SSilence........
Like a heavy blanket, draped over me, blinding me and numbing out my senses.

I willed my eyes to open, they didn't.
I willed my ears to listen, they didn't.

I gave in to the suffocating silence and let myself be dragged under.

I tried to open my eyes again, after a while and slowly, they came open.

I tried to look around but everything came out in muddled, blurry shapes.

Panic started to fill me, I couldn't see.
Nothing was clear.

I made an umph umph sound, trying to speak but something was clogging up my mouth.

"Shhh shh"
An external voice soothed from beyond my line of vision.

The thing clogging my mouth was removed and I took in deep breaths.

"I- I can't see"
"Where am I"
I mumbled out, scared.

"Shh"
The voice said again.

"You're in the hospital, you had a little accident but you'll be fine"

Accident?........
The events came rushing to me, with full force.

"Tessa Tessa, is she ok? I couldn't find her."
I said, embarrassed that I might have left her there.

"Your whole family is fine, they're waiting outside for you, I'll call them in now."

I heard a door open and close, then open again.

I heard aunt Layla's voice first.

"Oh my poor baby"
She screeched as soon as she entered the room.
I heard a few more shuffling of feet as more people entered.

"Aunt Layla, I can't see"
I chocked out.

I heard her sharp intake of breath, before the man from before started talking.

"It's a temporary side effect, by tomorrow she'll be able to see as bright as day."
He said quickly and I could only imagine the threatening look aunt Layla was giving him.

"Where's Tessa? "
I asked, I heard shuffling before a warm hand took mine.

"Are you ok?"
I asked wondering what happened to her.

"Yeah, I'm fine, you'll be too"
She soothed.

"I know"
I said, not wanting to seem weak in front of them.

The kids and aunt Layla stayed a while but then they to leave because they had school the next day, so I was left alone, blind and afraid.
Not that anybody saw.
Over the years, I had learned to hide my emotions very well and right now it was coming back to bite me in the butt.

I tried to think about everything except how I got injured, I thought about bunnies, I thought about aunt Layla but I didn't want to think about the dead girl.
Her glassy dead eyes that were focused on everything and yet could see nothing.
Her pale skin that was dark with some bruises.
Her broken neck, hanging irregularly at an angle.

No I didn't need to think about that.

I tried to stay awake, not wanting to fall asleep with partially blind eyes but just like when they wanted to put me in isolation, I'd been drugged already..

I opened my eyes once more, only to see less blurry shapes but blurry none the less.

The door opened and closed gently.
I frowned, I thought aunt Layla had left.

My muddled brain told me something wasn't right but the drugs were kicking in and I couldn't stay awake for the life of me.

I tried to say auntie but it came out like.

"Nmhti"

I tried to put my already messed up brain and eyes to good use but I still couldn't make out proper shapes.
Dread filled me as I realized how defenseless I was.
I felt someone hold my hand and then I slipped under, fully unconscious but a scent was already registered in my none damaged nose.
A scent that I would know anywhere.

I woke up again, this time feeling more conscious of my environment.
I blinked once, twice before I let out a sigh of relief.
I could see again.
I was on a small bed, with white curtains around me, I pulled on it and it opened to reveal a white room.

There was one more bed with an old lady lying on it.
Her curtains were open, so I could see her white hair and crinkled face which were turned to my side.
She looked so small, so fragile in her bed.

"What are you looking at, kid? "
A harsh voice said, causing me to look around the room, for the source of the voice.

"Are you still blind then? "
It said again, that's when I realized it was the old woman talking.
Her eyes were closed and she was frowning.

"Um no "
I said warily.

"Thank God, now you see that door right? So get out"
She barked.

I looked around again, wondering why she was being so harsh.

"Can you see? "

"Yes ma'am"
I replied quickly, not wanting to upset her.

"Then see the way out"
She said, exasperated.

What was this woman's problem.

"No, I can't just leave"
I said, too defensively, then I felt bad because I was yelling at an old woman but when she finally opened her eyes and gave me the meanest look money could buy, I shoved my guilty feelings to the side.

