Nothing I Own. Kill Me Not.
Previous Chapter
"You kissed me, like this," he said, holding her back and her head in one fluid movement, she could feel the muscles of his chest ripple as he moved.
Gods, someone who's almost 15 should not be that fit, she thought euphorically. But I think I can deal with it. She smiled, and closed her eyes as he kissed her again and again.
"Tancred, Tancred," she murmured, when they broke apart. She began to button his shirt for him. "Cook's got something on the stove for you," she said generously.
His face lit up even more, if it was possible. "Fantastic!" he cried "I'm starving!" he headed towards the kitchen when she pointed the way.
As he walked down the hallway, she could hear his voice mingling with Cook's jolly loud one, and she smiled.
Suddenly, her smile vanished as she realized that there was an early bedtime.
Oh no! Lights out is in only 7 minutes! She thought frantically. Where are we going to sleep?
Chapter 9
Soleil could hear Tancred and Cook bustling about in the kitchen; the sound of the pot opening and some stew being ladled into a bowl.
"Thanks, Cook," said Tancred earnestly.
"Anytime, dear. Anything for a friend of Charlie. Eat up, regain your strength," Cook said.
Soleil picked up Tancred's water glass from the floor and took a sip. Slowly, she wandered down the hallway to the kitchen. She thought slowly as she walked. Lights out was in three minutes, and she was sure she and Tancred couldn't get back to the dorms in time for lights out with tooth brushing to be done. It was embarrassing to ask Cook to let them sleep in her apartment, and considering how angry Charlie was at Tancred and Soleil, she couldn't impose upon Cook's hospitality any longer. She entered the kitchen, holding the glass tightly. Cook and Tancred looked up from their bowls and conversation. Soleil placed Tancred's glass in the sink, having drunk all its contents. She looked at Tancred.
"Tanc, we have to go. It's early bedtime tonight. Even if we run, I doubt we'll make lights out," she said, a frown crossing her face. Tancred stood abruptly, the sound of his chair rasping on the brown tile floor. He tugged at his bangs in deference to Cook.
"Thanks, Cook. Your cooking is, as usual, stellar," he said, gathering his bowl and spoon and placing them in the sink. "I would offer to wash dishes—"
"And so would I," interrupted Soleil.
"—But Soleil and I have to beat a rather strict deadline—lights out you know," said Tancred, tugging his bangs again. Cook pushed back her chair and stood; she frowned and wiped her hands on her apron.
"You two had better run if you're going to make it," she said, looking at a large, ornate clock above the stove that was painted with mysterious, pulsing colors. "In fact, you probably won't make it," she said firmly. "You won't," she said, placing her hands on broad hips. "You'll have to find somewhere to sleep, I'm sorry I can't keep you here; I have to leave the grounds tonight," she said, bustling about, shoving pots and pans into a large carpet bag. Tancred met Soleil's eyes despairingly. He strode across the small kitchen and took her by the forearm, leading her out of Cook's abode.
"Thanks for the hospitality," he called over his shoulder. Soleil broke away from him, running back to grasp Cook's hand. She smiled earnestly.
"Thank you," she said. Cook smiled and nodded, patting Soleil's hand. She ran back to Tancred and followed him to the door out. They slipped through the cafeteria quietly and quickly. As they stood in the silent, dark hallway, their backs to the wall, they peered through the dark. Soleil took Tancred's hand in her own and they crept down the hallway. Something rustled in the hall, and two yellow spots of light appeared far down the hall, near the door. They bobbed and swayed and blinked, as though they were eyes.
Eyes. The word seared into Tancred's brain as he realized that it could be Asa they were facing. He looked around the hall frantically and ran towards a closet, opening the door and shoving Soleil inside before she could make a sound. Asa sprang forward and snarled, the bestial sound ripping from his throat in a primitive tone. Tancred leapt into the closet, his foot landing on Soleil's ankle, and slammed the door, making a terrific racket in the silent corridor. Soleil was breathing hard, pressing on her ankle with her hand, her face scrunched up. Tancred moved off her ankle and apologized hastily in a worried whisper.
