CHAPTER 28
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Jacqueline’s POV
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Before I could utter a word, a punch reached Nicholas guts for the second time and there was a slit.. Nicholas didn’t tend to it, instead he gave Jason double.. Being speechless I watched everything, only hoping that it’d stop.. Jason regained himself and gave Nicholas a kick on his abdomen.. “Oh my God Nicholas!” I gasped.
Seeing how weak it got him, Jason moved to give him another..
“Gracious! What for goodness sake is happening here!?” A stern angry voice caught Jason’s punch halfway and brought it down.. We turned to see the blaring anger fixated at us from Mrs Howard; a gasp slowly escaped my lips..
“Jason.. Nicholas? What’s happening here?” She barked “Are you both fighting during school hours?”
They both didn’t respond while I just stood there staring at everything.
“Both of you, to my office now!” She said with an air of authority and with one last glare, she walked away..
Jason looked at me then at Nicholas before walking away.. I turned to Nick. “You’re hurt,” I said reaching to touch under his lip but he held my hand halfway.. “We need to clean it up and get some ice on it” I said and he slowly let go of my hand.
“That’ll be later.. I have to go”
“I’m coming with you” I said and I knew he wanted to say something but he held it and walked ahead of me instead.. I followed.
I stayed at the hallway, in front of principal Howard office after Nick and Jason entered.. I stood outside for minutes, wondering what must be going on since I wasn’t hearing any loud voices scolding or threatening on anyone.. She’s probably thinking of making them spend all day in detention. I tap my nails on the rail and hoped silently that Mrs Howard doesn’t decide to take the matter too seriously.. I bit on my lower lip.
I can only imagine what must be going on in there.. I noticed a feminine figure, running up the staircase to this floor.. Bit by bit it got clearer and revealed a pretty petite woman with brunette, she was dressed in casuals; a simple yet fashionable dress and stiletto heels.. She looks rich even with her simplicity. She reached me and with a quick glance, knocked on the door.. I moved aside; she’s probably Jason’s mother.. There was no resemblance but her dressing spells her rich nature and since Nick doesn’t stay with his parent, she definitely has to be Jason’s.
When she opened the door, I took a peek inside before it was shut, I only saw Jason, sitting on a chair with twitched face.. He caught my gaze and I shifted it, searching for Nicholas but I didn’t find him before the door was shut. I rested back on the rail, impatiently tapping my nails on the rails..
In a swift moment the door flung open and Nicholas walked out, I took a step toward him when the lady from earlier walked out of the door too..
“Nicholas.. Wait!” She said running to him.. “Nicholas” she dragged his wrist and he stopped, in a swift angry motion, he grabbed his wrist from her grip and when he turned, though not noticing me; I saw deep anger and hatred as he looked at her. “Nic–
“What!?” He cut her off, his anger tension rising. “What right do you have to call my name?!”
“I’m sorry,” she said, her voice filled with emotion “I just wanted to know how you’ve been?” She said and with the anger in him, he scoffed.
“I’m not dead yet as you can see!” he said. Okay why’s he so angry?.
“Nicholas,” she made to touch him but he shifted away like she’s a plague.
“Don’t you dare!” He gritted and I saw a tear roll out from her eyes.
“I’m worried about you son” she said “I want to talk to you”
Nicholas eyes darkened, his fist curled to a tight ball by his side and his jaw was tightly clenched.
“Don’t you dare act like we’re even close! You’re probably worried that I’m not dead like you wanted.. I don’t know why you’re being like this after walking out on us for twelve years! And guess what, I’m surviving pretty fine without you and I’m living well.. You mean nothing to us at all and just so you know you’re my most hateful person.. Words can’t explain just how much your presence disgusts me! Don’t ever try to act this way to me again!” He said with his teeth gritted. He turned and walked away.. The lady stared at him, tears fell freely from her eyes and she sobbed quietly.
“Nicholas..” I called and ran after him to wherever he was going.
