The Soul Guardians

chapter 1

The concrete of the parking lot rushed towards me as I fell further and further from the rooftop of the hospital building. I didn't scream as I fell because, well, I was too busy wondering how the heck I'd gotten up there in the first place. It didn't seem like something I'd do— that required way too much energy. As a matter of fact, I barely even remembered taking the leap off the edge of the building. And yet I fell.

The fall seemed endless, so I had the time to concentrate on the sound of the wind flapping and whooshing against my ears and the faint but rapid beeping sound, but I had no idea where it came from. It was only as I was about to hit the ground, when my eyes shot open, that I realized it had all just been a bad dream and the beeping sound had been coming from the machine monitoring my heart rate.

In the darkness and safety of my hospital room I took a few deep breaths to slow down my rapidly beating heart and calm down the stupid machine.

Like a splash of cold water to wake me up, my bare feet were met with the sub-zero hospital floor when I finally managed to get out of bed after another failed nap. Failed in the sense that I had intended to rest my tired eyes for a mere 30 minutes, but again, had fallen into more than three hours of deep sleep... For the sixth time that day.

The cold floor made a violent shiver break out all through my body, which nearly made me get back under the warmth of my white covers, but the clock across from my bed showed that there was no time for another nap. It was already 10 minutes past twelve— I was late, but I still had more than enough time to make it to the little party my friends were throwing that night.

It was a tradition we'd started here at St. Diana's a long time ago. On each of our birthdays, River, Zayan, Yaseera, Aisling and I snuck out of our rooms and met up in the cafeteria for a secret feast. Apart from the fact that we needed the hospital to be quiet and dark, at a time when the doctors and nurses wouldn't be constantly checking up on us, the late hour also served for us to celebrate each other's lives as soon as possible.

Growing up like we did, there at St. Diana's, we never really knew how long we'd... you know, be around. It wasn't something we were particularly worried about either, but we'd learnt to live in the moment and appreciate every little thing while we still could.

That night, we were celebrating the twins' 17th birthday. And judging by the time, I guessed everyone was already in the cafeteria waiting for me to join.

I tended not to keep track of time, or mind it at all for that matter. Now, I wasn't one of those "time is a social construct that isn't even real" nuts, I just preferred not to keep track of how much time I had left, how my days were numbered, hours depleting.

Half-past twelve and I had finally picked an outfit. I was always quick to ditch my hospital gown and pajamas any opportunity I got, even if it made me look a tad bit overdressed. But at least that night, I knew the occasion truly called for it.

Tonight's ensemble came from one of the packages that Nurse Maggy must have put in my closet while I was asleep and to my surprise, the red dress fit exactly like it did on the model from the site. I guessed I was finally starting to put on some weight since my last treatment.

Quickly crossing the hallway to the room across from mine, I peeked in through the small window of the door and strained my eyes to find an empty bed with the sheets thrown half off. Great, so I really was going to be the last one there.

With no time to spare, I made my way down the dark hallway in a fast paced walk. Luckily the windows were left open, sparing me small bits of moonlight. Walking straight past the open elevator doors, I turned left and opened the doors to the staircase. I couldn't risk getting caught in the elevator, plus I haven't done my weekly exercising yet.