The Darkness Within Her

Chapter 2: Jaye Stone

January 4, 2014

I huffed heavily as I stared at the – oh so fascinating – designs in the wood floor of my bedroom. I was lying on my queen bed that had green and black stripes scattered across it. On my lower back was one square of sunlight that had managed to peek through my window. The sun was hot on my back, but it felt good in contrast to the chilling AC that steadily froze my bones. By my side were three textbooks – Government History, Sociology, and Chemistry – two notebooks that I had crammed with notes, and a binder that was overflowing with loose papers from other classes that I had taken.

            Homework.

            I had a paper due in Government History tomorrow but the only thing I had managed to write we two words:

            Jaye Stone.

            Normally, I would be freaking out over the fact that I had yet to complete an assignment that was due in twenty-four hours but today? I didn’t really care. I tapped my fingers against my wrist as I tried to find the energy to sit back up and get back to studying. Pep talk: You can do this. You can get up, fly through that essay and have plenty of time to study for the Chemistry exam at the end of the week. All you’ve gotta do is-

            A loud bang caused my motivational speech to end with a loud scream internally while externally; I merely twitched and looked up to see what the source of the noise was. It was my door. The culprit – Caleb – stared at said door as though it were some feral tiger that had just jumped out of the shadows. He looked at me and pointed at the door, “Why does it do that when you open it, still?”

            “I don’t know,” I shrugged, returning to staring back at the floor, “You know that it’s been doing that for a while now.”

            “I do know that, but I thought it would have been fixed by now,” Caleb said

            There are many broken things in this house that need to be fixed, I thought glumly. “Anyways, why’re you here? Other than to lecture me about my door.”

            “Dr. Hastings is here,” Caleb said simply. I could tell from his tone that it wasn’t the real reason he had decided to visit me after school, but I would wait till after the appointment.

            My stomach gave a queasy flop and I licked my lips, my mouth suddenly dry. I nodded, “Got it. I’ll be down in a few.”

            I got up slowly, my joints popping before I hobbled over to my mirror after Caleb left – with a bang quite literally – and studied my reflection. I had green eyes that were too large for my face; skin was so pale you could see the blue spider webbing of veins underneath; frighteningly sharp cheekbones that rested upon hollow cheeks; a skeletal body and shoulder length copper hair that was pulled back into a pony tail. I looked sick. This was the definition of the truth. Not long before my mother had died, I had gotten sick with some mysterious disease that was slowly killing me. Dad had hired a family friend who also happened to me a doctor – Julia Hastings – to treat me. Once a month I got an injection of some sort of drug that was supposed to help me. While I took two pills – which was a lower dose of the same medicine – every day.

            I grinded my teeth and looked away from my reflection in disgust. As long as I didn’t look in the mirror, sometimes I could forget I was what I was. But other times, the fact of my condition was like a punch in the gut that was entirely unwelcome and painful. I shoved the loose strands of my hair behind my ears before heading out of my room and downstairs.