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*.·∘ CHAPTER THREE: A THOUSAND EYES ˚∙.·∘
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( tw. kinda gory description of blood & injuries ?? )

A SINK TAP dripped with infuriating ceaselessness, a constant and eerie sound which hit the porcelain sink over and over again. Tea still stood in the bathroom, looking blankly in the mirror. She half expected it to crumble beneath her gaze. Everything was so strange today, nothing quite made sense. Her fingers trailed across the scarred skin on her left wrist, from a surgery she'd received after the accident. It was from another wound that she had no memory of—all it ever was to her was a scar.

          Tea glanced down at the ruined skin on her palms, gashed and sliced open and shining an angry red colour. Only now, the pain was truly beginning to set in, and Tea could have sobbed with how much it hurt. She tried to keep the pain to herself, not wanting to alert any of Nancy's family. There was a first aid kit that Tea found beneath Nancy's counter which surprised her because Nancy didn't seem to be the type of girl to be getting herself in dangerous situations.

          Tea began to clean the wounds on her palms, which stung with an intensity that made her wince. She'd grazed them open each of the multiple times she'd fallen, and they were filled with dirt and mud. The girl rinsed them beneath the cool, gentle water of the tap, before drying and bandaging them painfully. Next came her knees: which were slashed open and bloody. There were small remnants of gravel and muck in them and Tea carefully plucked them out with tweezers. She then gave it the same treatment as her hands, tightening her lips in pain as the water splashed over them. Tea grabbed the largest bandage band-aids she could find and plastered them over each kneecap. Afterwards, the girl tentatively took a seat on the edge of Nancy's bathtub to take care of her ceaselessly burning feet.

          She'd been wearing her white sneakers, and now Tea peeled them off slowly, wincing in immediate pain. She took a single glance at her socked feet and almost cried. Once, the socks she wore been grey, now they were a deep red which sent shivers crawling across Tea's arms and fingertips. The girl bit down hard on her lip to stop herself from crying out as her fingers reached to pull the socks off. Her arms were shaking in wild mannerisms.

          Her feet... God, her feet were a mess. Tea had no idea how long she'd been running for, but by what Nancy said, it must have been for a very long time. These shoes were not made for running. The skin on the soles of her feet had been rubbed away, a single bloody mess like someone had thrown red paint onto a canvas and smeared it with their hand. She could feel nothing when she pressed it against the ground but pain. It left a red footprint on Nancy Wheeler's bathroom floor.

          Tea felt as if she was going into a state of shock, staring at the scraps of skin which hung in peeled strips like petals on a bloomed flower. She clutched the edge of the bath with bloody fingers to stop herself from throwing up.

          Once Tea had managed to calm herself down, she found the strength inside her to turn around and turn on the bath's tap. The water swirled down the drain in gentle whirlpools, much more relaxing than everything she was experiencing at this moment. Her skin still hummed, her head still whirred. Tea finally worked up the confidence to swing her feet around and gently place them in the bath.

          That was probably a mistake. Tea's fingers flew to her face and she bit down on them hard to stop herself from screaming. Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck. What had she done to herself? Why did she do that to herself? Why had she run so far? She knew she had to keep them beneath the water, to stop the risk of any infection. But oh, holy Hell it hurt. Tears welled in her eyes and a large one rolled down her cheek. She opted to closing her eyes so she wouldn't have to see the masses of blood that bubbled between her toes and gathered in droplets and filled the bath before emptying down the porcelain drain.

          When Tea was satisfied that any bacteria was gone, she withdrew her feet, her entire body shaking violently in pained and anxious tremors as she reached down to move them out of the tub. The injury didn't look much better when it wasn't bleeding. She could only see the wound truly now, in more gruesome detail than she had before. It started blooming with blood once again and Tea sat on the floor. She accidentally dripped blood on Nancy's white fur bathmat.

          Tea really needed to stop for a break to calm her breathing, but she didn't want to leave her wounded feet exposed to the air for much longer. She could only hope permanent damage hadn't been made to the nerves. Her hands drew the bandages from Nancy's kit and wrapped them around her feet. Tea couldn't quite stop the noise that came out of her mouth then—a cross between a yelp and a whimper hidden behind her sealed lips. She'd never felt pain like this in her life, not even when she'd fallen off her rollerblades and lost all the skin on her knees.

