Selcouth

Nepenthe - part three

The bell rings. I get my stuff together as fast as I can and navigate quickly through all the tables. When I made it to the hall I see Erin three meters in front of me, so I start walking a bit faster. When I almost reach her, someone starts walking beside me.

'I'm Quint. By the way. The guy you'd rather avoid. Like you did the last two hours.'

I look at him and roll with my eyes. I want to get rid of him, but he simply blocks my moves by standing in front of me. I stop moving and cross my arms in front of my chest. He looks at me with a frown.

'You don't have a name?'

'I do.'

'Well? Care to share it with me? We have to do a project together anyway so I will find it out in the next few weeks.'

I look at my feet and sigh. 'Fine. Sarah.'

I refuse to look up. I notice that the hallway becomes emptier and emptier.

Then Quint bows to me.

'Nice to meet you miss Sarah. How art thou?'

'How did you know I take litera-..' I look up and see his grin again.

'A120. Literature class. Same room every year. One of my friends took it once.'

'Ah.' I bite my lip.

I look at his eyes again for just a moment. I narrow mine. Yes – definitely. His eyes are brown. Brown. But? Last time I saw him they were still grey. I'm insane, much. I must imagine things. I used to do that a lot too, so it only makes sense. Quint does not give me much time to think about it, though.

'So, for that project. I've got some ideas. When and where shall we work on it?'

'In the library perhaps? Maybe next Tuesday or so. When is it due?' At home is too personal.

'In two weeks on Friday. Mrs. Baker only said that at least a thousand time these two lessons.'

'Ah.' I bite my lip again. How come I did not hear that?

'Well. Tuesday is fine. How about three? Meet you there. See you then, Sarah.'

He winks at me and turns around. DID HE JUST WINK AT ME? Oh my god. The way he pronounced my name gives me chills. Eh, Sarah? Please act normal. What the hell is going on? I shake my head and put my thoughts away. I check my phone and see I've only got fifteen minutes of break left. Yay.

The rest of the day and the rest of the week are a bit of a blur to me. I had found my old Ipod back in my old stuff on my new room, which I hadn't seen and listened to for ages. So since I found it again, I always appeared everywhere with my headphones in. My sister did not like it. She confronted me with it on Sunday.

'Sar, it's really bugging me.' She probably means my earphones. 'You're closing yourself up with these things in your ears.'

I sigh and pull one earphone out.

'What did you say?'

My sister looks at me if I just betrayed her or so. What did I do? She nods in disapproval and starts shouting at me. I bite my lip. Yeah, yeah, whatever. No, I can't go back to the way I was. Yes, I will try to adapt. Jeez, why is she so pissed?

'Oh and by the way, they called. Your appointments will be on Tuesdays, starting from next week.'

I inhale quickly. My sister almost spitted out the word 'they' as if she disgusts it. Maybe she does, though. 'Fine.' I reply. She looks at me.

'Will you go with me?' I almost do not dare to ask.

'Of course I will, honey.' She approaches me and pets me on the head.

I exhale a breath which I didn't know I was holding.

'Hey, um, can I take a run?'

My sister looks at me with surprise on her face.

'Yes, of course, if you don't have any homework. But be in time for supper, okay?'

I nod and race upstairs. Where are my running shoes? I find them in a box, all the way at the bottom. I haven't taken a run for a very long time. Am I really going to do this? I am. I put on sportive clothes from my sister (where are mine?) and my shoes. They still fit. When I close the front door behind me I feel the cool November wind blasting against my skin and I shiver. Maybe I should've worn something warmer than a short training trousers and a T-shirt with short sleeves. Oh, well. I start walking, but that quickly becomes a jog. After a while I forget the cold, and my thoughts, and everything around me. It's just me and the concrete. I go faster and faster. The air in my lungs stings and I feel my muscles ache. Just a few more blocks.

At the next-to-last block, I slip.

I fall face down and try to catch myself with my hands, which doesn't really work. My left and right hand scrape the ground and blood drops out of them. There are scratches on my chin and left hand. And I fell on my head, which is now probably bleeding too. Shit. Have I already told you I can't really handle blood? And wow, why is the pain not leaving my head after a while? Blood reminds me of my past. I stare at my knee and hand and my head goes even dizzier than it already was. Oh Christ. I'm about to pass out. I try to get up and stumble forward but I can barely even stand. I lower myself to the ground and close my eyes for just a second.

'Oh my god. Sarah is that you? Are you alright?'

Someone's voice, the sound is very familiar, wakes me up and I blink with my eyes. Dark? Is it already dark? Just now it was still light.

'Jesus Christ, you must be freezing, come on, we have to get you warmed up.'

Someone takes my hand and helps me get up. When it becomes clear I cannot really stand, they pick me up and carry me. I'm still dizzy all the time and I can only see stars. Only a few words the person says to me I can understand:

'...what the...'

'...thinking...'

'...so cold...'

'...do you live?'

I try to focus but it all feels very distant to me. Everything goes black again.

Why can't Sarah stand blood? Who is the stranger? Read on to get to know the secrets! I hope you liked the third part I wrote! Any critisism is welcome, so don't hold back (you can also message me in private) :) Next week a new chapter xxx