Shattered

-Five-

I press my forehead to the ground trying to stay calm. No one is in here yet, they might walk past. It will all be okay. I hear the door creak open and I curse in my head.

Heavy footsteps thud across the floor. My heart is beating out of my chest. The footsteps stop. They are across the room, in a corner. I hear shuffling. It stops. There is a beep followed by a buzzing sound.

¨Cora," I hear a cruel female voice say. "How is it going"

¨It is done.¨

"Already? I underestimated you," the voice sounds impressed, "you work fast. I like that."

"Thank you ma'am,"

"I will expect to see you back here with a full report in the next two weeks, depending on how well she reacts."

"Yes ma'am."

There is another beep and the woman standing in the room lets out a loud sigh. She clomps back across the room, and out the door.

I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding. I guess the woman who answered the door was named Cora. That answered one question, but gave me so many more. Who was she talking to? What was done? Back where?

I laid under the bed, just breathing and thinking, for who knows how long. Finally, I squirmed my way out from under the bed. I stood up slowly, glancing around, I carefully creep across the room, giving the creaky floorboard a wide berth.

I eventually reach the door. I turn the doorknob, and crack open the door. No one is in the hallway. Only then do I realise that I don't know where Azura is. I decide to take a risk and just look in each doorway.

The first door way is the bathroom. Standard, with just a sink, a toilet, and a shower inside.

The second door is the largest room in the house. There is a large bed, and a table next to it. This is probably Azura's parent's room. We have one at my house too, we don't use it though.

The third room has someone in it, but thankfully it is Azura. I open the door further, and her head jerks up.

"What are you doing here?" she hisses.

"I came to thank you, but then this weird lady wouldn't let me in, so I climbed through the window. I hope you don't mind," I reply.

"I'm fine, but Cora says you can't be near me" she whispers, rubbing her arms.

"What, why? Are you going to listen to Cora?" I scoff.

"It is a good idea," she brings her knees up to her chin, "Cora says I'm dangerous."

"Why do you care what Cora says?" I start to walk toward her, but she pushes herself to the wall to get away from me, and I stop. Azura sees the hurt on my face and tries to fix it.

"I don't," she whisper yells, "I don't care, but she is right. I-" she stops herself. She straightens her spine. "You should go."

"No, I'm not leaving until you tell me what is going on. Why are you dangerous? What is wrong?" I cry.

"Be quiet," Azura whispers desperately.

"Tell me what is happening."

"Fine, just-" she takes a deep breath "just stay over there."

I obediently sit down on the floor, as far away from her as possible.

"Okay," she says slowly, bracing herself for something. "As soon as I finish saying this to you, I need you to leave and never come back. You can never see me again, so say your goodbyes now." I remained silent. She took another deep breath. "When I woke up this morning, I felt weird. I was nauseous, and my joints were swollen. A few hours ago," she trailed off.

"What happened," I prompted gently.

"Well, I'm not contagious yet, I'm only in stage one, but-" she squeezes her eyes shut, forcing out a tear.

My heart dropped, I knew where this was going. I stared at Azura in mute horror. This can't be happening.

"I am infected Jamie, I have the plague."

A/N

Hiiiii, so, I am evil. Cliffhanger. Whoop.

Sorry for dropping off the face of the Earth, again. Um, super busy. I know, no excuse, but you read this chapter, so at least the story is good, right? I have had major writer's block, so I hope this is halfway decent work.

130 stinkin' reads!!!! Oh my goodness, I can't thank all of you enough. I has been a month and already we have exceeded my wildest expectations! THANK YOU ALL!

Suggestions and comments are appreciated. Little shoutout to katkeenan (wouldn't let me do the at thing), they gave me some awesome feedback. Thanks for helping me!

Does anyone even read the author's note? I always do, but I don't think many people do.

BYE! ;P Hope to see you all on Wednesday!