bartender looks around confused and spooked. Probably regretting why his shift was today.

He walks fast to us "I'm sorry to hear that. How can I help ma'am?"

"If you can father twins or know where to find a new father let me know, if not leave my presence!" We continue to walk slowly, with me assisting, Tiffany. My heart skips with joy as soon as the door comes into our view.

I turn to the bartender and mutter "Sorry. Pregnancy hormones and a cheating husband, are not good."

He nods and assures us that the club is nice and responsible, so we should please not complain.

I nod and we walk out before hailing a cab and getting into it.

That bartender must be new or dumb for him to think people can ruin their business by complaining about a cheating spouse coming to their place of work.

Once we were in the cab Tiffany and I let out a loud sigh of relief simultaneously and surprised ourselves.

We burst out laughing at the same time and for a brief moment, I forget the fact that I might have been present when a murder took place.

My mind briskly goes back to Jackson, I may not know him or recognise him but I genuinely hope he's okay right now.

I search my bag for my phone and I see a new message.

UNKNOWN: This life is nothing compared to the numerous ones I'd take if you think you can defy me.

What the fuck?

I see that there's an image attachment along with it, so I reluctantly click on it.

A loud gasp leaves my lips just as my phone falls from my hand with a thud on the small space of the seat between Tiffany and me.

She picks it up and looks at the image before staring back at me with just as much shock as my face is holding.

Someone is stalking me.