Phoenix Blood

Bloody wounds and white feathers

I waddled backwards, tripping over my bed and falling onto the floor with a thud. 

I was scared, traumatized, uncertain.

What was on my back, was something I would have never imagined, two large, deep gashes up to 15cm in length and had a small amount of blood around the cuts. I was unsure what to do, put bandages around the cuts or show my parents, if they saw this, they would send me straight to the hospital. 

I decided I would find some bandages in the first aid kit in the garage, however, my Mum was already half way up with the first aid kit in her hand.

"What the hell happened! I heard screaming then a bang." Mum was pissed, her face was red, she had no breathe left, still holding the first aid kit.

"Mum, I'm fine sorry, I fell out the bed."

"No one screams that loud because of falling out of bed." Mum lifts the kit onto my bed and opens it. Needles, bacteria removers, scissors, band aids, wart acid and bandages, just what I'm looking for.

"Mum I'm fine, go back to gardening, I'll take the kit down to the garage." I try to persuade Mum to get moving but she won't budge.

"Explain the blood on your bed."

She's caught me, before I stood up I was laying on my back, trying to relax, is blood going through my shirt?

I wanted to check but it was difficult trying to not make it suspicious or unusual.

"That's been their for a while now." My regular excuse I use to let tension between my parents and I slide, sometimes it works and sometimes, they refuse until they know the details.

"I washed your sheets on Sunday, when you were out with Jacob."

Shoot I'm dead, I need to get Mum out before she notices anything more that's getting her closer and closer to the truth. I'm not sure what to do.

Ring ring 

It's my phone, I waddle to my bedside table where my phone's charging, trying to keep my back turned away from Mum and out costs. I pick up the phone.... It's Jacob.

"Michelle, you haven't been answering my messages, what's going on?" He seems stressed.

"Who's that." Mum questions, with anger in her voice. 

"Mum it's Jacob, it's urgent." I try to tell Mum to leave me alone while I'm on the phone, it's like I'm talking another language.

"Nothing's more urgent than this! Young lady!" She starts shouting at me and I jump back, into my egg chair. 

Crap! I turn around and sure enough, on my white egg chair cushions, blood. The blood's gone through my shirt for sure now. I can't move but sit there. Mum's still shouting at me but I ignore her.

"What's all the fuss about? Am I interfering something?" I need to get Jacob over, he'll understand.

"No, not at all, but I need you to come to mine as fast as you can! No funny business, there's something I  need to show you." I try and whisper it into the phone to avoid Mum hearing anything.

Jacob replies in heavy breathing, causing the phone to make crackling noises. "I'll be there in a minute." I hear Jacob rummaging around his room and then hangs up.

Lucky for me, Mum's moved the shouting to the stairways and out to the garden, where she likes to let go anger and stress by gardening.

I'm sitting on my bed, staring at my egg chair and my sheets, they're both covered in blood, I decide to cover the egg chair with a spare blanket from mine and some pillows for my bed. That's one thing checked off, now the bandages. I move towards the aid kit, still sitting on my bed after Mum leaving the room and began rummaging inside it if find the bandages. Right at the bottom were three bandages rolls, I grab two of them and went to my standing mirror. I check my back again, still two deep gashes but now covered in blood, there was pain but I could stand it. I unroll the bandage rolls and rest one on my bed, still holding the other as I start wrapping it around my stomach, chest and the gashes.

After wrapping the first one, I hear knocking on the door, I run downstairs to see who it was, Jacob. 

"Explain every-." I grab him by the arm and dragged him upstairs, shutting and locking my door behind me.

"Sorry, my parents don't know about you being here and they probably want be happy." Well my Mum won't be as her and I had heat with each other earlier.

"What's wrong." Jacob was sitting on my bed, sweating. He looked stressed. 

"Look." I show him the egg chair, the sheets and then my bandages, which have already been soaked through my blood.

Jacob was shocked, and was telling me to see a doctor, I told him I don't want to as my parents would be fuming about this.

"How the hell did you get the cuts."

"I don't know, they appeared on Monday, first they were aches and pains and now their these huge cuts."

"C'mon, you would have gotten them somewhere."

"Where then? I was with you all week at school and even on the weekend."

I got him there, it was true, where ever I went, he came so I wouldn't have gotten them at school or on the weekend. 

"So what are you suggesting? They appeared out of the blue?"

"Yes."

Jacob sighs, resting his head in his hands as he lays back on my bed. "How could that be possible."

"I'm not sure." I sit down on the floor, head in my palm. Until a sharp pain swallowed my back, something's growing, I crouch over and start rocking forwards and backwards.

"Jacob."

Jacob moves his hands away from his face and tilts his head in my direction. His eyes widen and jolt upright, staring at what appears to be something behind.

The pain stops, and I look forward, at Jacob.

"Michelle, a-are you ok-ay?" He was stuttering and I don't blame. I try and get up but I hear something behind my fall, that couldn't have been me. I look behind me and then something falls over again, I start freaking out.

"Michelle, it's alright, stop moving." He reassures me I'm okay but I'm not taking, but I do stop moving. "Okay, are you ok?"

"Yeah, tell me what's behind me though."

"I can't explain, just slowly move towards the mirror."

I slide my feet towards the mirror and appear at the reflection, a young girl nothing unusual except the two large white feathered limbs I had on my back. I turn white in the face, I become numb in my legs and fall to the ground.

Jacob over and crouches along side of me. I look at me with pleading eyes.

"What am I?"