"Are you alright?" he whispered, his voice shaking. Soleil pressed her lips together tightly. Thank god they couldn't see what sort of damage had been done to her ankle in the dark.
"Yes," she said shortly. They could hear the beast outside the door, clawing it and snuffling around the doorjamb. Suddenly, men's voices were heard in the distance, and getting nearer. "We need to get out of here," she said, her voice panicky. She stood, nearly falling when she tried to put weight on her swollen ankle. She looked down at it distrustfully. "We have to get out," she murmured, more to herself than to him
Tancred was about to tell her how impossible that would be when she shoved the closet door open and grabbed his hand, running at full speed out towards the main lobby. Her ankle buckled wildly, making her stumble drunkenly down the hall. Asa sprang at her, snarling, his claws glinting dully in the low light. Soleil kicked him in the chest with all her might, standing on her bad leg. As she kicked, her ankle buckled and she fell to the ground, sliding forward with her momentum. Asa rolled and snarled on the ground, paws grappling wildly at his barrel chest . Soleil struggled to her feet, blood trickling down her shin.
"Go away!" she screamed, and suddenly began to run in a lopsided circle, pulling Tancred after her. She turned to him desperately. "Make it rain, just inside this little circle," she whispered urgently. Tancred looked at her, confused. She glared. "Do it!" she urged. She continued running in the circle, letting go of his hand and twirling ungracefully, flapping her arms. "Look like you know what you're doing," she hissed. Footsteps sounded in the empty corridor, echoing in the dear air. Tancred didn't look around, making small bursts of rain and wind gust through the hallway while Soleil continued her antics, adding a yodeling sort of song to accompany her strange movements.
Her ankle, he could see, even in the low light, was very swollen. It protruded from the rest of her leg in a grotesque manner. She stumbled and stumbled, nearly falling many times, and when she faced him, he could see tears and sweat on her face and pain in her eyes. She smiled sweetly, grinding her teeth against the pain. He guessed that it was broken, maybe worse. He couldn't understand why she was forcing herself to run and twirl in giddy circles like this. He closed his eyes to block the grotesque sight from his mind. He had stepped on her ankle and caused this, she was stumbling around like a drunken fool, screaming at the top of her lungs in some otherworldly voice and language. Blood was smeared over her shin and calf, dripping over her swollen ankle and into her shoe. As she danced, Tancred saw her stumble and wipe the blood off her leg and smear it on her arms.
Why was she doing this? He wondered, utterly bewildered. His face was damp with perspiration. Two people stopped walking the corridor and stood, watching Soleil and Tancred's strange dance. Suddenly, Soleil's ankle gave way, and she fell to the ground, curled into fetal position, her face grey. Blood was smeared on the marble floor. Tancred kept running around the circle, and Soleil kept screaming the strange song. The entire situation was surreal, the chanting, screaming song with words he couldn't understand, the rain washing down on Soleil's curled body, diluting the smeared blood on her body and making her clothes stick to her skin. Her hair was clinging to itself in lank ropes, and the rain masked the sweat and tears mingling freely on her face.
Tancred continued running around the circle, calling rain silently. He began running faster and faster, tears beginning to come to his eyes. He ran and ran until... he collided with a firm body. Manfred. Shaken, Tancred tried not to meet his eyes, but stood, rubbing his knees, and continued running. He collided with Dr. Bloor, who had planted himself in Tancred's way. Again, Tancred stood and continued. He collided with Manfred again, and he bit his lip to stifle the cries of frustration he longed to let out. Finally , after crashing into Dr. Bloor and Manfred over and over, he stopped running around, and ran to the center of the circle, lying on the wet floor next to Soleil. He put his arm over her protectively as she continued to scream her song, her voice taking on a dreadful hoarse quality. The tones sounded shredded, as though he was hearing them through a curtain of knives. The rain continued in a furious torrent, until, suddenly, Tancred fell onto his back, utterly spent, and it stopped.
