Lost In Purple
Chapter 14: A Paranormal Diagnosis
Melanie's POV
I wake up to my phone blaring in my ear, but I don't have the motivation or strength to turn it off. It just continues screeching in my ear like siren during a tornado. I don't move my head, arms, legs or feet. I just lay there in bed, afraid to even get up and leave for a normal day of learning. It just feels like a waste when the person who I thought was always going to be by my side thinks otherwise. Unfortunately everything must come to an end, so I grab my phone and hit the stop button. Now everything's silent again. Is this what adult life is like? Waking up and feeling like there's a hollow space inside your ribcage? I'd bet Faust doesn't feel that. He's probably feeling vindicated now that a huge portion of his stress is out of his life.
I open my phone to look through social media, which has pretty much become my daily routine at this point. There's all this talk about Halloween since it's coming up in less than a week and it doesn't make me feel happy. Normally it does, but maybe it's because things are different now and there's nobody I can really enjoy it with like back in middle and high school.
I slowly push my blankets off my body and step onto the cold floor. With a quick bend of the knees, I'm up and looking out to the Scaring School. It's another sunny day here at MU and everyone seems to be in good spirits. Even though I'm just looking out my dorm window, I can tell everyone did decently on their midterms. There's no hint of sadness that plagues everyone's faces and everyone has some pep in their step as they stroll through campus. Good, nobody else needs to feel as bad as I do.
I take my time getting ready for class. I slowly take a shower and brush my hair. I think it took me about five minutes to brush my teeth because I started daydreaming. It was really just a despondent morning in general. I walk out to my closet and dress myself with my normal punk rock get up and throw on my black wool coat. I notice a piece of paper on my floor, which was probably slid underneath my door early this morning or possibly late last night.
"Miss Everett,
I am writing this message to let you know that I have found the cause of those pesky headaches of yours. When you find the time, please stop by my office in the Scaring School between 7:00 - 11:30 AM or 4:00 - 6:30 PM, Room number is 1097 in the west wing, so that I may inform you about what's happening.
-Professor Blake King"
Well it looks like I have something to after class today. I think he might be a little late to tell me though since I'm pretty sure my little outburst last week is a result of them. When I did talk to Professor King the last time, he did say that they might be a hormonal change I'm experiencing so that's probably what all of that was.
While on the topic of last week, Johnny left after about an hour of making sure I was ok and telling him about why I was there. At least I think that's what happened, I ended up falling asleep after a while and he wasn't here when I woke up. The weird part about everything that happened was that the last thing I remember about last week, before I arrived at my dorm with Johnny, was talking to Faust in Frat Row. My memory is really fuzzy but I remember seeing black and a couple flashes of blue, and then feeling uncomfortably warm. I also remember being really upset because I knew I had just lost a really good friend, and Johnny telling me that Faust shouldn't ever have been my friend in the first place. I don't know, that day was an odd day for me considering the random walk with Johnny, out of nowhere talk with my parents, and farewell to my friendship with Faust.
All week I've been spending most of my time here in my dorm with the lights off, and remembering the times I've spent with Faust. The many times I felt alone in class, only for him to speak to me as if he knew me his whole life. He would sit with me at lunch, and study with me during certain hours of the day. There were even times where he invited me to outings with his family which usually revolved around camping or hiking at some national park. Now, I'll just have to think of those times as distant memories which hurts. Regardless of my emotions, it's time for me to go to class. So I grab my backpack and handbag, and head out the door to live another day.
When I find my way into class, I see everyone's already sat down and watching Professor Knight get ready to teach. I guess that's how slow I was today, I almost was late for class as a valedictorian. That wouldn't of looked good no matter what perspective was taken. I walk down the center aisle and find Bruiser with no one sitting next to him. I shimmy my way through the many other in the middle row and put all my stuff away as Professor Knight welcomes everyone back to class.
Bruisers look over to me with worry. "Miss Melanie! You still look upset. Are you ok?" He whispers.
