Tinseling

Chapter Four - Symptoms

In the hospital Treasure had laid there, watching the resolve on Harrison’s face. She didn’t know how he planned to “save her” and grew even more confused when he sank his teeth into his palm. Brow furrowing, Treasure asked, “What are you doing?”

He didn’t answer, just remained still until he drew his hand away from his lips. A surprising amount of blood dripped down: his mouth had red smears. He approached her.

For the first time since being alone with him, Treasure felt afraid. Her hand moved to the button to call a nurse. Either Harrison knew what she was going to do or he saw the hand as an offering: either way, he snatched her trembling hand between his palms and held it steady.

“What are you doing?” Treasure asked again, knowing she was caught either way.

He bit her arm. His grip was stronger than hers, so when she tried to yank away nothing happened. Grinding her teeth together, Treasure knew there would be a massive bruise on the arm when he was done to accompany the puncture marks.

After a few moments he withdrew, wiping the back of his hand along his mouth.

Before Treasure could demand he leave, he did just that. He took a step back, looked her over once, and then disappeared behind the curtain and down the hall.

Waking with a start, Treasure wondered why that memory had resurfaced. She hadn’t thought of that night at the hospital in a long time. Now her arm lifted and she squinted against the sun fighting to shine through the blinds to look at the marks still visible against her skin. They were shiny and white, just a hair lower than the rest of the skin.

Sighing, Treasure tried to push the dream out of her head so she could focus on the day. It was her birthday.

“It’s my birthday,” Treasure said out loud. Rolling over abruptly to look at the clock, she let out a relieved sigh when she found she still had an hour until Aidan was supposed to pick her up. Seeing the time helped her find motivation to get up and get ready.

As she brushed her teeth without much enthusiasm, still groggy, she mulled over it being her eighteenth birthday. She didn’t feel eighteen. As she dabbed concealer on a few blemishes, she didn’t think she looked eighteen, either. It didn’t really matter, though: today was her eighteenth birthday whether she looked it or not.

Walking downstairs, Treasure pressed a hand against her head, wondering why she felt so dizzy. When she’d woken all jumbled she assumed it was from the dream, but she couldn’t shake the feeling.

A pink note on top of the counter caught Treasure’s attention. Only now did she realize her parents hadn’t been waiting to greet her. Their absence was explained on the note, which said they’d gone ahead and gone out to lunch. As an apology of sorts her mother—obviously her mother, because her father couldn’t even draw stick figures—drew a birthday cake at the bottom of the paper.

Leaving it there, Treasure got a glass of water from the fridge. She’d skip breakfast since lunch loomed so close.

As Treasure drank, she tipped the glass back. She didn’t really pay any attention until she thought she saw something in the bottom of the glass, and then she dropped it abruptly. Leaping back against the counter, Treasure watched as the cup flung water everywhere as it turned and then rolled in a half circle on the ground before lying still.

With her foot, Treasure nudged the cup upward, cautiously checking to see if anything was in the bottom. She checked the pooling water, too, and saw nothing.

“I overreacted,” Treasure told herself, but she didn’t feel any better. Hearing her voice reminded her she was in her house all alone. But she didn’t need to worry, really, because what she thought she saw couldn’t have been real. Eyes with mint green pupils didn’t just float around in empty cups.