BLACK

(28) Regain

EDITED

-Oren-
PART ONE

The sun woke me, warm rays dusting my skin in slits through the blinds, especially over my eyes. Pushing myself up from my elbows partially, I just slightly feel nails slip through my hair against my scalp. Turning, I notice Noire resting on her side, curly hair sweeping over the dip in her waist and tickling my bare arms. Her head is pushed up close to the pillows, but I lied near her hands, engulfed from where I had fallen asleep last night.

"Ow." I hiss very quietly as a shooting pain ran up my shin. The cast.

Breaking the kink in my neck, I very discreetly slide out of Noire's hold. Her pale hands fall to the sheets of the mattress, smoothing over the last of my body heat. Holding in my flinches from pain, I pull myself up from the side of the bed and stand slowly on my own two, human feet. A rush of tingles and sharp edges spike through my shin and up my thigh. Grimacing, I shuffle my way as quietly as possible into the bathroom off to the side. My neck dips in natural habit, but I was finally short enough of height to not require it.

Pushing the door halfway shut, I finally exhale the groan longing to escape. I ached, and put most of my weight on my better leg. The cast felt heavier than usual. I place my hands along the rim of the sink, altering my focus to my reflection in the dirty, and partially cracked mirror. Most of the swelling, bruising, and bleeding had gone away. All that remained were tiny pink lines still shrinking down my left cheek. My chin looked larger compared to the sunken cheeks, my jaw more angular than usual. I pushed the long, grimy blond strands from my eyes, just to see the glimmering amber irises of Black. I stare until my eyes unfocus and my head spins with a familiar dizziness.  I lower myself to the edge of the claw foot bathtub, knees shaking from pain.

Bruise after bruise after bruise flowed down my leg, underneath the cast. Broken blood vessels splattered everywhere like my thigh was the canvas. Every touch hurt, every movement ached, but I was curious. To see if it was healing, if Black had taken my leg from me. I undid the first strap as quietly as I possibly could, wincing and grinding my teeth to keep quiet so Noire wouldn't wake. I lowered to the second, only loosening it half heartedly. I didn't have the bravery to take the full boot off. Instead, I just slightly pulled the top away, allowing light to fill the shadows. It reeked of blood and puss, scabs peeled off along the inside of the boot past where I could see.

I'd seen blood before, I'd seen human remains before. I'd been beaten before, I'd been scarred before. However this couldn't compare, because my brain had hidden the memories of that pain from me, and now I was staring it in the face once again. My stomach squeezed in disgust, and I closed my eyes as a rush of pounding came to my skull.

Along the tubs edges, my fingers curled into white digits. Soon after, it started to feel like my entire body was inflamed with the pain focused in my shin. A feeling I was all too familiar with.

I tried to open my eyes, to see the stitches criss crossing over my skin for reality, to get a sense of what was real, but already my vision burned as my eye lids opened. My fingers started to go numb, my knees stopped shaking from my nerves and started to shake with Black's.

In a last ditch effort, I stood rapidly, ripping my fingers from the tub and sending my non legs shooting forward. I crashed into the sink, hitting my head off the mirror and crying out as my brain still registered pain before Black fully took over. I wiggled my toes, trying to regain control before I did something I'd regret.

I fell backwards against the floor, smacking every inch of my side into the hard linoleum as Black removed all muscle control in my lower half. I crawled with my arms, biceps burning, to the door frame and tried repeatedly to haul myself up. My determination was strong enough for seconds to bring me to my feet. And then I lost it again, as I stumbled into the rest of the bedroom.