Hermes | Book 1

: 04 :

Darkness let him remain wary of her presence for she knew that though he could never exist without her, she could certainly exist without him and that could make all the difference there should be.

Chapter 4

HERMES couldn't sleep.

He kept tossing and turning on the overly comfortable white sheets as he tried to find a position to get a wink of much needed rest. His eyes were heavy and an unhealthy shade of red. The borrowed clothes that he wore were itchy and heavy with cold sweat.

It also smelt strangely like antiseptic.

With a swift motion he pulled the t-shirt over his head and threw it on the floor. A small muffled sound of the cloth hitting the ground reached his ears.

The easy motion itself made him start panting. He bended over and rested his forehead on the sheet. They were cold and felt unused.

Hermes felt invisible. He felt like he was slowly fading away.

Suddenly with a silent scream he felt his legs- they weren't there. He tried to yank the covers off his legs, his hands wouldn't touch them-they seemed to pass through the sheet like it was made of vapour.

Another silent, silent scream. Though he opened his mouth and his eyes bulged, no sound escaped his throat. His vocal cords refused to move. Hermes clawed at his throat, but his hands seemed to pass through that too.

His fingers felt wet and sticky. He brought it in front of his eyes- red, red blood. The blood was warm and sticky; it clung to his fingers like a leech. With a desperate whimper he wiped them on the cotton sheets, again and again.

The sheets turned bright red, then tinge of brown and then black. But the blood still stayed on his fingers. Hermes's hands felt raw- the skin was peeling out with amount of force he put in cleaning his hands off the blood.

Hermes let out a wild, strangled scream. His throat felt like somebody had ripped it out with a pair of tweezers. His cheeks were wet, he could taste salt.

Hermes couldn't stop crying.

The sobs were nothing fashionable or dignified. It was large and ugly. It left him breathless and wheezing loudly. Snot ran down from his nose and his body racked with unimaginable pain.

Hermes felt a hot prickling feeling in his stomach- shame. But the rest of his body ignored that part of his mind. It had only one problem.

The blood just won't go away.

Hermes wanted to rub the tears away. But his hands were no longer there. His eyes widened and he tried to shriek out.

But he couldn't.

The world turned into a blurry red mess. He couldn't breathe- the pain shooting through his chest was unbearable.

Hermes couldn't stop crying blood.

"Wake up." The world around him was shaking. "Wake up you moron."

He shot out of bed with a gasp, hands splaying out in panic and connecting with something hard.

The headboard of the bed.

Somehow he had switched directions during his very disturbed sleep.

Curse words sprang out of his mouth, raw and unfiltered.

"Shut up." A voice hissed. Hermes closed his eyes and gritted his teeth. "What are you doing here?"

"You're screaming for the whole world to hear." She stated offhandedly.