It was happening again.
Reyna stared at her open English book, but the words were giant balls of fuzz dancing on white paper. Her hands that tried to ease her throbbing temples were shaking. Her breathing sounded like sandpaper rubbing concrete.
She sighed and closed her eyes.
It was the last period of the day. She could get through this.
"What do you think of this story?" Miss Adin, the English teacher, asked. Her question evaporated into silence.
"...a Japanese legend, right, Miss Adin?" Someone's voice spoke through the fog in Reyna's mind.
"Yes, Eric. This fight between the demon and the demon hunter is considered a legend. A myth from long ago. This is one of the many more that are in the book we are going to start reading for the next two weeks," Miss Adin said.
"But I don't get it," Eric said. "The two stories we read don't really make sense. This one was about a demon hunter and the other was about two sisters fighting. Like, are they supposed to be connected?"
Reyna exhaled through her teeth. Eric needed to stop talking. Anything above a whisper was making her head pound.
"Well, they are and they aren't. Sakuya's Collection is an anthology of various legends that are believed to be vaguely connected to each other. They are all set in the same fictional world of warrior clans, magic, demons, and other things. Which brings me to your new set of notes I'd like you to copy."
The teacher placed the book cradled in her arms down on her desk and turned to the whiteboard where she began to scribble words in headache inducing blue ink. The room filled with the static noise of students taking out writing supplies. Reyna's open spiral was already on her desk, but the rising tension building against her forehead prevented her from picking up her pen.
"Hey, Reyna," a male whisper from behind her called to her. The owner nudged her with his pencil. He might as well have shaken her with all his strength.
She forced herself to turn around. "Yeah?"
Her blue eyes locked with her friend's, Dante. As soon as they did, he looked away and found another focus point on her face.
"Your thing is still on for Saturday night, right?" he asked her.
He referred to the birthday bash Reyna was going to throw at her house that weekend.
"Yeah. Why?" she asked, the excitement of her party easing her migraine a bit.
Dante ran a hand through his short, earthy brown hair. "Are you going to need any help getting it together?"
Reyna smiled. "No, I should be fine. I'm just gonna buy snacks. Everyone else brings their own stuff, really."
"Okay. Let me know if you change your mind."
"Yeah. Thanks for offering."
He kept quiet for a moment, his eyes narrowing. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah. Just fine," she said. The pain in her temples branched down her face as if to punish her for her lie.
Reyna turned back to her desk and exhaled a shaky breath. The dizziness that overtook her and the familiar, hot sensation that spread throughout her torso told her there was no stopping it now.
She gripped her shirt and shut her eyes. Not again. Please!
A spark erupted in her chest. The fire caught and expanded with the rippling pain of having someone swing a bat to her ribs. Reyna could not hold back the shriek of pain that frayed her throat as the flames won.
...... "A hidden realm exists. It is my prison of solitude. I can only slumber, awakening to the unknown, to gain strength, only to sleep again. But I have now reached the end.
My return shall be among the living.
My return shall signify death." ......
Reyna groaned, her voice hoarse, as she opened her eyes. The nurse's office was a familiar sight. It was a tiny room, but despite its small size, Nurse Kang managed to squeeze in a regulation hospital bed up against a beige wall. Aging brown curtains circled the bed, hiding Reyna from the rest of the room. A hand gripped the edge of the drapes and pulled them a few inches back. Green eyes peeked through.
"Dante?" Reyna said recognizing the face that looked at her.
"Reyna," he said and drew the curtains back so he stood next to the bed.
She sat up and looked at him, groaning as she realized what happened. "I fainted again, didn't I?"
"Yeah. During class." He grinned at her. "I carried you here. Miss Adin may have freaked out about that a bit."
She fell back on the bed with an arm over her forehead. "Did I...did I scream? In class?"
"Scream?" Dante's face wrinkled as if in recollection. "No. You just collapsed in your desk."
She shook her head. Reyna's throat was sore from the yell she was sure happened.
"Are you feeling okay now?" Dante's fingers gripped hers.
Reyna looked down at their hands.
Just do it. She pursed her lips together as her own fingers curled around—
"Kaori?"
Both students turned to Nurse Kang as she walked through the doorway.
"I see you are awake now," she said and eyed Dante with a raised eyebrow.
"Yeah, Kang. I'm awake now, and please don't call me Eva." Reyna sat up, forcing Dante away from her. She also retrieved her hand from his.
Despite what happened, Dante chuckled. Reyna hated her middle name, and he knew it.
