She dreamed of the star-studded night sky glittering in golden eyes and of flying, but the words of her hastily made-up story echoed in her mind as soon as she woke up. She blinked her eyes half-open, squinting against the sunlight streaming into the room. She grunted and rolled her eyes, Ugh, daylight... gross, and looked to her right. Her notebook lay there on the little table, within reach. She stretched her arm out to pull it into her lap. She blinked, large squinting movements of her eyelids as she tried to clear the blurry sleep from her eyes. She ran her tongue along her teeth and made a face; her mouth tasted like death. She flipped the notebook open, running her thumb across the corners to stop just after the pages filled with Amity's clear block handwriting. She gnawed at her lip as she blinked again, writing her crooked chicken scratch at an angle:
Once upon a time there was a siren who sang the world. An evil queen wanted the world for her own, and locked the siren away. By chance, a messenger girl found the siren, and fell in love. The siren was no longer afraid, for she was not alone. They made their escape and ran to the far lands where they lived happily together, their days filled with story and song.
Luz closed the pen in her notebook and flopped it back onto the table. She hissed when she banged her elbow on the bed rail and she squeezed her eyes closed as she rubbed it with her other hand. That didn't seem to help, so she ground her elbow down into the mattress beside her, which soothed some of the sharp tingling in her arm and wrist. She glared at the bed rail, then closed her eyes. Wait. My bed doesn't... She opened one eye to peek out at the room: television mounted on the wall in the corner; curtains hanging from a curved railing on the ceiling; bed rails; roller cart near her knees with... Chinese food takeout containers? Her stomach growled at the mere sight of food. She opened her other eye and looked to her left. Edric—with blue hair!—sat curled up in a fancy-looking armchair, eyes focused on the Switch in his hands, small explosions and ringing chimes coming from the device as he frantically tapped at the buttons. She watched him for a moment while deciding what to say.
"Did you seriously order Chinese food and not get anything for me?" Luz forced her gravelly voice to pull a petulant tone through her grin, raising an eyebrow at the distracted blue-haired man.
"Camila said you liked the black-pepper chicken," Edric replied absentmindedly, "I got you a quart in case you were hungry, it's—" He paused, and put his handheld down and looked at her—noticed her—and said, "Oh shit, you're awake!" He laughed, flashing her a pearly white smile, "Holy fuck, Luz, welcome back!" He jumped out of his chair and tossed his Switch at a backpack on the floor, missing it completely, "I gotta get the others!" He took off running around her bed and headed out the door.
"Wait, my food!" Luz called after him, groaning when the door slammed shut behind him. "Fine," she muttered, "I'll do it myself." She found the bed controls on her right side, and she waited an interminable length of time for her bed to raise her up to a mostly-seated position. Wouldn't want to get motion sick from sitting up too fast. She reached forward to hook the roller cart with her fingertips and dragged it closer, grinning. She raised her other arm to move a container out of the way—felt her hand close around the box of rice—but when she looked down, her arm was still at her side. She frowned; it was still tucked in under the blanket. But I... I rubbed my elbow... didn't I?
Luz stared at her arm and tried to move her fingers. She tried to move her hand, her wrist. She tried to lift her hand and saw a twitch under the white sheet. She laughed as a cold chill ran up her spine. She tried to move her arm at the shoulder, swinging it up and away from her body. After a few long moments, her arm slowly started to move, and she tried to hold her arm out straight. After an impossibly long wait, she had her upper arm extended from her torso, but her forearm and hand hung limp. She stared at her arm before noticing the hot tears running down her face.
YOU ARE READING
The Siren at the Museum (The Girl Who Sang #1)
FanfictionA chance meeting on the subway is the best thing that's happened to Luz in practically forever. She has so many questions about her new friend 'Azura', like "who were those men chasing you?" and "why can't you say anything?" The reviews are in: ...
