The Vision - Chapter 9

I know its been a while, but I have been away on holidays with no computer. And it has only taken me this long to post, this is a super-long chapter and I still have more written!!

BREE’S P.O.V.

Every time I moved the massive, feathery wings protruding from my back, everywhere hurt. My shoulder muscles burned with pain, the skin obviously felt torn. I didn’t want to know what it look like. Luken does his little transporter thingy and we are in the hospital part of the school. I am on the floor. I try to put my hands on the ground ot help push myself up but it makes my back burn with an intense pain, my breathing was shallow. Luken hovers over me, unsure, before helping me to sit on the nearest bed. I sit on the edge, then curl myself into a ball. Tears were running out of my eyes and I knew he felt beyond awkward.
"Bree, you’re prayer-" He starts.
"Luken, not now." I interrupt in a harsh voice, before I feel myself crumple all over again. I bury my face between my knees. I didn’t want to Luken to see me crying, too late. We sit for another minute in silence, except for my near silent sobs. Luken shifted uncomfortably several times.
"How are your classes-"
"Luken!" I cry, pulling my tear stained face up to look at him. He looked sorry, and hesitant. I shake my head.
"I know men don’t like to see girls cry but please, don’t say anything! Anything at all. Just sit with me." My voice went from harsh to broken and I bury my face again. He comes to sit on the bed and pats my shoulder. I flinch and yelp again. I feel my wings stretch. Which makes me groan in pain, I feel a trickly of warm blood run down my back. He takes my hand and squeezes it, that was good. I squeeze back.
"Come on, now." He unwinds his fingers from mind, and unclasps the cloak from around my throat. Slowly, he peels it off. Then the door opens, Damien and the nurse slowly sneak in, we ignore them.
"Ow. Ow. Ow. OW!" I say as he pulls it off.
"Sorry. Sorry." He slides it over my wings, I could feel it. Like it was my skin.
"I think I ripped it."
"You did."
"Sorry."

"We have more." He says curtly, and doesn’t bother going any further than dropping the bloody material to the floor. I nod, my eyes closed. It burned, the pain wasn’t terrible, just a constant burn. It was more the shock and humiliation that made me cry. Well, that and it hurt a lot more when they came out. My shirt was ripped too, I could feel it hanging off me. Luken slowly peels that off too, it hurt, it was stuck to my skin with blood and in my wound. I had a moment of panic, then realize that somehow, my bra had not broken. How odd, you would think it was the one thing that would rip. But the main strap had just been rolled lower, the wings protruding from my shoulder blades. Luken runs a hand over them, gently, as if stroking a sleeping cat. It felt so smooth, it felt soooo good. Like, when you moisturize your skin to perfection and rub silk over it or something. I close my eyes, glad he was standing beside me right now. Then there was a small prick of pain. Did he pull out a feather or something?
"Hey, ow!" They move again. Luken takes a step back.
"Whoa!" He says. I suck my breath in through my teeth, making a ‘ttsssss’ noise. It really hurt when they moved, but I couldn’t figure out what I was actually doing to control them. They become still again and I take deep breath, burrying my face back in my knees. I bring it up, eyes wet again whilst face still sticky from previous tears. Damien had approached the bed while the nurse was bustling about, probably getting stronger pain medication. I hoped so.
"Luken, I don’t want them." I whisper. He takes one look in my eye and his face grows serious.
"Bridget, no. Wait until the other teachers get here, we will figure this out. We will get you some help and-" No, there was no way I could live with these, and become the freak of the school. The nurse starts to walk over, Damien just stands there looking confused. He was unsure if he should be here or not.