"Arrogant pieces of shit..... The whole lot of em"
She muttered under her breath.

I frowned at her.
"Why are you being so mean"

She closed her eyes, shutting me out.
I huffed and turned over, backing her.

I tried not thinking about the dead girl but that's hard to do when you're practically alone in a boring room with only grouchy old lady for company.

I remembered the way her eyes looked at me.
They say the eyes are the windows to a  person's soul but when I looked into those eyes, there was nothing.... Nothing but a hollow pit.

A chilly feeling overcame me, as flashes of the incident came back to me.

"Stop making so much noise"
The old lady grumbled beside me.

I stared at her, open mouthed as I realized I'd been whimpering.

"Sorry"
I mumbled out..

"Did I ask you to apologize? "

"Oh then sorry I did"
I said, hoping to pacify her.

"Why are you here? "
She asked.

I stared at her, puzzled.
"I thought you didn't want me to talk?"

She glared at me.
"If I didn't want you to bloody talk then why would I ask you a question!"
She exclaimed.
Frightened by her outburst, I proceeded to telling her what happened at the school.

"Damn murderers......... They don't make them like they used to"
She murmured and I didn't know if I should be scared or intrigued by this old woman.

"So who's the weird young man that didn't let me sleep last night? "
She asked or rather commanded.

Oh jerr must've come when aunt Layla left. He's such a good friend.

"That's probably my friend Jerry. He's very nice."

"Mmhmn didn't look like no damn friend to me. "
She grumbled.

I didn't bother asking her to explain, she was a very confusing old lady and most times she said things I couldn't understand and I was afraid of asking her to explain, I might have survived my horrible nurse but I think even he would quiver under this woman's gaze.

After a while, aunt Layla came to pick me up and when I got home, I was surprised with a small welcome back home get together.
The kids and Tessa were waiting for me and they had a banner strung up against the front door.

We ate a bit, before aunt Layla said I needed to rest.
Jerry came to see me and I thanked him for coming to the hospital, he looked puzzled but he let it slide and we talked about other things.

Samuel blushed beet red when Maya said he was the one that brought up the idea of the welcome party and I gave him a little kiss on his cheek. Jason snickered and earning him a clobbering from Samuel.
Mr O'Brien was no where to be found... Probably hating me in some corner somewhere.

I stayed at home the rest of that week and I constantly had Jerry, Tessa and Kira around when they got back from school.

The weekend flew by quickly, with me more eager to get to school than ever. The small confines of the house

Monday morning came and I was the most grateful girl in to world.
I wore a pair of light blue jean shorts and an oversized sweater that fell, exposing my right shoulder. With high kneed boots. All my clothes were hand picked by Tessa. Even though I wasn't really comfortable in them, she glared at me, daring me to take them off.

She reminded me of that old woman so I promised myself to go and check on the old lady later.

I think I'm starting to improve on my math, I got a D and not an F this time. That has to count for something,  dosent it?

I kept sneaking glances at Nickolas behind me, in math class.
It was so not fair, currently he's locking lips with Shelly again and yet he still gets the highest scores.
Right now, all I want to do is stick my sharp pencil in his eye and throw my eraser at Shelly's head. But I don't.
Shelly turns her head in my direction and smirks when she sees me watching. I look back at the eraser on my table and wonder if I shouldn't rethink my decision not to throw.

As soon as the class is over, I ambush Nickolas like before, only this time that stupid leech Shelly is hanging onto his arm.
Ugh! she makes me so violent.

"Can I talk to you?"
I asked, not paying Shelly any mind.

"He's busy"
She sneered.

Nickolas looked around, like he was tired of being here and having to look at me, like I was gum beneath his feet.

Still not looking at her, I asked again
"Nickolas can I talk to you? "

"I said he's-......"

"Five minutes"
Nickolas said, detaching himself from Shelly as he interrupted her.

I felt oddly satisfied at the sight of her face looking pink with embarrassment.

"Please tutor me"
I begged.

