The Beta's Daughter

Three

We made it to government with about a minute to spare. The teacher, Mr. Quinn, instructed those who we're presenting today to get our materials out and begin preparing. The nerves rushed back through my body as Aurelia pulled out our diagrams from the drawer.

"Maybe we can ask to go tomorrow," I offered to her. "I'm really not feeling up for it." It did make more sense that me hearing voices could be the result of lack of sleep. Maybe if I faked being sick, I could go home and sleep this off.

Aurelia gave me a look. "We're doing this. We've been preparing for over two weeks. We got this. YOU got this." She placed her hand on my shoulder and gave it a squeeze. "You'll be fine."

I nodded. I played her words in my head, trying to get them to convince me I was fine. They rang and sang around my brain as I grabbed a laptop from the computer cart and pulled up our slideshow.

Just get this done and over with and soon, you'll get to sleep. The voices are just lack of sleep. You're fine.

Then it happened, again. But this time, it wasn't just one voice, it was multiple. At first, I thought it was just sound of my classmates talking to each other before presentations began. But as quick as the voices came was the splitting headache. This time, it felt like a knife was slashing through my head, tearing my skull apart. 

I grabbed my head, feeling my fingers dig into my scalp. I wanted to scream. It hurt to bad! I brought my head down. The voices started to grow louder in my head. I could hear people complaining, laughing, talking about the cute boy they met yesterday. It was too painful to bear.

"Brynlee? Are you okay? What's wrong?" Aurelia placed a hand on my arm. I swatted it away.

"Stop." It came out so quietly, my voice breaking from the pain. Make it stop. Make it stop! Please!

"Brynlee? Do you need to see the nurse?" I couldn't answer my friend. I couldn't do anything. The voices grew into screams and shouts. My fingers dug in deeper, wishing that would stop the pain.

"Mr. Quinn, something is wrong with Brynlee." I could hear footsteps coming up from behind me.

I felt my teacher's hand on my back. "Brynlee, are you okay? Do you need to go see the nurse?"

Why does everyone want me to go see the nurse! Can't they tell this is much worse than a visit to a school nurse? I wanted to scream but my voice felt frozen. I could suddenly hear more voices, but they felt closer to me. They began to sound like a piercing ring in my head.

"I'll call her parents," Aurelia said with a shaking voice.

That's when someone screamed. It took me a second to realize it was me. I screamed loud, the unbearable pain finally taking over me.

"Brynlee!" Aurelia picked my head up. My screaming subsided. The horrible pain did not.

"Make i-it s-stop," I whispered in agony.

That's when everything went black.

****

I woke up in my own bed. I felt my white covers over me, all tucked in tightly around my body. I opened my eyes to my curtains open. I remembered I opened them this morning to let the light in. Is it still morning? No, the sun was lower in the sky, the light shining inside a warm orange.

I turned to my side and looked at my side table by my bed where my alarm clock sat. 7:34! How long was I asleep?

I sat up, my body feeling sore. I rubbed my eyes, surveying my room.