Halfway Human Book 3// Infection

Aya Hill

(TRIGGER WARNING)

Power: Telekinesis

Date: Sunday, August 11th

Time: 6:34 am

Location: On the way to Clubhouse

(Inspo song: Paralyzed by NF)
...
I inhaled the fresh pine air as the sticks cracked under my feet. I shoved my hands in the pocket of my hoodie, my hair in a ponytail. I had on Grey sweatpants and had decided to take a walk that morning.

My mom was concerned for me because of what happened with my father a couple of weeks ago. I told her I'd be fine and that I would stay in town.

I didn't even believe myself. I had an aching feeling that my dad would pop out from behind a tree and grab me. I had a feeling that he would drag me home and beat me until I could breathe and until my heart stopped.

Yet I carried on. I kept my blue tennis shoes moving on the dirt until I could see the clubhouse through the trees. My quick heartbeat slowed and I looked around one last time to make sure my father wasn't there. I knew I was just paranoid and he would be there. But I still checked.

I heard a snap in the trees and stopped cold in my track. A memory of my father slapping his hand over my mouth in the bus to stop my screaming shot through my head. That lady, Natalie,  had smacked his hand away. She had pulled me up beside her and yelled at my father.

I heard flapping wings and a bird flew out of the trees it inhabited and above me. I watched a black feather fall fall from its wing and land on the ground before me. I picked it up and turned it over in my hand.

I carried on walking, the light winds picking up a bit behind me. It rustled the trees around me.

I got to the ramp of the Clubhouse and walked up it. I opened the door only to find Bella on an air mattress in the middle of the floor. I stopped and furrowed my eyebrows, the feather dropping from my hands.

"Aya?" I heard a voice from the kitchen. Alex. I looked up and saw him at the stove, cooking something. It smelled like ham but sounded like bacon. "Where the hell have you been?"

"With my mom..." I swiftly walked around the air mattress with an agile footing, careful not to wake Bella.

"You miss a lot..." Alex's voice faltered, then his lips pressed into a grim line. He looked away from me and swallowed.

"I guess so." I looked back at Bella, vaguely aware of the falling tone in the room. I looked back at Alex. "What happened?"

"Kitty..." he licked his lips and paused. I furrowed my eyebrows. He pushed his eyebrows together, as if to keep his words in. "She died."

My heart fell harder than when I saw my father's face on that bus. My mouth opened just a little. I felt the blood leave my face.

"Riley...?" my voice was a soft as a whisper but still felt too loud.

"She's in the bedroom." He still wouldn't look at me. I felt like he despised me for not being there. "She only just talked for the first time yesterday."

I saw the disappointment in his face. I bit my lip. "You can't fault me for not being here. My father showed up and tried to take me, I couldn't get out of bed I just couldn't..."

"I'm not faulting you!" Alex hissed at me. "You weren't here, but why not text, check in. We're all lost here, we don't know what the hell to do!"

"I can't take care of myself? Everything is about you guys? I have to put you first?" I growled.

"I never said that!" Alex's voice began to pick up.

"Then stop blaming me! Kitty's death wasn't my fault!" I yelled back.

"Guys..." a voice came from behind me. I spun around, Bella was sitting up, her hair a frizzy mess. "Aya?"

"Hey, yeah I'm back, go ahead and blame me for not being here." I crossed my arms. "Thanks for the warm welcome back." I walked back to the door. I flung it open gustily and stormed out, slamming it behind me.

I stepped out onto the deck and placed my hands on the railing. I closed my eyes and felt tears stream down my cold cheeks. The door opened behind me and I quickly dried my tears.

"Aya..." Bella walked up abaft me. Her footsteps paused. I took in a sharp breath and closed my eyes again. Bella sighed. "Don't feel bad."

"How can I not?" I opened my eyes and looked up at the sky. There was still a tinge of shadow in the sky. the sun was still behind the clouds.

"You never could have expected this, you never could have known." Bella was still behind me, but she was closer to me now. Her voice condensed to a whisper. "I forgive you."

"But she won't." I continued to gaze up at the clouds. "I can't even remember her voice. The last time I saw her was weeks ago."

Bella stayed quiet. I felt her hand brush mine and she linked her fingers through mine. I looked down at her. Her eyebrows had drawn together, crafting lines between them. Her eyes lined with tears, causing mine to do the same. "Don't blame yourself."

I bit my lip and squeezed her hand. My opposite hand slid around her waist and pulled her to me. She rested her chin in my shoulder and took a deep breath in. Her hands wrapped around my shoulders and my other hand slip around her other hip, sliding up her back.

My heart seemed dark and numb as if it wasn't beating anymore. I pulled away from the hug and looked Bella in the eye. "I have to go."

I took in every inch of her face. Her blue eyes, her lips, her petite nose. The way her eyebrows looked when she was sad. Her lips parted. "Why? Where are you going?"

"Away." I turned away and started down the ramp. She grabbed my hand once more and I looked back at her.

Her eyes screamed 'Don't leave' but her mouth said. "Tell me where you're going."

"You'll find out." I looked at her eyes once more, taking in the grey blue that they looked under the clouds.

Her hand slipped out of mine and I walked away from the clubhouse. It was the last time I would see that place.

I walked back to where my mom and I were staying. I took out a piece of paper and scribbled something on it. I didn't even know what I was writing. But I wrote it. I dug through my mom's back and found what I needed.

I went to the bathroom, locking the door behind me. I looked at my reflection and opened the bottle in my hand. I dumped a bunch of pills into my palm and looked at them. They were blue and oval shaped. One fell in the counter. It bounced a couple times and then settled.

I tipped my head back and dumped the pills into my mouth. I took a cup and filled it with water. I poured the water down my throat and swallowed the pills with it. I looked back into the mirror and it finally dawned on me what I wrote in the piece of paper.

Mom,
It was all too much. Dad kept finding me and I never felt safe. I don't know how else to get away from everything. Kitty is dead. She died long ago. They all blame me for not being there. It's all my fault. I love you. Never stop smiling.

Aya

I studied the tears falling from my eyes. My legs felt wobbly. They slipped on the tile floor and I slipped back, my head hitting the bath mat. I looked up at the lights perched above the mirror. They just got blurrier and blurrier.

I closed my eyes and my head pounded like a hammer beating in a nail. My body suddenly felt empty. My hands fell onto the floor and my eyes began to ring. I couldn't move at all. I was paralyzed.

My ears rang out and I heard nothing. I felt nothing.

I was nothing but a lifeless body.

...
Another death... this one most sensitive to me. Not that the character died, but the way she did.