The Fake Heart (Time Alchemist #1)

The Fake Heart Chapter 3

CHAPTER 3

I gasped, sucking in cold. It felt as if I had been slammed into the ground; the impact jarring my bones and stretching my muscles, making my skin hot and irritable. My chest…god, it hurt so much, like…my heart was three sizes too big; like cramming a square block into a round hole. I felt like it was pumping, pumping, pumping, ready to explode—

Blindly, I reached out to grasp my Grandmother’s bracelet, but met with the bare skin of my wrist and the soft edge of my dress shirt. I grappled around; panic suddenly filling me as I tried to find where my bracelet had gone. Was it still on the night table? Did I drop it somewhere? Or—

A big, warm hand enveloped my own. I could feel my breathing slow down and I opened my eyes, wincing at the bright overhead lights.

The pounding in my head wouldn’t subside. A low groan escaped from my mouth as I tried to sit up; all I could do was rest on my elbows before I nearly collapsed back into the soft covers, until someone’s warm hand placed itself in the middle of my back, helping me into a full sitting position.

“Are you okay?” a voice next to me sent me jumping. My head whipped to the side, my eyes instantly connecting with eyes like the sea; fear seeped through me—

Oh, no. Wait. His eyes weren’t deep green; they were a warm, coal gray as he looked at me with concern spread all over his face. “Hey, are you okay?” His voice was thick and warm, with a slight southern drawl. It made me flush.

“I, uh, yeah, I…am,” I stammered. I couldn’t suppress that shiver that glided down my spine; both from this handsome stranger’s touch and that flash of…memory? Dream? For a split second I thought I had saw him and—

A wave of panic slammed into me and I struggled for breath, remembering what had happened. The two people fighting, all of those weapons materializing out of nowhere, the girl unconscious against the tree and how bright and vivid and how sea green the boy’s eyes were as he had stabbed his sword through m—

“I’m gonna b-be sick,” I mumbled, trying to untangle myself from the white sheets. “W-Where’s the—”

“Uh, wait, shouldn’t you—”

Somehow I had wretched myself from the boy’s grasp, nearly toppling onto the floor as I reached a door, and rushed into it. Hard. My shoulder exploded with pain but the threatening bile that was about come out was forced away from the physical pain as I ran down the hallway.

My feet slapped against the checkered floor and I realized I was in a building—probably the administrative building? I wasn’t sure. How did I get here anyway? My breath hitched in my throat, and I pressed my hands harder against my mouth, fighting to urge to relieve my stomach contents all over the black-and-white checker patterned floors.

Finally, I spotted the sign to the girl’s restroom. With a strangled noise of relief I burst in, a wave of nauseating sweet potpourri and lemon cleaner filled my senses and I ran into the nearest stall, dry heaving the chocolate chip banana breakfast muffin and orange juice I munched on this morning.

“Ugh…” I leaned over the porcelain bowl, gagging at the disgusting taste lingering in my mouth. My chest physically hurt from the running and heaving. Burning tears started to spill and I found myself curled up on the bathroom floor crying from the pain. I clutched my chest, and then it hit me—      

There wasn’t a wound on my body at all.

I shot to my feet, the lingering pain in my knees almost gave way but I grabbed at the edge of the stall door before I fell. I made my way over to the large mirror, (pausing just a moment to realize that my jacket and shoes were missing) and unbuttoned the white dress shirt to reveal…nothing.