Separian - Book 1

Chapter 22

"Rise and shine." My eyes peeked open and braced a sharp pain from the sunlight coming through the window. Amy leaned over me and blocked the light from my eyes with her head, "Welcome back."

"How long was I out for this time?" I rubbed my eyes and tapped her nose in the process. When I put my hand down, she was right where I'd left her.

"Only a few days."

"How many is a few?"

"... Fourteen?" she said awkwardly.

I checked my clothes, and sure enough, they were different. I'd cut my hair apparently too. Then there was Amy. Her hair wasn't nearly as short as mine, but she'd easily taken off six inches. Not quite a pixie, but close enough. Odd, but I think I liked it. I wasn't typically attracted to women with hair this short. Not for any particular reason, it just wasn't a feature that grabbed my attention. But Amy pulled it off very well. Better than most. But I was of course, biased.

But back to the point.

"Did anything unusual happen?" I looked around the rest of the room, fighting the urge to stay eyes locked with her. The curtains were now red instead of brown, the bedspread was now a sort of mahogany instead of the shining, outdated gold pattern, and there was now a desk in the corner where the nightstand used to be. This was no longer a guest's bedroom. "Anything at all?"

"Nothing that I can think of worth mentioning, no."

"Clark and Becky?"

"Are fine, at school. Simon's a little under the weather so he's resting in bed still."

"What's he sick with?" I asked too quickly. My response took her back about an inch from me, which I didn't like at all. But I wanted to know if it was an illness or an injury of some sort. "Sorry," I said, "is it serious?"

"We wanted to take him to see a doctor but he insisted otherwise. Claiming it was just some stomach pains."

"Have you seen his stomach? Has he been reacting any differently towards me?"

"Why? What's wrong with his stomach?" she asked.

"Nothing," again, I spoke too quickly but thankfully she remained where she was this time, "I'm just a little nervous. The last few times this happened and I woke up, the results weren't less than optimal."

She leaned down and touched the tip of her nose to mine lightly, "And this time?"

Nervous as I was, I gave in to her manipulation and relaxed a little. "Better. Depending on how you look at it," I teased. She grabbed the nearest pillow she could reach and dropped it on my face. When I removed the object, she was at the edge of the bed putting her shoes on. "I know it's probably none of my business, but are you going out?"

She turned half an ear in my direction but continued to tie her shoes, "What makes you think you can't ask questions around here all of a sudden?" A fair point. "You've been here close to a month and a half now. I would think you could at least dumb down your humility a hair or two." She finished the second shoe and pushed her hair back over her head. "But, since you asked so nicely, I'm heading to the store for my mother. I shouldn't be gone long." I watched her jump from the bed and run over to my side with an unusually large amount of energy. "Anything you need?"

"Aspirin," I said, the light from my window blazing through my retinas.

"Funny." She leaned in once more. This time I caught a strange pigment on her skin. Her porcelain jaw had four almost rash colored lines streaking from the center to where her jaw line started.

"Are you alright?" I asked.

"Never better." I received a light peck on the cheek. "I'll tell you everything that's happened when I get back." She was out of the room a second later.