The Disease

Chapter 5

                                                                                               Ivaria

I decided to walk around the city a little bit. Zayden wanted to stay home and rest, so I was by myself. The city was pretty quiet on this Tuesday morning, but there were still a lot of HoverCars flying over the streets. I kept walking, looking at all the buildings and learning where the sidewalks lead, when I saw someone.

Usually that wouldn't be strange, but he was wearing all black, with a black mask which covered all his face except his eyes. I thought maybe he just had an interesting taste in clothing, but when he saw me, he met my eyes in a stare, then started walking towards me.

My heart pounded in my chest and I turned to walk the other way, but the man kept following me. I started running, but he was faster, so he grabbed me by the arm and dragged me into an alley. He shoved me against the wall, pinning me to it.

"Where is she?" He shouted.

"Who?" I asked, surprised by my steady voice.

"You know who I'm talking about." The man was pushing me harder, the bricks against my back digging into my skin.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Tessa told me she would be coming with you to Saninsville, and I saw you with that boy yesterday, so... WHERE IS SHE?!"

"Sh-she..." I tried to get the words out but they just wouldn't come. The man's hand came flying to my face and I felt flaring pain on my cheek. Tears came to my eyes from the pain.

"She's in the Brain Disease hospital!" I burst out. The man's face turned from angry to menacing.

"Oh ho ho, I see, you didn't protect her. You let her die. Well now, you're gonna pay for it." The man's hand dropped to his pocket where I noticed something sticking out of it. A gun.

"No, please!" I shouted. "I didn't want her to die! It was an accident, please!" I could tell my pleading took a toll on him, because his hand left his pocket empty.

"Fine, I'll let you live, but I'm not letting you go that easy." Suddenly, I felt a wave of nausea as my arm was cut by a knife. "Ugh, don't be such a baby! I'm going now, but I will NEVER forgive you for the death of my sister." I felt another wave of nausea when he said that. Tessa was his sister...

I saw the man run away, and that's when I dropped to the ground. I looked at my arm. A large cut was dragged all the way down my forearm, and it was pretty deep. Blood was flowing from it quickly, which worsened my nausea, and dizziness clouded my mind.

"HELP!" I screamed through the tears that had started. I began to crawl out of the alley, hoping someone would notice me, and someone did. Florian. I saw him run towards me with a worried glance.

"Woah, what happened?" He asked.

"It's hard to explain," I said, though my words sounded slurred and shaky. Florian took my arm in his hand.

"That's a pretty bad cut. It's gonna need treatment. Let me wrap that up." I saw him pull off a bandana from his forehead and wrap it tightly around as much of my arm as possible. As he did this, my tears, embarrassingly, started again from the pain. I was hoping I wouldn't cry in front of Florian, but that obviously didn't happen.

"Hey, it's gonna be fine," his eyes told me otherwise, but I tried to believe his words, "Can you walk?" I stood up, but a wave of nausea and dizziness crashed on me and I felt about ready to let out my breakfast.

"Okay, you're looking pretty pale there, so we have two options. I can either carry you or I can hold you up while you walk. Your choice." I felt like I needed to be carried, but I felt too embarrassed.