Chapter 7: Chapter 7

Rayne!"

I am so reeled to hear him call my name if I'm not mistaken, but it didn't last long. From nowhere, a cricket ball hits Shade on her back, causing her to bolt unintentionally, and collide against me. In order to steady myself from falling, I move forward, putting my legs on the pedals. The helmet is still inside the basket at the front as I wheel the pedals, fastening my pace a bit. When I notice I'm balanced, I press the brake to stop, but nothing happens. The sloppy ground halts my attempt to use my legs to create enough friction to stop my motion.

"Rayne." It's Shade's voice, laced with panic. I look ahead of me. There is a SUV coming in my way, speeding fast towards me. Its tires screech, indicating the driver's pressing the brake. I press mine again, but it's not working.

With the help of adrenaline rush, I am able to calculate the distance, realizing that the vehicle will surely hit me so, I turn at the corner, but unfortunately for me, there's a bus, taking the corner. There is no way out, the bicycle is speeding too fast because of the ground, and so is the bus.

I close my eyes in shock only to see a premonition of what is going to happen to me. Shortly after, I feel my position change. I open my eyes, watching blurry, the bicycle is all of a sudden away from my figure, a hand is carrying me in the air, the bus screech on pressing its brake, making it turn to it's side and drawl towards where I'm out of the blue standing.

Oh, Jesus!

A body hits the bus. The owner's chest, covering me for safety. It's cold against my skin, but the adrenaline makes it almost unrealizable. The owner's arm is carrying me in a bridal style, as the bus continues to push us. He changes position, using his hand to stop it, the metals against his fistful hand folds up like they were instead papers. When the bus stops, my senses comes back to me. I watch the person's forearm, it is covered with blood — his blood, I think. If I'm bleeding, I'm quite sure I can't know because of my current, haywire mode.

Realization dawn on me, watching as his skin heals up and I gasp. The flesh, covering like they are being stitched up, but by themselves. His blood, swimming away to the ground to clear the wound, that's almost healed. Within seconds, he's finally healed. No bruises, no scars, nothing but plain un-injured arm.

Now, I can hear the chatters coming towards us. My heart accelerates. Oh no, I don't wish for this to happen. I think in my head. I don't want anyone looking at me with sympathetic looks. Oh, that is the girl who had an accident the other day — I don't want to hear students, saying words like that to me when I pass by. I prefer to stay hideous, but with the school's treatment protocol, I would surely be disclose to every students. My parents will know — their worried faces, I don't want to see any of that. I just wish the earth could swallow me.

My brain taps back to the impossibility I saw earlier. I raise my head to meet the gaze of the bad boy. His eyes, there are different again — creamy yellow with the faintest hint of blue, peering at me at the same time I am.

"Your eyes..." I trail off, noticing him stiffen at the close proximity. Students have surrounded us — the coldness...colour of his eyes, changing... sound of his voice when he called me; familiar to the young man in the forest...ancient, thick, and rich accent. I wish he could say something again, so I can confirm my thoughts.

"Rayne? Oh, Jesus, are you okay?" Shade ask me, pulling me up. I notice the smoke coming from the vehicle. Some people are helping the bus' driver.

"Yeah, I think." I touch my forehead, noticing there is blood, drawling from under my hair. "I'm bleeding." I state the obvious, shocked at the same time.

"We need to get you medical care. And you told me not to let us take the bicycles, I should have brought my car. It would have been useful. Let me take you to the school's clinic instead."

Shade supports me since I am still not getting myself clearly, my cerebellum having issues of balancing with the vestibular system. Her hand snake around my waist, another is on my wrist, that's crossing her shoulder blade.

"I'm fine, Shade." I lie. The last thing I want now is a worrying Shade, pestering herself on top an issue that's not of her fault.

"Please don't argue. At least for once in your life, act accordingly."

The bad boy move with such, fast gait that he's in front of us. His frame, towering over Shade's and mine.

"I will take her to my father's hospital." He is quick to say, locking his eyes on mine. At least they didn't change colour this time around.

