Blight Academy

Just Breathe

The woods cried around us, birds and crickets and streams just screaming to be heard. The trees were tall and sheltering, covering the forest in a lush shade. The ground was a thick layer of dead leaves, tree roots and moss. We stand in a clearing, a place where there was just dirt and boulders. I sit upon a small one with my legs crossed and back straight, trying to even out my breathing. My eyes are closed, just focusing on the sounds around me.
"Just breathe and relax," Mr. Ivan says. "Clear your mind of worry and of doubt."
I took up Mr. Ivan's offer of teaching me control. Knowing that I would have to change for the first time in just over a week and not to mention the onslaught of symptoms I've been having recently. I needed every ounce of control I could get if I wanted everything to go smoothly.
"You want to be able to understand your body, that every action has a reaction," he says, I could hear him walking in a circle around me. "You need to be able to identify these responses, to understand what it means. If you know what they mean and know what you should do, you can gain control over your body and your emotions."
"What happens if I can't keep control?" I ask, my breathing hitching slightly.
"If you get to caught up in your emotions your gypsy side can turn wildly. If you turn without control, you don't have a grip on your animal self. You can hurt people."
I nod, trying to get my breathing even again. I focus on the sounds of the trees blowing in the wind, the frog croaking in the distance and water running down the nearby stream. After a few more minutes Mr. Ivan's hands grab my shoulders, bringing me out of my zen.
"You are doing good Leonard," he says, urging me to rise. "That will be all for today but I suggest practicing before bed."
"Yes sir," I say, packing up the blankets and blowing out the scented candle.
"How is the reading going?" Mr. Ivan asks.
"I've already finished what I need to catch up on, I'm a fifth of the way through the stack already," I say with a spark in my eyes. "I'm very excited to read about 'The Priests of the Pythia Mountains'."
"I'm proud," he says. "I don't think I've ever had a student that has loved reading as much as you do."
I laugh. "It's not really about the reading for me, it's about the information. A story that holds history, languages, cultures. It's just so interesting."
Mr. Ivan laughs with me and he goes to pack up the spare candles. I turn and suddenly the world starts spinning and a pain goes up my back and I'm falling to the ground in pain. I scream in utter agony, the pain too much and Mr. Ivan is running to my side.
"Leonard! Are you okay?"
I can barely speak, my hands fisting the dirt as I hunch over in pain.
"P- pills" are the only words I can utter, a hand flailing in the direction of my backpack by the rock I had been sitting on.
Mr. Ivan sprints to the pack, practically ripping it open to rummage inside in search of my medications. He manages to find them and he sprints back to me. He flips me onto my back, making me groan and Mr. Ivan places the pills in my hand. I struggle just to get my hand from his to my mouth, my entire self just shaking from the pain. I somehow manage to swallow them, letting myself just collapse on the forest floor and just letting myself breathe and wait for the medicine to take affect.
"I hate this," I say quietly yet I know Mr. Ivan can hear me clearly. "It hurts so much."
"The symptoms should never be this bad," he says. "In all my twenty years as a werewolf, I've never seen it like this."
I sigh, feeling the pain fade away. "It's always been like this..."
"Always?" Mr. Ivan asks.
"Ever since that night four days ago, I was in the hospital and I had just woken up. I had these same symptoms but a little milder. I thought-" I say but I cut myself off.
"You thought what?" He asks.
"I thought my back was bleeding," I say. "I felt my back, it came back covered in blood yet I blinked and it was gone."
Mr. Ivan stands, raking a hand through his disheveled brown hair. "Why didn't you tell anyone about this."
"I didn't know it was serious, I'm new at this," I say also getting to my feet but feeling sluggish.
"Has it always been your back?"
"Yeah, why? Is that not normal?" I ask concerned
"No, it isn't," he says muttering to himself. "Not normal at all."
I look at Mr. Ivan worried. He has a strange look on his face, that of confusion and mystery. He stroked his gruff bread in deep thought. He notices my stare and see the fright in my eyes.
"You don't need to worry Leo," Hey says. "I'll look into the matter but I'm sure everything will be just fine."
