Finding ( Safe and Sound Trilogy: Book 2 )

Chapter 18: Violet - Hospital

"WHY DID I EVER LIKE YOU?" I screamed at the top of my lungs, tears running down my face. I didn't bother to stop them, they were already flowing like a waterfall. I fell to the ground and leaned over Kris, who was passed out, and pointed to the door. "GET OUT!"

His eyes widened and his eyebrows raised, where a cut ran across his eyebrow and bled down his face. "What? You need me here!"

"OBVIOUSLY NOT!" I snapped at him, rage pulsing through my veins and beating at my voice box, words of anger trying to escape. "OBVIOUSLY WE DON'T NEED YOU HERE IF YOU KEEP NEARLY KILLING MY BROTHER! I HATE YOU!"

This time I felt the transformation from human to demon. Gradually I went from angry to raging to searing with emotions I couldn't control. My spirit drifted outside of the demon that was me and I watched as it charged at Hayden, feeling nothing. Anne came down the stairs and shrieked at the sight of claws running down Hayden's left cheek and Kris passed out on the floor. Duke came down the stairs pulling his shirt back on. He was paralyzed, then, he actually showed emotion.

"NOOOOO!" He howled, and sprinted down the stairs, jumping on the demon. "VIOLET, CALM DOWN, THIS ISN'T YOU! COME ON, VI, WAKE UP, WAKE UP! YOU HAVE TO LISTEN TO ME!"

The demon growled and wrestled Duke as Anne cried in the background. Still, I felt numb, and suddenly, I returned back to my body and my normal state. The numbness didn't last but ten seconds before my head exploded with thoughts and feelings and I was physically hurting because of the emotional pain. I bent over in pain and started shouting at the top of my lungs, knives cutting down my arms and legs and stabbing me over and over again, everywhere on my body.

I couldn't stop screaming. I felt like I was thrown in a pit of fire and was somehow being kept alive purely for torture. Duke and Anne were trying to comfort me, whispering, "It'll be okay," "Hang in there," and stroking my hair, hugging me, but all I wanted to do was be alone. Finally the pain repressed and the only thing left of me was a body.

                                                                          * * * * *

"Violet, wake up!" Kris's voice sounded somewhere in the distance. I opened my eyes to find myself in a completely white place, nothing for miles and miles - except for Kris. He was dressed exactly like he always was, his hair was still perfect, he was still him. Except, he wasn't him. His eyes were a dull light blue and no smile hinted at his lips. No emotion was on his face, and he was paler than usual. His lips moved, but his words were dead. "Don't leave me Violet, don't let go."

"Kris?" I whispered, more to myself than to him as I inched forward, curiosity present on my face and in my posture.

"I like your dress, Violet." He said, still staring blankly at nothing. "It suits you. And your flower crown is slightly ridiculous, which suits you too."

I looked down to find myself in a completely white ballroom gown that dragged behind me on the floor, and felt my head, taking off the crown. The wood had a slightly snake-like feel to it, like it had scales. The flowers started turning black, along with my dress, slithering from the bottom to the top, and eventually turned into a five-headed snake. Then I woke up. But it wasn't in the house.

"I don't care, I don't trust these people." Kris announced, crossing his arms, apparently unaware of my awakening. Then, eyeing Hayden, "I don't trust anyone anymore."

"Except me, right, Kris?" I joked. He jumped and looked at me with an expression of fear, mirroring mine but somehow I thought for a very different reason. "Right?"

Just then, a doctor walked in. "Ah, you're awake." He had piercing red eyes and dark hair that sat on his shoulders, like Duke's but more clean. A lot more clean. Everyone had changed their clothes and had their wounds taken care of, Anne of which had none. "Now we can really figure out what happened."

He wrote some things on the paper that attached to his clipboard and then looked at me with a smile that was about as genuine as me when I said I hated Hayden. "Okay, Violet, first off: what made you so angry last night?"

I sat in silence, feeling Kris's vibe of this creepy man. I didn't trust him, my gut told me he was asking me these questions for all the wrong reasons. His smile vanished. "Alright." He wrote some things down on his clipboard. "She's unresponsive. I'll be back later." He got up and whispered something into Anne's ear, then left and as soon as he shut the door, I unloaded. 

"Where the hell are we?" I asked, surprised that Anne didn't correct my language. No one wanted to talk, not even Kris. He wouldn't even look at me. His absence stabbed me right in the heart. Finally, I yelled. "ANSWER ME!"

Duke sighed. "A hospital."

"How did we end up here?" I questioned. 

"When you and Kris were passed out, Bry walked in."

"No." I denied. "No she didn't."

"... What?" 

"No, she didn't. It may have looked like her, but it wasn't Bry." I looked at Kris, and asked him bitterly, "Did you kiss her when she walked in? Were her lips the same?"

"Shut up." He snapped. "I don't want to hear it."

My eyes landed on Hayden. Half his face was bandaged, and I wanted to cry and hug him and tell him I'm sorry, but I remembered I was angry at him. I remembered why, and suddenly I wanted the bandage to cover his whole face. Duke had scratches down his collar bone. My heart dropped.

"I'm a monster." I mumbled through tears, wiping them away.

Duke looked me straight in the eye. I could tell he wanted to agree, but I could also recognise that he didn't want to make me upset. "Violet, we all have a monster inside of us in these times."

"Don't give me that sappy bullshit Duke." I said, lip quivering. "You don't know what it's like. You can get angry and get over it. No physical pain, just a rush of adrenaline. You could get depressed but the only reason it would physically hurt is self harm. You can even get happy, Duke. You can get happy and still feel different emotions. If I get too much of anything, I'm not even human, I'm not even me. I'm not even alive." I shook my head in disapproval. "I'm the monster with the scary eyes under the bed at night. I'm the demon chasing you up the stairs or into your room once you turn the lights off. For God's sake, Duke. You'll never know what it's like."

The room was silent, even Kris acted like he cared. "I can't even love somebody. I'll never be able to have a husband without turning into an otter or something. I'm not even living anymore. I have to control my emotions to the point where I'm numb. To the point, one could say, where I don't feel emotions at all. This is no longer living. This is survival."

"Intriguing." The doctor said, leaning against the door frame. "We'll run some tests on that. But really, tell me about last night."

"I got angry and I clawed my boyfriend's face off." I explained briefly. "Done."

"Why, Violet, do you resist talking to me?" He asked. "You will speak openly to them, but to me, someone with medical training - someone that could help you - you say nothing?"

"Because you're a doctor. You're facts and tests and statistics. I'm a girl with superhuman powers. I defy everything you've ever been taught. As smart as you may be, you'll never comprehend the people like me." I said. "That is why I won't talk to you. Now how the hell did we get here?"