Hidden From the Known

Chapter Thirteen

After the class, she slowly packed up her things so others would leave before she did. Just as she was about to stand, a hand clamped down on her shoulder. She yelped and turned to face the culprit. She relaxed but frowned when she saw who it was, meanwhile Desire looked amused. “Why’re you so jumpy” She said with a hint of a smile.

She glanced around the class, checking if anyone else had seen her reaction. She faced her again and raised an eyebrow when she caught her staring confusedly at her neck. “What happened to your neck?” Desire asked.

“O-oh.” Raine lifted her hands to cover the bruises, she didn’t like the way Desire was openly staring at them, and she felt like she was being judged. She avoided her gaze and she tried to think of a reasonable lie to tell.

“Um… I hav-ve to g-get to c-class.” She blurted and rushed out as fast as she could go.

“Wait! I need to talk to you!” Desire called out but she was already gone. She shook her head and picked her bag from a table as walked out of the class to meet up with her brother who had raced out of the class as soon as the bell rang.

Said brother who ditched her and came to school alone, this was his type of rebellion. He didn’t like being babied, something that their dads never seize to do. Not only because of how cute and fragile-looking he was but because he needed all the love they could give. He never really physically reacted to anything they did so she wondered what triggered him to act like he did with Raine, he was normally either mad or emotionless.

She sped through the hallways until she stopped at the room where she knew Young was hiding. Her nostrils were immediately assaulted with a putrid stench as she stepped into the lab. As expected, Young, dressed in full protective gear was bent over a book and holding a test tube filled with yellow liquid in his gloved hands. He remained oblivious to her presence even as she sat herself down and watched as he meddled with science stuff.

Desire quickly got tired of watching him make potions and decided to make her presence known by clearing her throat. Young whipped his head so fast and she cringed at the crack that sounded, he groaned and glared at her.

She cracked a smile and scooted closer to him which made his glare deepen. “Get out.” He grumbled with an expression he wanted to look scary but didn’t. “What’re you doing? That same one?” She asked and nudged his arm through his lab coat.

“Go away. Not safe.” He insisted, scooting his apparatus away from her.
“I will, when you’re ready to go.” She said firmly. He didn’t say anything afterwards, when she spoke like that she meant it. She was quiet for a while and when she thought it was safe enough to ask him the question that had been bugging her.  She said, “So what really happened this morning?”

He ignored her and kept working, making her huff as run a hand through her hair. “Just tell me, I won’t tell Dad.” She promised. He stilled, just as the test tube in his hand began to fizzle, then turned to her and said, “Get out, or I’ll tell him you’ve been skipping classes.” 

She gasped dramatically, “You wouldn’t dare…”

He gave her a straight face that clearly read that he wasn’t going to play along with her theatrics. She rolled her eyes and flung her bag over her shoulders. “OK, I’ll leave. But I better see you during recess or I’ll let April and her Teletubbies eat you.”  She threatened playfully. He nodded and she left the lab and strolled to class.

She was about to walk by a hallway but stopped short when she heard a scream followed by more muffled moaning. Her eyes widened in alarm and she raced towards the source of the sound. She stopped in front of the boys’ bathroom and tried to push the door open but it didn’t budge, after a few trials it came undone and her blood froze at what she saw inside.