Disease

Afton sat in the bedroom that her and Oliver shared. The one that Oliver provided money for. Everything in it was his, the walls, the bed, even the little tiny pieces of lint on the floor. The only thing that Afton owned in the room was her own body, and that sometimes is what she wanted to get rid of most.

After Oliver had yelled at Afton, she quickly removed herself from the kitchen table, unable to sit through another fight with Oli. She just couldn’t do it anymore. All they did was fight and argue and hold knives behind each other, ready to just shove it through their spine.

She still was in a daze. An angry, pissed off daze after last night. Even after just a mere ten minutes ago. Oli tried so hard to be with her, to be around her all of the time and she just wanted to be alone. She wanted to be alone all of the time, away from anyone who could notice the changes that were happening to her. She felt so ugly when she spoke.

Her voice came out crackled, she sounded like her grandmother. Her body was so weak and she could hardly hold herself up unless Oliver was supporting her. Afton’s eyes were tired, she could sleep for days, and would never feel like she actually slept.

Her eyes averted to the CD that was still in its plastic bag, resting on the night stand. She still had yet to actually look at the CD and see what it was, she guessed last night after Oliver confessing to her he’d gone out with SJ that he’d bought it as a make up gift or something.

Nonetheless, it was her’s, and she was sure of that. So, she pulled herself off the bed, wiped her face again and grasped the bag in her hand. She stuck her hand inside of it and retrieved the square piece from the bag. She flipped it around to see Jimmy Robbins’ face staring straight back at hers, and the title of the CD Too Sorry For Apologies.

Leave it to Oliver to be completely sorry in a cliché way, she thought. She peeled the plastic off slowly, and then tore into the sticky piece of tape covering the top of the CD. It took her a good five minutes to pull apart the whole CD and then she just laid it out on the bed, open, with the CD facing towards her and the lyric book still in place.

She thought about picking up the CD and opening the door, only to toss it out at Oliver, hopefully breaking it just so he couldn’t take the stupid thing back. That’s how upset she still was over the whole SJ thing. She’d barely gotten over it after last year, it’d taken her a whole year just to forgive Oliver and another three months to trust him.

She took another glance at the CD that was on the bed in front of her. The CD gleamed with a pretty rainbow color as the sun shown in from the blinds above the bed. She stuck her finger in the middle of the CD and popped it out of the case, standing up. Afton walked across the room and poked the open/close button to the DVD player and removed The Devil’s Rejects from the player.

She placed the CD into the player and pushed the open/close button again, flicking the TV on. Once the CD loaded and was ready to play, she sat back down on the bed and pulled the covers up over her body. The first song filled the room with an acoustic blast, not that she was expecting something else of course. She just didn’t expect it to be so loud.

She waited for “Breathe Again” to begin, and when it did, she sang quietly at first, then started to cry, tears pooling from her eyes as she dug her nails into the mattress, all of the memories flooding back into her head, making her want to puke.



I was walking down the street, away from my house, away from my mum and dad. I couldn’t stand to be around them for much longer. I heard the front door creak open and I started running. I ran as fast as I could, as far away from them as I possibly could. I darted across the street with my hood pulled down over my face, tears still spilling from my eyes and I crashed into something way too big to be just a mail box or the end of a car. It was too warm to be just a light post or a street sign, and the annoyed voices coming from the brick wall were just there to prove I’d bumped into two people.

I fell against the ground, gravel grinding into the palms of my hands and I could hardly move, my leg was twisted so painfully underneath my butt.

I quickly pulled my hood up to apologize, seeing none other than SJ Whiteley standing in front of me, and her boyfriend, that kid at school that absolutely no one can stand. He’s always getting made fun of or getting his ass kicked over some piercing or some tattoo.

But, his girlfriend, Miss SJ was known by everyone at school, which wasn't much of a surprise, seeing as how she'd managed to sleep with half of them. She’s the only thing that managed to keep him safe at school, although I’d seen on many occasions that she’d been just abusive as the kids at school. Maybe not physically, but emotionally, she tore Oli down.

“’M sorry,” I said quietly, trying to stand up.

“’Ere.”

I felt Oliver’s hand wrap around my wrist, helping me to my feet.

“What are yeh doin’?” SJ whined, “We’re goin’ teh meh ‘ouse.”

“’M thinkin’ this is more important.” Oliver paused, helping me walk to his front door, “Come on, we’ll get yeh inside.”

