The Fray of Werebirds [Discontinued]

Chapter 15 - Delirious

Mom places a plate stacked with pancakes in front of me. I toss the juicy strawberry sitting on the very top into my mouth. I close my eyes, savoring its sweetness. Mom smiles pleasantly and pours chocolate syrup all over my breakfast. I wolf down the pancakes. Ah, paradise! I return my mom's smile but she's not there.

She's on the floor bleeding.

She's dead.

She's a policeman slumped on the door way.

The policeman smiles, but he has no teeth. His ugly pink gums laugh hysterically. He grabs me by the hair and punches a hole through my chest then –

My eyes flew open. It took me a while to realize that the person screaming was me. My voice reduced to a rasp. I found myself lying on the boat with Sirena cradling my head. She placed a damp cloth on my sweat bathed forehead, whispering soothing phrases.

I tried to focus on her face but I dozed off. I aroused countless times after that, either freezing cold or burning hot, only to drop back into restless sleep once again. Whether I was awake or not hardly mattered anymore for time was incoherent in both worlds.

The toothless policeman haunted me like the plague. He chased me all the way down to the deepest, darkest corners of the sewers. Every now and then I managed to escape the hallucination unscathed, but most of the time I was too late and my pursuer would shove his rusty gun down my throat, cackling maniacally. I hollered until I could hardly croak.

I remembered sneezing and being spoon fed from a can of tasteless soup only to hurl all of my stomach's contents into the sea. At other times I was munching on sugary pancakes and then gruesomely murdered. The line between dreams and reality was blurred and I didn't bother figuring out which one was the truth.

"Don't die on us, flower boy."

"Breakfast is ready Caleb!"

"It's a pity we can only heal injuries."

"Would you like some maple syrup instead?"

"Lady Sirena doesn't need to lose another loved one due to illness."

One crisp morning, my fever broke, shattering the manacles of delirium along with it.

I rubbed the scar on my chest absent-mindedly as I sat up on the boat. Gregory was absent but Sirena approached me immediately, relief washing over her features. She bent in and ran her fingers through my hair, which sent pleasant tingles down my spine.

"Thank you."

I blushed, "F-For what?"

"For saving me," her eyes twinkled.

Oh, right. So that wasn't a nightmare.

"No problem," I shrugged it off like it was no biggie, "Besides, you saved me before as well."

"That means we're equal now."

"Actually, you saved me twice," I corrected, recalling the thugs at the auditorium and the wolf in the forest, "I still owe you one."

"But you did save me twice..." she trailed off.

I frowned, "When?"

Before I got an answer a bird landed on the boat, transferring into Gregory. The werebird grinned widely and clapped me on the back.

"Good to see you back, flower boy!"

We observed the now tame ocean while chewing fish, which Gregory apparently caught and cooked with a fire he made on a neighboring island. It didn't exactly taste like pancakes, but I was grateful nevertheless. Everything seemed so surreal, including the endless sparkling sapphire sea and the infinite azure sky. Despite the fact that it had almost killed me recently, I found myself gazing at the nature with new awe and respect.

I'm alive.

I glanced at my companions.

We're alive.

Sirena was still nibbling her fish. Gregory, on the other hand, was already done and picking his teeth with a sharp bone. They were werebirds. It was never an easy thing to believe, but now that I finally had enough time to think about it, I just couldn't contain my curiosity any longer.

Since we weren't leaving the boat soon, it was about time to acquire more knowledge regarding werebirds.

Author's note: I know, that's a weird song up there, but hey, who doesn't like pancakes? Next chapter is going to be brimming with new information!