Underground Hatred - My Hero Origins (MHO)

5: New Contestant

Word Count: 2755

TW: Mention of Minor Bleeding and Weaponry, Traumatic Injuries

(Kat)

Kat's arm flopped over her eyes, a groan escaping her throat. An itch attacked her legs, creating an uncomfortable feeling. Pressure built in the joints, almost as if they were going to explode at any moment. Her head filled with air, her thoughts pressed against her skull. Her fingers bounced to an invisible beat, every part of her body tensing and jumping where sleep was far from her thoughts despite the sun completely vanishing outside the windows.

Time ticked by, but the uncomfortable feeling grew more and more. Kat's brain was ready to blow into a million pieces. Her arm flopped down from her eyes, her other hand throwing her blanket off except for the remnants covering her feet. She was faced with the ceiling above, glowering down with a mocking appearance. Eyes narrowing, her mouth twisted into a menacing scowl filled with frustration and fury.

"What time is it?" she grumbled to herself, voice groggy with the lack of sleep. She forced her torso to roll over slightly to face the side table to her double bed. There, on the white table top, said the time in glowing green numbers: a little past two in the morning.

A heavy sigh escaped Kat. It took her a few seconds, but her body rose from its lying position on the bed, messy orange hair falling into her eyes to cause a curtain-like shadow to hang there. She pushed the strands out of the way with the disregard of the state of her hair. Her eyes wandered her small place, gazing at the items that slightly lit from the half moon that hung outside the windows.

"I need to sleep," she told herself in an annoyed tone. She ran a hand down her face with a new mumble of, "I have work first thing in the morning; I can't go sleep deprived again."

More time passed as her feet dreaded touching the cool flooring, but eventually she crawled out of the bed, goose bumps crossing her skin with the chill of the cold leaking into the housing. Her arms crossed over her chest to hold in warmth, feet shuffling over to the kitchen in the minimum amount of lighting—though, her eyes could see just perfectly. The world tilted from time to time, but the pressure in her head and the lack of brain rest were no help to the cause.

Kat paused in front of a cabinet to her right of the stove. She reached upwards to open it and reveal over-the-counter medications: ibuprofen, acetaminophen, antihistamines. She snatched the ibuprofen off the shelf, popped open the lid, and grabbed a few pills. It was a swift, mindless motion to close the bottle and place it back into the cabinet, moving over to the next cabinet to the left of the previous. A few plastic cups sat stacked, which she chose the magenta purple one sitting at the bottom of the pile.

As she took the pills with water from the tap, Kat peered outside the window of the kitchen; curtains were drawn over it, but there was a slight crack to allow her to glance at the street. The lights that hung their shine down were an eerie orange that matched the Halloween-esk mood that was creeping up on the population. Leaves danced on the blacktop, swirling and waltzing with the wind as a partner. A whistle shook the windowpane from a stray gust of wind, the moon disappearing behind clouds for a brief minute or two. The crisp tinge in the air was practically in Kat's home with the comfort of a changing season. The feeling brought Kat's soul at ease, despite the unrest rolling in her joints and head.

After admiring the outside, Kat brought her attention back to her sleep schedule. She dropped her cup in her kitchen sink to wash it the next day when she had the time. Her hand reached up to smooth her hair finally, her feet starting towards the bathroom before she journeyed back to bed.

Slowly but surely, the painkillers were beginning their fight against Kat's nerves. Her trail became a trance of heading to the bathroom and minding her business before laying back down in bed, the whole trail dark to keep her eyes from blinding. Though, as she was washing her hands, there was a bang from outside the shrouded window in the bathroom. Her hands stopped mid-rinse, her breathing coming to a hitch; the world paused for a brief moment as she continued to listen with her heart kicking up.