“No,” I said, “’M fine. Meh ‘ouse is just right there.”

“Meh mum will give yeh a ride ‘ome, let’s go.”

I walked into Oliver’s house, clutching onto him, SJ behind us, making annoyed noises the whole time, and once we were inside, his mum was all over me, helping me to sit down and ordering a younger kid around to help her out with me.

After about five minutes, SJ finally got Oliver out of the house and his mom sighed loudly, looking over at the younger kid, “I really don’t like ‘er Tommeh.”

“I know mum.”



Oliver sat on the other side of the door, listening to Afton cry over the music and he lodged his shoulder up against the door, twisting the knob as hard as he possibly could, he threw himself against the door, landing on the floor beside the bed.

Almost simultaneously, Afton shot up in the bed, doing her best not to crack a smile while looking at Oliver as he jumped off the floor. She didn’t say anything to him, so he quickly ran across the room and shut off the DVD player. He looked at her, wrapped up in their blankets, tears covering her entire face and all he wanted to do was hold her.

Which he knew was going to be a battle.

“Why’re yeh cryin’?” Oliver asked.

“’Cause I want teh.”

“Really now?” He asked, sitting on the edge of the bed, “’Cause I thought people only cried when they’re sad, yeh know?”

Afton moved closer to the headboard, trying to stay as far away from Oliver as she possibly could, she wiped her face, “Thank yeh for the CD.”

“Changin’ the subject, eh?”

“I don’t want teh talk about this anymore.”

“About what?”

“Yeh know what.”

“SJ?”

Afton cringed, nodding.

“Alright, well. Then yeh ‘ave teh tell meh yeh forgive meh, an’ that yeh trust meh.”

“I forgive yeh.”

“An’?”

“Yeh’re gonna ‘ave teh wait a while fer the trust.”

“That’s fair enough,” He paused, “Can I ‘ave a hug?”

Afton shrunk further into herself, still scared to let Oliver touch her. Oliver watched her with anxious eyes, his heart breaking into pieces as he realized she was scared to come near him, scared like he was going to hit her or something. But, in the back of his mind, the pit of his stomach, and the bottom of his heart, he knew that’s not what it was at all.

He knew she was scared of getting her heart broken again. He knew that she didn’t trust him, and he didn’t expect her to. It killed him to know that she didn’t, but there was nothing he could do about it. He created this huge mess and now he had to deal with the consequences.

And now the both of them were sitting on the bed, their hearts slowly deteriorating as they looked at each other. Afton was killing Oliver, Afton’s disease was killing her, and all she wanted to do was go back in time, go back when a broken ankle was something she had to use to get Oliver’s attention, not a small cough in the middle of the night.

Oliver gripped the end of his boxers in his left hand, and ran his teeth over his lip, waiting for Afton to say a word. Her lips remained shut tightly together and he realized that he hadn’t kissed her in at least three or four day’s time, and it sure as hell hadn’t been something the both of them had been aching for- at least, that’s what Oliver was thinking.

Afton’s eyes lifted up and she came eye to eye with Oliver’s soft, brown eyes. They were sparkling in the sun today, the green in them dancing like stars in the sky. The corners of her mouth lifted up into a smile as he lurched forward and wrapped his warm arms around her shoulder.

“Yeh gotta hug meh back Doll, or else it don’t count.”

Afton’s arms reached around Oliver’s neck and she rested her head on his shoulder, his warm chest pressed against her, the warmth of his body clashing with the goose bumps on Afton’s arms and chest.

Oliver reached behind them, pulling the blankets over the both of them, causing Afton to lift her head up. She looked at him, rather confused, as they had just woken up, surely they weren’t going back to sleep. But, just as smooth as Oliver always had been with Afton, he leaned forward at just that moment and kissed her softly on the lips. Afton got lost in his kiss, as the familiarity of it she’d forgotten.

Her arms wrapped tighter around his neck and she pressed against his lips harder and harder. They both lay down in the center of the bed, Oli leaning into Afton and her arms now hanging loosely beside her as Oliver began kissing her neck.

“Wait,” She paused, “I forgot teh tell yeh. Yeh’re mum called last night.”

Oliver groaned, looking up at her, “Yeh always kill it, yeh know?”

She grinned softly, blush coming to her cheeks, “Sorry. I would ’ave forgot if I waited teh tell yeh.”