After the Sky Bled

Chapter 5

When we got into the apartment the first priority was tending to Sarah. The barbed needles were a hassle,every time we started to pull the hole widened, and caused her body to make a sound like carving a turkey before it's done. Luckily for everyone she was out, thanks to Mira, so it was worse for us than it was for her, and I was more than okay with that. After she had been bandaged, Mira let her wake.

"How do you feel?" I asked as she sat up.

"It's just kind of a throbbing now, thank you, both of you" she answered, looking at the two of us in turn. We both nodded before she asked; "What happened to the porcupine guy?" immediately I remembered it all, every bloody detail. It didn't help that Mira was staring into whatever had become of my soul, asking the same question, with much more accusation. Strangely enough, I didn't really feel too badly about it, almost like I had just done what was needed, however gruesome it may have been.

"He's dead." I answered. "I killed him" Mira's cold calculating oak green eyes still bored into me, almost as if she was trying to read what I was thinking, and hell, she may have been doing just that.

"You... killed him?" Sarah asked, restating my words, almost as if she hadn't quite heard it the first time, even though the expression on her face spoke otherwise.

"Yes. He hurt you, so I killed him" even I could see what was wrong with the statement that time, my words came out so naturally, they weren't forced, or difficult to push out, just matter of fact, and simple. "He shot needles at us, hurt you, and I ripped his throat out. He used his mutation to hurt you, so I used mine to pay him back." Again the words came so easy, I wasn't having to cope with taking my first life, it didn't bother me that I still had his blood splattered across my face, it was simply the way it was, and for some reason, I was okay with that.

Mira must have just then noticed the blood, or just then had the opportunity, because she told to get rid of it. I knew the both of them would be talking about me when I left the room, and I would be able to hear every word. I went into the bathroom, and closed the door. I decided to sit on the toilet and just listen. I'd been trying desperately to ignore all of the sounds surrounding me, but now I closed my eyes, and let them in. I could hear water running in the pipes throughout the building, a couple, probably 3 floors down, was hysterical. The woman was screaming about how she had been shoving her way through the crowd just trying to get back,when she had lightly push a man to the side, and sent him flying into the side of a building. Her voice grew lower, almost as if she was trying to keep it a secret.

"His head was busted open, and he wasn't moving." She said, before reverting to her wailing, hysterical self. The man, probably her husband, was trying desperately to calm her down. There was silence, then I heard him;

"Shh baby, shh" the man cooed, "It'll all be ok. Come here" there was the slight shuffling of footsteps, then the sounds of a solid embrace, before a loud crunch. The sound of a man in agony, followed by a woman's screams. I decided we should probably go see about her later.

Just then, I realized what I had been doing, I had been focusing this new hearing, using it to hone in on what I wanted to listen to, as opposed to everything at once. I'd have to practice to perfect it, but for now, I could hone in on the living room.

"Did he really kill the guy like that?" Sarah asked tentatively.

"Yes, I watched him; it was like he was a beast on a hunt. He knew his target, knew the soft spot, and attacked. I watched him run like an animal, his whole body bunching up and then extending, pushing against the ground, propelling him at his prey, he literally pounced on the man. His nails must have extended into some sort of claws, because he ripped straight through the guys neck. When he was finished, he stood, and walked away, calm, collected, but there was something in his eyes, almost like pride, or satisfaction. And then his mouth twitched, it moved into a smirk, the one he has been doing for so long, the one that radiates contempt, except this time, with his canine so visible, and that savage look in his eyes, it was different, almost bestial."

"Do you think he's ok?" Sarah asked, so obviously concerned for me, when it was her own life that could have been in danger.

"I don't know." Mira answered, all of the emotion from her story had disappeared, and her analytical self had returned. "But he still seems to be himself for the most part. So, for now, we have more pressing matters to attend to."

So they were worried I was becoming some kind of monster. It made me wonder; how far off were they? I got up to wash off the blood, and as I was washing it off of my hands, I realized something; I still hadn't looked into a mirror. The whole time since the attack, I'd been too busy to see what I looked like. So I looked. Brought my eyes up to meet my own, or so I thought. The person I was looking at couldn't have been me. My eyes were green, deep and dark, not this dark shade of purple. I had pupils, not slits like a cat. I know my ears don't come to a point at the top, and definitely aren't that long. And since when did a left canine poke out from under my lip? This person wasn't me. This was what I would have looked like if I had been born in hell, maybe. I didn't want to look like this all the time, no. It was understandable to look like a monster when I was being a monster, like earlier today, but not right now. Right now I was human, so I should look human. As I thought this, staring in the mirror, I watched myself become human again. Watched my ears shrink back and round off, watched the slits become pupils again, and I saw my canine disappear back behind my lip. While my body reverted back, something else changed as well. The world wasn't quite as bright, not so in focus, my vision went closer to 20/20, and shied away from high def. The sounds from the world around me let off a little bit, and the smells subsided. One thing didn't change back though; my eyes were still that deep purple. I guess I would never be exactly the same again. I practiced in the mirror a couple more times, changing and then reverting back, I wanted to make sure I could do it at will, wanted to make it second nature.