Are You Afraid?

Chapter Three: The First One

"What's wrong with her eyes, dad?" Al asks, and I hear a scared note in his voice.

"I'm not sure." But I hear the lie in dad's voice. "Soph, lay down on your back please."

"I don't want to uncurl..." I whisper hoarsely.

"It'll help you if you uncurl." I nod and slowly uncurl myself, gulp. "Now just relax okay?" I don't reply, just lay there and feel my eyes feel like they shrink from swollen balls to normal. No one makes any sound as I lay there. Finally, I remove the washcloth and look at my dad, still laying there. "There, now your green eyes are normal." Dad says with a smile.

"What happened?" I ask dad, unable to remember why I was laying on the ground other than getting a headache and feeling like my eyes had swelled up.

"I heard something fall so I came downstairs and there you were, on the ground." He says, looking at me. "Why were you down here?"

"I couldn't sleep so I was going to make some breakfast, then the next thing I remember is collapsing and then you and Al." I shiver from the cold floor.

"Soph..." Al whispers, and I turn my head and look at him.

"Hey Al." I give him a small smile, but he doesn't return it.

"I grabbed the handheld mirror from the kitchen drawer..." He holds up the mirror and I look at myself and gasp.

My skin looks pale, almost like I'd never seen the light of day a single day in my life, with pink blotches all over it like I'd been crying. My green eyes were still green, but the white part of my eyes was blood shot and pink tinted. Then I notice the red trails going down both of my cheeks, and I try to figure out what they are. I shiver again when I realize what they are.

Blood.

«^-^»

My dad called me and Al off school today since they found me on the kitchen floor with tears of blood running down my checks and whining. Dad cleaned the blood off my face, then threw the washcloth in the washer.

After about an hour of laying on the kitchen floor, dad and Al helped me to the couch. Dad got me some hot chocolate with mini marshmallows while Al called Jared and told him he had to find a ride to school since we were both 'sick'. I heard him call Missy too, telling him that he was sick and couldn't come to school today. Dad covered me up since I wouldn't stop shivering, and sat on the love seat beside Al. They watched as I drank my hot chocolate, trying to warm up. When I finished, I looked at dad. I had a feeling he was hiding something about what happened, and I was gonna find out what it was.

"So, want to explain what happened to me?" I ask when he takes my empty mug away. "And don't say you don't know." I give him a look and he sighs.

"I hoped I'd never have to tell you this. After you turned sixteen and didn't have any visions, I thought you were safe."

"Visions? Safe?"

"From your mother's curse." I look at dad, knowing this is the reason why mom left and why he never talks about her. "Your mother had visions, and her irises would turn clear and the whites of her eyes would be blood shot and look like blood was pooling in them. She'd cry tears of blood and wouldn't want to be touched until it was over and the shock her body went through was over with." He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. "It was the hardest thing to watch her go through that pain. Of course, she always had feelings. Like being able to tell what I was going to ask her before I even knew sometimes, just like you can Soph." He doesn't meet my eyes. "But those feelings weren't the same as a full blown vision. They didn't hurt or make her cry tears of blood."