She shot him a glare that told him to shut up.
Mrs. Kang walked up to the bed and smiled at Reyna, the wrinkles by her almond eyes gathering into a bouquet of lines. "But Kaori is such a pretty name."
Reyna frowned and shook her head. "You know I prefer Reyna, Kang."
"Well you know I prefer Nurse Kang, but we both know neither of us is going to start using our preferred names. I'm sorry I stepped out, but I'm not sorry to say it was to phone your mom to let her know you haven't been stopping by to take your medicine."
She flinched.
"Are you serious?" Dante frowned at her. "You told me and Julie you were taking them!"
"I was coming kinda late in the mornings, and I didn't want to waste any more time stopping by to take my medicine." Reyna didn't look at them.
"You don't have to walk to school. There's a bus! I can also give you a ride if you want."
"But you come to school so early for your Student Council stuff, and I didn't want to make you late too and—"
"Alright already," Nurse Kang said. "I have you medicine here. Take it now."
The nurse reached into her white coat pocket and gave it to Reyna along with a water bottle. While Reyna took her little yellow pill, the nurse's eyes wandered over to Dante. He smiled at her, but any charm he was trying to throw her way was useless.
"Thank you for all your help," she told him. "You can go back to class now."
He hesitated. "Will she be alright?"
She smiled. "Of course. She should be just fine especially now that she's taking her medicine, so get back to class and let your teacher know Reyna will be staying here for the rest of the period."
"Okay, thank you," Dante said and gave Reyna a quick smile before leaving.
The nurse's gaze followed his exit and then turned toward her patient. "How are you feeling? Do you feel it's now over?"
Reyna handed back the water bottle. "Better. My head doesn't hurt as much anymore."
"Do you want to try calling your parents? I didn't have luck reaching them."
Reyna shook her head. "My parents aren't here. My dad is out on a business trip and my mom went with him to visit my uncle at the hospital. They should be back next week."
A small frown marred Nurse Kang's lips. "So you're not at home with any adult figure?"
Reyna mentally hit herself. "Um. I'm with my grandma," she lied, having lost her remaining grandparent a year ago.
"Would you like to call her?"
She shook her head. "No thanks. I feel much better anyway. I'll let her know myself when I get home after school."
The nurse nodded. "Okay. Just rest for now."
Half an hour later, the bell rang. Reyna watched from the nurse's office doorway as students filed into the main hallway where they squeezed together. K.C. High was the only high school in the small town of Esterwood, Michigan which meant it was packed beyond its capacity.
Reyna waited for the crowd to die down before leaving. She had to go to her locker to get her coat and to her English class to pick up her backpack and books, but walking against the flow of the hallway was as exhausting as it looked.
After Nurse Kang's scolding reminder to take her medicine the following morning, Reyna stepped out. Turquoise lockers adorned the passage all the way down to a pair of glass doors. She stooped down to her locker and began working the dial.
"Hey, I got your stuff." Dante's familiar voice came from above as he set a red backpack on the floor.
Reyna stood and thanked him as she put on her coat and draped her checkered scarf around her neck.
He stared. "You're still gonna walk home even after what happened to you?"
She didn't look at him. "Yeah."
"It's snowing again outside."
"I'm used to the snow as are all the other students walking home. I live close by anyway."
"No. Let me give you a ride home." He indicated with his gloved thumb for them to go.
She shook her head. "You'll get in trouble with your dad if you arrive home late."
"I'll just tell him I had an emergency Student Council meeting or something. Come on, Reyna." His emerald eyes pleaded for her to agree.
"Fine," she huffed as she put her backpack on.
He smiled.
They walked out of the school and to the student parking lot. Dante's car was one of the few left from the afterschool rush. His fixed up, older model Mustang sat under a thin film of fresh snow.
Reyna smiled when she saw the car. She knew it was Mr. Monterrosa's early graduation gift to Dante for his shoe-in accomplishment of graduating valedictorian. It was late February of their senior year, but Dante was known throughout the school for his academic achievements that surpassed all other students'. There was no doubt he wouldn't attain the valedictorian title.
After Reyna helped Dante scrap the snow and ice off of his windows, they climbed aboard and exited into what was considered a highway in their town. The four lane road—brilliantly named Main Street— was the tiny city's biggest street, for it ran through the entire town. Almost all the roads in Esterwood lead to it at some point.
"So Miss Adin assigned us homework. She wanted us to give paragraph answers to some questions. I took a picture of them and already send them to your phone," Dante said.
