“Why are you staring?”
“You were having a seizure.”
“No, I wasn’t.” I shoved them both aside to sit up, the scene around me trailing in colors. “I just closed my eyes.”
Phoebe grabbed my wrist, and I snapped it out of her grasp.
“I’m hungry,” I muttered, pressing my palm to my tired eyes.
The two of them threw looks at each other before Phoebe got up to leave the room, jerking her head at Edith. Edith hurried to my side, grabbing my waist and my elbow to lead me.
“I’m not one of your patients.” I yanked my arm from her and departed the room.
“Alina stop—” Phoebe tugged my forearm back.
“Stoptouchingme!” I raised my voice, but Phoebe didn’t flinch. Her lack of reaction boiled my blood. “You need to get a hold of your jealousy. Biting and gnawing at me to prove some sort of sick point to Edith. Toanyoneyou have to share me with!” I seethed.
Phoebe’s lip twitched, her eyes filling with blood, the green irises stark against the dangerous glare. Unrecognizable to the sweet image of my oldest friend. “I shouldn’t have to share you with dirty little things like her.”
“What is wrong with you?” I snapped.
Edith stood in the doorway, an awkward shuffle as she pushed past us, a quick wipe of her sleeve over her eyes.
“Look what you’ve done now.” I gestured toward where Edith disappeared. “You’re creating a hostile living environment.”
“I did?” Phoebe spoke, slow and venomous. “Iam the one who created a hostile environment?” she repeated, stepping close. She studied my face, as if my reaction would answer her question. There were no more replies, no more words of distaste. Just a smile full of animosity, and a headshake of disbelief as she shoved past me.
I was at the dining room table, unsure when I arrived, and didn’t have the energy to worry about the lost time. I swallowed thickly; my head was pounding like a funeral procession. Every flicker of the candles made me want to pull my own eyes out to stop it from mocking my senses.
Everyone was eating happily, sitting nicely and chatting. When I looked up, though, I nearly caught a stray glare or two; no one would look at me, everyone pretending everything was normal. Nothing about this was normal. What were we doing, pretending like our lives hadn’t just been completely uprooted?
Perhaps it wasn’t that they were pretending, and the real reason for their averted gazes was a sinister second option. Plastered smiles, forced chatter... can’t bear to even look at me.
I reached for my spoon, and Mary flinched beside me. With a frown, I looked across at Edith, who dug at her bowl, a tremor inher wrist, making an awful chiming noise every time it scraped the bowl. Rebecca steadily watched me out of the corner of her eye.
Fear. They’re afraid.
On the other end of the table, Phoebe didn’t regard me whatsoever, but she was next to Silas, whispering something in his ear as she glanced my way. His unwavering eyes reflected back at me, watching carefully.
“Alina, are you going to finish that or are you going to waste a meal?” Luka joked a few seats down.
I glanced down at my bowl.
Rice.
I shoved my seat back, a horrid screech across the wood floor silencing the table. Not one person moved at the sudden disruption until I whipped the bowl at Luka, and the girls scrambled up.
The bowl hit him in the head, spilling rice across the table.
“Eat well, you fucking pig,” I spit my words like hot embers on the tongue, shoving past a body or two in the crowded dining room to depart. Only when I left the heat of the crowded room did I realize my cheeks were wet, and my throat was sore with an anxious rage.
No matter where I turned, it was hot. I kicked the blanket in discomfort, swamped with air too heavy to get a proper breath, and the unmistakable feeling of being watched. I couldn’t open my eyes, every movement granting me a sinking dread heavy on my chest.
An image made itself known to me. A dark expanse, a sticky, red wetness pooling on the floor. A bottomless echo that vibrated deep within my chest cavity, a growing sense of despair. My limbs were paralyzed.
Around me was darkness, slowly revealing it was more than just a void. There was something there, waiting for me.
The bed dipped beside me, a smoky scent offering some clarity to my sinuses.
