Hello there :D This feels like a late update to me, sorry guys :P but maybe thats because I didn't have access to my laptop for 6 days! D: During those 6 days, all I wanted to do was write this story! I'm really liking it at the moment :D haha
Well, I have my laptop back and After this update I'm hoping to make it up to you by making another update by the end of the week!
Chapter 11: Bathe
The bathroom door was opened carefully without sound as Hood, in slow shuffles entered in the vicinity.
The knife wounds on her back were pulsing and throbbing. She wasn't sure whether it had stopped bleeding, or not yet but spared no thought on it; all she wanted to do was clean herself, wash all this blood away, wash away her fear and tension that had secretly built up inside her heart.
The blonde scanned the area subtly, barely lifting her head at all, to see if any other orphan was in here. If there were, the girl decided that she'd just leave and go back to her room. Lucky for her, it was empty.
She slowly stepped across the dark brown floorboards and reached out, turning the tap on. The spout shot out clear, cold water which pooled in the basin, soon sucked up by the gurgling drain in the centre. The gurgling sounded like somebody was choking. It was very loud and lasted a long time. It was cringe worthy, but it was a sound that Hood had to get used to.
She held a hand in the waterfall from the tap, waiting for it to heat up as she stared at her reflection in the mirror before her.
Her hair was a mess; a result from all the crawling around on the floor and trying to escape peoples death grips. Thick strands of blonde hair fell over her face from her usual ponytail.
Her face was covered in red blotches and her eyes were puffy and stung. Her cheeks were tear stained and her skin was deathly pale.
She took deep, heavy breathes and attempted to peel her blood stained pullover and shirt off. She didn't doubt that her clothing had stuck themselves on her wounds.
She gasped and bit her tongue from making any louder noises. Her idea was spot on. Quickly, she dropped the items of clothing onto the floor.
The cold air made her cuts feel worse. The throbbing became stronger, as did the stinging.
She couldn't see the colours of her jacket and shirt anymore. All it was, was just red from the blood and brown after the results of it drying.
She turned her back to the mirror while trying to keep her head where it was before, so she could see what he did to her.
Deep indents were slashed all over her back. The cuts were everywhere. There wasn't one single spot that wasn't covered in either a cut or blood. As she stared, she couldn't seem to make out such a pattern of any sort. His 'business' card as he liked to call it was just an excuse to hurt her, not that she hadn't already figured that much out, anyway.
She turned the taps off after splashing warm water on her face, and not bothering to dry it, she turned to the showers.
There were 5 shower cubicles in the bathroom. 5 for 4 girls, leaving one spare for the next girl to come along. It was quite rare and unheard of for a new orphan to begin attending the orphanage unless L or Watari themselves took a particular interest in the child.
Why was Hood chosen? She was nothing special. The only reason why she got such outstanding grades at her primary school before her mother died was not such a good thing. She'd rather chew her arms off then ever think of it again but some things you couldn't avoid thinking about.
The blonde didn't particularly want to shower, but that didn't mean she didn't want to be cleansed. She remembered when she was younger she used to have baths. She used to soak in exquisite pink and white strawberry scented bubbles. She even made fake Santa beards with them for laughs.
"I wonder..." She thought aloud.
She wondered if they even had bath tubs here. The bathroom was actually particularly big and would it really be that surprising to find a whole row of them? No, probably not and it wouldn't hurt to explore the area, either.
So Hood did just that and discovered immediately that behind the shower cubicles was a narrow pathway that led into a dark room.
Very carefully, Hood edged closer and closer to the nape of the doorway, and soon, nothing was seen beyond that point. She squinted her eyes, trying to focus her vision on some sort of object, but saw none.
The blonde warily stepped into the room and felt an uncomfortable chill crawl down her spine. She tried to shiver it off but felt another.
She felt the wall besides her for a light switch of some sort. Her fingers slid across the smooth wall until they hit the old, plastic, dust coated switch panel. She flicked the button and the lights above her flickered bright yellow fake sun shine. Hood sheathed her eyes until she grew accustomed.
The walls of the room that she had found were windowless and covered in tiles, (much like the bathroom) and the floors were still dark brown wooden boards.
Along the back wall, were 3 off white bathtubs that were quite obviously caked in dust.
The blonde cracked a smile at her discovery. At least something finally went her way.
Her steps were quick, fuelled with excitement. The pain from the cuts were pushed right at the back of her mind.
