Chapter 34
The cold water tickles my bare skin as I scratch hardly to get rid of the dried blood. I scratch and scratch until nothing is left except for my finger marks. I may have spaced out a little bit, thinking about the things going around my life that I forgot to bring my clothes with me; all I have is my towel.
The whole floor is as silent as the night making my heart a little easy – I start to hear things which isn’t really there like my brother’s growling, Edward’s barely-there footsteps and even Professor Wood’s exasperating sighs. I am about few steps to the stairs when my head starts to hurt. My vision begins to shake and high pitch tones start to hurt my ears too. The side-effects are beginning again.
I try to hold on to something so I wouldn’t roll down the stairs. I keep my eyes wide open, and breathe very loudly. I take one step down at each minute, it’s like the gravity is pulling and holding me at the same time. Blood rushes from my nose down to my mouth. It’s rusty, disgusting.
“What the hell!” a boy shouts. It’s from my back, maybe a few steps away from me. “Why are you always torturing people, Sage!” he shouts in disbelief, emphasizing the word Sage, and of course, who would say Sage in that tone expect for Sirius.
I step farther away from him with shaking knees, but after few steps my body couldn’t handle the pressure anymore so I sit to the cold floorboards, still on my towel and breathes through my mouth. “Hey!” Sirius shouts, I sense him coming right next to me, then I feel his presence clearer, his beside me. He sits in front of me and lifts my head with force. “Shoot!” he jumps back upon seeing my bleeding face. “If you’re going to die, better not with my presence.” He says meanly and leaves. I never thought that his hatred would go this far. I always assume that he hates Terence more than me, I guess I’m wrong.
Suddenly a loud swish of wind caresses my body.
A jacket, soft as cotton suddenly drops in my back and I feel slightly warm. “When I asked you to come see me after bathing, I meant it with decency. I’m not interested in you Keesha, so don’t strip naked for me.” Edward jokes. I really want to get up and punch his face. It’s only been hours since I decided to be friends with him and here he is being so comfortable throwing censored jokes at a wrong time.
He kneels to the ground without waiting for any response and scoop me like a fallen ice shreds. I cough continuously and grip his shirt with all my might, bury my face against his chest and begin to sob. As much as I want to punch him, I’m glad he came. I thought I’m going to die alone and naked.
Edward opens the door, put me in bed and offers to stay in our room for the night. “You can’t stay here.” I cough.
“They wouldn’t know I’m here. Your roommates are already asleep, by the time they wake up, I’m gone. I need to monitor your condition for the whole night.” He says quietly.
He’s a man of his words. When all of us are awake, he’s gone. There’s no trace of him except for a small note under my pillow:
Talk to your friend he must have misunderstood what he saw last night.
P.S There’s nothing much to see. J
I find Sirius with Mathieu and Brian eating in the mess kit. This is the only time I can speak to him so I sit beside him and whisper, “What you see the other night, it was nothing. I’m just sick and Edward happened to be there and being a lot nicer than you, he offered to carry me to my room. That’s just it.”
He stops chewing, puts down his spoon like it is ten times heavier than what it’s supposed to be. “Look Sage,” he says lowly but irritated. “Do I look like a give a damn? And just so you know, I asked the mayor’s son to get you now I feel sorry for whoever that Edward is.”
