For a long moment, the two teens just stared at one another, frozen to the spot, unsure of what they were supposed to do. She certainly had the urge to run away from the scene, ignoring the fact that she had been practically ordered to go to the office and just, lock herself up in her bedroom for another couple of days.
It was only her sheer stubbornness that kept her feet nailed to the floor.
It took a while, But Terry finally scratched behind his ear, groaning a little before taking a deep breath and opened his mouth.
"You here for a therapy session?" he asked, sounding very awkward.
This wasn't the best opening sentence, and he knew it.
Cecilia had to swallow before she could bring her voice out, though she couldn't do that whilst she was still looking at him.
"And who's fault is it that I'm here?" she asked bitterly, wrapping her arms around her waist, covering up the area where he had managed to shoot her.
Terry seemed to understand this action.
"Fair enough…" he sighed, putting his hands into his pockets as he kicked at the floor.
The silence between the two of them was deafening.
"Look… Brandet." Terry finally spoke up, voice shaking slightly. "I'm sorry."
Cecilia froze at his words, her breath catching as her eyes widened.
"What?" she whispered, her whole body stiff with the nerves that were building up inside of her. Had she not been so distracted by Terry's mere presence, she probably would have noticed the tingling sensation that was slowly moving up her arms, starting from the tips of her fingers.
"It was only meant to scare you." Terry tried to explain, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. "I never intended to actually injure you like that."
Cecilia rolled her eyes at his words.
"Oh, and that has kept you from pushing me down the stairs?"
Terry groaned at her tone, scratching himself behind the ear in an action resembling a dog.
"I've seen you be pushed down stairs before, you're always fine." He argued, holding his hands out in front of him, gesturing over her entire tiny body.
"Big shock!" Cecilia almost screamed, throwing her hands out at her sides. "I wasn't the first time it happened!"
Cecilia would have thought back to said day, reminisce about the pain she'd felt when she'd tumbled down each step before blacking out at the bottom, but truth be told, she had no memory of said tumble down the stairs or even at what time exactly she'd blacked out during the fall, because the blow she'd taken to her head during that time, had made her forget all about it, that and more.
For a moment, Terry just stared at her.
"You're… surprisingly sarcastic." He commented, voice dripping with disbelief.
“No way...” Cecilia exclaimed, her voice more than laced with sarcasm. “With my history, I would have thought I was a romantic.” she would probably have glared at Terry had she not believed she would have collapsed into a pile of broken nerves should she try to.
Terry stared at her for a moment, eyes wide at the surprising character trait that he would have never expected the girl in front of him to possess. She'd always been so quiet, refusing to talk to anyone who decided to address her. Now that he thoughts about it… she'd probably become used to people not really having anything important to say to her, and thus… she just stopped talking altogether.
The guilt welled up in him as he thought about everything she's probably been through.
"Seriously though…" he muttered softly, staring at the side of her face. "I really am sorry."
It took a few deep breaths, a hand resting on top of her chest to calm down her speeding heart before Cecilia managed to find her voice again, and even then, it was hesitant, shaky.
"I accept your apology." She said slowly, hands clutching at her upper arms. "But I don't forgive you."
Terry nodded, having understood that this would most likely be the case.
"Alright…" he said, stepping up towards the door. "Well, I don't suppose I'll see you again?"
"For the sake of my nerves, I hope not," Cecilia replied barely louder than a whisper, refusing to look at the man.
To his credit, Terry actually chuckled at her words, shaking his head as he walked past her in the doorway, taking a moment to look her right in the eye, allowing her to see the full extent of his emotions.
"Take care."
And with that, Terry disappeared out the building, leaving Cecilia staring after him before she took a deep breath, shaking her head as she fully stepped into the building, closing the door behind her.
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Cecilia had been sitting in the waiting room for a good twenty minutes, sketchbook open in her lap as she doodled away. Once again, forming the strange sigils, or were they glyphs? She didn’t know what they were but her hand apparently felt like she should draw them.
They were pretty though, there was that.
“Miss Brandet?” a voice calling from the psychiatrist’s door made Cecilia look up from the page, meeting the gaze of a man that looked to be in his forties, gray hairs already starting to show in his sandy hair.
Dr. Charles McCallen had been recommended, he was apparently the best therapist in Fairgarden.
