(Chloe's Point of View)
Derek paced the bathroom deep in nervous thought calling for Andrew every few seconds.
"Derek calm down and think." I told him, but the effect was lost when my voice cracked.
I grabbed his arm as he passed and made him stand still. He starred at me in horror as he tried to think straight. This was probably one of his worst nightmares in reality.
I thought about venom, how some slowly spread through the body and some would kill you in minutes, and had an idea.
I reached in my pajama pocket and pulled out my switchblade knife. He looked at me inquisitively as I flicked it open with a snap. He glanced away for a second to call Andrews name and that was my change. I pulled out my lip and made a deep cut over top of the smaller one.
I automatically screeched in pain and dropped the knife. My mouth was spewing blood but that was the point. I jumped off the counter turning to the sink and spitting out a mouthful of blood. The sight of the sink turning red made me feel faint, but as I swayed backwards Derek caught me around the waist.
"What the heck are you doing?" He said at the sight of my blood.
I spit another mouthful into the sink. "Getting rid of the venom." I said gagging on the words.
"Then how will you know when to stop the bleeding?" He asked angry at my lack of answer.
I moved over to the sink and let my mouth hang open. A stream of blood dripped into the sink. I left my eyes closed so that I wouldn't see the red and clenched a towel in my hand to help with the pain.
Derek released the towel from my grip. I squeaked in protest but stopped short as the towel was replaced by his hand.
He stood behind me, one hand on my waist and the other in my hand. He rubbed soothing circles on the back of my hand.
The pain was unreal. "I think it's all out." Derek told me after what seemed like hours but was really only a few minutes. He sat me up on the counter and gave me a towel to hold to my mouth. "It's going to need stitches," He told me examining the cut. "But we can't take you to the hospital."
I just nodded. Tears were dripping off my chin and my face was white. I was lightheaded and wanted to lay down but couldn't voice that because of the towel shoved in my mouth.
Derek grabbed me off the counter and carried me to my room.
"Oh my god! What happened?" Tori shouted when she saw me.
"Do me a favor Tori. Shut up and get Simon." Derek said lying me on my bed.
Tori was about to make a smart comment when she saw the blood coming through my white towel. "Oh." She said rushing for the door calling for Simon.
"I'm so sorry Chloe." Derek said sitting on the edge of his bed. "This is all my fault. I never meant to hurt you." I'd never seen him in such pain. He was always so good at hiding it.
I grabbed his hand and made it obvious I wouldn't let it go. I wanted to talk to him, to reassure him that I wasn't mad.
I pointed at a notepad and pen on my bedside table. He stood up forcing me to release my hold on him and grabbed it off the table.
"Good idea." He muttered taking his spot beside me on the bed.
I was just about to start writing when Simon burst through the door.
"What's going on? Tori said Chloe's hurt and bleeding but that's all she said." He looked concerned and I couldn't help but think that I didn't deserve it. I'd hurt Simon and he came running when he heard I'd been hurt.
Derek walked over to Simon and explained what had happened. Once he was done with his explaination he sent Simon off to find Andrew and some supplies for stitches.
Derek finally came to sit by me again and I held out my hand. He hesitated but eventually grabbed it.
Thank you. I wrote on my pad.
His response was pure anger. "For what?" He asked. "Almost ruining your life just because I happened to kiss you? What about the part where you had to cut your lip just so you wouldn't turn into a dog?" His face was red and he was fuming. I shrunk back into my pillow and let him get out his anger. "This is all my fault, now you're going to need stitches and it's all because you happened to kiss a monster. You know that's what I am Chloe. I'm a monster and you've seen me at my worst. I thought I could keep myself from hurting you if I stayed in control. I guess I was wrong."
Are you done? I wrote quirking my eyebrows. I took his silence as a yes.
I'm not mad you know. I scribbled down on the paper.
"But you should be. You shouldn't want anything to do with me after I made a mistake like that." He said.
But I'm not, so it doesn't matter.
"Don't say it doesn't matter. Of course it matters, I almost,"
That's not what I meant. I wrote trying to stop him from sulking.
"Yeah sure." He muttered looking away.
I love you. I wrote. This was the first time I'd told him this and I could see the shock on his face. He was speechless and that was an achievement in itself.
He looked like he wanted to say something but didn't know what it was exactly that he wanted to say. "I,"
I felt like I was hanging on his words, like they could make or break me; but before he could finish Andrew and Simon came through the door. Andrew held a spool of clear thread and a needle.
Derek stood up and walked away. I guess it was karma. After all the times Derek had just happened to show up when Simon and I were having a moment, I guess it could be the other way around too.
"Okay Chloe lets stitch you up." Andrew said to me. I felt Derek's hand in mine and nodded.