"Yeah," I whisper back, uninterested in talking about myself. I wish everyone would just forget about what they saw, and move on with their lives like I am.
"But you seem so sa-"
"Yeah I know. Can you just let me figure everything out," I interrupt silently.
Bruiser looks back to Professor Knight who's talking about our midterm later this week. His eyes droop down a little and keeps to himself for the rest of class. I realize that I was probably using an aggressive tone and involuntarily made him feel bad. Hopefully an apology after class will make him feel better.
The lecture itself is how it normally is. Professor Knight reviews the information on how to pull off certain faces and scares, along with what scares match with certain fears. He asks questions that are answered almost entirely by Mike… again. I still hate how he doesn't let anyone else engage, because it makes the class even more boring than it should be. I still don't see how he'll be able to pull off all these scares since he looks like kind of cute when scaring instead of scary. It was a little funny seeing him and Sullivan have this fight in one of the gyms earlier this week as well. I ended up looking into one of the windows and them staring at each other the treadmills. They both ended up flying off of them and causing a scene which gave me second hand embarrassment. Aside from that there's nothing new.
We're dismissed and I quickly pack up my things. I turn over to Bruiser and give him a hug. "Sorry if I hurt your feelings, I just need to be alone right now. I'll see you later." I then give him a quick kiss on the head, which makes him freeze up, and I walk down the middle aisle towards the left side doors that lead to the west wing of the Scaring School.
The offices are within a beautiful hallway lined with beautiful pine wood beams. The walls are painted a creamy white, and the floors are a dark wood tile. There are also blue floral rugs that are flawlessly placed every 10 feet with wooden benches placed up against the wall. I feel like I shouldn't be in here, but I have a letter to prove it just in case someone tries to turn me around and kick me out.
Before I enter, I feel someone stomping the ground behind me. I look back and see Johnny traveling through the hallway, looking at me. "Why are you here horns?" I question.
"I wanted to see how you were doing before I went to class," he admits with a sigh. His hands end up on my hip and he pulls me close to him.
"Oh. Well you might want to head back because Professor King wants to see me," I reveal while breaking off eye contact.
"King? What would he want with you? Does he even know you?" Johnny asks as we walk further down the hall.
I nod my head. "I met him a while ago. Do you remember that headache I had at the party?"
Johnny looks down at me with worry. "Yeah. Bruiser told me you were alright the day after though. Were you not?"
"Not really. Those headaches have come back several times since then, and I ended up telling Professor King about them. He said he would figure out why they were happening himself so that I could continue focusing on my scaring rather than my health. And so, here I am about to figure out why," I disclose.
Johnny's eyes are furrowed as he takes some time to think. I feel a little embarrassed too, considering that this is the first time I've seen him since he was in my dorm last week and is now acting like that didn't happen. "Ok. I want to talk afterwards, so I'll wait outside for you," he replies.
Johnny and I walk a little further down the hallway until we find Room 1097, which is located at the very end of the west wing. I knock on the door as Johnny leans against the wall next to the door, and wait for a response.
"You may enter!" I hear from the other side of the door.
I twist the handle and find Professor King sitting on a large chair, reminiscent of a throne, while grading what seem to be tests. I'm guessing those are the midterms that the seniors took earlier. I look around to see the room lathered in gold. The curtains are gold, the rugs are gold, the desk is a creamy tint, there's abstract paintings that are gold. He sure loves his gold, but I guess I would too if my defining features were colored gold.
"Miss Everett. Good to see you again," Professor King greets.
"Hey Professor. I'm not interrupting you right?" I ask.
Professor King chuckles and sets down the test he's grading while throwing his pen into a cup full of writing utensils. "Unfortunately, anybody who walks through the door would be. However, that's what being a teacher here is like so don't sweat it."
"Ok. Thanks for spending the time to talk," I reply while taking a seat across from him.
