Unwanted Visitor

9. Avoidance

Chapter 9: Avoidance

"Kali, it's time to wake up. Come on, wake up. Wake up." I moaned at the incessant voice nagging at me.

"I get it! Jeez, I heard you the first time," I said as I sat up and rubbed at my eyes.

"Well, I know how bad you are at getting up in the morning."

I rolled my eyes, "I can get up just fine, Brooke."

She laughed, "Well hurry up if you want breakfast."

"Yeah, yeah," I mumbled and got up. Brooke's dark shadow was a stark contrast against the white tent. I briefly wondered why she hadn't just gone in to wake me up as I reached for the zipper of the tent. However, before I was able to begin unzipping, I froze.

A nagging feeling that something was wrong with this situation arose in my gut.

"Kali?" Brooke asked, "Are you coming out?" My hand started shaking, it felt like something was chewing me apart from the inside. Something's wrong. Something's wrong. Something's wrong. It went through my mind, repeating like a mantra.

"Hey, Brooke?" I asked hesitantly, "Didn't something happen last night? Something really, really bad?"

"Oh yeah. We were attacked by the vampires you told me about. But don't worry, you fought them off so everything's fine now." I blinked with surprise. She said it so calmly, like that happened every day. It was nothing to worry about.

"...I did?" I couldn't remember fighting them off. The last thing I remembered was... My heart seemed to stop for a second. "Brooke! You're—are you okay?"

"...I might be dead," she said after a pause.

"What?!" she couldn't be dead. She was right out there, waiting for me outside of the tent. If I went out there then she'd be there, standing and definitely alive. My breaths came quickly and they were shallow. In the back of my mind I wondered if I was having a panic attack. I've never had one before.

"Just kidding. Although soon I really might be," her shadow crouched into a sitting position. "I don't want to go back to the hospital again, Kali."

"Hey, you'll be fine. I mean, you got through it once, right? Besides, I'll make sure to visit you every day if I can. And I'll bring you the schoolwork that you missed so you won't fall behind. Don't worry, everything will be okay," I reassured her.

"Okay, I believe [in] you. Just so long as you promise to visit me, I'll be happy."

"Yeah! I promise," I said with a nod.

"Well then, it's time for you to wake up." Her shadow on the tent nodded its head.

I opened my eyes to blinding darkness. I sat up and blinked desperately, momentarily panicking from the possibility that I had gone blind. Thankfully, after about half a minute of rapid blinking, which probably made me look like I had a seizure, I was able to make out a few vague shapes.

I looked around at the jagged rocks, crinkled my nose at the weird smell permeating the air, it was something like rotten eggs. Judging by the rocks and darkness I was in a cave for some reason. As for the smell, well it was probably bat poop.