Played For A Fool

Worry

Cinder didn't go to school the next day. She felt so worried for Kai, thinking of him all alone in his ginormous house and knew that she needed to go and see him. She had hardly slept that night and knew that Kai was probably just as sleepless.

The drive to the Prince house wasn't that long and Cinder wondered what Kai would do now that he had no family, at least none that she knew of. She remembered when she had been left without a family and had been adopted by the Lihn's, but Kai was already eighteen. He had more than enough money to support himself for the rest of his life, because of his father's wealth, but he seemed too sweet and innocent to live by himself.

As Cinder pulled in front of Kai's house, she noticed just how big it was. She hadn't noticed last night, while it was dark, but his house was by far the largest house in all of the Commonwealth, and it looked almost like a palace sitting in the very heart of the city.

Cinder pulled up all of her courage and walked up the long expanse of stairs that led to the front door. She rocked on her feet as she stood at the door and knocked. No one answered. Cinder knocked again, but no one answered. She began to feel a panic wash over her. She felt worry. Cinder knew that he wouldn't go to school, so where could he be. She knocked again, more persistent this time.

Finally, after minutes of knocking and agonizing, the door flew open and displayed a rather stern looking man who Cinder didn't recognize. He had hard gray eyes, and as he looked at Cinder, his expression grew confused as he took her in. "Why are you here?" He questioned looking around as though for someone else. "What do you want?"

Cinder looked down at her toes in embarrassment, debating what she should say. She didn't even know if Kai wanted to see her. Maybe she was being selfish coming here when he was in mourning. She didn't know if she had come here for Kai, or if she was just reassuring herself that he would be okay.

The silence stretched and Cinder realized that the man was waiting for her to answer his question. "My name is Cinder, I'm a friend of Kai's." Cinder clarified, "And I came here to see how Kai is doing. I took-"

Cinder was cut off by the man's look of annoyance. "Mr. Prince is grieving at this time and wishes to be alone." With that, he slammed the door on Cinder. Cinder stumbled back with surprise, twisting her ankle as fell down the steps that were only a few paces behind her.

Seconds later, Cinder reached the bottom and gasped in pain as she felt her foot. Sitting up, she glanced down at her left ankle. It was already swollen and Cinder knew that she had busted it. The limb began to burn with pain and Cinder groaned.

"Are you alright?" Cinder jerked around and hissed as another wave of pain seared her leg. An old man, vaguely familiar in ways that Cinder couldn't explain, stood just behind her in a white lab coat. He was short, with tons of wrinkles and glasses perched upon his nose and a weird hat upon his head. He had the most piercing blue eyes and they were trained upon Cinder, still sitting on the ground.

The man's eyes wandered down from her face towards her ankle which she was clutching and frowned, shifting his cane in his hand. "You may have broken that. Come with me, I'll fix you up." 

Cinder stared at the man with confusion. She didn't even know this man, how could she just go with him? Cinder sized him up and the man chuckled. "I am Dr. Sage Darnel, and I think it would be best if you come with me. Like I said, you could have broken it." Realization dawned across Cinder's face and Dr. Darnel laughed again.

Standing up was difficult and Cinder gasped as she tried putting her weight on her injured foot. It was tedious, but with the help of the doctor, she was able to make it into his car, still unsure if she was doing the right thing.

The drive was short and silent and Cinder clenched her teeth as she got out of the car and followed Dr. Darnel into the house.

The interior of the house looked like a lab and Cinder wondered if this man ever did anything besides work. The walls were covered in charts and every surface had an abundance of folders and electronic devices that Cinder would never be able to put a name to. Cinder stumbled behind him and stopped in her tracks when she saw a girl about her age sitting at a computer.

Dr. Darnel turned and looked at Cinder, seeming to realize that she had stopped following him. "This is my daughter, Crescent." He beamed, and Cinder could tell that his daughter meant everything to him.

Crescent turned around to face her and Cinder noticed first, she had her father's same piercing eyes, and second, her golden hair trailed all the way down to the floor. Crescent smiled shyly, as though she wasn't quite sure what to say. "You can call me Cress." She whispered in a musical voice.

Cinder gawked at Cress and her smile faltered. Dr. Darnel huffed and Cinder blinked. "Oh, um, my name is Cinder." The smile was back on Cress's face, but it was forced and almost scared this time.

The Doctor cleared his throat, and gestured at Cinder. "Crescent, I have to take a look at Cinder's ankle, and then I'll be right back up." Dr. Darnel concluded, as he walked away with Cinder trailing in his wake, not waiting to hear Cress's muffled reply.

They walked down a set of stairs and Cinder was met by more charts and folders. Did this man ever do anything besides work?  The doctor led Cinder down a small hall and turned into a large room.

The room was in pristine condition and had more equipment than Cinder ever imagined. Dr. Darnel gestured for her to sit on a table and she complied. "What is your last name, Cinder?" He asked.

"Lihn." Cinder replied. The doctor nodded in approval as he removed her shoe and then her sock. The doctor frowned and Cinder realized that it was her burned foot. 

"What is your medical condition, Miss Lihn?" Dr. Darnel scrutinized her with curiosity burning behind his eyes.

"Third degree burns." Cinder answered and then looked down, not wanting to say any more. The doctor nodded again and began working on her ankle. He twisted it in weird ways that made Cinder gasp and asked her where the pain was. It seemed an odd technique and Cinder began to wonder if he was an actual doctor.

Eventually, he nodded his head and seemed pleased with what she had told him. "It's not broken, only sprained. I would like for you to wear a brace on it for two weeks and ice it every day."

Cinder was relieved to know that she hadn't broken her ankle. Everything seemed to have been going wrong the past few weeks and Cinder was glad not to add another major problem to her list.

Dr. Darnel showed Cinder how to put the brace on and gave her specific instructions on how to treat it. Cinder thanked him and began to climb off the table. Walking out of the room, Cinder's ankle gave another throb and she fell into a cabinet with mini vials on top. Time seemed to go slower as she watched the tiny containers fall to the ground and smash into a thousand pieces as the contents splattered on the ground.

Cinder turned to look at the doctor and saw that his face had gone pale. Faster that she would have believed possible, Dr. Darnel grabbed Cinder's shoulders and pulled her away from the broken vials with an urgency that Cinder didn't understand.

"Don't breathe." He told her, growing more frantic by the second. The doctor cursed and looked back at Cinder, muttering under his breath. Cinder looked at him puzzled and the doctor groaned in frustration.

"Those vials, I knew I should have kept them back at the hospital, but ever since Rikan became ill..." He trailed off and Cinder's bewilderment grew. "The contents of those vials contained the disease. Letumosis."

Horror finally hit Cinder like a train. She would die. She had been exposed to letumosis along with the doctor and now they would both die. Cinder hoped that Cress wouldn't get it too.

Peony, she would die like Peony. All alone, with blue rashes covering her, devouring her until it consumed her entire being. She would die, just as her little sister had, except this time there would be no one to mourn her death.