Interruptions

Odette walked into the bathroom, softly closing the door behind her. She dropped her bag to the floor next to the sink before splashing cold water onto her face. She rested her hands against the edge of the sink as she stared at her reflection in the mirror.

What am I going to do? I can't fight those things .. she thought as she tightened her grip on the sink, I'm not that strong, especially not without .. she watched as the tears started to fall when she thought of her brother, mixing in with the cold water that was still slowly dripping down her face, if he were here he'd know what to do, then I wouldn't feel so .. she turned away from her reflection as she tried to remember that she wasn't all alone, she had God on her side .. they all did. She just had to keep remembering that and she'd be fine ..

Sinbad felt his heading getting warmer as he walked towards the bathroom. Without even considering that someone else could be in there, he opened the door. He saw Odette standing with her back to the door.
"S-sorry," he mumbled quickly.

She looked back when she heard the door open, but quickly turned away again when she saw who was there. She splashed cold water onto her face one more time, hoping it wasn't obvious that she'd just been crying.

'It's ok, I was just leaving,' she said quietly, but didn't move. She was too scared to go anywhere else and even though she knew that she couldn't spend all of her time hiding in there, a little longer couldn't hurt .. could it?

Sinbad looked at Odette for a while.
"Take your time," he said before he closed the bathroom door. For a little while he stood next to the door and waited, but soon he decided to walk around. Sinbad stopped and stared at his hands for a moment. They were shaking, slightly more than earlier. He put his hands behind his back to prevent himself from looking at them as he continued to walk around outside the bathroom.

Odette stared into the sink for what seemed like an eternity before finally looking back up into the mirror and taking a deep breath. She did this a few more times before walking back towards the bathroom door, forgetting all about the bag she had left on the floor beside the sink.
She slowly opened the door, leaning against the door frame for support as she stared out into the hallway beyond the bathroom. Remembering that Sinbad was still out there she quickly straightened up and started walking away, trying to look as calm as she could and not look at him as she did so.

When Odette was out of the bathroom, Sinbad entered. He didn't bother closing the door, he just walked straight towards the sink. He quickly turned on the water and splashed some in his face. Shortly after Sinbad noticed the other bag next to the sink. He figured Odette had forgotten it and called out her name in hope that he would be able to give it to her before she got too far away. How could she forget such an important thing? What if something happened to her?
He turned off the water and walked out of the bathroom with the bag in his hand. "Odette, you forgot your bag," he called after her.

Odette stopped walking when she heard him call her name, hesitating for a moment before turning back towards him. She stopped in front of him, but instead of taking the bag from him she just stared at it. She wasn't even sure if she wanted it back, she doubted that she'd even have the courage to use what was in it if something happened.

Sinbad reached out his hand with Odette's bag. He could feel his hand shaking again so when Odette didn't take her bag he let his arm fall down along his side. He stared at her for a moment, not quite sure what to do.
"You might need it later," he said quietly.

As Odette stared at the bag, she noticed his hand start to shake. Ignoring his words she slowly reached out and lightly touched the back of his hand with her fingertips.

'Are you .. ok?' she asked eventually as she continued to avoid looking him in the eyes.

Sinbad remained silent as he looked from Odette's face to her hand touching his. There was no way he'd burden her with this, not after everything that had happened in the past.
"You should worry more about yourself," he said as calmly as possible.

'I can't do that,' she said slowly, if she could have it her way then she would have turned around and walked away by now. But if she could help then she would, no matter who needed it .. it would be selfish of her to do anything else, 'so tell me ..' she said, looking him directly in the eyes now, 'are you ok?'

Sinbad looked Odette in the eyes for a moment but looked away before he answered her. "I'm fine, I just need some time to clear my head," he said and looked at the bag. "Now, you should keep your bag close just in case." She was probably scared, but even so it was better to have something to defend herself if something actually happened.

'Ok,' she said quietly, if he wasn't going to tell her then she wasn't planning on pushing him any further. She looked back at the bag he was still holding when he mentioned it, 'right, thank you ..' she said but still hesitated to take it back.

Sinbad held the bag in front of him once again, trying to make Odette take it back. All he wanted to do was to be able to be alone for a while, try to relax. But he couldn't do that before he knew that she would have something to protect herself with and that she wouldn't be there to worry.

Eventually she took the bag and started walking away again without saying another word to him, stopping for a moment to contemplate what she should do next.

Sinbad felt a hint of relief when she finally took the bag, but it was soon overshadowed by the growing headache. He turned around and walked back to the bathroom. He accidently bumped into the door while entering the room. Inside the bathroom he turned on the water and started drinking some of it. Even though he knew it was impossible, a part of Sinbad still hoped the water would have the same effect the alocohol used to have when he hadn't had any for a few days. That it would somehow make all the pain go away, remove the shaking from his hands, remove the headache, remove the fever.

When she heard the water running, she turned back to watch what he was doing. She didn't really want to go back and see what everyone else was doing, she doubted it would be any different to when she left anyway, and she didn't really want to be all alone either .. so she decided to just stay where she was, not knowing whether she should go and see if he was really ok or not.

Sinbad splashed some cold water in his face. It felt better for a few seconds, but soon he decided to give up. It was too much work for so little. In one rather awkward movement he turn off the water while sitting down on the floor. He placed his hands on his knees and his head on top of his hands. This was the reason he hadn't gotten anywhere the few times he had decided to try to stop drinking. It was just too difficult and made him feel too bad.

Odette turned away when she saw him sit on the floor and started to walk back so she could try and find the others. But her hesitation caused her to suddenly turn around and walk towards the bathroom again.
Once there she knelt beside him and sat in silence for a while, annoyed that she couldn't seem to bring herself to just leave him on his own like this.

'I guess it's difficult,' she started eventually as she stared at the wall in front of her, 'finding alcohol in a place like this .. especially with everything that's happened ..'

Sinbad felt Odette sitting down next to him, but he didn't move or say anything. He listened to what she said. She was right. In a church of all places. He would have to get through this somehow, without any alcohol. The thought seemed unbearable.
"I'm sorry to be such a burden," he said eventually in a low voice. He really felt bad for having her sit here and look out for him, but even so he couldn't help but enjoy having her near him again. It had been such a long time. Even if he wished it had been under different circumstances.

'Babysitting you doesn't seem so bad, considering what's waiting for us back there,' she said quietly and turned to look at him.

And the longer I can stay away from that the better ..

'You seem to be the lesser of two evils ..' she said suddenly, not intending for her voice to sound cold as she did so. But as soon as she realised it she turned away again and quickly added, 'can I do anything to help?'

Sinbad listened to Odette's words. He couldn't help but feel hurt, even though he knew her reasons for feeling that way. It was only natural and he couldn't blame her. And even so she still sat by him trying to help. Sje had always been so kind to others, even when she didn't have any reason to.
"No, it's fine," he said. Not so much because he didn't want help, more because he had no idea what could help. For now he'd just have to endure it until it would go away.