Cadestelle

Calida

My head hurts, was the first thing I thought when I woke up. The room was bright and I could see light seeping through a crack in the curtains that covered the windows. I groaned as I felt pain shoot through me as I got up. I looked around, trying to mull over where I was. Looking down, I saw that I was placed on a musty old bed, and the only thing that separated me from the bed was a thin white sheet that was soaking with my sweat. There was a blanket laid lightly on top of my body, and that too was damp from my excessive perspiration. I tried to study the room closer, but the lay out was too simple to interpret my location. There was a desk lodged to the right wall, and a pathetic looking chair seated below it. Besides the desk and the bed I was now seated on, there was nothing else that furnished the room. There was a miniscule closet that laid surrendured in the corner of the limited spaced room. I got up, and saw the door. I wanted desparately to get out of the stuffy room. Right as I went to open the door, it swung open with a smash as it hit the wall. I fell back in my surprise, and to get out of the way of the door. 

" Nadia are you okay?" A voice asked. I looked up to see Chris standing in the doorway, a worried look across his face. Why was he here?

" Leave her alone she needs her rest!" I heard my Aunt yell as she came running into the room behind him. I saw her small frame shake deeply from her ragged breaths. 

" Why are you here?" I asked rudely to Chris. I was reeling in my thoughts. There was too much going on. I didn't know where I was or why, or why Chris was here with my Aunt. Both of them looked painfully stressed.

" Are you okay?" Chris asked again, ignoring my question. My Aunt's eyes were bulging out of her head as she answered for him. 

" She's fine, I thought something bad had happened that's all, she just passed out on the porch is all." She explained hurriedly. I had fainted? Slowly the memory of the windchimes and men dressed in black came back to me like an old nightmare that you kept having. I curled up against the floor and moaned involuntarily as I saw the men, more vivid than ever. 

" She's obviously not okay!" I heard Chris yell at my Aunt. I imagined my Aunt tensing at his rude remark and her staring him down with her wicked gaze that scared most people. Suddenly I felt strong hands, that I think were Chris', pull me up back onto the now dry bed. I heard them leave the room while I was still trying to push the images of the windchimes and men out of my mind, but the memory was too fresh. 

" You can't just stop giving her this stuff so abruptly." I heard Chris say. They were oblivious to the fact that I could still hear there poor attempts of whispering, even as I lay there groaning from the fear at which I felt towards the remembrance.

" You don't think I know that?" My Aunt whispered angrily, " But she see is going to be sixteen sometime this winter, and it's already October! That's the age that they-"

" Shh. She could hear us. Lets go outside and talk about this." Chris said. I heard their footsteps walk away from the room. When I made sure that I could no longer hear the angry whispers, I got up from the bed and pushed away the men from my mind to focus on where I was. I slowly went to the door and opened it quietly. The hinges creaked once and I winced at the sound. I stood there for a few seconds holding my breath and waiting to calm my heart rate. Once I was sure they hadn't heard I took a skeptical look outside of the door. I was surprised to recognize the hallway as the one in my house. I took a step outside the open door and immediately saw the door to my room. I didn't remember seeing this door in particular. From what I remember there were only three doors in this hallway, my room, my Aunt's room, and a bathroom. I could clearly make out the other rooms. This door would be the first one you see when walking down the hallway, I concluded. I took a step back inside and accidentally ran into the desk behind me. I flinched when I heard glass crashing to the ground behind me.