𝐁𝐮𝐫𝐲 𝐀 𝐅𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝

VI

I almost turn away from my reflection when I spot a streak of red leaving my eyes. Then another. And then another. Until half my face is colored crimson, until I'm trying to wipe it away, to stop all the blood, but a migraine is developing and I cant stop it i cant i cant i cant.
And then I faint.

It seems that ever since the murders have started, nightmares and hallucinations have become my new normal.

—

"Jane." Noah chokes, gasping for air. "Jane." I see gloved hands dragging his barely conscious body. I-no, this cant be me, i refuse to believe this is me-then why is he saying my name?- my hands that aren't my hands drag him to the edge of the balcony. I recognize it, it's the river not so far from this party, just around Makos house. The killer is close. So close. I hope Henry stays safe. I hope I'm not his doom the way I am mine.

"Jane." Noah rasps, louder this time. I feel a sense of out of body experience. As if, I'm not there. I'm not 100% there in the killers head and I'm not 100% in mine, either. "Jane." Noah says again, full blown yelling this time.

"Jane!" I hear once more, except this time, it's not Noah. It's not an American accent that calls out to me but instead an English one. A deep yet smooth British voice that I could recognize anywhere. It's Henry this time.

I pray I'm not hallucinating him. I pray, to whom I don't know, but I pray anyway. And when I feel large strong hands shake me, I wake. And I'm back in my own head, my own body, my own mind. Or at least I hope. "Henry?"

He lets out a breath, examining me. "Are you okay?" He says in a rush, then lifts me up and carefully wipes away any blood I had on me. "Are you hurt?"

"I'm okay." I let out a dry laugh. "I bet today is the most blood you've cleaned in your life, huh?"  He doesn't answer. He doesn't laugh at my attempt at a joke. He just cleans me and I eventually tell him what I saw. I tell him I'm glad he wasn't there and he just hums in response. Weird.

"Are you ready to go?" He asks, and when I nod he takes my hand. I try snatching it back but he holds it tighter and explains, "For appearances sake."

"Let's get out of here." I say, and secretly savor the way he holds my hand as we walk out.
—-

"So you knew this whole time?" I frown at my therapist. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I thought you knew, Jane." She sighs. "I mean if you could heal yourself, wouldn't you be curious about what else you could do?"

She has a point, I never questioned it. "I can't exactly figure that out as easily as I can figure out I can heal myself." I mumble.

"You don't have a record of healing people like how you do with healing yourself. We figured out about your, erm, curse, because of your medical records." She says, " When you were one, you managed to crawl onto the top of the couch and while your nanny wasn't looking, you fell and fractured your hand. When you were two, you played with the oven and burnt your entire arm. At three, you cracked your head open after diving into the pool. That was the last straw, remember? You should've died. You lost so much blood, Jane, blood that a three year old needs desperately to survive and yet when your father arrived at the hospital, you were completely fine."

I nodd. She doesn't add all the other incidents I've had even after learning I would always heal. She doesn't add the times I've purposely almost killed myself just to prove to myself I could bleed, that at least some part of me was human. She would rather not talk about the times I've exercised the contempt of my life.

"So, are you sure he didn't notice?" She asks again for the third time.

"Yes, don't worry." I lied. I don't know when I had started lying to her, but somewhere along the line it just felt easier to give her a different story.
—--

"You've bewitched me, body and soul." Said a scratchy voice from behind me. I don't bother to turn around, I could identify that English accent anywhere.

"Pride and Prejudice." I answer, just as his strides start to match mine as we walk through the hallways. "Next time, quote the book and not the film."

"You pierce my soul. I am half agony, half hope." He answers. When we both arrive at the headmaster's door, I face him. We're both wearing the same preppy uniform, except his first few buttons were undone and the tie hung loosely around his neck, as mine is perfectly tucked in and done.

When headmaster Dubton calls us in, we walk in together and hand our clipboards at the same time. We might be partners by night, but we were still rivals by day. Years of competition couldn't just end so easily. At the moment, we were both assigned as Mr. Dubtons assistant for the upcoming carnival, since we tied for the title. My list consisted of invitations, brands, funders and people as Henrys consisted of accounting, numbers, making sure everything would arrive on time and in perfect shape. I thought I would be the first to get things done, but as always, he's right there with me.

"Perfect," Mr Dubton says to us. "The carnival will be the entirety of October, and the last day will be Halloween." He takes a deep breath, "I just hope the FBI figure this thing out before the media catches on." He smiles at us, "Thanks to you two, It'll start today just as we planned." He hands us both new lists, "You two will make sure everything stays perfect. I want constant eyes and ears for this, however you are free to do whatever you like there in the meantime." And with that, we leave.
—---

We're a few hours into the opening of Hendrix Academys annual Carnival, and everything is going according to plan. For now, at least. I guess I must have jinxed it because only a few minutes later, a little girl comes up to me and tells me she likes my fake bloody eye makeup. Only that, I'm not wearing any.