The Protectors

Hallway of Affliction

Seth's P.O.V.
I felt a strange sensation hit my chest, nearly winding me in the process. I held my chest and breathed out, Joshua sitting up trying to see what the problem was. "Are you okay, what's happening?" I shook my head. "I don't know." My head flashed to a hallway, not seeing anything but my brain assuming the worst. "Something's wrong!" I rip the sheets off of Joshua and I, rushing out of bed. I throw on a teeshirt, already sleeping in shorts, and ran into the hallway. Joshua followed closely behind me and I heard crying and yelling.

We ran towards it to find a boy leaning over a girl on the floor. The boy looked damaged, but seeing as he wasn't unconscious on the floor, I'd say the girl was in worse condition. We ran over and I gasped as I realized it was Llesme. She had blood running from under her eyepatch and a giant bruise surrounding the side of her eye and face. The boy, trying to shake her awake, was crying and shouting for her to wake up.

I quickly leaned down to her, checking to make sure she was breathing. Luckily, it was normal. I breathed out in slight relief, then looked up to Joshua. "Could you help me carry her to the infirmary?" He nodded and picked her up bridal style. He started to walk towards the infirmary but I noticed the kid on the ground was still shaking. I crouched down next to him and gently put my hand on his back. The boy was little, he hadn't grown much but he was clearly around the same age as me. I smiled a little at him, noticing bruises starting to form under his eye.

"Let's get you cleaned up." I offered him my hand and he took it. Once I arrived in the infirmary, I noticed Llesme was already in a bed being treated. Joshua was standing next to her, watching over her carefully. I nodded towards him and brought the kid to the bed next to Llesme. The night shift nurse looked terrified and continued to treat Llesme, then quickly shifted her attention to the boy. "Goodness gracious, what happened to you both?"

The boy's eyes started to water, and he cried as he tried to explain. "I... b-bullied..." He couldn't get clear words out, the poor kid was going to give himself a panic attack. I gently patted the boy's back and he calmed down a little bit, wincing every now and then at the touch of the nurse. "I was... beat up..." The nurse shook her head as she mumbled little things about his injuries. He looked me in the eyes, worry and guilt in his eyes. "She tried to protect me, then he hit her." His eyes welled up again and he started to speak a little more frantically. "I'm sorry, I couldn't do anything! He..."

The nurse cut him off, trying to keep the kid from moving and panicking. "I need to bandage your chest." He slipped his shirt off and I walked over to Llesme. Joshua slipped his hand in mine, grounding me a bit. I spoke to him quietly, thinking out loud. "We should leave her a note, so she's not confused." Joshua nodded and handed me a pen and paper. After writing the note, we made our way silently back to our dorm.

When we laid back in bed, Joshua wrapped his arms around me. My mind was filled with thoughts of how many dangerous situations Llesme had gotten into in one day, wondering if the rest of our time with her would be like that. I noticed that Joshua was slightly tense, to others it would be unnoticeable. I smiled a little and turned so I was facing his chest, I snuggled into him a little and muttered. "What are you thinking about?"

Joshua held me a little closer. "I don't want knowing Llesme to put you in danger." I smiled a little. "I'm perfectly capable of protecting myself, and so are you." I didn't sense any change in his mood so I smiled a little and breathed out. "We can get through anything, you know that." Joshua breathed out and hugged me a little closer. "Whatever. Sleep." I smiled a little and closed my eyes, letting the warmth from our hug lull me to sleep.

Llesme's POV
I wake up with a dull headache. My eyes didn't open, I could feel that I didn't have an eyepatch on. I groaned a little and sat up, careful not to open my golden eye. He had to punch me in the eye that's already messed up... I opened my normal eye, scanning my surroundings. I appeared to be in an infirmary, but no one was currently here. It was early, judging by the sun that was starting to seep through the windows. My eye rested on a small piece of paper, gently folded in half with my name written in cursive.

Grabbing the small note, I walked out of the infirmary. When I got back to my room, I looked in the mirror to find a giant bruise covering my golden eye. I slowly opened my eye, grimacing at the small amount of pain, and sighed in relief that my eye wasn't damaged. I closed my eye and started getting ready for the day. I changed quickly into a black dress, it was covered with a lot of frills, it looked like a big poofy skirt with a thin blouse. I slipped on some stockings and black flats them looked at my face.

Sadly, I hadn't thought I would need any makeup at this school... I sighed to myself as I realized all of my eyepatches were dirty. Searching through my accessory box, I was relieved to find a small blue and black flower eyepatch that I made for special occasions. Might as well use it now. I gently tied the ribbons and tried to smile a little, finding it hard to do so due to my bruise. I shook my head gently and brushed out my hair, thankful for my natural curls.

I pulled a book from my shelf, slipped my satchel over my shoulder, and made my way out of my room. I locked the door behind me and walked down the hallways silently, finally finding myself at the cafeteria. This was a very good school, they had multiple options for breakfast. I made myself a plate of scrambled eggs, bacon, fruit, and yogurt. To top it all off I grabbed a cup chocolate milk, I like to live dangerously. I sat down at the silent room, being one of the first students to fill the room. As the morning progressed, more students entered and exited.

Once I had finished my food, I walked to class. Yet again, I was one of the first people in the room, other than my professor. My gold-horned teacher's eyes widened as I entered the classroom. "Dear me, Miss Ever! Are you alright?" I nodded with a thin smile, starting to wake up. "There was a bit of a quarrel in the dormitories last night. It was handled." He frowned and pulled out a piece of paper. "I doubt that, I haven't heard of anything like that. Who hit you?"