In The World of New Weston: Book 1

Burning

Cilas jolted out of bed, hoping that the burning feeling was just a part of a dream, it wasn't, he still felt like he was being burned alive, he stumbled out of bed, it was already morning, the sun was peeking through his curtains, which had apparently been torn at the bottom sometime during the night.

Cilas looked around the room, it was a mess, once again, though this time it looked as though someone was hurt and was stumbling around, knocking things over as it stumbled around the room.

Cilas stumbled into the bathroom, quickly grabbing a towel and running water over it in the sink before placing it on his forehead in an attempt to stop the burning sensation, and it helped, a little, he still felt hot, but the burning had stopped, now it just stung.

Cilas exhaled in relief as he put the towel down and turned on the faucet and began brushing his teeth, until he noticed something, he turned off the faucet and slowly pulled down his hood.

His hair was an even lighter shade of blue, even with the hood on it was impossible not to see it. Cilas looked around, trying to find maybe some hair dye, or something similar.

While he was looking, another sudden wave of nausea hit him accompanied by the return of the burning feeling, however this time it was only for a couple seconds, then things returned to normal.

Cilas stood back up, giving up on finding any sort of hair dye, closing the drawer he had opened.

Cilas took another glance at the mirror and was shocked to see that his hair had returned to being black, it looked as if it had never changed.

He quickly splashed some water on his face and looked at the mirror again, his hair was still black, was he going crazy?

He would've looked to the journal for answers if Esmerelda had not called him downstairs and told him to get ready.

Cilas changed out of the clothes he had slept in and wore yesterday though he decided to keep the sweatshirt on, just in case his hair were to change again.

It only took a couple minutes to get to school since Esmeralda had insisted on driving him, when he arrived, he went to his locker as if nothing happened, he saw people looking at him oddly.

Then when he walked into class some people stopped talking when he entered, he paid no mind to it though.

"Hey! Cilas!" Dan said, Cilas turned to face him, he looked slightly worried, which was strange, had something happened when he was gone?

"Hey..." Cilas said, Mrs. Leonara hadn't arrived yet so the whole class was talking. They were supposed to read the third chapter of the story that day, Cilas had forgotten to read it the night before, in fact he had forgotten to do any of the homework.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Dan said.

"Tell you what?" Cilas asked, Did Dan think that Cilas knew why he fainted and just didn't tell him? Or was there something else.

"Why didn't you tell me that you basically live in a gothic mansion?" Dan asked

"Because...I don't like to brag?" Cilas said he had many memories of when he was a kid being told by his teachers that 'not everyone has as much money as you do so don't brag about it'.

"Well invite me over sometime, I live in a trailer down old Weserbek road, it would be nice to not be so claustrophobic for a couple hours" Dan said, Cilas pursed his lips, many people he had known had asked him if they could have a sleepover or if they could hang out at his house, they almost always ended up getting upset when he said no, or if he said yes all they did was take pictures, which no one in the family appreciated.

"Sorry, You don't have to, I didn't mean to make it sound like I was using you" Dan said after a short minute of silence, Dan opened mouth as if he wanted to tell Cilas something however was interrupted when Mrs. Leonara walked through the door.

Everyone was handed a book and told to flip to page fifty-four, Cilas actually hadn't read the second chapter that was in the classroom so hopefully nothing too extreme had happened.

As soon as the class started reading Cilas spaced out, he didn't understand any of it, apparently something extreme had happened in the second chapter because the main character was being accused of hiding an infected bite, and since he hadn't read the second chapter, he had no idea if it was true or not.

Cilas heard whispers coming from behind him.

"Is that the guy?"

"Yeah, I think so, he wasn't here for the last few classes yesterday"

"Weird...maybe what that girl said was true..."

Cilas turned around to face them, they quickly turned to look at their books, acting as if they had never said anything.

He narrowed his eyes but continued reading, nothing he could do about it now anyways, maybe he would ask Dan about it after class, to see if he knew anything.

They ended up finishing the third chapter just as the bell rang, Cilas went out to look for Dan, who had disappeared in the crowd of people, Cilas eventually found him at a locker, which he assumed was his.

"Hey!" Dan said when he noticed him.

"Hey...I heard some people talking in class...I think it was about me but I'm not completely sure, have you heard anything?"

Dan pursed his lips.

"Yeah...About that, Avely started a rumor..." Dan said, looking away from Cilas, Cilas raised an eyebrow, rumors had been started about him before, but none of them had made almost everyone in the school avoid him.

"What was the rumor?" Cilas asked.

"Uh...Avely said that you fainted because...uh...you hadn't eaten in a long time" Dan said awkwardly.

"If that was the rumor then why is everyone acting weird, it's not a crime to skip breakfast." Cilas said, Dan pursed his lips again before explaining.

"Well...Uh...she told everyone you ate people" Dan said, awkwardly smiling as if he didn't know how to react.

"Oh" Was all Cilas said, that made sense, however it was still an idiotic rumor.

"Yeah..." Dan said, it was awkwardly silent for a few moments before Avely and two other people, the people she was sitting with at makerspace before they were assigned as partners.

Avely looked a mix of shocked and horrified to see Cilas, she grabbed Dan's arm and began dragging him away, Dan pushed her away from him.

"What are you doing!? Have you not heard what he did?" Avely said, Cilas sighed, this whole interaction was like watching someone try to make their friend avoid their ex.

"I didn't do anything" Cilas said, Avely glared at him but paid no attention to what he said as she opened her mouth to say something else.

"You killed someone"