Black & White

Chapter Nine

At five in the morning, my body jolts awake from another nightmare. I feel my heart pumping blood and fear throughout my body at a dangerous speed. I am covered in a blanket of cold sweat and my mouth has a gross taste to it. My stomach twists and cramps, and uncomfortable tension starts to rise up my throat.

Realizing what was about to happen, I flung myself out of bed and rushed to the bathroom, promptly kneeling in front of the toilet. I expel acidic vomit into the bowl, and my stomach continues to constrict and heave painfully. I look into the toilet. Blood.

I have never thrown up blood before. I have coughed it up. But vomited it up? Never. I groan as the tight coiling and churning of my stomach makes my ribs burn in flaring pain.

I should be okay, I just need a minute.

After a couple minutes of coughing, I flush the toilet and slowly rise up. My throat burns, making my eyes water. I hold myself upright using the sink counter as my legs shake beneath me. Everything is spinning and whirling around me at a speed I cannot comprehend.

Whose bathroom is this? Is this mine... How did I get here?

For some reason, I seem to be catching a slight virus. My body is freezing to the point I'm shivering, but my skin is scalding hot to the touch. My mind seems to be in a haze, and my body feels like it weighs a thousand pounds. An aching and burning feeling buzzes all around me.

I stood there for what seemed like hours but was probably a couple minutes, trying to make the dizzy feeling go away. The entirety of my mind and body was disoriented. Where am I? Oh, the bathroom, that's right. I must be tired. I continue standing in a blurred haze, slightly swaying from side to side. What is going on?

I shut my eyes, trying to regain my scattered senses. I attempted to clear my mind by remembering where I am and what day it is.

Today is... Wednesday?

Yeah... right... right...

I start school today... I should be nervous about that, but right now I don't feel anything... hmm...

I should thank Mr. Valen for the stuff he got me... yeah... why didn't I thank him? I don't remember. I'll go do that now... yeah...

I let go of the counter and swayed forward. Suddenly my body felt like it was falling downwards.

Not a good idea...

I blinked, and I am suddenly lying on the hard tile floor. The confusion worsens. How did I get here? Is this Mr. Valen's room? It looks an awful lot like my bathroom...

My eyelids feel heavy, and I seem to have no control over my body. The world around me kept spinning, and my body kept humming. But I need to thank him for the stuff. Bad girls don't say thank you. I'm not a bad girl, right? I softly grumbled and tried to get control of my body, but my limbs seemed to have other plans.

My eyelids shut close against my will, and my consciousness faded completely.

Third Person POV:

It's the early hours of seven, and the Morosini residence was alive and awake. Valen was standing in the kitchen in a freshly ironed suit tailored to perfection.

Perfection.

The definition of a Morosini.

A mug of freshly brewed, steaming black coffee was held in his left hand and his busy phone in the other. He was supposed to be in a meeting currently, but decided he would wish his sister well on her first day of school. He'd missed so many others.