Short Story Collection

Pit of Flames- Bandage Scene (Ethomoweb)

The bright orange Echoe paced around the room, a low growl forming in her throat. Null was standing in the doorway, he was half around the corner taking cover from the rattling of furniture Circus' stomping was making. A lightly bloodied bed stood at one corner of the room with a singular light coming from a grotto in the wall where a flickering candle was held. An overbearing scent was well settled into the room, it was that of oddly potent medicines that could give anyone unadjusted a headache as well as pine trees.

"I don't want to 'forget and forgive' Null, he kept me in that track for four years! I was starving, barely allowed water, and spent most nights in a cage so the collapsing roof wouldn't kill me! Fulo and Asqe died because of Ry! I only survived because I let go of everything that's moral to scrape by long enough to be the last one left! And even then had I not made a run for it and broken almost every bone in my body doing so I would have been put through worse than those who see Shatter!" Circus roared, her face contorting into that of a greyhound with glowing red eyes just for a second before turning back. She scattered the bandages that had fallen from her and onto the floor in her mini-rampage.

"Okay, but please calm down. You'll pull a turn too tight and start bleeding again." Null half whispered.

"I went from being kept in one place to another! You said I'd be fine to go out by now! But I'm not even allowed out past the kitchen! How is this better!" Circus snarled, glaring at Null.

"I said that you might be able to go out by now, as long as you're easy on yourself. But as long as you're throwing a revenge-fueled hissy-fit every other day you won't get a chance to heal." Null half-pouted, hiding further behind the wall at Circus' frost-burn like gaze.

"Fine. But can I at least explore the house? Haven't gotten a chance yet. I want to know all about the place I've been the past month." Circus huffed, reluctantly sitting down. Null finally padded into the room and picked up some of the bandages on the floor while Circus got the ones closest to her.

"Okay, but please be careful around all the reflective stuff. I moved it to the other rooms since you got so scared." Null agreed before continuing, "Out of everyone I've had to patch up this past year you are the feistiest." As he spoke, Null wrapped bandages around Circus' stomach, legs, neck, and tail.

"Oh, well everyone from this forest is oh so happy all the time. They don't have a reason to be 'feisty'. And why in the Great Meteor are you the only doctor in the entire town?" Circus hissed, as the many scapes along her body were wound with cloth.

"Because there's a real issue with most running off to find glory in the big cities like Wayward. Besides, I won't be a doctor for three months yet. Please, could you hold out your front left paw. Want to make sure you didn't re-break the bone, it didn't have time to fully mend and you stomped on it pretty hard." Circus did as Null asked and stretched out her paw. She did her best not to flinch as he ran a talon over her leg, stopping where a small bulge was apparent.

"Did I do it again?" Circus asked, looking away after he nodded. Wordlessly Null cracked her paw back into place and rewound the splint for it. Circus felt queasy at the sickening feeling of bone gliding while having only a numb ache coming from the paw.

"Were you taking too many of the painkillers again? You should have been able to feel that before I checked." Null asked.

"Side hurt like I'd been stung by twenty nests worth of Jackdews. And if I should have been able to feel it then why check?" Circus flicked her tail.

"Firstly, if your wounds are really hurting please tell me. It could mean some sort of infection has sprouted. Secondly, it's because you're almost always too busy trying to not be helped or you took too many painkillers." Null replied plainly.

"What sorts of infections? You check I'm okay everyday." Circus said.

"I guess you never heard of the Infested. They seem fine for days on end, then it starts to hurt and little tiny specks appear in the deepest wells of the wound. The next morning, they aren't even them anymore. I don't know too much but I can get some books from the library." Null mumbled.

"Huh, wait! One time you said there's a nearby beach! Right?" Circus chirped.

"Oh, yeah. Why?"

"Oh! Can you show me where it is? I've always wanted to go to a beach! I bet the sand's super soft and the waves are nice and refreshingly cold! And are there fish? Like lots of fish? And really pretty coral reefs and cliffs? And is it nice and really warm?" Circus questioned, absolutely ecstatic.

"Sure, but once your leg is better. The cliffs are sheer as trees so if you roll it and stumble even the tiniest bit too close you could fall to your doom." Null warned, checking the blood on the bed. Circus followed him with her gaze.

"I loosened the bandage around my side so it would stop being so itchy." She shrugged.