Night Cat | Night Cat #1 (CURRENTLY EDITING)

Night Cat - Chapter 12

Black Outs and Fist Fights...

Medicine. I could smell medicine.

I inhaled deeply. Ugh. Why the hell could I smell medicine of all things? Where was the yummy scent of vanilla that always seemed to hang around my room and greet me every morning when I woke up? I sniffed again. Medicine wasn’t the only scent swirling in the air – I could smell something else. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. Was it disinfectant? Bleach? It had a definite chemical hit to it. My nose twitched in the air one more time before I realized what the other smell was. Surgical spirit.

Surgical spirit? Why would my room smell of medicine and surgical spirit? I mean, unless I’d moved into a hospital and—

That’s when it hit me. I was in hospital. Because of that stupid black out. I frowned... I couldn’t even remember what had happened before that. It was all, just, blank.

My eyes fluttered open. The world was still a hazy blur, and those stupid, insanely bright florescent lights didn’t make things any easier for my eyes. I had to blink a couple hundred times before my eyes could make out any images properly.  When they did, however, I found out that I was not alone.

There had to be at least a dozen other people in the room with me. Some of them were reading; some were gazing blankly at the small TV hanging from the wall; some were texting people on their cell phones, and none of them seemed to realize that I had woken up. Actually, no. That wasn’t exactly true. There was one guy who noticed me – but that was about five minutes after I’d woken up.

He was tall. Way tall. He stood at around six feet and had the most gorgeous smoky gray eyes I’d ever seen. He also had thick, light brown hair that fell across his forehead just above his eyes and he was constantly pushing it away – to no avail. His hair had a mind of his own, and damn, it made him look even hotter than he was. The guy was too damn good-looking for his own good. I wondered how many girls were throwing themselves at him. I also wondered if he had a girlfriend – and then, for some reason, I pushed that thought out of my head, annoyed at myself for even thinking it. Weird.

I heard my mother’s voice in the distance and snapped my head towards her. She was talking to someone on the phone and I was surprised to hear that her usually calm, collected composure was all gone. I was seeing a completely different version of my mom. I was still a little woozy from whatever medication the doctors had given me so I couldn’t make out much of what was being said, but she sounded really, really worried.

“...They don’t know what’s wrong with her. She just kept mumbling all these strange things... I don’t know what to do.” I frowned. Who was she talking about? Me? No, that couldn’t be. I just had a killer headache, is all. Nothing too serious, right?

“Avery?” I looked up to find the good-looking boy kneeling down beside my bed, looking at me with worry plastered all over his face. “Avery, are you alright?”

I blinked up at him, suppressing a giggle. Who was this guy, and why was he so concerned about me? Maybe he had the wrong room...

How many more Avery’s do you know who live here, you dolt? I frowned at the voice in my head. It was always so nasty to me. But then again, I suppose anyone would be crabby if they were acting all loopy and weird – even if that “anyone” happened to be your conscience.

“Avery?” The boy’s voice sounded closer this time. I turned towards the sound and nearly jumped ten feet in the air when I realized that he was whispering right into my ear.

“What the H—” I was about to give the strange boy a railing he would never forget when , as I looked into those swirling gray eyes of his, a bolt of lightning hit me and I finally realized who he was. “Xander? What are you doing here?” I bolted upright as the memories came flooding back. “What happened?”

I’d never seen Xander look so upset – even counting the numerous numbers of times that I’d cancelled on him for our after-school get-togethers. “You got into a fight with Keegan,” I could almost feel the venom in Xander’s voice when he said Keegan’s name. “And then, suddenly, you just passed out.”

“P-p-passed out?” I saw images of my fight with Keegan flash through my mind. Then I remembered it all. The fight. Keegan wanting me to cut Xander out. Keegan saying he wished he’d never met me. The evil creature that wanted to pound my eyeballs out of my head. The explosion of pain... The black out.  “Oh my God...” I buried my face in my hands. “Keegan. The fight. I passed out.” I was in pain, I was in shock and most of all, I was miserable. Everything was falling apart. I was losing one of my closest and oldest friends and maybe even my mind.

“Hey, don’t worry, okay?” Xander’s hand crept over mine and gave me gentle squeeze. “Things are going to be fine, Avery.”

I gave Xander a sad smile. I was just about to thank him for his comforting words when suddenly, the door burst open, revealing a person who I’d been thoroughly convinced I’d never again. Keegan Sanchez.

To call the look on Xander’s face “Murderous” would have been the biggest understatement of the century. As soon as he laid eyes on Keegan, he was off his knees and walking towards my ex-friend menacingly. “Get. Out.” The fury in his voice was almost tangible.

In the back of my mind, I noted that everyone else in the room had gone quiet. All eyes were on Xander and Keegan. I watched along with them, practically shivering with anxiety under my thin sheet. Keegan arched an eyebrow, challenging Xander. “Excuse me?”

“You heard me. Get out. Now”

“No. I came here to see Avery,” Keegan was using his cocky-voice, and judging from the look in Xander’s eyes, he didn’t like that one bit. “And I’m not going until I do.”

“You,” Xander said darkly, “Are the reason that she’s in this position right now, Sanchez, and quite frankly, I am really not thrilled with you at all. So, if you don’t want to leave this hospital in a body –bag, I suggest you get out and stay the hell away from Avery.” I resisted the urge to whimper. Xander’s voice was barely recognizable and it was starting to scare me. That’s how pissed he was.

Apparently, Keegan couldn’t sense Xander’s fury the way I could, because instead of leaving like Xander had suggested, he just laughed. “Right. Like you’re capable of protecting her. Sorry pretty boy, but you are sorely mistaken.” He delivered those last four words with a couple of pokes in Xander’s chest.

Two words; Big mistake.

Why? Because the next thing anyone knew, Xander’s fist was connecting with Keegan’s nose.