The wings slowly start to retract.
I scream and fall off the bed.
The pain was excruciating torture, making my cry and scream at the same time.
"Bridget!" Luken yells, kneeling beside me. I barely hear him, but I reach out blindly. I hit his face, slapping it but not hard. He takes my hand and squeezes tightly. I squeeze back ten times harder. I couldn’t open my eyes, I was too focused on the pain in my back. It was worse than when I first got them. I scream again and again, then I cry out some more. I was dimly aware of the door bursting open, and several adults running in. But Luken doesn’t take any notice and neither do I. I could feel blood running onto the floor now. My blood. My hands shook violently. There was a lot of yelling, and a lot more people around me now, but all I do is hold Lukens hand. I don’t open my eyes. But I keep screaming. I couldn’t help myself.
Then it stopped.
I open my eyes, I was panting, on the floor. I had been writhing around, there was no pool of blood. Instead, it was smeared everywhere, all over me too. I close my eyes again, hard, then open them.
The pain was still there.
It was less, but it was definitely there. My back felt hot and cold at the same time. When I stopped screaming the room was completely silent. There were at least ten adults in here now. I only recognised Damien, Lisa, Nurse Peat and Luken. I was still clutching his hand, both of ours were sweaty. I don’t know if it was his sweat, or mine, or both, but I had a feeling neither of us particularly cared. I can’t stand the silence.
"Ow." I breathe. No one laughs, Luken looks deadly serious and white as a sheet of paper.
"Bridget, are you ok?"
"It must be bad, your calling my Bridget."
"It’s bad." Says a voice from behind me. Damien. I look over my shoulder. He was looking at my back, he gulps. I turn back to Luken, biting my lip.
"I don’t want to see it." I whisper. He just looks at me. I get that intense connection between us, before he breaks it with his next words.
"I have to go." Now the tears spill out again.
"No. Don’t."
"I have to go and get a healer. I will be back, I promise. Just don’t do anything stupid." He squeezes my hand, and then he was gone. My lip wobbles. Damien immediately steps in front of me and about five people help me onto my feet.
"Damien." I say as he leads me to a bed.
"Yes?"
"Don’t grow wings." He smiles.
"No, I think I’ll pass."
"Good." I say, nodding. I scrunch up my eyes.
"I wish I passed out, it doesn’t hurt when you pass out." I stretch, what was left of my muscles was tight. I scrunch up my face. Oh, shit! I suck my breath in.
"Damien." I say slowly. He was sitting on a chair next to my bed, there were other people talking, probably to me, but I couldn’t focus.

"There’s too many people, I can’t think." He leaves, and ten minutes later the only people left were, him, Lisa, the nurse, and the principle. The Nurse goes to pat something on my back. I tense up.
"Don’t." Says Damien sharply, I jerk my head up before I realise he was looking over my shoulder, talking to the nurse.
"I can’t just leave-"
"Lukens gone to get Junic, he might be using clashing medicines."
"I can’t just leave her-"
"You have to!" His eyes were fierce. Nurse Peat doesn’t say anything else but no one touches my back.
"Damien." I say.
"Yes?"
"I like your shoes." I hear him sigh.
"Bree." He tilts my chin up.
"Yes?" I say, following his pattern of response.
"Junic is the best healer around this region, he is going to help you."
"Damien."
"Yes?" He says, grinning.
"I really gotta pee." He lets out a surprised laugh as I push myself off the bed. He gasps again when he see’s my back.
"Is it bad?" I ask, turning to him. I couldn’t be bothered to pay attention to anyone else in the room, though they were all hovering over me.
"It’s not that bad." He shakes his head. My head buzzes, he was lying outright. I walk as carefully as I can into the bathroom.

I lied, I didn’t need to pee. But curiosity killed the cat, I had to see my back. I grab the small hand mirror and turn my back to the big mirror.
I don’t gasp, or cry out. I just stare.
There were two holes in my back.
One on each shoulder blade. There was blood trickling down from them, probably because I had been walking. But the worst thing was, I could see into the holes, that’s how deep they were. I could see torn muscles and sin and blood. Lots of blood.

