The Quest Read Free Page A

I took the bottle from her and replaced it with a cup of juice. She glared at me so I added, “I’m making coffee hang on.”
                  “I don’t wanna coffee.”
                  “Yea, well you need it, hang on.” I added a lot of cream and sugar and slid her a cup of pumpkin latte. It was all I had. I had bought the store out of their last clearance stock knowing it wouldn’t be back on the shelves till the fall, so that was her only choice. Sofie sipped staring into nowhere.
                  “You gonna tell me what happened?”
                  “Yeah. ”
                  “Okay.” I said slowly waiting for her to speak. “Sofie,” I finally asked, “what happened to you?”
                  She looked at me through broken mascara stained eyes and said nothing. I knew it must have been Chris. Should I ask? What would I say? I suck at advice especially these days. My dumbass man-dar detector had been broke for quite some time and I was not good at figuring out men. And remember, I spent many days curled up on my hardwoods broken, so believe me when I say I suck at telling my best friend how best to live her life with her wonderful husband, three kids, and two dogs in the picket fence. Best thing I could do for her was offer her my fuzzy blue blanket and introduce her to my floor.
                  But before I could ask again, Sofie made a beeline to the bathroom. I trailed in after her offering to help. I grabbed a hair clip from the counter and pulled back her beautiful red locks. I made her a cold rag and draped it over the back of her neck. After she filled up the toilet with puke, I sat on the floor and cried with her. And in between her bouts of throw ups I rinsed her rag and patted her head. When she expelled her last, I helped remove her wet clothes replacing them with an oversized T-shirt, and offered her my bed. I tucked her in tight reassuring her tomorrow would be better. Then I made my way back to the couch with my blue fuzzy blanket. I was feeling one of those Linus moments, needing to feel safe and secure. I was also very happy it wasn’t me that was the one who was broken in there. It was selfish of me to feel that way, but I had been there so many times with Radley and then with Ed that the thought of it all was exhausting. I knew not what Chris did that made her act like this, but I knew it must have been something she couldn’t handle.
                  You see, Sofie was always the strong one. The brave one. The one who had it all together and everyone turned to her for help. She wasn’t one that was ever out of control. No, she always had her shit together. I admired her for that. I have always wished I could be that strong.
                  The woman who was in my bed tonight wasn’t the Sofie I knew. She was broken. My anger rose at the thought of someone breaking such a beautiful creature. Men have no clue how much they damage us. But then again why do we allow them to break us? We shouldn’t but we do. We allow them to destroy us to the core, to the point of no return, to the depths of our soul. Then we are usually left alone to rebuild ourselves. Luckily some of us come back stronger. But sometimes some of us don’t come back at all. Sometimes we are left right where they broke us afraid to love again. So when we are denied of that forever love, we are denied to be whole, to ever be one with anyone again and then sometimes we chose to forever live alone. It’s a tragedy. Such a tragedy to never fully heal.
                  “Men. Hmph. ” My disgust with Chris was rising as so was the sun. The reminder that I was sent to bed without dinner was back and I was starving now. I slipped into my bedroom, being as quiet as a mouse, found some sweats and slippers, and vacated the area. I figured I’d run to the store and grab a few bagels and cheese, Sofie would need