Book 1 of the Love series- Love Has a Price (Student/Teacher Relationship)

Chapter 4- Aaron

Life had become something I had never known before. Everything I read as a kid, everything I thought was mythical, was now true. And one of the creatures amongst the books I read, stood before me, or should I say flew. I gaped in horror as my student floated above me with a tail, a golden fish tail. Even though she clearly was in a lot pain, she appeared to be flawless. A mermaid, above me. I turned around to look at the rest of the students. They were staring in horror too; glad I’m not the only one seeing this, I thought I was going loony for a second.

            A lot of questions listed in my head, why didn’t she tell me, what does this mean, how did this happen but I knew she wouldn’t answer many of them. She’s too secretive for that and now I understand why. Her skin glowed gold, each individual cell letting off a strong beam of light. The pain had lifted her through her chest as her back arched more under the intensity off it. But then, her back began to straighten, she was coming back down and I knew there were only two ways for this to end with. The students began to head towards us and I watched for a second. 

            But I turned around to look up again, her body slumped and hit the wall with a lot of force, it crumbled for what felt like forever, it was only a couple of seconds as I soon discovered. She came tumbling down, part of the wall with her and just because it’s me, I happen to be the one she fell on. We were both knocked to the floor, like bowling pins. Everything went black, but the one thing I do remember is that, she was a mermaid. My student, Caitlin William’s is a mermaid. That was one image that I hoped would never leave my mind, though I’m sure it will, after all, it’s the last thought I had before loosing grasp of everything.  

* * *

My mind woke up to a beeping which I soon realised came from a heart monitor, as my mind became active, the last couple of events replayed for me. The only thing I remember is a fire. Caitlin and I were on our way out when part of the building collapsed. And we were both knocked unconscious. Nothing else happened, but my mind is screaming that something wasn’t right with Caitlin, Caitlin.

            My eyes bolted open and I shot up, alarmed at the thought of her injured. She was next to me, sleeping; well what I hoped was sleeping. Her arms lay across her stomach, her eyelids concealed what for me represented the ocean. The doctor walked in. She had blonde hair like Caitlin and blue eyes the same colour. They could easily be the same, related possibly.

“Is she alright, what happened?” I questioned, I had around a million questions but I already knew some of them were limited.

“Part of the building collapsed on you. You both survived with minimal injuries, just a slight sprain to your wrist,” she began, “She’s due to wake up any minute, you can leave when your ready but she has to stay over night as she has a risk of a mild concussion.”

            I assessed my wrist, they had bandaged it up, it could have been a lot worse and I sighed from relief. We both looked to Caitlin and I watched as she injected her with something. I noticed two people slumped in the corner, a man and women, around their late thirties. My guess is that it’s her parents. Then I thought about the reaction my parents would have to this fiasco. I shivered at the thought of what my Mom would be doing now. She always will and always has over reacted to things like this; it’s one of her flaws but it shows she cares.

“So she’ll be alright, we’re both alright?” I asked just to clarify.

            She nodded as she wrote notes down on the notepad.

“Are you two related?” I said, looking from her to Caitlin.

“No, but yes, we do look similar,” she replied, changing the subject she added something on the end, “Do you remember anything about Miss Williams before you were knocked unconscious. Anything unusual?”

            I was shocked at her asking me a question; it’s usually the other way around. I searched my brain for an answer and I ran through the event in my mind again.

“Err, no I don’t think so, just that she didn’t want to leave the building,” I responded.

“Thought so, you can leave when you’re ready,” she told me, smiling.

            I nodded to show I understand and then she left. A breath left me as I swung my legs over the side of the bed. I had to pause for a minute, the stiffness got to me, how long had I been unconscious for?

            Once I was up, I studied Caitlin, I’m glad we both got away with minimal damage. She looked damaged, broken, many cuts and bruises scattered her showing skin. I’m surprised she didn’t suffer from more damage, I know the building hit her more then me. But I mainly ponder on why she stayed in the building, what was frightening her so much, she’d rather die then face it. I shuddered at the thought of her death.

I sighed, writing her note on a scrap bit of card that was carelessly thrown on the desk. We both knew that once we had both recovered, she’d need to see me everyday to talk about her suicide attempt no matter what her reason was behind it. Though I know she didn’t mean it like that, well I think I do anyway. She’s been highly testing my opinion on her lately, I don’t think she realises how difficult she’s become through her change. One thing I’m positive on is that she changed more then just her appearance. I kissed her forehead and left.

A glance at the clock told me that it was early evening, I guess I should visit my parents, I knew they would have heard about the fire and the injuries caused. I also knew that my mother would be panicking, anticipation near the phone for news about me. I long sigh escaped my lips as I stepped out of the hospital doors. A warm summer breeze greeted me and my legs adjusted to movement as I headed down the road, to my house. I could be walking for a while.

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