Feathers

Chapter 5

The girl that sat next to me helped me bandange my face in the closest bathroom. When she poured peroxide on it, it felt like she put a metal brander to my cheek. Tears welled to my eyes as I bit my tongue. 

When we got back to class, the students were working on notes. I groaned in frustration and we desperately tried to catch up by looking over the shoulder of our neighbors. 45 minutes later, class was over and my notes were messily scrawled all over the page. 

By the end of the day, I was beat and bleeding through my bandages. I threw my book sack in my bedroom and lied on the couch. I turned on my opposite cheek to slow the blood flow but soon I felt a warm trickle down my neck. I sighed and went to the bathroom. 

When I pulled off the bandage, my heart began to pound. My eyes grew wide as I stared at my wound in the mirror. I heard the door open and close and Mo shouted my name. I threw open the bathroom door and stared at her. Her smile dropped the second she saw my face.

"Where did you get that?" she asked.

"I don't know, I was walking to class and then... then-" She grabbed napkin and more peroxide and began to wipe at the cut. I cried from the pain and she put pressure on it. I could tell she was worried. She looked me in the eye, then walked away into the living room. 

She picked up her phone and immediately began to dial numbers. 

"You need to get over here now. He's here." After this, she hung up and began to dial other numbers.

"Who are you calling?" I called from where I stood in the doorway of the bathroom.

"People who can help." She pressed the phone to her ear again and told someone else that they needed to get over here. This one she told to bring anyone else they could that might help. After this she sat on the couch, her leg shaking furiously. Not even seconds later, there was a knock on the door, but Mo was already standing to answer it. 

"I came as fast as I could," Castael said. Behind him, Dr. Jeremiah walked in followed by two other people, a woman and a man. 

"How did you get here so fast? She called you like two minutes ago," I said.

"I was just down the road. Uh- we all were." He stepped closer to me and examined my cheek. "That's a pretty bad cut there." He touched my cheek and for a short moment, it didn't hurt, but then the pain came back full force and tears sprung to my eyes. He saw my pain. "We need to fix it. Now!" 

He didn't say this to me but to Dr. Jeremiah and the two other people. They then surrounded me, the woman gripped my head. Mo stood behind them watching me. The man grabbed my waist and Dr. Jeremiah grasped my hands, tightly. They all began to say something in a language I couldn't understand. 

The pain in my cheek grew immensely and I wiggled to get free but they all held tight. A little cut could cause so much trouble and pain. Not to mention I felt very invaded, they were all in my personal space. 

They began to hum, but it sounded more like a moan. I felt violated.

Suddenly, silence.

Nobody moved, nobody blinked, nobody breathed. It felt like time had stopped. 

The three people released me and stepped back. They stared at me for a moment in complete silence. Mo squeezed between them and looked at me as well.

"Thank God!" she breathed in relief. 

Castael cleared his throat and Mo looked at him with an apologetic look. 

"What in the hell is going on? What is all this? Who the f*** are they? What in God's name was that?" All these questions fumbled out of my mouth before I could filter them.