"Thanks. That sounds like exactly how I want to spend my night tonight." Reyna sighed, pulling out her phone to look up the text. "It's all blurry. You suck at taking pictures."
He laughed. "I took two. I sent you the wrong one. I promise the other one you can actually read." Dante dug into his jean pocket for his phone.
"Hey!" Reyna hit his arm. "Focus on the road. I don't wanna die."
"I don't know. Sometimes you do seem to deserve it."
She hit him again. "That's not very nice."
His laugh evoked a faint blush from her. It was comforting in how genuine it sounded.
When they arrived at Reyna's house, the light snow had stopped falling. Dante pulled up into the empty driveway and opened the car door for her. She thanked him, fetched her backpack, and made for the front door with a wave.
"Wait. Reyna?" Dante said and grasped her right arm.
She froze, knowing the moment of decision had come. It was felt through his touch. She knew how Dante felt about her, but what she wasn't so sure was how she felt about him. Her eyes flickered to his face. He was handsome with his strong jaw and kind eyes that sometimes flustered her, yet she shied away from his advances.
She cleared her throat. "Yeah, Dante?"
He tugged on her arm, causing her to lean onto his chest. The movement was so agile and unexpected, Reyna's backpack fell from her grasp. His warm lips pressed hers, and a small pocket of heat was captured between their huddled faces. Dante hands lingered on her hips after they parted.
If you want to ask him out, now would be a good time. But Reyna could only gape.
Dante's eyebrows shot up like he just realized something. He jerked away from her. "Shit! I'm sorry! That was rude of me." He picked up her backpack from the ground. "Here. Sorry again."
She accepted it but remained silent, looking at the bag in her hands.
He took her silence as a rejection. "I guess I should go now."
Her head snapped up. "Wait!"
He did.
Reyna gave him a shy, small grin. "It's okay. I—I think we should try. I mean do you want to try this out?"
It was Dante's turn to gape. "You mean like...go out? Be, uh, boyfriend and girlfriend."
She nodded.
His face lit up, and he embraced her, bringing her as close as their puffy, layered clothing would allow. Reyna laughed, basking in the warmth that radiated from him.
The shrill of an electric guitar zapped the air. Dante cursed and plucked out his cell phone from his coat pocket. His face drained of color. "Damn. It's my dad. I forgot to tell him my little lie of the Student Council meeting. I need to go now."
Reyna cringed. She had met Mr. Monterrosa a handful of times but was familiar with the strict schedule and rule he kept his son under. His car had not come without a price.
"Yeah, you better go," she said.
"I can stay for a little bit longer. I'm already in trouble." Dante grazed her cheeks with his hand. It was gloved but still left a line of heat.
"I want you to, but I don't want to get you in trouble." Reyna gave him a small shove toward his car.
"Okay. Just..." He kissed her again.
She smiled, cheeks red with more than just the cold.
After Reyna shed her coat and boots in the mudroom, she entered the living room and dropped her knapsack on the floor and sat on the couch. She giggled. And when she wasn't giggling, she smiled. She was dating Dante now. If anyone knew what a sweet and amazing guy he was, it was her. Reyna hoped that-
Her body stiffened. She fought to breathe. The heartbeat that pounded in her ears sounded more like the beating of hummingbird wings. Her head lurched to the side with an intense snap, Reyna thought she had broken her neck, but the pain of hitting the wooden frame of the couch told her she was still alive. Tremors traveled down her body, jerking her arms and legs, heaving her chest, and lifting her hips. If her lips weren't sealed shut, Reyna would've screamed because this was different. She had never convulsed before. Something had been unleashed inside of her, and it was fighting to emerge.
It stopped.
Reyna's chest was a fire, engulfed with that familiar heat. Her heart a furnace that pumped magma throughout her veins. The pain twisted her hands into trembling fists, fingernails digging crescent cuts into her palms. Hot blood dripped down her wrists, down her elbows, to the couch where it pooled and pooled until it spilled on the floor. Spreading and growing, the redness flooded the room, rising to stain the walls, drowning the couches, consuming the family photos, and finally Reyna herself.
The thick rubicund water leached into her ears, nostrils, and eyes, tasting its sick iron flavor as it fed into her throat. It cooled and eased her scorching body, and Reyna let herself drift under the red water, the idea of drowning a more comfortable escape than burning alive.
Drawing: Reyna by catou15 from deviantart - She needs to be just a bit more Japanese looking, but it's still such a lovely drawing. <3