My teacher opens the door into the office and shouts "Help, please! She's bleeding heavily!" The nurse escorts us to the health room where they lay me down on a small cot. " show my your wounds" demands the nurse. I lift up the right side of my shits so she can see the four inch cut on my ribs. right down to the bone, she informs me. I didn't know it was that bad. My arm is little better, not as deep, but the glass tore through a lot of muscle tissue. They make me take my shirts off so they can stich it up. " No, really, my mothers a healer, she can do it. Really. We don't have the money to do this." I beg. They force me down and say "It wont cost anything. Now stay down and awake." As hard as I try to follow their directions, I pass out when the first stich goes through my skin.
My clothes are still off when I wake up. Nobody is in the room, and the clock says its one-thirty. I look down at my bare chest to find nine stitches in it. My arm has six. They will ask how I hurt myself this bad, and why my mother didn't know. I have to work up some sort of alibi. Soon. I think I've just worked out a story to tell them when four people walk in. My teacher, the nurse, the principal, and Prim. Lie convincingly, I think to myself.
"How are you feeling?" asks the nurse. "better" I reply. Then my teacher speaks up. "We need to know what happened. You were hurt really badly, and we need to know why you didn't tell anybody." here goes nothing. "Yesterday my mom was very sick. I took care of her as best as I could, but she needed a real doctor. She is a good healer, but its hard to heal yourself. So when I came back to school yesterday to pick her up," I say, pointing to my pale sister " I told my mom to go to the apothecary shop. She left while I was gone, and I didn't bring my keys with me, so we were locked out. I broke a window to get in, and I fell through it and that's how I was cut. I knew it was bad but I didn't want to worry my mother, who was still gone, so I wrapped it up and tried to keep it clean. She was still gone this morning, which is why we were late, because she usually wakes us up. We were gong to check on her after school, and also see about me, but obviously it was too bad to wait any longer." I finish. Now its the principal's turn. "Why didn't you tell someone at school, or even come?" " I had already missed one day, and like I said, I didn't realize how bad they actually were. Can I please go home now? I need to tell my mother what's happened." Three pairs of eyes look at me unconvinced. the fourth just looks terrified. "Yes. I think she can. Stay home tomorrow as well, you need to rest. " Come on, Prim. Lets go home."
I sleep for a long time. A long, restful sleep. No nightmares, pain, or wetting. When I wake up the rain has stopped, and the last evening rays of sun are streaming through the upstairs window. I can see prim downstairs, doing homework at the kitchen table. the sun reflects off her white blonde hair. How different she is from the rest of us in the Seam. Her and my mother, with their light hair and blue eyes. And now that my father is dead, I'm the one in the house who looks different, with my dark hair and grey eyes. I'm proud to look like him though. I don't know I'm even crying until one of my tears rolls down into the wound in my arm and stings. I cry for my father, I cry for my mother, even myself, but mostly for Prim. She needed a mother more than I did. So I cry for the lost chance that might have been something wonderful.