"Of course. It's the best I can do for a fellow scarer," He reassures. "I'll just try to make this as quick as I can so that you can spend the rest of your day having some fun."
If only it was like that. There isn't really anyone that I can just go up to and have a grand adventure with anymore. Experiences like that have become a little more rare nowadays.
"Oh, no, you can take your time. I was planning on going back to my dorm and studying for the rest of the day. My midterm is tomorrow anyways," I respond.
"Alright. I'll go somewhere in between then. Predominantly, the whole cause for your headaches are side effects of a suppressed process of puberty. Every monster is different when it comes to growing up, per se, and yours happens to have exhibited an error over the past few years," Professor King explains.
I prepare myself to tell him about last night. "Oh. I guess that makes sense. Um, before you continue, I should mention that something I have barely any memory of happened to me last week with the RORs. I'm pretty sure you're about to explain why it all happened."
"Oh? I assuming Mr. Worthington knows about all this then?," Professor King interrogates with a lowered ear and a tilted head. I don't know why but I forgot that he's wolven too.
"Yeah…" I groan.
"Hmm… I'll have to ask him about it to get different sides of the story," Professor King adds.
"Oh, he's just outside the door if you want to ask before you return to grading," I mention.
Professor King looks over to the door and then stands up while telling me to stay seated. He opens his office door, peeks out to the left, and tells Johnny to take a seat inside. Johnny looks a little confused as he takes a seat next to me, probably thinking he's in trouble.
"My apologies Mr. Worthington, I just need you to be here so that I can confirm some things regarding Miss Everett. To catch you up I told Melanie that her headaches, which I assume you know of, are a result of a messaging error that kind of went haywire. There's a little bit more to it, but I would like to hear what happened with you two yesterday," Professor King clarifies.
Johnny looks over to me confused. I just say, "I don't have any memory of what happened," while crossing my arms and curling up into a ball which makes Johnny grab my hand.
"Please, do tell Mr. Worthington," Professor King declares.
Johnny hesitates to speak. "W-well. There was a party at the JOX house last week that kept everyone on the street awake. Apparently it was Faust Terran, who's a childhood friends of hers, that took her there. She didn't want to be there so she left… and I'm sure you know that all of us in ROR and JOX don't get along very well Professor."
"Yes I'm aware, but why is that important?" Professor King responds.
"Faust didn't like that she knows all of us in ROR. He ended up screaming at her, saying that she can't be friends with him if she's friends with us," Johnny explains.
Professor King uses his hand to tell Johnny to keep going.
Johnny picks up the pace. "So Melanie got upset, and still is upset, that she lost one of her best friends since childhood. She started crying, but it sounded like she had two voices. One was her normal voice, and the other was a high pitched, raspy voice. She also had this blue glow coming from in between her scales and her hair was… floating. Then she started…like… twitching, and she ran away. The only thing I can say is that everyone on the street had no idea what to do because we've never seen something like that before."
Professor King looks through some of his notes that he pulled out from his desk. "Well this case is closed then," he concludes.
"Really?" I ask leaning forward in my seat.
"Yes Miss Melanie, this is actually a lot more simple than you think. These headaches were caused by your hormones being blocked over the course of a couple years. Since you're at the age where your body, behavior, and mental functions are changing, this created some conflict between your brain and your body. Your brain was telling itself that it needed those hormones in order to grow, but your body wasn't getting them, so you developed headaches as a result. Once that emotionally damaging event happened with Faust, those hormones must have starting being transported correctly and caused you to develop those paranormalities you genetically possess. In simpler terms, you should have slowly developed these things over the past few years but couldn't," Professor King explains.
"So that was normal?" Johnny asks.
Professor King laughs. "Yes. The reason I know this, and figured this whole thing out in general, is because I went through about 800 years of medical records over the past 2 months. I found only 4 monsters since the year 1300 that have experienced what you've experienced to a certain degree. Every patient had differing outcomes, so you Melanie, are especially unique within the monster world."