I didn’t find Nick when I reached the end of the hallway, I knew he was at the roof so I hurriedly went there and when I got there, he was on the bench and his gaze was on me. I walked to him and sat beside him. He sighed. “How did you know I was here?”
“I know you always come here when you need to blow some steam off” I said, giving him a concerned look. Though his anger earlier has subsided, it was still very noticeable.
“You saw what happened, didn’t you?”
“Yes. I did and I–
“And you want to know what it’s about?” He completed for me.
“Um kinda” I said and he gave a lopsided smile.
“My illness started when I was six.” He started “It was my fifth birthday and we were having an excursion at my school to the beach. We started the journey by four in the afternoon, after my birthday party was over, I kept on asking different
questions about things that we saw on the road.. After about an hour drive we ran into an accident, a trailer carry containers tumbled over and the whole containers fell on the bus our bus”
“Oh my goodness!” I gasped.
“It was a miracle that I didn’t die, me and few students who sustained really serious injuries. Our bus tumbled and fell off a cliff after that.. I was alive even though there was a big injury on my abdomen side, I was loosing a while lot of blood but I was breathing.. I tried to get out but I couldn’t, I tried calling on our teacher but she didn’t respond.. I was still trying to get out when a force, some kind of strange wind blew me and I hit my head on the glass window and became unconscious.
I woke up to realize I was in a hospital and that I’ve been unconscious for eight months.. I had lost too much blood and was still on transfusion. After my body was beginning to function and I was starting to get better, I was discharged and I went home with some prescribed drugs.. My parent, especially my mom stayed with me all through.. After everything I started having some strange feelings but I ignored it.. , five months passed and I was turning six, during my birthday party which wasn’t that buoyant, I collapsed.. And when I woke up I-I saw myself in a different form; I looked horrible, like a monster” He said and quieted himself, I knew he was trying to suppress the pain. I watched him solemnly.
“My mom freaked out and fainted and when the doctor ran a test on me, he said I
was suffering from a rare disease”
“A rare disease.. Like what?” I asked.
“He said it was similar to blood allergy” he said.
“Blood allergy? That’s a thing?”
“I don’t know but he said the blood I have in my body was contaminated and it didn’t match with my blood group. My whole body had the blood and he couldn’t figure out if it belonged to a human or some other thing because it was strange,” Nick said and breathed out.
“Dad went back to the hospital where I had the blood transfusion but it was closed, it was no longer running” I gasped slightly as I felt my eyes filling up with tears. “I suffered alot, I had incessant pains at intervals and sometimes I did really crazy stuffs to myself.. I had to stop schooling.. I couldn’t eat certain foods, couldn’t interact with anyone nor go to school to learn because I looked like a monster. I noticed mom distancing herself from me, only dad was there. My illness has drained up all our savings and dad had to borrow loans just to find a cure for me.. We tried several places, both herbal and different hospitals but there was no cure.. I
stayed isolated and hating myself, I was only a little boy then. We didn’t find a cure.. then that night came.
I was out of my room to take some air because my disease came with so many
conditions, dad was away to see our doctor.. I saw mom and I wanted to talk to her
but she pushed me off and called me a monster, she told to stay away from her else
she’d expose me, she told me she hated me and warned me never to call her
mother.. She said so many hurtful words to me and before dad return, she had
walked out of our house and our lives.. She said she didn’t want to raise a monster
for a son” he said and my tear dropped.
“Oh my God” I said softly.
“She left me when I needed her most, she was only there for the money and when it was finished plus my disease, she left. I cried a lot and pleaded with dad to bring her back but there was nothing anyone could do..
Only dad stayed with me and when we heard that there was a new medication that was created to suppress my disease, we flew to Korea to get it then get away from memories.. I was dressed in an overall that hid most of me and my monstrous look. Truly we were able to get the medication and that’s why I’m still here and most of the dreadful effect that I my illness comes with were going away,” he said “because of it. We moved to NY after twelve years to start a fresh life and because of the medication, I’ve been able to come this far” he said and gave me a look. “And Jason knows about all this?”
