If We Were Heroes | ONC2022

chapter five

chapter five: if you see a crocodile...

Madame Lefevre's office was not what I would call an infirmary. First of all, it was painted a bright shade of orange, and had a mural of trees and butterflies all along one wall, followed by a spray of graffiti patterns on the opposite side.

Absolutely everything in the room was covered in different shades of Post-It notes, with the scribbled diagnosis of a million patients written on them.

In a weird way, the room matched Madame Lefevre's wild ginger hair and the years of blotched ink on the few strands that was left of what once could've been a fluffy knitted jumper. I wondered, half heartedly, if she was an artist.

She directed me to a narrow hospital bed and asked me to sit down. It was only typical that the sheets were a neon blue, with zigzag green edging.

Don't forget to scream.

What on earth could Sebastian mean by that? I shrugged it off as him trying to scare me and focused on the slowly ticking clock on a very messy desk.

It seemed to be the only normal looking thing in the entire room, but I couldn't be too certain. I wouldn't be surprised if it exploded in a shower of confetti every hour.

'Oliver?' Madame Lefevre looked up from her clipboard, smiling from behind her metallic star-shaped glasses. I could only nod.

'I'm going to test you for the strength of your curse, okay?' She said it like a stronger curse would be something to be proud of. Her voice was soft, comforting.

Still smiling, Madame Lefevre took my hand and squeezed. I noticed her ink stained fingers out of the corner of my eye. 'This could hurt a little.'

And then the pain kicked in.

A little was an understatement. Quick stings of lightning, like getting run over multiple times by a steam roller. If I thought stitches were bad, this was a thousand times as horrible, as painful.

I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to think of anything else, anything, but nothing came. The pain boiled up and over, like a bubbling pot of water.

Doug's face flashed up, and I clenched my jaw. This was my payback for hurting Doug. They were going to kill me for hurting him. This was when I was going to die. I wondered, half heartedly, if anyone would come to my funeral.

The sound of my screams could have haunted anybody in a 5 mile radius. I'm 87% certain that birds flew off trees in shock like they do in movies.

And then the pain stopped.

Don't forget to scream.

Thanks, Sebastian, that really cleared things up.

Madame Lefevre was peering at a small, glowing sample, while attempting to scribble down some notes. Her frown was so focused I thought she might break her glasses in half.

'So Oliver,' she looked up, smiling once again. 'You are an Astra, which means you are one of our strongest students.'

I glanced at the clock. 'I don't think I understand.'

'I believe your curse will develop over time.' she said, 'Perhaps you will even get further powers!'

I shook my head. 'I don't want further powers. I want to go home.'

Madame Lefevre gave me a sympathetic smile. 'We'll help you the best we can.'

I gestured to the glowy golden bottle. 'What's that?'

'It's your aura,' Madame Lefevre explained. 'You see, I'm not the world's greatest nurse. I need to see your aura before making a decision. And I do apologise for the pain.'

Madame Lefevre, in a weird way, had the sort of bubbly energy that made her impossible to hate. Besides, the pain had mostly died off. Though, I couldn't exactly tell if I had just transferred it to someone again. Hopefully not.

'Can I go now?' I asked, the silence scaring me.

She hummed, though from her distracted tone, I wasn't sure if she was listening. 'Don't hesitate to ask if you need anything. I have a lot of cures here. Even the tiny ones.'

'Okay,' I said. I figured I liked Madame Lefevre, and even though she hurt me bad, she was just doing her job. And she had an embroidered toy elephant sat on her desk. They were always the good ones.

'Goodbye Oliver,' she called, catching my eye from a second as I walked out of the room.

I waved.

And that was that.

/

Sebastian barely looked up when I got back (eventually), hardly even blinking from behind his blue leather-bound book.

'Is that, like, a Bible for werewolves?' I joked, immediately regretting it when Sebastian fixed me with a long, hard stare. Though it could just be his normal resting face.

'It's a science textbook,' he said.

'Why do you have textbooks from the 1800s?'

'It's not from the 1800s.'

I raised my eyebrows. 'Sorry. It just looked pretty old.'

'You looked pretty smart until you opened your mouth,' Sebastian quipped, putting the textbook away.

I shifted. 'I forgot to scream.'

'Of course you did,' Sebastian smirked. 'Everybody does, usually.'

'Do you have an aura?' I asked, curious.

'Of course I have an aura, dummy. I'm Helios.'

I stared at him. 'You're the god of the sun?'

'You know who Helios is?' Sebastian looked mildly impressed.

'Duh. I've read Percy Jackson.' Sebastian looked slightly less impressed.

'Anyway,' Sebastian said. 'Helios is the highest rank for our powers. Then Astra, then Terra. And if you really suck, then Aeris.'

'And you're Helios.'

Sebastian nodded. 'Everyone in my family is Helios, my grandad, my dad, and my two older brothers.'

'Cool,' I said. I got the impression Sebastian didn't get along well with his brothers. 'Madame Lefevre said I'm Astra.'

Now it was Sebastian's turn to stare.

'You, Astra?' he said, his tone showing his skepticism. 'I never would have pegged you for it.'

'You were thinking I was Aeris,' I pointed, raising an eyebrow.

'Maybe they thought that if they placed you in Aeris it would severely damage your self esteem.'

I punched him lightly. 'Hey!'

'They don't usually place two higher tiers in the same dorm.'

'Maybe they'll move me.'

'Hopefully,' Sebastian corrected, lying flat on his bed as he stared up at the ceiling. I knew he didn't mean it.

'Yeah. Hopefully.'

date: 15th March 2022
word count: 1047
total words: 6516