His accent is familiar. I think it is the one I heard the other day, in the woods, from the young man. My head, buzzing denies me of translating much. I'm not an hundred percent sure.

My mom works in his father's hospital, meaning it is a bad idea because there'll be no escape for me not to let mom knows. And If I'm to stay back at school, everyone will know of this accident, resulting in the principal's indulgence, meaning mom will as well know. By that, I'll lose at two ways — the school knows and my mom. Perhaps, I'll rather choose to go with the bad boy then, to Mom's place of work.

"I will go with him, Shade." I croak.

"Are you certain, Rayne?" She lowers her mouth to my ears, whispering her next words. "It's the bad boy." As if I don't know. My subconscious finds a way to roll her eyes at Shade.

"He saved me. I will follow him." I reply, rather aloud.

Without further converse, he sweeps me off my feet, placing me in his arms in a bridal style. I grunt and once again feel the chills. I watch as he walks me to his car. Shade follows behind us. The three of us, forgetting there are still commotions, just feet away from us.

He opens the car-door with ease, and places me down, into the seat, at the front. Shortly after, he is occupying the driver's seat.

"You will be okay, Rayne." Shade tells me. "Should I come with you?"

"She will be okay, Shade. You will see her tomorrow at school." The bad boy says, halting any other conversation.

I take Shade's hand from outside and give it a squeeze. She looks at me in a concerning manner.

"See, I'm okay. I can save myself from danger." I whisper the last part, but deep down in me, I think he heard me. Shortly after, Shade nods and relent, straightening up her posture from its bent form.

The car roars to life, pulling out of the parking lot. The bad boy drives recklessly, but I can't seem to think, nor care about it, but what happened earlier.

"You remember." The bad boy state in the car when the school's area is meters away.

"What do you mean?"

For a moment, my mind lays back to the dream I had to which he featured, telling me to forget, or else I would forget forcefully. Will he do something like that to me? Make me forget forcefully? No, I doubt it. It's just a dream. And like some says, dreams are stupid.

"What did you see?" He ask, not sharing me a glance at least. His eyes squint, looking ahead. His knuckles are pale white. His skin is no less. I look at his forearms, they are clean and free from injury. Instead, I approach in another way.

"What you did — it is impossible. Are you a magician?" I have no humanly reasoning to what's he's done, than to — at least for now — believe it to be tricks.

"Is that what comes to your mind?" He ask, right away. No sarcasm.

"If I tell you what came to my mind, as hazy as it is right now, you would call me crazy."

"Test me. Didn't I just did something crazy earlier?"

I still haven't realize his tone. My head is still buzzing. And he is driving way too fast.

"Slow down." My tone is pleading in my half-awake state.

"What did you see?"

I shift on my seat to look at him, forcing away every jolts of weakness.

"You won't hurt me?" I ask more questioningly, than request, or a statement. He intimidates me more than anyone has, even in this state of mine.

"I see what you did. You...you stopped the bus with...only your hands." I frown, accumulating the words like they are polynomials. "Your eyes — the way they change. Their colours. What are you...?" I can't help but to ask.

"Humans — in their right mind — won't believe what you've just said I did."

"What-"

"Sleep." He says, all of the sudden, and stops me mid-sentence.

I couldn't fight the crawling powers his words bestowed on me as I feel myself, falling into slumber. I try to fight it, but it's to no avail. My eyes close and I do as I'm bid with gladness for the first time in my life, letting myself zone out.

When I wake up, I'm on a bed...my bed. The sun is shining its light into my room, past the window, probably the curtains not covering it.

I try to snuggle into the bed, wanting more sleep, but feels uncomfortable instead. I peel the sheets away from my body, but only results into nothing but the same rate of heat. Hm, we have a sunny day to ourselves today. I think to myself.

I sit up, realizing that all the curtains are spread out, allowing lights into my bedroom. No wonder I feel much heat as that.

