Inhuman

Chapter 4 - School

School

noun – 1. an institution for educating children. 2. a day's work at school; lessons. 3.any institution at which instruction is given in a particular discipline

Whoever wrote the dictionary needs a serious reality check.

I had the stitches in my forehead taken out the day before Mum sent me back to school. It left my skin strangely bumpy with a scar running across my forehead.

"Well, there go my dreams of being on a Clearasil advert." I muttered sarcastically to my mother when we got home and I had a chance to look in the hall mirror. I pulled my fringe over the disfiguring mark. "I still look presentable I suppose."

Xandrell suddenly rushed down the stairs, ran up behind me and threw his arms around me. "You still look beautiful, my love!" he chirped happily.

I glared at him in the mirror. I heard my mother sigh as she walked away into the kitchen. "Xandrell, you're even annoying my mum now." I told him sternly.

"But what does she know of our love, my darling?" he said passionately.

I sighed. I was not getting rid of him any time soon. "Couldn't you just lay off the whole loving thing a little?"

He looked down at me shocked. "And not spend every single moment showing you how much you mean to me? Never, my love!"

There was really no losing this guy. Eventually, I pushed him off of me and ran off to my room, slamming the door. I knew I wasn't really pushing him out, but I could at least feel like I was.

I pressed my back against the door and slid down until I hit the floor. What did this guy want from me? I wasn't pretty, or cute. I knew I was being really horrible to him, but it was the only way I could think to try to get him to leave me alone. I curled my knees up to my chest and wrapped my arms around them, ignoring the annoying twinge that shivered through me as I touched the bruises on my legs and torso. This boy wanted, maybe even needed to love me, apparently. And somewhere deep inside me, there was a girl who I'd never let to the surface, and did all in my power to never let her out of her cage when I was trying to be strong for my family. The girl that cried long into the night, wondering if she'd ever find someone who loved her more than anything... I had found someone beyond that girl's wildest dreams... I felt my shoulders heave once and suddenly, tears began to run down my face. I whimpered and wiped at my damp face. I heard him knock on the door and call my name softly. For all of a heartbeat, I considered opening the door and letting him in...

...but the part of me that dominated my being didn't want, and didn't need him... this was the part that pushed him away and said such horrible things...

I clambered up, locked the door and went and laid down on my bed. He continued to knock on the door, calling my name forlornly.

'Stupid boy'. I found myself thinking as I cried myself to sleep.

I don't remember falling asleep, but all through the night I was tortured by nightmares, none of which I remembered when I woke, but whenever my eyes snapped open and I found myself lying back in my bed in a cold sweat, my heart racing, there was always his face floating in front of my eyes. For the first few rude awakenings, I believed he was there and groaned, lashing out at his face, but when my hand sliced straight through his flesh, it took me still a few moments more before I realised that this Xandrell was only in my mind. I forced myself back into a world of nightmares again and again until finally, my alarm clock rang beside me. I rolled onto my back and rubbed at my face. "Thank God!" I moaned.