Page 32 of This Blood That Binds Us

“Done!” I instantly got up from the bed and went for the first aid kit.

Luke insisted we each have one. Just in case someone in the frat needed help.

“You were right. It feels way better.”

I placed a large bandage over her shoulder. “Told ya. You should listen to me more often.” I winked and retreated for the trash can.

She groaned, pulled herself under the blanket, and propped herself up on the headboard. “I’m not so tired anymore.”

I plopped down on the floor next to my scattered video game controllers. “Well, good thing you have me to keep you company.”

After everything she’d be through that night, I was happy she seemed so relaxed. For a moment, it felt like we were in our own little world. A weird world. But one where no one else was watching us.

“Yeah, I guess you’re like thirty percent my friend now.” She smiled.

Silence introduced the muffled music coming through the door.

“Uh, you gotta give me more credit than that!” I said.

She sighed. “Fine, forty percent.”

“Fifty.”

“Forty-five.”

I smiled. “So, does that mean I get to ask you questions now?”

“Sure. What do you want to know?”

I thought hard for a second on a good starter question.

“Do you have any friends? I’d kinda assume you’d want to tell someone after you got attacked.”

“I do. His name is Chris. I’ve known him since I was like eight or nine. But I didn’t tell him. Well, I did, but he didn’t believe me.”

“Does he go to BFU, too?”

“No, he moved up to New York. He was the forward-thinking one.” She turned her attention to the fluffy pillow on my bed.

“Is . . . that a bad thing?”

“No, I’m happy for him...it’s just...not the same. He’s basically moved on with his life, and he’s the closest thing to ‘family’ I have,” she said, hooking air quotes.

I leaned in. “What happened to your family? If you don’t want me asking that, feel free to tell me to go to hell.”

“Well, my mother abandoned me on the side of the road when I was four. There were no other living relatives to take care of me, so I grew up in foster care. I aged out when I was eighteen.”

“Oh shit, I’m sorry—I don’t know what to say.”

“It’s okay. Most people don’t, but that isn’t something I go around announcing to people. I’ve made my peace with it.” She smiled, the warmth coming back to her cheeks.

My made-up life for Kimberly, back when she was still a mystery girl, must have been wishful thinking. It only added to my guilt. I couldn’t imagine what her life must have been like. There wasn’t a time when I was ever alone. But she had to face everything by herself.

“Yeah, we were in a group home together on and off until we both aged out.”

“Annnnd you wanted to stay here in the mountains.”

It was easy to tell how much Kimberly loved the mountains and not just because of the camping trip I had ruined. Everything about her screamed local, especially the various trail patches and enamel pins I had seen on her back pack.