I don’t know how long I was in the bathroom for but when I came back out there were more people in the room. Damien was right at the door though, waiting for me. Before I look at the others I look at him.
"I looked." I tell him, he just looks apologetic.
"I’m sorry." He says, though nothing was his fault.
"Is this the girl then?" I turn to the room, and notice that Luken was back, and had another man with him. He had blonde hair, looked ruffled. He was in casual khaki shorts and a striped shirt. Before anyone could answer he winked at me.
"Baby, I’ll fix you up any day." Remembering I was in my bra I blush heavily and look at the floor.
"Junic." Luken says, voice heavy with warning.
"Oh, is she yours? Whatever happened to the other lady, Sally of whatever her name was? This one looks a little young for you. But not for me." He grins, he looked the same age as Luken.
"This is Bree, Bree turn around." I look at Luken, then turn around. I wished I wasn’t wearing my tightest pair of butt hugging jeans.
"Holy shit! What the hell happened to you?" I hear him come closer. I turn back around.
"I grew wings. Then I got rid of them." He raises his eye brows but doesn’t say anything. He just lays his hands ever so gently on my shoulders and turns me back around.
"Wings." He says thoughtfully, then I feel him trace my other wound, my barely healed one.
"This isn’t from wings." His voice held a question.
"I got shot. With an arrow."
"It was removed poorly, surely Miss Peat has more experience than this?" He could have turned around and asked her himself but instead he chooses to direct the question at me.
"Luken took it out." I say, wishing I could at least face the room. I glance at Damien, who I could just see off to my right. He smiles a little but then turns back to watch Junic.
"Ah, Luken. You never were one with the art of healing others. Hurting them more like." I sensed a undercurrent, a comment referring to the past, and wondered about their history.
"It was poisoned, I had to get it out." He says curtly.
"This wound is terrible, Bree. You really shouldn’t be out of bed."
"Can you heal her?" Damien asks.
"Of course." Junic says, sounding almost offended, leading me carefully to a bed. Luken moved the pillow off the nearest bed for me. No one bothered pulling the blue curtain around me, I wondered if the door was actually locked.
"You won’t feel a thing, Bree. Just relax. Lie on your stomach." He pushes me down gently, and I stare at the pillow. I was glad, actually. At least no one could see my face this way. I hated being so naked in front of people, though it seemed to be happenning a lot lately. At least no one seemed to care, except Junic.
"I can even make it so it leaves no scars, Bree. But that costs extra." His voice told me he wasn’t talking about money. I bury my face deeper in the pillow and don’t reply. Luken replies for me.
"Junic!"
"Just saying!" I feel warm and surprisingly smooth hands on my back. That was all I remember.

I wake up to the greatest sensation ever.
A massage.
I groan deep in my throat and turn over, it was Junic.
"Sshh." He says and motions me to turn back over.
"Those wings majorly screwed with your muscles, you’re all tense, relax." He murmers, neading my shoulders gently. I bury my face into the pillow but I was smiling. It felt soooo good. I had never got a massage before. I roll my shoulders and sigh happily, Junic chuckles.
"Feels good, eh? I’m not a very good masuess but I’ve had back injuries befor, not as bad as yours, but still, I know how good a simple massage can be."
"I think you’re brilliant." I murmur. I feel him tug on my bra strap.
"You mind?" I shake my head and he undoes the clasp, letting the straps fall to my sides without taking it off. I relish in the feeling of his hands glide across my skin instead of my feathers, or massive holes in my back. I felt odd, half naked in front of this guy I barely knew, especially after the comments he made, but at the moment I really couldn’t care less.

That was until Luken walked in.
"Bree, Junic?" His tone was questioning. Junic and I jump up at the same time, I catching my bra in front of me just in time as the straps dangle at my sides.
"Luken!" I say, obviously surprised, straining to do the bra up. Junic, thankfully!!! Does it up for me. I throw him a grateful glance and he nods, unsmiling.
"Luken." He says, his voice deeper than before. Luken looks at me, then Junic, then back to me. His eyes made my gut wrench, he looked so disappointed and hurt. Then they turned hard.
"Junic, I presume the healing went ok? This wasn’t why I thought you wanted to be alone with her." His lips were thin.
"She is healed fine, no scars." Junic grins widely.
"Bree, are you ok?"
"I’m fi-oh crap!"
"What?" I felt it coming. I grab on to Junic, who just looks at me like ‘what the hell?!’
"Wait for it, wait for it…argh!"

Once again the room around me explodes into colours, sounds and smells. I could feel Junic’s arms around me but I could also feel a guy who just got his hand caught in a door on the other side of the school. And a girls shin from when she fell down the stairs. And the touch of a hand on a girls knee in the dining room.
Wait, whose arm was around me?
Was it my best friend Josie’s arm around me as we walked back from the stables?
Was it Petes arms around me as he had me in a headlock?
Was it Tom’s arms arouns me as we…no that doesn’t sound like me.

