The Everblooming Flower [Book One of The Dreamers Series]

Chapter Fifteen

I saw the hotel and sighed in relief. There are no words to describe the sheer amount of relief I felt. As in, not enough words in the human dictionary. That's how relieved I felt.

But then it hit me. I had three gunshot wounds – a sentence I never thought I'd say – blood in my nails, and two knives in my skirt. There was no way I could just walk through the front doors in this condition. I was surprised no one was staring at me from outside. Granted, it seemed that no one was outside.

I quicky ducked behind a bush, against the wall. I pulled my bag in front of me and looked through it. The only things I packed were my books, some lunch, pyjamas, an extra uniform, tissues, and a water bottle. It wasn't much, but it was enough.

I pulled out a couple of tissues and my water bottle. I poured a little bit of water onto them. I managed to clean my fingers okay. But I had a hole in one of my palms. As well as my shoulder and leg. The bullets hadn't travelled all the way through, so I thought it over, and decided on leaving them. I'd start bleeding even worse if I did pull them out.

I wrapped the knives up in a tissue and put them under my lunch to hide them. I pulled out my spare uniform and contemplated hiding behind another bush, or just getting changed there. After a long internal argument, I got dressed behind the bush and put everything back into my bag. It was black, so I couldn't find any blood stains that were too noticeable. At least, you couldn't see them unless you were looking.

So, I slung my bag over my shoulder, wincing slightly as it hit my wound. But it was better to have the strap cover my shoulder in case it bled through the white on my shirt. Unfortunately, the black shorts were not long enough to cover my shin, and my socks only reached up to my ankles.

I quickly used my fingers as a hairbrush and walked in through the front door. I was about to walk up to the front desk when I felt a tap on my shoulder. I quickly turned, in a slight panic, but immediately relaxed when I saw Zak.

"Wow, you're actually alive," Zak had an expression I couldn't read on his face. "And your clean. There was blood covering your shirt, and in your hair when I left. Oh, and your neck was sliced open."

"I promise I will explain everything," I sighed, "just not here."

Zak nodded and went up the stairs. I followed him and glanced around. The hotel was very bright, with blue tones. Seemed that was everyone's favourite colour scheme these days. However, it was a heritage building, and so the interior was slightly older, which I didn't mind so much. I really just hated the blinding white of the modern era. Like, were people trying to ruin their eyesight or something?

Zak brought me up to the third floor and a room a little down the hall labelled 3E. Inside wasn't much. One single bed, a TV, and a small bathroom. It was also not that brilliant white on the ground floor, it was various shades of blue and navi. Zak sat down on the bed and looked at me expectantly.

"Okay, well ... it's sort of a long story," I felt my hands heat up and shake. "Um, ever since I arrived in Joondalup to live with you and Samara, things have been happening. Things I don't even know how to explain."

"Okay...," Zak nodded in thought, "elaborate."

"Um, well, you know how I had those scabs?" I asked.

"Yeah?" Zak answered with a questioning gaze.

"Well, um, they healed," I went on, "like, the day I got there. And I had these weird dreams. Like, the first night I was walking towards a ball of light. In the second one, this red light seemed to be trying to rip the dream apart and kill me. Every time I fall asleep the dream starts up where I left it, and I wake up with any injuries I had healed. Of course, if I scratch myself in the dream, where I got hurt aches for about an hour."