StarFall (Completed)

Ch. 12 - Hunger

The blackness surrounding me felt thick, and heavy. I moaned and ached as I strained to open my eyes.

"Is she alright? Oh my god, is she dead? Gross."

"Adeline? Can you hear me?

"Clearly not, loser."

"Hush, hush, you mustn't crowd her. Give her room to breathe."

I sat up slowly, the room was spinning. I grabbed hold of my head as a ringing grew louder in my ears. "What happened?" I said, wearily.

"Slowly, child. You mustn't move too fast. You had a nasty fall."

Fall? That's right, I fell off the platform. Wait. How am I still alive?

"I don't understand. Why did I fall?" I could barely keep my head up.

The old man held his hand to my forehead. "I'm afraid I'm not certain. Although..." 

I tried to focus. "Although?"

He sighed. "Your breakfast. You didn't touch a single bite. Why is that?"

I couldn't see clearly. "My breakfast? Why are you asking about--"

"You seemed hungry enough before. Was it the eggs?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." I writhed in pain. "I'm plenty hungry."

He seemed to look worried. "Not good, not good." He walked off somewhere.

"Adeline, can you hear me?" Miller sat down beside me.

"Miller?" I veered in and out of consciousness. "What's going on?"

He hushed me. "It's alright, just rest. The old man's getting you something to eat."

He returned with a tray of food. "Here we are. Try some of this. Old family recipe."

I sat up and took a bite of the strange food. Moments later I spit it out. "It's disgusting." The taste lingered on my tongue.

He looked concerned. "Alright, alright. Try this then."

Once more I sat up and took a bite, and once more I spit it out. "I can't do anymore. It's awful." I groaned in pain as I grabbed hold of my stomach.

Madison scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Drama queen."

Miller stood next to her. "She's not faking this, Madison. Just look. That's real pain."

She crossed her arms and looked away from him. "Whatever."

I didn't have time to care about their bickering. Nothing else mattered but the growing hunger inside of me. My body pressed harder into the floor I laid on, each breath felt like knives digging into my gut. I needed to eat.

"You have to do something." Miller pleaded with the old man.

His face was wrought with tension. It was hard to focus on it, but I could see hesitation on his face. 

"There is one thing I might be able to do," he said, walking away from Miller, and towards the door.

"Where are you going?" Miller said, panicked.

"Out. I need the ingredients to help the polite girl. I'll be as quick as I can." He walked through the door, but stopped. He turned back to us. "Whatever you do, do not let her touch you. Do you understand?"

Miller was breathing heavy. "What? Why can't we--"

"Do you understand?" The old man shouted.

Miller grew silent. "Yes." He nodded.

The old man left the tree-house. I wasn't sure if he was actually going out to help or if he was too afraid to stay.

                                                                               *********

Madison slumped down in a chair at the table, Bobby stood nearby, staring out the tree-house windows, lost in thought. Miller stayed by my side, without touching me. He flipped through the old man's book, trying his best to make sense of the gibberish written there in a language not his own.

The sweat rolled off me in heavy streams, my whole body could not help but shake with every shallow breath. I was certain this is what death felt like. Was I going to die?

I turned to Miller, and tried to speak.

He scrambled to put the book down. "Hey," he said, trying to feign a smile. "Don't talk if it hurts."

I forced the words out. "Hungry."

Miller looked down at me. "He'll be back soon, just hold tight."

"Hold tight?" Bobby said. 

Miller looked over to him standing by the window. "He said he'd be back. We have to trust him."

He walked away from the window. "We can't just sit around here hoping some old man we just met saves her."

Miller stood to face Bobby. "What, you want us to just leave her here and go after him?"

"Better than sitting on our asses doing nothing." He narrowed his gaze at Miller.

Miller made a fist, and stood tall next to Bobby. "We have to trust him, he's helped us so far. It's smarter to wait here."

Bobby put his hand on Miller's chest. "You mean wait here as she dies." He pushed Miller back.

He stumbled, and then got right back in Bobby's face. "You wanna start something now? When she's like this?" He motioned to me.

Bobby laughed lightly, and grinned. "What's the matter? Worried you can't take me on when your girlfriend's down for the count?"

Miller saw red as he swung his fist at Bobby. Bobby ducked down low, and rammed into Miller, pushing him into the old, wooden cabinets lining the wall. 

"Guys?" Madison said.

Miller pushed his hands against Bobby's face as he struggled to get free. Bobby threw him harder against the cabinets as they both grunted.

"Hello?" She said louder.

Bobby punched Miller in the stomach, and he fell to his knees. As he held himself in pain he grabbed hold of Bobby's legs and pushed forward. Bobby fell over, and Miller held on for dear life.

Madison scoffed. "Fine, whatever, just thought you'd like to know she's changing colors again."

They stopped their fighting and got to their feet, rushing over to me.

My body felt cold as a strange light washed over me. The purple on the back of my neck now extended to my shoulders, and the streaks of blue on the ends of my hair had crawled further towards the top.

"Adeline?" Miller shouted.

I gasped loudly as I sat up. They all fell backwards. My hand lurched forward and gripped Madison tight. She tried to get away but couldn't.

"Jeez, Adderall, let go." She struggled, but could not pull away.

I breathed in heavily as I pulled her closer. "So hungry." 

Madison screamed as lights seemed to rise off of her body and float towards me. They swirled around me before lowering down and fading away. I could feel my strength returning. A part of me knew this was wrong, but I couldn't stop now. Madison stopped screaming as her eyelids closed. 

"Adeline, stop, please."

"Summers, come on, this isn't cool."

I ignored their pleas as I gripped her arm tighter. It felt warm. These lights pouring into me were filled with an intense heat. I couldn't get enough.

I didn't notice the hand placed carefully on my shoulder. I turned to see the old man standing there.

He smiled softly, and said, "Sleep."

My grip loosened, and soon I was back on the floor, unable to move. Once more my vision faded to black.