          She wrapped them slowly, needing to pause every few inches of coverage because of the horrific pain. Once she'd bandaged each foot, Tea just slumped still on the floor and squeezed her earthen eyes closed.

          "You're okay," she told herself softly, because no one else was there to say it to her, "You're okay. You're okay. It's not that bad." After a few moment, she propped herself back on her arms, blinking away some stray tears. She was going to be fine, Tea reassured herself. It was only temporary. She would heal and soon all this strangeness would be over, and she'd be back in Wildwood with her mom and dad, baking and singing along to cheesy songs. Soon, everything would be back to normal.

          Tea stretched her toes experimentally, which was most decidedly a mistake as pain shot up them and Tea dropped her head back against the tiles with a winced, trying not to cry out. She managed to half-stand, propped up against the marble sink. Her eyes stared into the shimmery mirror again, at her gaunt face and hollow eyes ringed with dark circles. She looked like almost frightening, and the thought scared her. Her gaze inspected the dirt and mud which clung to her figure, her neck and collarbones. She probably needed to shower, but Tea loathed the idea of climbing back into running water with all her open wounds. Something shifted in the mirror and Tea glanced back up at the corner.

          In the reflection, the monster with a hundred bloody eyes loomed behind her shoulder.

          Tea screamed and spun around, hands outspread. The lights flickered for a second. But it was not the monster with a hundred eyes—instead it was Nancy. The brunette looked shocked at her outburst, eyes wide and mouth falling open.

          "Nancy! What was that?" a woman who must have been Nancy's mother called from downstairs.

          Nancy, whose blue eyes were rounded in surprise, yelled back at her mother without turning away from her position where she faced Tea. "Sorry, Mom! I just saw a spider, it scared me! But it's dead now!" Nancy winced at her terrible lie, hoping her mother wouldn't come up. When her mother didn't reply again, Nancy's expression fell and she moved towards Tea gently, a streak of worry painted across her face. "Are you okay?" she murmured, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have snuck up on you."

          Tea's mouth was gaping and her eyes darted around the tiled walls of the bathroom. She turned in a circle, glancing over every aspect of the area: over every inch of furniture, every crack in the wall, she glanced at the mirror more than once. Her feet burned, but she had to make sure. Her lips were trembling. "I thought I..." she trailed off. How could she possibly explain she'd seen a monster? "There was..." Nancy looked at the girl with a large amount of concern splattered across her features, pretty lips parted and sharp eyebrows sloping. "It doesn't... make any sense."

          Nancy Wheeler did reach out then, tentatively taking both of Tea's hands. Tea was shaking a fair amount, and her heart was beating too fast to be healthy, a constant hammering against her ribcage. "Tea, what doesn't make sense?"

          I'm hallucinating. Why am I having hallucinations? Dorotea stared at the brunette girl with wide eyes. "I keep seeing things. Things that... aren't there." She wanted to draw her arms around herself and withdraw into a ball, but Nancy was still holding her hand. Tea had never done well with being alone, she feared much too many things to feel safe in almost every situation. Nancy's hands were warm and soft around her own.

          "What do you mean?" whispered Nancy, mind turning over the possibilities even before the words left her mouth. She'd always been good at coming up with solutions. "As in, like, hallucinations?"

          "Yes," Tea murmured impossibly quietly, nodding her head slowly. Her copper gaze turned to the tiles beneath her bandaged feet and she glanced at the blood there. The pain in her feet was horrifically bad. "I— I need to sit down. Right now." She held onto Nancy's arm tight as she stumbled over to the bed, collapsing on its edge. Tentatively, screwing her face up in pain, Tea lifted her feet off the floor and into the air, trying to keep them from touching everything else.

          Nancy, when she saw them, did a double-take in shock and stared at the already blood-filled bandages with horror. "Jesus," she gasped. She seemed to be processing her thoughts, visibly horrified. "How did you keep running?" Nancy managed to breathe out.

          Tea looked like she might cry again, breaths coming out fast and heavy as her chest heaved with each exhale of her lungs. "I don't know," she whispered in confusion and horror. Her fingers came up to cover her face, shaking quickly. "I don't know. I don't know... why."