“Yes,” Cecilia responded, snapping her sketchbook shut as she got up from the chair, picking her bag up from the floor as she followed the middle-aged man’s outstretched into the office.
They spoke precious little as Cecilia settled down on one of the chairs in the room, stuffing her sketchbook back into her bag before she turned her attention back towards the man, watching as he flicked his touch-pen over the screen on his tablet.
Finally, he put the folded up the device and put it down.
“From my report, you are recovering from an accidental gunshot?” he asked, leaning back in how own chair, his legs crossed with his hands resting on his knee, grey eyes finding Cecilia’s own.
Immediately, she knew that she was being studied.
She did not like being studied.
“Yes,” she answered with a sigh, brushing her hair behind her ear. “The guy who did it actually stepped out when I arrived.” she actually hadn’t wanted to say that, but she knew that it was a question that would be asked at one point or another during the session, she didn’t want to needlessly drag that out.
The doctor’s eyes widened at the revelation.
“And how are you feeling?” he asked, leaning forward a little, still studying her every move.
Sighing, Cecilia started picking at the fabric of the chair, at the raised embroidery, refusing to look at the man.
“I could have been better,” she answered slowly. “My nerves are on edge.”
“I can tell.” the man commented, eyes lingering on her restless, fiddling fingers. “But how would you have described your nerves before you encountered him?”
Surprisingly, her fingers stopped.
She allowed herself a few, deep breaths, taking a moment with her eyes closed before she let herself smile. When she opened her eyes again, she couldn’t help but to almost relish in the confused look on the doctors face.
So she had something of a sadistic streak, so what?
That’s a decade of being treated like shit and bottling up the resentment for you.
“Better than they have in years,” she answered honestly.
“Really?” the doctor asked, both confused and intrigued by the looks of it.
“Yes,” she confirmed with a nod.
The doctor was silent for a long moment, obviously keeping himself from openly staring at the girl in front of him. Now, it was her turn to study him, taking in his surprise, studying the wrinkles on his expensive suit jacket, his pathetic attempt to hide a coffee stain on his silk tie...
She had to hide a smirk at her last find.
The doctor shook his head to rid himself of the shock.
“You were shot in the stomach, and you’re better off than you’ve been in years?” something must have snapped inside his head for him to be so slow on the uptake right now, and Cecilia couldn’t help but relish in it.
“Yes,” she said, holding herself back from dragging out the word like you would when talking to a child. Going so far as to copy the doctors sitting position. “Because the accident helped partially restore a problem with my brain that I’ve had since childhood.”
Dr. McCallum blinked.
“So, you’re saying…” he had to pause to gather his words. “You’re thankful for almost being killed?”
“Yes.” Came Cecilia’s immediate response.
Once again, the doctor openly stared at her, blinking slowly as if he was trying to decide if either she or her words were the real thing or not. Each blink drawing out on the seconds ticking away, drawing out on the time that had been assigned to Cecilia.
She had no problem leaving him like that.
Her head was a much more interesting place that this office ever would be.
Sadly, he managed to snap himself out of his thoughts once again.
“I don’t think I’ve ever heard such a thing before.” he finally breathed out, pulling his tablet back up to document his rather… peculiar find.
Cecilia once again had to fight a smirk from spreading across her face.
“There’s got to be a first for everything.”
----------------------------------------
The session spanned out for a good twenty minutes, talking about what she’d been doing since she got out of the hospital. How her classmates had reacted to her returning to the school and basically how she’d been going on.
Apparently, hearing that she was thriving without a therapist to help her after having been shot in the stomach was quite bewildering for the poor man.
To be honest, a sick part of Cecilia was having quite a good time.
“Alright.” the doctor finally called out, clapping his hands as the watch on his wrist beeped, signifying the end of their session. “You know what.” he started tapping on the tablet. “I want you to come back here again after summer.”
Cecilia bit her lip to sight the smile.
She probably should have been called back after a week, this doctor just didn’t want to deal with the craziness that was Cecilia Brandet’s mind sooner than absolutely necessary.
“Okay,” she said, getting up off of the chair, threading her arm through the straps of the bag, watching as the doctor too peeled himself from his own seat.
He guided her to the door, opening it and kindly motioned for her to leave, although she got the feeling that he was a little desperate for her to get out of the building. Her absence would give him a bit of normalcy after twenty minutes of confusion and bewilderment.
