Bleeding Out

Chapter Two

Chapter Two

Mae

"The tragedy of life is not death, but what we let die inside us while we live." - Norman Cousins

 I jumped up out of my bed after I heard a loud thud. Kemoni, my lumen (which is another name for an animal guardian that soldiers of Valens receive at entry) groaned as I threw my blankets over him. I raced to the side of Callum's bed, he's my dorm-mate and my best friend, and found his lumen, Cleo leaning over his body. She was nuzzling his neck, trying to wake him. I picked up his shoulders the best I could and began to gently shake him in hopes of waking him but when that failed I shook him hard, "Callum! Please wake up!"

 His sandy blond hair that had clung to his forehead bunched up as a frown wrinkled his face. After a moment he reluctantly opened his crystal blue eyes which scanned my worried face. I could see the tears welling up and he must have known I noticed since he pushed away.

 Cleo licked his face, and he let out a groan that sounded painful. He had told me before that after these nightmares it seemed like his entire body was on pins and needles. Despite that I cupped his chin and turned his face towards me. He immediately tried to hide his tears but it was a useless attempt.

 "Cal..." I slid my arms around his chest from behind and let my head rest on his shoulder.

 "I'm sick of this." As he spoke his body tensed, he was obviously in pain.

 I gently rubbed his back and shoulders as we spoke, "I know you are." He flinched as I squeezed his shoulder a little to hard, "are you going to be ok?"

 "I'll be just fine." He rubbed the back of his neck in frustration. I knew he was exhausted from the nightmares he has each night. They get to the point where every time he wakes up he's in excruciating pain.

 "Did you have that same nightmare?"

 "Mhmm." He said as he stood up.

 "Let me see," I was referring to the scratched that were on his chest. I carefully ran my fingers across each one. "They're not nearly as deep as last time."

 He shook his head and sighed heavily as he plopped on his bed, "Mae?"

 I sat between his legs with mine on each side of him, "yea?"

 He wouldn't look at me as I spoke, "do you think I'm crazy?"

 I shook my head, "absolutely not Cal. Everyone has nightmares."

 I met his sad eyes, "not everyone has nightmares like I do."

 "I had nightmares when my mother died."

 He broke eye contact with me and resorted to running a finger down my shin, "your's weren't out of the blue, nor did you have them every night for a month."

 I nodded in agreement, "you're right. It was once in a while but Callum..." He didn't look up when I said his name so I tilted his face, "you're far from crazy." I smiled.

 Finally a smirk spread across his face, "well that's a shame. I've heard being sane is boring."

 I giggled, "you think so, eh?"

 He shrugged with a smile. Sadly that smile melted from his face as he asked his next question, "do you think we could go over and visit the graves today?"

 "Mhmm, of coarse. Now let's try to get some sleep, ok?" He nodded and forced a smile for effect causing me to giggle.

 A wind caused the snow to fall in a slanted motion, hitting my left cheek and making it burn from the cold. An inch thick blanket of it lay on the browned grass before us. It had turned out to be a miserable day. Not a ray of sunshine broke through the small blizzard, only dark clouds lingered above, causing an erie feeling about the graveyard.

 In the distance I could see the two marble slabs and a sickening feeling of sorrow accompanied the sight. They now stood proudly next to one another just as the people below had in life. Those people were our parents, my mother on the right and Callum's father on the left. Both had been best friends, much like Callum and I are today. Everyone had thought it only fair to bury them beside each other.

 Kemoni cleared the ground for me to sit, with his big bear paw. Instinctively I pushed a gloved hand through his thick, golden fur.

 Quietly Callum and I brushed the graves free of snow. I traced my mother's name;

Sophia Mae Hartley

Gone but never forgotten

May 24th, 1969 - December 20th, 1999

 Memories began to flood into my head, all of which brought painful sadness over me.

 She had been a good mother, always trying to make the best of everything. I never can remember a boring moment when she had been around. On sunny days we would always go hiking in the woods behind our old house. Everyone would go, mom, dad, Landon and I, along with our spirit animals. Kemoni and Malachi had been little then so whenever they had seen another animal nearby they would run after them.

 On rainy days we would stay inside, she would make us hot chocolate and we would have a little family day inside. Either we would watch movies, play board games or enjoy a game a hide n' seek.

 But around my sixth birthday she had fallen ill. It had only been a short time after Callum's father passed away. After about a month of her throwing up everything that ever went in her stomach she was admitted to the hospital and it wasn't long until she fell into a coma. She quickly went brain dead and the doctor's had no choice but to pull the plug.

 The images of her stuck in the hospital bed moved through my memory on repeat and it was useless for me to keep the tears back. I tried to turn away before Callum could see me but it was too late.

 "Maebelle..." He pulled me into his chest and wrapped his arms tightly around me.

 I hugged his neck and unwillingly I broke down into tears. As the sobs started I hugged him tighter and buried my face into his neck. I felt so stupid for crying and he knew that. He cupped both my cheeks and wiped away the falling tears with his thumbs. Our eyes met as he spoke, "it's ok to cry Mae." His voice was soft and calming, "you miss her and I miss him."

 I nodded. With one last tear trickling down my red cheeks I asked, "do you think they'd be proud of us Callum?"

 He paused for a moment, like he had to think over the question, "yes" was all he answered but it was enough and I nodded in agreement.

 Jokingly I asked, "how's my make up?"

 With a smile he replied, "not bad at all."

 I laughed which caused him to laugh in return. Our laughter was cut short by a loud caw heard from behind us. I don't know why it caught our attention but it did. Kemoni and Cleo both growled in its direction. We stood up to face the noise's source, it was a large black raven that now sat on the metal spikes of the graveyard's fence. The sight of it caused the hairs on the back of my neck to stand on end. It let out one last caw before taking flight towards the south, heading for Attero.

 I looked in it's direction with confusion when the late alarm sounded across the army's campus alerting Callum and I that we were late for training.