Falling

Chapter 6

When I opened my eyes, I was laying in my old bed with my room exactly how it used to be. I sat up completely confused. Why was this my old room when I moved? Where were the people I met who were supernatural creatures?

"April? What time is it?" Joshua's voice asked as I glanced to my right and left to find Austin asleep on my right and Joshua awake on my left.

"I don't know. I literally just woke up. Where is my mom, Joshua?" I asked him.

"She wasn't here when we got here. Austin found a key under a cactus and unlocked the door. We brought you towards the room that smelled more like you and placed you in the bed. Issue is, Austin wouldn't let me look at his hand. The cactus got him and some of the needles are still in his hand." Joshua said as he stretched.

I sighed and looked at Austin. I reached for his left hand which had cactus needles protruding from it. I began to pluck them out which woke Austin up. He looked around confused, but then saw me and blinked a few times.

"What are you doing?" He asked.

"Taking out the cactus needles in your hand." I grumbled.

"I'll...uh...go make you some food. You're probably starving currently." Joshua said before quickly leaving the room.

As soon as I pulled the last cactus needle out, Austin sighed and leaned against his seat before wincing in pain. Sighing I motioned for him to turn around. He obeyed and lifted his shirt up so delicately that I was beginning to get sick at the thought of how bad the wound he received from his brother was. In fact, it was only from his left shoulder blade to his spine. Sighing I went to stand up and immediately felt so lightheaded and dizzy that I lost my balance and began to fall forward.

Austin quickly turned around and caught me before I face planted the floor. He helped me back up and made me sit down. He placed the back of his hand on my forehead and I glanced around nervously. He shook his head and spoke in a normal tone but just above a normal volume.

"Make some soup for her. She has a fever." He called out to Joshua.

"Understood!" Joshua yelled back.

Austin looked at me and gently tried to lay me down, but I refused. He rolled his eyes and sat down beside me and moved my hair away from my left ear. He stared at it in shock and looked back at me.

"You heal quickly. That's rather impressive." Austin said.

"It's not normal for me. I normally heal slowly like a normal person does." I mumbled as I stared at my hands as I fiddled with my fingers.

"If you don't mind me asking, what did they do to you when you were in the vampire's clutches for two weeks?" Austin asked as Joshua walked in with a steaming bowl of ramen.

"I don't really remember anything except that they managed to force my brainwaves to match the tiger they had captured for the experiment. It was a beautiful Malayan tiger with my eye color and for some reason, we understood each other more than the vampires knew. My guess is, I am only here because something after the whole brainwave matching portion of the experiment altered my cells and caused me and the tiger to become one organism rather than two separate organisms." I mumbled as I heard my stomach growl in protest that no food was in it.

Joshua set down the bowl on my bed and I immediately began to eat it rather quickly. Austin sat there thinking while Joshua stood at the window looking out across the yard. He seemed to be focused on something out there and as soon as I swallowed down the last mouthful Austin looked at me as if I had broken his concentration by finishing my soup.

"Alright, time to get some sleep, April. You have a fever and you need your sleep. One of us will stay here in this room with you until you are better." Austin said as he tried to settle me into my bed.