He lay on his back, eyes staring at the ceiling, blinking slowly and sleepily. Soleil rolled onto her back as well, still singing, her voice full of cracks and sobs. Her shoulders heaving, she stood, making sure the Bloors didn't see her bad ankle, and raised her arms to the ceiling, singing, screaming, as loudly as her spent larynx would allow. She continued for five minutes or more; time seemed to stop, the only thing being the eerie sound, painful to the ears, and the broken girl, terrible to see with blood on her body and matted hair. She swayed when she tried to put weight on her ankle, but righted herself and sang and sang, until her voice box could give no more. Her song was reduced to a thin whisper with just a hint of melancholy tone behind it, and then it was only her mouth moving, no sound coming out save for a raspy stream of air that stuttered and stumbled like an old man breathing in his sleep. The hall was silent.
Manfred and Dr. Bloor didn't move as Tancred sat up slowly, wincing as his aching body protested furiously. He felt as though the grout that held the very floor in place was tied to him as well. He could feel its great gravitational pressure against his legs as he fought to stand, against his eyelids as he fought to keep them open, and against his trust for Soleil, which he could feel slipping. Just as the mutinous thought passed through his mind, Soleil looked at him and smiled. Immediately, all doubt he had felt drained away, leaving him feeling unsatisfied and wasted, but secure in her plan, whatever it was.
She winked at him once, then turning to face Dr. Bloor, she rolled her eyes back and collapsed to the floor, motionless. Tancred held his breath. Was she dead? Had she fainted, exhausted? What was going on? His eyes roamed her desolate soggy figure slowly. She was on her side, her arms wrapped around her abdomen securely. Her swollen ankle was hidden beneath the dripping folds of her skirt. Blood soaked through the part of the skirt around her shin, slightly diluted by the rainwater. Her hair was stringy, stuck to her face and neck, tangled in her necklace chain and around her ears and eyebrows.
As he gazed at her, he thought that if they were in a story, now would be the time he would think of his love: 'she's beautiful,' acknowledging some sort of wild beauty that loves in books always found within each other at times when anyone else would disagree. That was his duty, to think her beautiful.
But for some reason, the words sounded false in his head. She didn't look beautiful at all. Blood was drying under her short fingernails and caking the skirt to her abused skin. There were spots of color high on her cheeks, but her skin held a grayish tint that dulled her beauty significantly, and without the wild, nearly living hair springing about, she could be an ordinary girl. And then he remembered.
She was an ordinary girl. She had no endowment. She was at Bloor's to trick the Bloor family. She had a bet with her own family. She wanted a good education at a good school, and Bloor's was the place she thought she could get into. She did. She was as ordinary as ordinary could be. She was the same as all the other children at Bloors, but without the rich parents. She was living a lie right under the Bloor's noses and she thought she could succeed.
She thought, he thought bitterly. She was so deceitful. He had given her flowers, and for what? She had gotten burned because she wanted to keep them. Then he had gotten burned trying to help her. He had made her like him, but somehow, he wouldn't take full blame for the whole mess. She had enchanted him somehow. Was it her weird way of moving? Her unconventional ideas and intense attitude? Her hair? Or was she endowed after all, employed by the very Bloor family? Had she lied to them all, luring them into her web of lies like a spider? Or was she really just a normal girl, as common as common could be?
She can't possibly keep up this charade for long, he thought. She's going to crack, Bloor will kill her.Or hurt her. It's so easy. A lonely girl falls out of a tall tower; an unruly student wanders into the ruin alone; a student breaking the rules gets lost and eaten by a wolf. It's so easy to make people disappear, he thought bitterly, as he slumped to the floor again. He looked up and saw the imposing figure of Dr. Bloor over him. He saw Manfred lift Soleil, and instead of the rough, angry way he usually touched things, he lifted her tenderly, stroking her face with his terrible palms and cradling her body. All of Tancred's anger managed only to knock him unconscious, and the last thing he felt was Dr Bloor roughly yanking him into his arms...
Sorry... had to end it there. I'm sorry it's so short. All summer long, I am home only on weekends, and that's the only time I have access to a computer. Please forgive me. And reviews are greatly appreciated. Thanks!
