The Damned

Chapter One

"Rhiannon?"

My eyes veered towards the nurse. Her curly red locks bounced as she swiveled in her chair. She wrote something on the paper cluttered clip board. I stopped my feet from moving in a fast pace. Another nurse pressed the stop button. I slowly started walking, then my body quit completely. The air in my lungs entered and exited in erratic rhythms.

The nurse held my shoulder and brought me off the treadmill. Muscles ached all over my body. I sat with an exasperated sigh.

"Rhiannon, do you know how fast you were running?"

I shook my head and chugged water out of a plastic bottle. I opened my eyes to meet her bland grey ones.

"You reached thirty today," the other nurses whispered and conversed under hushed tones. The redhead left her mouth agape in shock. "That's five miles faster than last year. It's your biggest increase yet. I have never seen someone of our kind run as fast as you do."

"I'm a freak," I choked out. A man in blue scrubs handed me a wet, cold towel. I threw the thick cloth around my neck. "I get it. You've been doing these tests on me every year since my twelfth birthday. And still, you are so consistently surprised."

A frown came over her middle-aged face. She squiggled some note and turned around. At the sight of a nod, all the other nurses left with her out of the glass door. I looked around the white colored walls. They lit up from the fluorescent lights that flickered every few minutes. I reached over and grabbed my jacket. I held it in my arms and retreated out of the doors. I walked down the narrow hallway.

I passed multiple testing rooms. Every few seconds a scream was sent flying and echoing around the halls. I clenched my jaw and continued out of the hell, and into the waiting room.

My mother nervously sat, twitching her thumbs, obviously counting the minutes till I appeared. My father saw me first. His warm brown eyes caught my honey gold ones. He smiled and gently alerted my mother. She glanced up through thick black waves. Her body leapt from its sitting position and ran to my still one.

My dad slowly followed, not as concerned. He grabbed my free shoulder as mom clutched my body like a child to its blanket.

"I hate this," she pleaded in a high voice. "I hate, hate, hate this!" She rocked my body from side to side, as if I was going to escape her bone crushing hug.

"We've done this seven times, Filomena. She survives every time. Filomena? I think you are crushing her."

My mom let go of me. Covering her mouth in an embarrassed fashion, her cheeks turned a shade of pink. The nurse from before walked up to me. I handed her the towel with thanks. She smiled for a second, frowned, and walked away. She held the towel with two fingers as if it was toxic waste.

I shrugged my coat on. It's warm fur lining soothed my aching muscles. I wiped a drop of sweat from my forehead. My parents waited for me as I slowly zipped the jacket. My dad took my arm and walked me out of the laboratory. When we got outside, the weather had worsened than it was before.

The snow hurled down like furry pellets bound to hit you like boulders. Instead, they slammed down on you with the force of a feather. In the parking lot, a man stepped out of a large Land Rover. He wore a suit and a large button up, tan jacket. He saw my father and smiled.

"No way," he laughed bringing my dad in for a man hug. "Lucario Fiore? I thought I'd never see you again. How long has it been old friend?"

"Goddess, Marco, at least twelve years. Rhiannon, my eldest, was what, seven? Say, speaking of, how's your son..."

"Luca," he said slower. A snowflake fell upon his head. His vision focused back on my father. This time it was more solemn. Marco's brows furrowed together. "Don't you read the gossip column in the pack newspaper?"