Apex Predator

Chapter Two

Chapter Two

In the morning there are still traces of the headache but I feel much better. I get around a little slower and walk even slower on my way to school. By the time first hour is half over the headache is back full-throttle. I lay my head on my desk which gets me reprimanded quite a few times. In fifth hour—after lunch—I feel the nausea again. Again, I lay my head on my desk and barely move when the instructor—Ms. Aula—scolds me.

"Alaina," Cindy whispers. Her voice enhances the pain in my head almost as much as the sound of the chalk scratching the black board as Ms. Aula wrote her lesson. "Is everything alright?"

"I'm sure it's just a stomach bug," I say weakly. "It'll pass by tomorrow morning."

"Maybe you should go home for the rest of the day." Quinn adds. I shake my head.

"I agree," Sy says. "You can sleep this off."

"I can get through this. It doesn't hurt that bad." I lie. Xeon is sitting in front of me. He is silent but I know he can hear our conversation. I suddenly feel a lot of sticky fluid filling my throat. I begin to cough involuntarily. Blood spatters onto my desk. I hold out my hand to prevent any more from getting on the smooth surface. Once I finally stop coughing I raise my clean hand.

"Yes?" Ms. Aula focuses her cat-like green eyes on me. Her dark hair is pulled back into a tight bun that almost looks like it his holding the rest of her face up. That couldn't be comfortable. She wasn't and ugly woman. She was thin and just beginning to wrinkle. He eyes showed frequently that they still had some youth left in them. She has a pointed noise and high cheekbones. Her chin is rounded and she has a few freckles on her chest and the back of her hands.

"I need to go to the restroom." I say.

"Why?" Ms. Aula asks. To get high with the Michelin Man, I think. Why does this teacher always feel the need to ask students why they need to go to the rest room? I hold up my blood covered hand. She wrinkles her nose.

"Yes, please go." She says. I stand and head towards the pass.

"Blood is a pass." She sneers.

"What?" I ask, dumbfounded.

"Blood is a pass!" she shouts in her nasally voice. "Just go." I speed-walk out of the room with my hand covering my mouth. I can feel more blood waiting to escape. It tastes awful and it's almost suffocating me. I crash into the bathroom and kneel by a toilet without bothering to lock the stall. The water in the porcelain bowl is soon dyed red. What is happening to me? A retch and more and more blood escapes my mouth. I am feeling light-headed. The only bright side to this is that the headache and nausea have subsided. I sit back and breathe while I can—before I eject more blood.

I don't feel any more lying in wait in the back of my throat. I clean the blood off of my face and hands and return to class. When I walk into the room everyone stares at me. I hate that. Xeon's lips are twisted into a wicked smile and his eyes show a hint of satisfaction. I timidly retake my seat behind him after cleaning the flood off the desk with hand sanitizer.

"Alaina," Sy touches my arm; I jump. "Go home. You don't look too good."

"I'm fine," I lie and scoot out of his reach. I don't want to go home to lay in my room all alone. I feel more liquid blocking my airway. No. I lean over to the side as blood streams from my mouth. Everyone sitting around me jumps up and runs out of the splash zone. The stream ends with a fit of violent coughing and my headache returns.

"That's it," Sy scoops me up in his arms. "You're going home." He runs out of the room with me in his arms without asking Ms. Aula's permission. He takes me to the nurse where I can be dismissed without it counting against us. He hands me a bucket to catch my excretions while he explains to the school nurse what's happening. While all this is going on my side—the place the shadow with red eyes had touched—burns excessively.