And the voices, of the vocies! How could I concentrate on all the lovely sites and smells when the screaming of hundreds of thoughts in my head made me knees buckle and my eyes water? How can I even begin to tell you what I heard when I could barely concentrate on my own thoughts? But I did, I knew what every person in this school was thinking. Ashlea was thinking about me, so were her friends. Actually, they were talking about me. Damien was thinking of me, so was Lisa. Actually, dozens of people, people I didn’t even know, were thinking of me. Something about me having wings…

Someone was calling out to me, but I was too distracted.

I saw the scene from earlier tonight, played through twenty different pairs of eyes. And as that happens I realise that I had made them think about that, one person was thinking about it, I wanted more peoples views. They didn’t know that they were thinking it, but I was in their minds. Not exactly controlling it but something along those lines. I was shocked when many of them thought I was beautiful, standing there alone. Someone could not get the phrase ‘fallen angel’ out of their heads. And then there were the people who though me a freak, thought I was weird, against nature. And then there were the teachers who were surprised that a new power has been founded, because that hasn’t happened in more than a hundred years. No one has ever grown wings like that, though there are simular spells…

Finally, as if being woken from a dream, I reappear in sickbay.
"Luken." Was the first word that I uttered.
"I’m here." He says, sounding very close.
"Got that charm yet?"
"Yes, actually." I look up in surprise and he reaches into an inside pocket. He hands me a necklace. Wait-what? A necklace? I peer closely at it, it had what looked like three oval like shapes joined together with a circle around them. Without asking Luken clips it around me neck.
"I’m getting them more often."
"You need to learn to control them."
"Sorry to interupt but, control what, exactly?" I turn to Junic, I had completely forgotten he was there. I was kneeling on the floor, Luken beside me. Junic was standing, watching us closely. I hastily get up off the floor. Luken stands from his kneel gracefully, and suddenly I feel like a heffalump. I open my mouth, then close it, then sigh. I look at Luken, and wave my hand towards, Junic, telling him to go for it. Luken starts to explain to Junic and as he does I search in the draws next to my bed and sure enough, in the bottom draw, find spare uniforms. There were plain white shirts and black pants, but this shirt was too big. I pull it on anyway, hoping miss Peat won’t mind.

I return to Junic and Luken, feeling better after a few moments to recollect my thoughts (and double-check that they were, indeed, my own thoughts). Luken just finishes up explaining my ‘powers’ to Junic as I get there. I could see Junic turn to me, questions on his lips, but I don’t care for any more questions tonight.
"Luken, is this going to help?" I ask, toying with the necklace. Luken nods.
"You will still get visions, as you like to call them, but they will be less intense. We are not sure exactly how much you will still see yet, we will not know until you have your next vision." I nod.
"Damien wants to start private lessons with you too." I purse my lips but was saved having to reply by Junic.
"How is Damien going anyway? Haven’t caught up in ages! Didn’t get much of a chance to speak before." He says in a mild voice. I watch with interest as Luken turns to him and gives him a dirty look. I wondered what history they had. Whatever it was, I didn’t want to get in the way. I slowly inch towards the door.
"Well, I’m off to bed. Night!" And before either of them could reply, I slip out the door and close it firmly behind me.

I didn’t realise how late it was until I get into the main corridors and they are completely deserted. When I get back to my room I glance at the clock and realise it was past one in the morning. I have a hot shower(it felt good but still not as good as that massage) and crawl into bed only to be awoken by my blaring alarm clock a few hours later. I get out of bed and get read to face the day with a sigh. No doubt, Luken would find me, and he would want to talk.

Actually I go to first class without Luken doing one of those whacky suddenly-appear-with-his-freakishly-serious-I-need-to-talk-expression. Though I was about to slap the next person who gave me a funny look. And actually I didn’t have Lukens class today. I was wearing his necklace, it was tucked under my shirt. It was made of wood, carved elegantly. And somehow it just looked like a guys necklace, and it always reminded me of Luken. Though I knew he had it especially made for me, I just automatically thought of it as his.

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I really need more comments