"Oooooh, so she's one in a trillion?" Johnny asks while winking at me with a low growl.
"Yes. No monster has ever come close to being like Miss Everett. As for those who've gone through similar experiences, there's three I can't legally name, but I can say that one happened to be the amazing Carina Kennedy, one of the founding scarers."
Johnny looks over to me with relief. I feel relieved too because those headaches were seriously starting to get in my nerves.
"Carina Kennedy went through this?" I ask.
Professor King nods with a smile. "For some reason, the school systems in Monstropolis never mention that she developed the ability to create illusions of all kinds, along with a pair of wings that would have otherwise belonged to a monster from a dragon lineage. I'm sure you know that she was wolven though."
"Wait so she was a legitimate scarer?" Johnny questions.
"Man you two have a lot of questions today. Yes, she would not have been allowed to be a scarer if she wasn't. In other words, unorthodox doesn't exist in the scaring world. You either can or can't scare," Professor King clarifies.
"I know we've asked a lot, but may I ask how I might use those… things I developed?" I ask one more time.
"Glad to see your eager. All it takes is the thought of using them to activate them. By the sounds of it, you've developed the conceptual ability to appear like a banshee. Not to mention you wrote on your Scaring Program Application that you specialize in Paranormal Scares. So in reality all you have to do is focus on what you'd like to do, and voila, your body will try its best to do what you tell it to," Professor King answers. "Try it now if you'd like. Unfortunately the program can't help you learn how to use these things since monsters usually know what they can and can't do by now."
I think about the description Johnny had when explaining everything. A banshee… hmmm. I close my eyes and think about the cries a banshee would make as well as the blue glow that I apparently made. I open my eyes and conclude that Professor King was right. The spaces between my scales are blue and I can feel a lump in my throat that doesn't hurt.
"Cool," I say with a straight face. I don't know why, but all of this doesn't really scare me anymore.
"Geez that second voice is unsettling," Johnny chuckles.
I punch his shoulder hard but he just smiles back. I'll admit that I was happy when he was here for me when I needed him.
"So yeah, that's about all I have for you Miss Everett. I'm glad everything ended up being ok, and I hope to see you use these new tricks in your scaring. The only other thing I need to tell you is that these hormones will slowly cause behavioral changes. I've heard that you are especially timid Miss Everett, so within time I'm certain socializing will become a tad easier for you. I just don't want you to be surprised if you suddenly feel more adventurous or outgoing," Professor King says.
I agree with him and thank him for his time. He assures me that if I need anything else I can go to him for help, and then exits the room since his first class starts soon. Johnny and I also exit the office and walk through the west wing to eventually exit the Scaring School.
Once we're out in the bright suns light, I give Johnny a hug. This time I don't surprise him as much as the last few times, because he throws his arms around me and hugs me back while picking me up.
"I'm glad you're feeling better freshman," Johnny says.
"Thanks for being there for me Johnny," I whimper over his shoulder.
He chuckles and mumbles into my ear, "I'll be there for you Melanie. No matter what."
I smile back to him. It disappears fairly quickly when I feel a slight tingling within my stomach. Don't really know what that's all about.
"I do want to know how you're doing though. I've been busy with fraternity stuff and couldn't check up on you recently," Johnny inquires.
I let go of him and look at the campus. I see hundreds of students talking with their friends, laughing and smiling together. I wish I had something like that. "Things could be better. If I had the chance to relive what happened last week, I would have never left my dorm that night," I answer with my ears lowered.
Johnny places his hands in his pockets and opens his mouth. "I know he was a good friend of yours Melanie, but if he wishes to move on, then you have to as well."
I let out an audible sigh. I'm sure going to miss Faust being around.
Johnny looks out towards the campus just before I look back at him. His chest is puffed out and his brows are furrowed. "Trust me freshman, together, we'll become the best scarers this world has ever seen."