I roll off the bed and brush my hair behind my ears before I put down the curtains to dim the room. Like a tick of clock, indicating each seconds counting, faint memories comes back to me like a zap, pausing my movement. Humming sceneries gushes into my brain as though being around bees zone. They are very dense to accumulate, causing headaches to come when I try to think harder about them. I hate to forget things, so I put more pressures, but it only results into more pains.

I groan out, tripping over my sudden-floppy legs and fall on my butt. The door opens, inviting the figure of Shade's.

"Rayne. Oh, my God. What is wrong again?" She sounds sore stressed and worried. I feel bad for her, matter-of-factly knowing it is my cause, and that momentarily makes me hate myself.

"I'm sorry. I don't know. It's a severe headache. It hurts like crazy. I can't remember anything. I try to, but I can't. It only results in pain. What happened, Shade?" Shade helps me up to sit on the bed as I talk and look at her face, searching for answers. She brushes my hair to the sides.

"You don't remember? Not anything?"

I nod at her. I want to, but I'm afraid of the pain it might results into. I don't want to feel something like that again. It is as if my hair were being yanked off my head. The pain, just imagining it, makes me want to puke.

"I can't." I breath out. Inhales loudly again. Whatever happens that I can't remember makes me feel pain.

"You had an accident yesterday." I widen my eyes at Shade, unbelievably. Why can't I remember having an accident? I think I remember something about wheeling the bicycle...

"Shade!" I shout by another shot of agony, causing me to grip her skirt by her thighs, her flesh doesn't go unpunished, but I couldn't seem to care. The pain continues, and when I open my eyes, tears are on it, brimming on the conjunctiva, and I let them fall. I sniffle, crying in between.

"It's okay, Rayne." Shade coos. She pats my back when I sob on her thighs.

I retract, placing my head up, and wiping the tears away with the back of my palm, as I continuously sniffle to stiffle my cry.

"I'm sorry... your thighs." I peel her gown upwards above where I had gripped, seeing the reddish, sore, scrape of wound.

"My thighs can wait. What about you? Where did you remember things to?"

I check my brain. I remember Lydia, abusing me, calling me a presumptuous kind of person... Shade, saving me from her devilish intentions...her threats.

"I remember Lydia's talks and you, saving me. This is one of her intentions, right? This is the meaning of her statement about causing me injury?" I throw the questions at Shade in an angry voice that's very unlike me. She is stunned.

"As much as I hate that bitch, please Rayne, don't do anything she will do."

"Are you supporting her? I can't remember anything. Maybe I hit my head or something—"

"You did. The bad boy took you to the hospital. I'm surprised your mom isn't here yet. Maybe she was not at work when you were brought in." Shade adds, convincing herself more, rather than me, who's looking at her in a dazed intensive stare.

"That too? I don't even want to know anything, but that Lydia caused this. I will make her learn through the right way. She thinks she's smart, doesn't she? I will let her know I'm smarter than her." I say out of fury, yelling at myself in anger. I knew it, that I would have many comebacks to give to her, and I'll make sure I do.

I stomp to the bathroom, feeling sore angry, most of it are directed to myself — that I let Lydia cause me harm without hurting her back at all. She will, most likely, be laughing her ass off at my discomfort. And that I let the bad boy drives me to the hospital. Now, I will have to face mom's talk. But if she knew, she would have stayed around, and not still be at work. Maybe she didn't know after all. My subconscious tells me. I wish I can ask her questions about what happened when my consciousness was asleep.

"Hey, Miss Rayne Miles. Better be careful. Exercise patient, please. You being angry is a very bad idea. I have never seen your anger before, but this one I'm seeing seems like you are a so very different person to me. I wouldn't urge you to act this way. Have a bath and let's talk at the kitchen. I will prepare breakfast."

Shade gaits out of the room, leaving me in the silent room, except the sound of my ragged breathing. My jaws are dripping with sweats from my forehead. Why do I feel so angry? I feel unlike myself? I must look like a wild animal — like a beast in human form.

A beast in human form?

For an unknown reason, I reel over it. A beast in human form? Why does it feels familiar in an unclear way?