Chapter 1 : Who has Power?
'In the moment that you feel you've lost control, you've lost your power, that's the moment that will define you'.
Sarah sat staring blankly at her notebook, another day of school, another day of breathing in and breathing out. Looking at a teacher and classmates that seemed happy and pretended to be happy in return. Life isn't always what we think it is. Sometimes other things are taking place within us and when we reach them, we can never truly be restored to our original form. Sometimes the word will corrupt us, but we are not computers, the data that has been saved can never be deleted or erased, we simply are what we are. This is sometimes the most frightening truth of all.
Taking in a sharp breath Sarah coughed slightly. Her eyes slamming shut for just the millisecond that the cough took. Slowly opening them back up as the haze of friends and the sounds of the world around her came back into focus.
"You alright girl! You sound sick you should go to the nurse's office and go home for the day." Millies soft gentle smile brought Sarah back into the world.
"Go home...for one cough…?"
"Sure, why not, any reason to get outta here right?"
Sarah let out an awkward laugh before excusing herself from the small group of friends she hung with in the school hallway. At age eighteen she thought she might be better than to go off to the nurses office the last week of school, but she had been known to do worse she supposed. 'Last week of school...already...life seems to be going by faster lately…' , her wandering thoughts leaving her standing in front of the nurses office door."I don't know…", mumbling to herself while she inched another small step forward as the door opened right in her face smacking her hard enough for a loud bang to echo down the now empty hallways. "Fuck.". And then there was silence, darkness, peace.
'There's almost something ironic about being knocked unconscious by the nurses office door. The last week of school when you went there under the guise of being sick after only having coughed once.'
Sarah struggled for a moment before finally getting her eyes to open, it didn't feel like she was on the hard surface of the plastic tiles of the school floor. It felt soft, 'where am I'. One of her hands subconsciously racing toward her face to grip on the the ripping pain that had taken place as she felt something blocking her way.
"That's not such a good Idea….", A deep male voice ringing in her ears as she let out a little whimper of helplessness, his hand gently, but forcefully stopping her from making any sudden movement.
"I wasn't..I mean..", her voice a little horse as she swallowed a bit.
"Haha...yeah you were trying but I can't let you mess with your cut right now okay my assistant is going to get some bandages for ya alright."
"You don't sound like miss algernong the nurse…",
"That's because she left about a month ago I'm the new school nurse…just call me Liam",
Sarah let out a soft breath...good , at least she wasn't in the hand thoughtlessly resisting Liams firm grip as another shot of pain flooded through her, wincing more as she tried to sit up.
"I know it's hard Sarah but I need you to not try and touch your injury alright..",His voice was stern and focused, not aggravated but strong in the same frowned a bit helplessly in response as he released her arm slowly pressing it down to rest on her stomach, her deep blue eyes finally able to open. Her long dark brown hair scattered across the nurse room pillow as her eyes started to water a little, crying just the tiniest bit from the shock of it all.
Finally getting a little focus in her sight Liam gave her a smile but within that smile was a look of concern as he tended to the cut on her forehead, one of his hands holding an ice pack on it and the other hand on guard for any sudden movements she might try to make. His dark blue eyes contrasting his smooth hair that was gelled up matching his chiseled jaw and clearly muscular features. "There you go, now you can see me….can you tell me how many fingers I'm holding up?"
Sarah's cheeks flushed pink as she winced, so , so embarrassing, why god, why did she have to meet such a hot guy in such an awkward way! Both hands went to cover her face of embarrassment but he blocked her once more. He smiled a little "ah ah ah...can't have you doing that…".
"Two….you're holding two fingers up...or you were..", the regret in her voice obvious as she tried to think of the best way out of this situation without more embarrassment."Can… I mean I'm totally fine, I can go now right?", Adjusting herself to sit up his hand gently grazed her hair for a moment.
"I need you to relax okay...I need to make sure you don't have a concussion and then you'll be free to go alright."
Sarah frowned slightly and relaxed a little though her cheeks burned like the fires of a thousand suns with embarrassment. Letting him take over a little she gave him a defeated sigh, "alright..", couldn't get much more embarrassing than this...right?