          Nance, despite her better judgement, sat down beside this girl she'd met only hours before, and put her arms around her. Tea made a noise and collapsed into her grip. She dropped her head onto Nancy's shoulder and just sobbed. Nancy gave good hugs, and for the first time since she left home, Tea felt safe. She didn't even know the last time she'd had a friend to hug. The thought made her only cry harder. She was such a loser, such a screw-up. The town freak. And now all this stuff was happening to her that made no sense, and she was just sick of it all. Tea just wanted to be normal.

          "It's okay," Nancy whispered, hand stroking over Tea's dark hair. She was reminded strangely of Barb, she wasn't sure why, what part of this lost and lonely girl reminded Nancy of her dead friend, but it hurt her all the same. "It's okay. We'll figure it out." Nance realised she used the term 'we', but at this point she meant it. So much weird stuff had happened to her in the past two years, Tea was nowhere near the strangest. "I'll... help you, okay? I don't know what's going on but I want to help you."

          "Thank you," managed Dorotea, voice wavered with tears and wracked with sobs, and everything was spilling out of her lips a little too fast. "Thank you, thank you, thank you." Her tears wet Nancy's blouse, own arms drawn in tight against her chest as Nancy's bracketed her. Tea sat back quite suddenly, face pink from crying and wet with tears, as if suddenly realising what she was doing. "I'm so sorry," said Tea in shame. She didn't know what had come over her. She never cried to people like that. "I just... I don't know what's happening." I'm scared. She felt wrong in every way, her skin which seemed to sing like there was electricity running in her veins, the hallucinations which stained her vision. She squeezed her eyes shut, terrified she would see any more of them. What if they danced behind her closed eyes? Tea pressed the back of her hand against her face, covering her eyes and wiping the tears away. "I'm sorry."

          Nancy scooted forward and put a hand on Tea's bicep. "Hey— hey, you don't need to apologise," she said adamantly, with the soothing quick shake of her head. Her damp hair curled around her neck, strands lying against her pretty lips that were much too soft and pink to be humanly possible. "I want to help." Nancy's index, middle and pinkie finger moved together to push some of her hair out of her own face. Tea focused on where her own fists were clenched in the fluffy duvet. "Sleep on the bed tonight—you shouldn't be sleeping on the hard floor with those injuries."

          Tea glanced up at her with eyes full of molten chocolate and earthy storms. "Oh, I don't want you on the floor," she protested, shaking her head a little.

          "No, it's a double bed, I'll be on there too. That way if any of your wounds get worse you can just shake me awake, 'kay?" Nancy said, making sure Tea would take Nancy's advice. After a few seconds, Dorotea nodded in agreement, still tangling her fingers in the blankets. "Wait there, I'll grab you some pyjamas." Nance rose and moved to her cupboard, pulling out some clothes. She dropped them in front of Tea, smiling. "I'll get changed in the bathroom, you get changed there. Don't injure yourself more, please," she added in a slightly lighter tone, a kind of concerned smile gracing her lips alongside the gentle dip of her brows. Tea nodded, holding up the pale pink silk pyjamas. They seemed much too good for her, but by the time Tea thought to protest, the bathroom door was already closed. Tea gave in and sat back in Nancy's bed in the clean pyjamas.

         When the other brunette came back into the room, it was pretty clear they were both exhausted from the events of the day. There was little talking before Nancy turned off all the nights except the lamp beside her bed—she hadn't even asked Tea if the girl needed that, so Tea wondered why Nancy slept with that light on—and the two settled down to fall asleep.

          Tea did not sleep. Didn't dare, in case she saw that monster in her dreams. But she was much more afraid of glancing around the room and seeing it lingering in the shadows in the corner of the room, beneath Nancy's desk or pressed against the ceiling with its horrific eyes. So, she'd turned on her stomach with her face pressed into the pillow Nancy had lent her, not even glancing at the lithe girl fast asleep beside her in pure fear that she might see the monster looming over her soft shoulder.

          She simply lay awake wondering and wondering and experiencing the horror of her day all over again. Her feet stung with every shift of her body, and the wounds on her knees and hands burned. Each time she found herself drifting, Tea tried to wake herself up again, reminding herself that the monster would be there when she nodded off to asleep. Eventually, however, her body gave into her needs and fell into a slumber that was not as graced by monsters as Tea had thought it might be.

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wasn't expecting to write a full chapter here so surprise.

i head back to school tomorrow so updates might slow for a little bit ! ily all tho and i love tea sm

word count: 2,698

23.07.2019.