Peculiar ♡ Alma Peregrine

Chapter Ten - Caught

I opened my eyes, noticing that I was now alone. There was a quiet knock at the door and the person behind it cracked it open, poking their head in - I'm assuming to see if I was awake. I smiled and sat up when I saw Alma there, and when she saw me sitting up, she walked further into the room and took my hands which I was reaching out to her. She pulled me up so I was standing and held her arm around my waist so I wouldn't fall over - I was still quite drowsy.

"You slept in so I set aside some food for you," she said as we walked down the stairs, placing both feet on each step before moving on to the next one. It was a slow process, but we eventually managed to get to the kitchen. She picked up a plate in her spare hand and took me to the dining room where she helped me sit down before setting down the plate in front of her. She left again for just a few seconds before returning with another plate, setting it in the seat beside me and sitting down there. She wasn't sitting where she normally sat.

"You know, you didn't have to wait for me to eat," I said, picking up a fork and using the side of it to cut the side of the fried egg in front of me. I stabbed the spears through the piece of egg and placed it in my mouth, but as I chewed I suddenly lost my appetite. Alma sat beside me, eating peacefully as a strange, unfamiliar head pain came over me. I carefully placed the fork on my plate and held my head in my hands. There was so much going on at once, it felt like my head was being impaled by millions of tiny spears.

It didn't take long for Alma to realize that I wasn't eating and I was instead sitting there looking like I was dying. She placed her utensils down and turned her body towards me, but I paid no mind to her. I tried taking deep breaths, but the pain was slowly getting worse and worse, now like my head was being boiled in a pot - but only my head. I was aware of Alma speaking to me in the background asking if I was okay, but it was just an almost silent buzz behind this pain. 

Finally, when the pain was too much to bear, I yelled out loud and started crying. Alma was panicking beside me, wondering what was happening and upset that she didn't know what to do to help me. So instead, she grabbed onto me and held me in her arms, one hand holding my head to her chest as I cried and yelled. Some of the children came inside, wondering what was happening and what all the yelling was about, but Alma quickly shooed them away and assured them everything was fine - even though I was quite obviously right there.

It took well over and hour for the pain to even begin to fade, and by that time I already wished I was dead. Alma actually had to hold me down and continue to whisper that I would be okay so I wouldn't go and throw myself off the house or put weights in my pockets and jump in the ocean. I saw her visibly calm down - only a little - when I stopped crying and screaming. I even heard some of the children pause outside because of the sudden silence - they probably thought I'd died now.

"What on earth was that?" Alma asked when I finally relaxed out of my tense position into her arms. We'd moved to the sofa a while ago so I was away from all the sharp objects that I could use to slit my own throat or something. I was honestly unsure of what caused that death pain, too.
"I don't know, but I never want it to happen again," I whispered, even my talking bringing back a slight ache in my head - but not as bad as the one I had suffered. 
"I don't want it to happen again, either," she said, messing with my hair.

Fiona, Claire and Emma came in to see what that was all about, but quickly left when Alma shooed them away again. I didn't want to move, but eventually had to when my legs started cramping up. I was suddenly anxious from every pain that I felt, not wanting to experience whatever I just had again. I stood up and walked to the kitchen. I still wasn't hungry, but forced Alma to let me help with lunch for her and the children. She would use any excuse to get me to relax and just have some time to myself for once.