“He only knows that I have a monstrous disease”
“But.. how?”
“He found out through his mother”
“His mo– wait, you’re saying Jason’s mom is your mother, the one who left you?” I asked and he nodded slightly.
“Goodness!” I gasped “Sorry to say but your mom’s so despicable! She’s heartless and wicked and selfish! She’s a big error to motherhood! How can someone be so wicked”
“There’s nothing to be sorry about.. She’s worse than that and she’s not my mom, she stopped being that the day she walked out on me.. I don’t just get why she’s being this way now” he said and turned to me “Don’t feel pity for me, I’m already used to it.. I don’t feel her absence at all, it all like she was never a part of my life” I looked at his face, with so much emotion bursting out of me.. I still wonder how he managed not to cry with everything he’s going through.
“Why don’t you just cry it all out? Storing it up will only give you a heavy heart” I asked and he scoffed before looking away.
“Cry? Because of that woman?” He laughed “That’s one thing that can never happen” he said and beneath those courageous voice I could see not only the anger but also the pain he was storing up. I gently touched his wrist and when he turned, I hugged him. It must’ve caught him by surprise or he just doesn’t like hugs because it took a moment before I felt his arm around me too before the pain.. His palm must’ve pressed one of my healing wound because I felt a sharp pain in that area, like the stitches were being torn up.. I shut my eyes in pain and bore it silently for a while.. The pain kept on getting intense and with each new feeling, I shut my eyes tighter and bit on my lower lip, Nick was still hugging me and the way it seems, I think I’ll still have to bear the pain but it was starting to get unbearable.. The injury wasn’t only torn, it should be bleeding as well now. Slowly the hug got disengaged, I didn’t know if I was the one that did it or Nicholas.
“Can you excuse me for five minutes?” I stood up and steadied my feet out of the place, getting out of the class, I let out a soft moan and head to the school nurse’s office.. I got there and without much questions, I drew down the edge of my jacket and zipped my dress down a little. She took some equipments and moved to examine the wound.
“Oh, looks like your stitches got torn” she said and I felt the tip of her slender fingers with a feel of fabric running round the wound.
“Do you feel pains around here?” She pressed that area a little and I nodded.
“A little” I said.
“Okay,” she started treating me “this will sting alot” she said and with my eyes shut and an audible moan, I took in the pain.
“How did you get this? It looks like a blade wound”
“Um y-yeah” I stuttered “I got it from a broken piece of a dish” I said “What happened?”
“It’s kinda a story but I did this myself though” I said, moistening my lips. Feeling the guilt of the lie I was telling.
“Alright, it’s done” she said, getting of me.
“Thanks” I zipped up my dress completely and pulled my jacket up.
“And be careful not to sprain your hand or apply any pressure around that area, you could split the wound open again”
“Yes ma’am, thanks a lot” I said and she wrote a pass and handed it to me.
“Don’t hesitate to come back if it starts to itch” she said and I nodded.
“Um.. I was wondering if I could find some ice cubes here, do you have any?” I asked.
“I do but you can’t apply ice on that”
“Oh it’s not for me ma’am, it’s for my friend.. He has a bumpy wound” I said. “Okay,” she moved to the mini sized fridge.. “Then you’ll need it in a cloth” she said and after bending over the refrigerator for a while, she stood for a while, probably wrapping up the ice then she handed it to me and after a word of thanks, I walked out of the nurse’s office..
I reached the stairs and climbed up, I got to the hallway and as I hurried down it, I saw her; Nicholas mom. I didn’t know when my fist curled in a ball but I controlled myself and was walking past her..
“Excuse me” I heard a soft sobbed-on voice and I turned just my face to the back to see her looking at me or was it just the direction.. I turned to see if there was someone else behind me, seeing none, I turned back to her.
“Me?” I asked, signifying with my finger. “Yes,” she nodded “can I talk to you for a sec?” .
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T. B. C.
✨WEIRD HEARTS ✨
(Love in circles )
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BY BLESSING SILVER
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