Dear little Devil

Chapter 3 - Like we Were (Novel Draft 1)

Panic threatened to overtake her, but she held it back. What was it? The mark was so unnatural, like her stream of blood had been replaced with an entirely different colour of skin.

Gingerly, she reached out and touched it. It felt completely normal. Besides the odd colour, there didn't seem to be anything wrong with the spot. It felt just like normal skin, soft and smooth. Was it some sort of rash? Infection? Disease?

Marla didn't know what to make of this, confusion filling her head like a haze of thoughts that didn't make sense. Yet she got the feeling she was missing something, something that might help her understand what was going on.

She let out a heavy sigh. At least the pain had stopped when she removed the bandages. She felt a little guilty since Anna's mum had told her not to remove them. She'd said it was a rash, but it didn't look like one, more like somebody had dyed a part of her skin scarlet.
The only course of action she could think of was to find Hugo. Maybe something had happened that she couldn't remember, and that was why she hadn't heard from him. But for now, she should head to bed. The adrenaline from all the pain had started to wear off and was causing her eyelids to droop. So, she tucked under her blanket and slept a restless sleep.

Once she began to hear the morning birds outside her window, she groaned and pulled the frayed blankets over her head
Her night had been filled with half-sleep and voices that weren't there, waking her up over and over. But she had a mission today. To check on her best friend and hopefully get some answers.
Pulling herself out of bed, Marla stretched out her arms in an attempt to wake up. And looked at the clock. 6 am, way too early to go knocking on Hugo's door. She sighed and slowly got dressed into her normal navy blue skinny jeans, a black T-shirt with a red dragon on it, and her black hoodie over the top. If she couldn't talk to Hugo yet, she may as well do some research.

Sitting back down on her bed, she opened her laptop and began searching for anything that could explain what was happening to her, but the number of dead-end sites she found was almost impressive. No kind of disease, infection, or rash showed up as what she had, and the rest were from unreliable sights that led to nothing.

She groaned and lay back against the bed head. Where could she find more information? Maybe the library? They'd have a bunch of medical books there, right?

Sliding out of her bed once again, she grabbed her shoulder strap leather bag and made her way down the stairs, jumping the creaky one and hoping she hadn't woken up her mum. She turned the cool door handle, stepping out into the cold morning.

The air was misty and damp like a cloud had descended over the town. The thinly leafed trees glittered with morning due, now and then dripping silently on the pavement and grass around her. All the area needed was an echo, and it would be perfect, but in the wide open space in the early morning light, only the sound of a few birds could be heard starting their day.

Nevertheless, she turned right and began to make her way to the library. It was a decent walk, and by the time she got there, she was already exhausted, and her back was killing her from all the stock organising she'd done at work the past few nights. Lots of lifting heavy boxes, stacks of plates and general kitchen supplies.

The church bell next to the library chimed, and she looked up at it surprised. Was it really 10 am already? She watched as the churchgoers filtered out of the building.
They'd been gathering a following fast recently. It was kind of unsettling. Their practice was mostly harmless, the only problem she had with them was their prejudice against people with light skin and dark eyes, mainly brown like hers. It was said by the church that people with dark eyes and light skin were more susceptible and likely to be possessed by demons or evil spirits.