Broken Nightmare

Chapter 7

  Just as I thought he might shoot it, Nathan's shoulders relaxed and he pointed the gun to the floor, un-latching the top, and shoved the gun back down the backside of his sweats. "What the heck, Hyene? You know there's a front door!"

The door swung open even more as Hyene came out, her perfect profile coming next to mine. The perfect girl from the forest stood tall before me. Her caramel skin seemed to glow even more and her dark hair swayed down to her mid-back. "Sorry. Stephan wanted me to come here and help out the new girl. Said to help her into Claire's room and we'll go from there." Her Brittish accent came through with every word and side-tracked me for a second.

Then I interpreted what she said. "Wait, where is Claire? I've gotta call my family or something."

Nathan swiped one arm in my direction, motioning for Hyene to have a stab at trying to make me understand. Gee, thanks a lot. I feel so smart, I retorted, even though I knew he couldn't hear me.

"I'm sorry, but Claire is staying at a building not too far from here while she gets herself under control. You will get to see her once she regains her self-control. And as for your family, well, Spencer is taking care of them right now."

"What do you mean 'taking care of'? He won't—"

"Goodness, no! No, we're not that cruel. They won't be harmed in any way, I promise."

I released a breath I never realized I'd been holding. "Wait, Claire is where? Why can't I see her? She won't hurt me, I know it."

"Maybe not intentionally, but she could accidentally lose control. Anyone that could rouse strong emotions in her should stay away while she tries to learn to control herself."

"But she needs—"

"Look, I don't want to be rude, but Stephan told me that I can't tell you anything until morning. Just so we can be sure with what we're dealing with here. I'm gonna get you up to bed, then we'll fill you in after we've all had a good night's rest."

"No—I need to know what's going on. What is happening?"

"Look, Blondie, no matter what happens, we are not going to tell you anything today, so you might as well give it up and wait 'til morning. It's not that far away." Nathan's outburst caught me off-guard, his knuckles gripped at his sides so hard they turned white.

"Come here, let's get you out of those clothes, then you can crawl into bed," Hyene soothed, grabbing my shoulders, shooting a dark look at Nathan, and guiding me down the catwalk.

For the first time since I got out of the fire, I glance down at my clothes. I have blood all over my pants from the previous wound and there is dirt sticking to it, making it appear darker than it is. Ash and other gunk stuck thickly to my clothes, making them appear as though they weren't the familiar comfy clothes I put on this morning. We go into a room with tons of fluffy pillows. There is an over-sized armoire in the corner. Hyene releases my shoulders and marches up to it and throws the doors open.

"The only problem is that you're about five inches taller than me," she informs me, not once turning to look at me. She was right. Not because she was short. No, she looked like a normal height for a girl—5'5''. It was me that was the problem. I was almost 6', and for a girl, that is really weird. That and my skinny frame made it hard to find any clothes to fit me, yet alone anything from a random girl's closet.

She pulled out an over-sized T-shirt and tossed it on the bed, followed by some shorts that looked like you would work out in. "I'm sorry, it's not ordeal, but I don't think I have anything else that would fit you. Is this okay?" I saw a light blush crawl up her cheeks as she looked down at her feet, as if she's embarrassed about her perfect body compared to my awkward one.