Scars

Chapter Four

Pain. Indescribable pain. And a blinding white light. A high pitched squealing sound fills my ears, reminding me annoyingly of Lila. The sound fades away, and the light slowly disappears, leaving my eyes to focus on the scene around me. The pain in my side has dulled a bit, but still aching. I look around me. A large, glowing moon sits in the dark sky, illuminating the dark street I stand on. The pavement is covered in puddles which are reflecting the moonlight. In the minimum amount of light I have, I can see the outline of a car parked next to an old, brick building. I strain my eyes, and see someone leaning against it. A man. He's wearing a long coat with a small hat perched on top of his head. I watch as he places a cigar to his lips, putting his hand in his pocket. I don't move for a while, too intent on watching this man. After a while, he looks up, his brown eyes meeting mine. A smirk is brought to his plump lips the second his eyes catch mine. He takes the cigar from his mouth and flicks it onto the damp ground, not taking his eyes off me. I glance down at the cigar, feeling uncomfortable with the intense stare I'm receiving.
"You made it, sweet pea." His voice is husky and low, sending a shiver down my spine. I look up at him, seeing instantly the amused, but dark, gleam in his eyes. I open my mouth to speak, but no words come out. A chuckle fills the air. "Oh, sweetie. At a loss for words I see? Not an unusual reaction to someone as handsome as me." He pulls his hands from his pockets and makes towards me, his polished black shoes shining in the moonlight. He starts to fade away, taking the street and the moon with him, being replaced with the blinding white light. His chuckle is gone and in its place is the squealing noise. My side begins to ache, shooting pain into my stomach. I wince, and grip  onto it. The light grows brighter and the sound gets louder. The pain intensifies, tears pricking at my eyes. It all becomes too overwhelming and I begin to cry, my body shaking intensely.

I wake up, my breathing insanely heavy. My whole body is shaking and I'm lying in a pool of sweat. My cheeks are boiling and there is a slight buzzing sensation in my side. I pull my shirt up, inspecting the aching spot. I see the familiar round spot I've had since birth.  But surrounding it, is a dull pink colour about the size of a fifty cent coin. I run my fingers over it gently, causing a sharp pain to shoot through my entire side. I wince, and pull my hand away. I have no clue what is happening. First the event at school, with the same guy. This dream, and now my birthmark hurting? Like, is a birthmark even supposed to hurt?

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I rub my eyes tiredly as I walk trough the all too familiar school gate. I got barely any sleep after that little birthmark and dream thing. I have no idea what's going on.
"Stella!" I groan because I'm really not in the mood to have a conversation right now, especially with Cove after our chat yesterday. I put on my best fake smile and turn to face him.
"Hi, Cove." He smiles.
"Hey. So, I have an idea of what I want to do to ask Lila out." He says excitedly. I hold back a roll of my eyes and a bored yawn.
"Really?" I ask, trying to sound a bit more excited then I feel. His eyes are shining and I feel a pang in my heart. Why?
"Yep! So here's what gonna happen: you know how we have the speakers in the cafeteria? Well, im gonna wait until lunch so everyone is there. And it will play out as usual, just going and sitting. But then, music will start playing. A soft, romantic song-" and that's when I tune out. Right at the word 'romantic'. I look around the yard, last nights dream grazing my mind. Who was that man? Where was I? What happened yesterday at school and why was that man there? What's with the birthmark suddenly hurting and bruising?
My head is hurting from all the thoughts floating around, so I try my hardest to shut them out.
"Pretty cool, huh?" Coves voice asks, and I freak out.
"Oh yeah! Mhmm! Totally, shell love it!" I say, I bit too enthusiastically. Coves face drops.
"You weren't listening." I frown.
"I'm sorry. I really am." Lies. "I just didn't sleep much last night. Really tired right now." I feel guilty for lying to him, but he wouldn't understand if I told him about the dream. He lets out a shallow sigh.
"It's fine. But I want you to be there."
I grimace.
"Why?" He laughs.
"Duh. You're my best friend. And this is huge, I mean, I'm asking out Lila. THE Lila Dayes. I mean, that's pretty important." I fight the urge to gag and nod my head.
"Mhmm. I mean, yeah. Asking the worlds biggest slag out is definitely important." I say, watching as Cove rolls his eyes.
"Slag? Really? She's not that bad." I gasp.
"Have you seen her? She's always got a new boy toy. You have to be a complete nutter to actually like her!" Exclaim, waving my hands around. He laughs.
"Please. You're just jealous. She's bloody gorgeous!" Cove says, not taking his eyes off of where she stands. I roll my eyes.
"well have fun, lover boy. I'll see you later." I pat his shoulder and walk off, ignoring the protests coming from him.
Well then, today should be fun.