He raised an eyebrow
"That's what this is about? "

I nodded.
"Aunt Layla is depending so much on my grades and they are so bad and I really don't want to disappoint. "

He pinched the bridge of his nose and shook his head.
I watched him looking exasperated and my heart beat faster, my lower stomach was churning. I realized with horror that my body seemed to like his expression just then, when he sighed like I was frustrating him.

"Meet me at the library after school."
He walked away.

I scurried away, not wanting to be anywhere near him after what just happened.

I was still trying to escape  what just happened with me and Nickolas, when my phone beeped.
I brought out the device from my backpack. It still felt weird talking to people on it but Tessa said I'll get used to it.

fear engulfed me as I read the text.

'I see you my love, I see you lie but there will be no need to lie soon, I'll take you away from all the lies '

I stuff the phone into my pocket, my eyes worriedly searching the hallway  for whoever was responsible. The bell rang, making me jump. I was starting to get paranoid, this was the fifth text I'd gotten and it frustrated me that I still didn't know who it was.

Lunch went by quickly, Tessa was missing from the table and Nickolas looked ready to kill anyone that even looked at him the wrong way. Diana was back at the table, only more quiet than ever.
She refused to meet my eyes for even the simplest of requests. Jerry was being his normal sweet self and Kira slept through lunch.
Once, Shelly tried to feed Nickolas some fries, she was scooting closer to him, pressing her body against him and calling him sweet names. Then he sent her a glare that would make hell freeze over.
She remained quiet after that. And I resisted the urge to snicker.

Nickolas picked up his bag stormed out of the cafeteria, leaving four pairs of surprised eyes behind.

"He had a bad morning"
Shelly said, even though nobody asked her.

Me and Jerry talked at the table, while Shelly kept giving me hateful glares.

"I should go see what's wrong with him"
Jerry said after a while. I was going to protest about him leaving me with a now grinning Shelly but I realized he probably needed to calm Nickolas down before he actually kills somebody, so I let him go.

"So....... Mitchie, I realize I've been awfully rude to you but I want to correct that, you see Nickolas is my boyfriend and he's Tessa's best friend and you're just Tessa's cousin so I really want us all to get along. "
She finished with a sly grin.

I felt a bit relieved, I had a lot to worry about already and she just removed one worry.
I decided to agree with her, even though Diana's scared little glances at me should have told me better.

"Sure"
I said softly.
If she finally decide to be nice to me then why not ,right?

"Awesome. "

"So I've always been going to the this school, my mom's the principal and my dad's the mayor. What about you Diana? "

She looked up quickly at the mention of her name.
"I- my mom is a doctor and my dad works at a bank. "

Shelly turned her attention from Diana to me.
"Awesome, so what about you, where are you from, what about your mom and dad."
She asked, with a genuine bright smile on her face.

Oh no.
I looked around the cafeteria, searching for my cousin.

"I shared mine with you, why don't you want to share? "
She asked.

"My- my parents are um they died. "
I said, quickly not wanting to look up.

"Oh that's rather unfortunate, so where did you move from?. "

I bit my lower lip, should I tell her? But she was being nice earlier. Tessa probably wouldn't mind, Shelly's her friend.

"It's close, it's just saint p-........

"Get a life and stop prying for information here...bitch"
A groggy voice said from the table.
I looked and saw kira's head rising from the table. I'd forgotten she was there.

Her eyes looked bleary but they were angry none the less.

"What is your problem. "
Shelly shrieked.

"You. You know how you can solve it? By getting lost. "

Shelly glared then huffed and walked away but not before saying.
"I hope my mom allows them to pass you this year, what with your grades so bad "
She walked away, her heels clicking sharply on the floor as she swayed her hips out of the cafeteria.

"Bitch"
Kira spat.

"Don't be talking to the likes of them."
She said, yawning.
And I wondered, if she was right.

The rest of the day went by in a blur of classes and the time finally came for me to be tutored by Nickolas.
I waited one hour,my hope slowly diminishing. two hours,my hope almost none existent. three hours and I was sure he wasn't coming anymore.
I walked home alone ...of course he didn't come, he was probably too busy with Shelly to remember.
I would find a way to pass out I'd read on my own but I will not ask Nickolas for help again ever.