Hidden Within

Chapter Four

I felt Tyler strain his muscles. He let out a grunt as he tested his strength.

My foot stung almost to the point of pins and needles. Seconds later, all I could feel was relief. I snuck a quick glimpse of Tyler who had swung the piece of metal over his head and threw it behind him.

There was no itchy, prickly feeling. I felt as good as new. It was like I’d never stepped into the trap.

“Take off your shoe and sock” he placed his hand out, palm facing up for me to return his torch. “Once you’ve done that, tell me what you see”.

It took me a moment to gain the courage to reveal my bare foot. I felt sick in the stomach, gore wasn’t my favourite sight. Visualising images in my head was gross enough. I wasn’t too thrilled to find out what state my foot was in.

I carefully untied the knot, sliding my shoe off and tossing it closely to the side. Next was my sock. It was slightly more difficult to remove because the blood was drying into the cotton, sticking it to my skin. I gently and slowly detached it.

To my surprise there was nothing. No gushes, cuts or pierced flesh, only untouched skin.

“What?” My eyes widened. I was in shock.

“You’ve healed, just as I expected”. Tyler observed me like I was his science experiment.

I was baffled, lost of words. What had I just experienced?

“You’re okay now” he flashed me a reinforced smile.

“Am I dreaming?” I know it was a dumb question but how else could you explain these strange events?

He laughed. The devious attitude was restored.

“I want to go back” I looked into his eyes “Now” I demanded.

He understood my trauma and agreed to go back.

Our mission back was just as fearful as it was on the way out here. However it didn’t bother me as much when all I could think about was my miraculous recovery.

We reached the steps that led up to our back door. We both stopped. The profile of a male figure travelled across our curtains. Someone was inside our house.

“It’s not dad” I whispered to Tyler.

“I know, wait here” he placed his torch on the ground and crept up the stairs.

Tyler snuck his way inside the back door without a sound. To be honest his skills were impressive. He turned right after the man entering the kitchen and out of my sight.

An ice cold breeze swept over me and I grasped the fact that I was abandoned unprotected.

The sound of smashing glass made me run inside. I wasn’t concerned of getting hurt considering I could heal instantly; I was worried about my brother.

Tyler was fine of course; it made sense since I didn’t feel anything harmful. He was leaning over a body on the ground, the man’s body.

I made my way around Tyler to get a better look at who this was. The man’s body turned out to be a teenager’s body; a very familiar teenager’s body.

Tyler’s expression switched to one of pity “I’m sorry”.