Princess Of Night

Princess of Night (ch 19)

I woke up early with a throbbing headache. Then I realised what had happened last night and the pain in the back of my eyes started. I clambered out of bed and stood up too fast. Immediately I fell back down on to the bed. My vision was blurred and my head was spinning. I felt like I was going to be sick.

I reached for my phone which was sitting on the bedside table and checked it. There was a missed call from Neil and 2 messages also from Neil. One of the messages said:

U alrite? x

The next one said:

Heard what happened. So sorry. Please call.

I didn't text back. Instead I threw the phone at the wall. The battery fell out. I sat back down at the bed and stared at myself in the mirror. It was a good job that it was summer break, because there was no way I'd be able to make it to school in this state.

The sun was breaking through the window, lighting up the room.

tap. tap.

The sound came from the window. I hid behind the wall and peered through the curtains. It was Neil. I pulled the curtains across and sat back down on the bed. After a few minutes, I heard him dropping down from the window and watched him walk away.

I went downstairs and began to make my breakfast. My mum had already gone to work.

After having breakfast, I decided to go out for a walk to clear my head. I pulled on my jacket and my Uggs. Then I walked out of the door.

****

I decided to walk through the forest.. It was dark and cool in there, a hideout from the sun. The pine needles cracked under my feet. The large trees stood like pillars of a temple around me.

"Ash...?" a voice said. I immediately recognised it as Neil's. I continued to walk on, ignoring his calls.

I turned left and walked straight into him. His eyes burned into mine.

"I'm sorry," he said.

I glared at him. "Go away."

"Ash, let me explain..."

I changed direction and continued walking. "There's nothing to explain. You lied."

"Ash..."

I ignored him and quickened my pace. He didn't follow fortunately.

I continued to walk until I was out of the forest and into the meadow. The tall overgrown grass came above my waist. I lay down so that I was completely hidden in the grass.

The sun filtered in through the green blades.  A tiny ladybird crawled up the side of one - and I caught it on my finger watching it as its tiny legs travelled down my arm. Then it flew across onto the grass blade again, its tiny wings almost unable to support its body.

I watched the ladybird until my eyelids grew heavy and I drifted to sleep.