~~~
"Winter Solstice dance?" I say
"Yeah it's a whole school event celebrating the end of year," Alice says causing Sapphire to roll her eyes.
"Oh please, it's just a place for everyone to get drunk and make out with each other," Sapphire says before taking a large bite of her sandwich.
"Yeah, I don't know. Doesn't really sound like my kind of scene," I say.
"But you have to go!" Alice says, the most desperate I've ever seen her. "I'm on the decoration committee and I have to spend three hours in the forest collecting rare blue fireflies for Kayla! So you better all come to say it's amazing."
"Who's Kayla?" I ask
"She's in charge of the decoration committee," Sapphire chimes in, her hand over Alice's to calm her down. "She's a real female dog, if you know what I mean."
"A werewolf?" I ask.
Sapphire laughs. "Nope."
"So are you guys going or not?" Alice asks back to her usual innocent demeanour.
"Going to what?" Thoman says appearing out of nowhere and sliding into the seat next to me.
"Alice wants us to go to the Winter Solstice at winter break," Sapphire explains. "I don't wanna go either."
"What, but you guys have to go!" Thom says excited. "It will be so much fun."
"You said that last year!" Sapphire says. "Then my date gets smash drunk and I'm the one who had to take care of her all night."
"We could go as a group, no dates or expectations. Just four friends, partying it up and having a good time," Thom says before looking over to me. "Sound good Leo?"
"Yeah, sounds kinda fun," I say unable to deny those blue eyes.
Thoman smiles brightly, lips pulling back to show straight white teeth. I couldn't help but blush and look away, right at Sapphire who just winked at me, making me blush more. I'm not usually a party person, I'm not even that good of a dancer. Yet I couldn't help but agree, a night with these guys would be fun.
"I'll go, but only on one condition," Sapphire says. "We sneak into the pool afterwards and go swimming."
"Dammit Phire, you know my key is for the club and for the club only!" Thoman says.
"Of come on, being the swim captain has its privileges so why not use them," She says, making a point.
"If we get caught, I'll be blaming you!" Thoman says.
"So is that a yes?" Sapphire asks and Thoman gives a smirk.
Alice jumps for joy. "Yay, we could all go in matching colours or maybe we could all dress to a theme. This is going to be so much fun."
The group talks back and forth about costumes and different colours of blue. We talk for what feels like hours but has only be twenty minutes, everyone excited about the dance. I slightly zone out, wondering if I'd get to have a dance with Thom. My hand in his, swaying to a slow song on the dance floor. I could just stare into his blue eyes all night and be contempt.
I'm deep in my thoughts when Thoman brings me out of my fantasy. I blush in embarrassment wondering if Thom knew what I was think and I slightly hope that mermen couldn't read minds. The bell had gone and it was time for fourth period, Alice offering to walk me to my next class as it was in the direction she was going.
"Oh I almost forgot," Thoman says, reaching into his bag to pull out a folder. "I was talking to Mr. Porter and asked him for some notes on the lesson you missed. Now you can catch up."
I take the notes from him in amazement. "Thank you so much."
"And if you need help studying, I have some spare time tonight."
"That would be great but do you even know anything about Linguistics?" I ask
"Oh, please. How hard can it be?"
~~~
We were in the library, it was after dinner and it had only been an hour before Thoman was about to give up. Instead of him helping me, it was more like I was teaching him all that I knew about Linguistics.
"Ah yes, you are being so helpful," I say sarcastically, laughing.
He throws a peanut at my face. "Don't mock me, it's harder than I thought."
The laughs die down and I take small sips from my drink bottle. My cheeks hurt from all the laughing, Thoman was hilarious when he wanted to be. I'm surprised I've gotton any study done with how much Thom has distracting me.
"You really are amazing though," Thom says. "You can tell who wrote what just by glancing at the page."
"Oh please, it's more complicated than that," I say. "Besides I've always been good at noticing patterns. It just comes naturally to me."
"Well it's a cool gift," Thom says, leaning back in his chair. "You can understand things that other people don't, it must make you feel superior."
I think about what Thom just said for a moment. "No, I've never really thought about it that way. I've always just thought I was normal."
Thom smiles. "You are far from normal."