She went to the tub in the middle of the other two with a smile. She peered inside the hollowed out centre, as soon as she did, she stopped in her tracks and stood as still as a stone sculpture, carved on her face was the mix of shock and horror. She could feel her body begin to tremble and her eyes widened while holding in a scream.
Spiders.
There wasn't one bit of white... Just brown spiders! Big, fat hairy ones with long, thick, gangly legs! There were literally layers of them! They were all climbing on top of each other, trying to reach the top of the pecking order.
She didn't want to make a scene by screaming out spiders again. It may have been an empty room, and the orphans may be outside, leaving the orphanage interior dead quiet, (so quiet she could actually hear the spiders crawl) but she did not want to disturb this eerie peace.
She covered her mouth and turned to the tap, to see if she could drown them out of the tub, but as she reached for it, a handful of Huntsman spiders seemed to know what she was going to do, and ran onto the knob. The blonde quickly retracted her hand in shock to this second discovery of intelligent bugs.
She took a step away and the back of her knees hit the edge of the cold bathtub. Even colder drops of sweat began to roll down her face as her heart pace increased.
Even after standing there for a few minutes, this rush of shock adrenaline hadn't melted away. She could still feel strange chills down her spine, she was still in cold sweat and her stomach was tightening. It was nuts to say she was comfortable in there, but as stubborn as she was, she wouldn't shower after this discovery, she'd bathe. Dust or not, spiders or not.
The blonde leaned on the edge of the bathtub, closing her eyes. 'There are no spiders here. None at all. This is England. Its too cold.' She chanted.
A few deep breaths later, she opened her eyes. The room, somehow, was even quieter than before.
"There are no spiders here. It's far too cold." She said to herself firmly.
When she finished speaking, the hairs on the back of her neck rose. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw somebody standing by the doorway. The blonde turned around in a blurred flash.
Nothing.
She took another deep breath. "Just my imagination." She whispered, but as she said this, she felt a strong pressure on her chest, actually pushing the air out of her lungs. Before she could respond, the pressure on her chest grew and the blonde fell backwards into the spider infested tub with a yelp.
Xanthus had needed to go to the toilet really badly for the past 5 minutes, but Zero hadn't wanted her to leave the tree. Zero had a perfectly good view of where Backup usually liked to hang out by himself. He wasn't there for once, but Zero didn't exactly want to stick around and wait.
He remembered the last time he was by himself, Backup came up, and found it funny to knock him out and hang him by the ankles upside down on the tree with a thick piece of rope. Zero had woken up early, thankfully. If he hadn't, there was a high chance he could have been killed.
But Xanthus had to go.
As she had only just opened up the door to the girls bathrooms, that's when she heard it. The yelp, which Xanthus knew was coming from Hood's mouth.
Xanthus knew that Hood had found the old bathtub room. Only dare devils, (like K) would wander in there by themselves. Xanthus had heard stories and rumors about weird things seen in there but she never really believed in hauntings and such but she wouldn't exactly be the first person to stick her head in there, especially in the dark.
The girl with the white-blonde hair jogged in, trying to put to the back of her mind that she badly needed to use the toilet.
On the floor before her feet, underneath one of the sinks, were two blood stained items of clothing. A jacket and a shirt. She felt her jaw gape and her heart beat quicken.
"Oh shit!" She hissed and ran through the narrow gap between the wall and the shower cubicles.
The room was pitch black; she could not at all see any sort of shape at all, but she could hear struggling.
"Hood!" She yelled. "Where are you?"
Hood tried to respond, but something was holding her down, pressing against her chest and not letting her breathe. She could not see a thing. Her vision had long gone and she hadn't even noticed it happening.
She could feel hands holding her neck. They weren't warm or soft like normal hands were. It was like cold air had taken on the shape of them. If this was the air, then why was it so heavy? It felt like someone- a person was sitting on her chest.
Could this be the orphan that's been following her around? Now this stalker wants her dead? Why?
Xanthus bravely ran into the room, taking many deep breaths. She knew if there was nobody actually in here, she'd be screwed but that wasn't what she wanted to be thinking. She tried to keep at the top of her mind that there was someone in here, in this pitch black, scary room needing help.
The platinum blonde haired girl ran her hands over the wall and quickly found the light switch.
