Chapter 19

Confused

I sat at the edge of the lake, trying to glare holes into the back of Iggy's head. He did not seem to notice, or pretended not to anyway. He was closing his eyes, listening to the others laughter. At least I thought that was what he was listening to, but when he stood up abruptly, I started to have my doubts.

He dashed into the forest calling for everyone to stop playing. I got up lazily and followed behind the others, plugging my nose to the smell of wet dog.

"Whats going on Igg-" Gazzy started before Iggy shut him off.

We came into a small clearing, Iggy nelt besides something the rest of us couldn't see because he told us to wait in the forest.

"It's all clear!" I heard him shout, a bit of edginess in his voice.

Nudge was the first to go into the clearing, her face paled instantly, "What happened to her!" She screeched, tears forming in her eyes.

"I- She- it doesn't look good…" Iggy was struggling to get his words out which made me more eager to see whom they were talking about. I pushed past Gazzy and Total and came into the clearing. What I saw horrified me beyond belief, for sprawled out at the edge of the clearing was Star Bright. She was somewhat covered in blood, all she had on was one of the bits of clothing the whitecoats gave you, and most of the blood was coming from the back. Her feet where scratched up as if she climbed the cliff without shoes, so were her hands.

"Where's all the blood coming from?" Gazzy asked hoarsely, although we all knew the answer.

Iggy pulled a pocket knife out of his pocket and cut a hole in the back of her shirt. He was pale having already felt her back, knowing what the problem was. He was only doing this to show us what it was.

As the knife finished cutting me Nudge, Gazzy and Total came around to see what it was. Nudge gasped and fell to the ground, holding her hand up to her mouth. Gazzy turned 5 times paler and turned away instantly. Total saw their reactions and decided it better not to look. I was hesitant at first but I looked anyways, after all curiosity killed the cat. What I saw surprised me, I had never know that she was one of us. Of course, she never was one to show off her gifts.

I walked up to her limp for and pulled her into a sitting position, looking at her face to see if she was still alive. I knew that she must not have been meant to get away. The whitecoats don't let someone out in such a condition, it causes panic.

I felt somewhat relieved to see that she was breathing and layed her down on her side. The others were staring at me as if they thought I was crazy or something. Apparently they thought that the 6 month clone would have the worst reaction. I guess my calmness startled them.

It wasn't like I did not feel bad for her or anything, I've been through what she is going through to many times for that amount of cruelness, I just was already expecting this to happen so I had mentally prepared myself for it. But I could not tell the others that so I just gave them a look that said that I was mystified by my own calmness.

Iggy gently rubbed one of his fingers along her back, cursing every once and awhile until he slowly stood up, "I think we should split up, half of us stay here, the other half watch Star." his voice was shaking and I could tell that he was trying to be brave. Stupid bird.

"I'll look for her." I volunteered a little too quickly.

"No. You, Nudge and Total stay here. Me and Gazzy will look." I could tell he was reluctant to leave me unsupervised, probably why he put the most 'responsible' of their group besides him to look after 'Star'.

I sighed but nodded my head reluctantly, acting disappointed. In reality, I really wanted to get a closer look at her without the others staring at me, thinking I was crazy. Nudge and Total probably did not want to stay here much longer, and would probably leave me here with Star.

I watched as Iggy and Gazzy flew away. Then I sat patiently as Nudge and Total slowly got more and more restless until the got up and went back to the lake. When the were gone I pulled Star to me.

I could not understand why, but seeing her lifeless like this made me pull her into a tight, sorrowful, hug. I sighed as I adjusted her body to get a look at her back.

It could be worse. I thought to myself, The whitecoats obviously had enough time to fix her a little bit. It looks like whatever they were attempting failed.

I leaned up against a tree and laid her limp body against my shirt. She whimpers softly in her sleep, she was obviously having a nightmare, and would be reacting worse to it if her body had not been so weak.

As I sat there, listening to the sound of her labored breathing, feeling her soft skin against mine, I felt peaceful. It confused me. Disoriented me. This was not what I was expecting. I knew I should feel wrong, but for some reason this felt, right…

(end of chapter 19)