A large pressure suddenly lifted off the younger girls chest, along with the empty hands. She struggled to breath and was loudly gasping for air.
Xanthus, despite her legs feeling like jelly from entering the feared room ran over to Hood, stumbling on the way.
"Hood!"
Hood wanted to answer but there was no air in her lungs. She tried to sit up but could barely move. She knew it was Xanthus. Xanthus must have been the one stalking her. She knew that all the kindness she gave her was too good to be true; it always was with the least expected people.
Xanthus reached in and grabbed Hood by the shoulders and sat her on the rim of the tub.
"What happened here?" She exclaimed.
Hood was still in shock. Her breath was short and her heart was hammering against her rib cage to the point of pain. The adrenaline that flowed through her blood stream made her limbs shake and the pain from the cuts on her back was long forgotten.
Xanthus could obviously tell this girl was still recovering from shock. She was a patient person and was willing to wait until the younger girl was ready to speak.
"Hood, you're cold!" She noted. "Freezing!" Xanthus let go of her carefully, making sure that she wouldn't fall backwards.
She attempted to wipe her now cold hands on her jeans, but as she was about to, she noticed the blood that caked her palms. Xanthus jumped into the air, in her own shock as her eyes bulged behind her glasses.
"You're bleeding!" She squeaked and manoeuvred Hood to see her bare back, which was covered in blood and deep cuts. Xanthus felt herself grow limp. "Who did this to you?"
Earlier, the words Xanthus were speaking were flying over Hood's head, but this particular sentence was picked up on.
With a sharp gaze, Hood yelled. "Leave me!" Her voice was rough with anger. "Go!"
Xanthus almost looked scared, but that emotion was wiped off her porcelain face with another form of shock.
"Hood..." She began slowly. "Are you alright?"
Hood shoved the older girl off her. Xanthus nearly flew backwards. Her head hit the edge of the bathtub behind her and a dull throb began to thump at the back of her head, along with hot, sticky liquid, staining her perfectly natural and almost white hair. Xanthus almost let go of her bladder right then and there as Hood rose from her seat.
"GET OUT!" She screamed.
And then she let go. Too scared to be embarrassed, Xanthus jumped to her feet and ran out.
Left alone in the room, Hood fell to the floor limply in a daze as her vision suddenly grew foggy. She could feel a migraine pulling in as her skull suddenly felt too small to fit her brain in. Hood screamed in agony and suddenly gagged.
Weakly, she lifted herself off the ground, mid gag. She dropped her upper body over the edge of one of the bathtubs. She gagged one more time before the contents of her stomach spilled out her mouth. And by that, I mean everything.
After what seemed like hours of agony, she finally stopped. She wiped her face on the back of her hand, but left her tears. She turned on the taps and washed everything down the dusty drain hole.
With the cool water, she washed her hands and her face and washed her mouth out but just water by itself wasn't enough to remove the disgusting taste on her tongue.
After all her vomit was washed down the drain hole, she found a dust cake of a plug sitting on the edge of the tub. She ran it under the water for a few seconds to clean it the plugged up the drain with it.
She began to fill the tub with warm water and waited patiently until it was full. She didn't care if she nearly was killed in this room. She doubted Xanthus would come back.
But what fuelled her to go this far? Why would Xanthus try to kill her? What had Hood ever done to her?
...
Well, she was rude to her, that's one thing... that could be the reason and this girl could be mentally ill...
But that doesn't explain the spiders, though. Hood found it hard to believe they were just hallucinations. They were real. Hood would even swear on the bible that she did not imagine them.
She turned the taps off and peeled the remainder of her clothes off. She stepped in the tub and was very careful when she attempted to sit.
She gasped as the water had finally met with the wounds on her back. They began to sting again. Hood tried hard not to make a sound but instead winced as she finally fell in the tub.
The blood on her back washed off and into the water, staining it red but the blonde didn't care. She focused on relaxing and waiting for the pain to dull down.
Eventually after several long minutes of waiting, it did dull. Hood sighed, closed her eyes and leant back in the warm water.
.-.
Beyond, leaning on a wall in a dark corner pulled a red lolly pop from his mouth. He smirked.
'She really is brave.' He thought, darting his tongue out and licking his lolly.
Wooo! Isn't that just dandy :P lol!
Ok I think it'd be nice if I got at least 5 review preeettyyy plleeeaasee ^-^
Arrigato goisamasu for reading :D