“I’ll send you a notification once I’ve set up a date for you,” he said.
Cecilia nodded at his words.
“I’ll be waiting,” she replied, stepping through the door into the waiting room.
“Stay strong.” the poor doctor said, smiling at her as he gave her a short wave, though the smile was somehow strained.
Cecilia threw an awkward smile back at the man, nodding shortly before she turned around and walked out of the building, hoping that she wouldn’t have to return there the next time she went there after summer.
----------------------------------------
Walking home, Cecilia felt as though a huge weight had been lifted off of her shoulders.
She’d been dreading this meeting since she’d first gotten the time, knowing that she was well and not wanting someone to pick and poke at her mental state, she did that on her own already what with her handicap and all.
But she didn’t have to worry about it anymore.
Well… not for a long time at the very least.
Finally, she reached her house, stepping in through the unlocked front door and taking off her shoes just like any other day.
“So.” Cecilia jerked at the sound of Salafay’s voice, almost making her fall over as she shot back to her feet, staring at the man where he stood at the bottom of the staircase, leaning against the pole holding the railing in place as he casually looked at her. “How’d it go?”
Cecilia frowned at his words.
“Why do you care?” she asked, picking her bag up from the ground and moving towards the stairs, stepping around him with great grace.
Salafay chuckled at her attitude.
“Can I not care about the psychological well-being of one of my landladies?” he asked, looking after her as she disappeared up the stairs.
“I’m not talking to you!” she called out, almost running the remaining way to her bedroom. Slamming the door behind her.
She did not feel like dealing with that man.
Not now.
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May 13
Wednesday 2215
A test.
Her class was having a test for the first time since Cecilia returned from the hospital. The class was sitting in their seats with their screen pens in hand, some even twisting them as their nerves got the better of them, and for the first time in what seemed like forever, Cecilia found that she was not a part of these people.
She felt surprisingly calm, even though she was well aware that her brain should have already started to crumble.
It was a strange thing, being reminded that she didn't have to worry about what had previously caused plenty of problems for her.
She could feel eyes on her.
Her classmates expecting her to suddenly revert back to the patterns they have come to associate with her.
A finger tapped her on the shoulder, making her turn around.
There sat Ben, giving her one of his big smiles and holding up a thumb in that universal, good luck gesture.
Cecilia couldn't help the smile that spread over her mouth before turning back around.
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May 15
Friday 2215
Apparently, the changes to the character everyone seemed to have believed was Cecilia Brandet was pushing her classmates to what they probably thought of as the brink of insanity.
She's been so different, which had made everyone watch her more, and because they watched her more, they couldn't help but notice that she noticed things all around her. Sometimes she didn't even need to see someone. It was like absolutely nothing surprised her even though many of her classmates have attempted to do so the past couple of days, trying to see if she would fall over like she would have done before she was shot.
It was like she had eyes at the back of her neck!
And so, that day, one of the members of the athletic division who was currently using an observation exercise on his mirror screen to help him with volleyball decided to see just how good at observation she really was.
During lunch, he ignored his friends and settled down in front of Cecilia, causing the down to frown at him in confusion.
The boy ignored the look and shoves his mirror screen in front of her face.
"Solve this." He ordered, making Cecilia frown even more.
Finally, the girl sighed, taking the screen from his hands and turned her attention towards the test displayed on it.
The whole class was well aware what that boy had been doing on his screen for several days straight, he'd almost been slaving over it trying to improve his observational skills, and so, they turned towards Cecilia's desk when they realized just what the boy is forcing her to do.
For several minutes, they just watched as Cecilia's fingers flew over the screen, light ringing sounds resonating from the device to indicate a breaking of the personal high-score before finally, Cecilia removed her fingers and handed the device back to her classmate.
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
He stared at the screen, wide-eyed, for several seconds.
"She beat my high-score…" he finally muttered. "With 10 000 points."
The class suddenly found themselves locked in place, eyes wide open as they stared at their seemingly useless classmate, watching her as she flexed her apparently tired fingers.
Ben approached her from behind, putting his hand on her shoulder.
She only turned her face slightly in his direction.
"Wow." The athlete voiced, smiling at the girl. "Brandet."
Cecilia rolled her eyes before she focused on the ceiling.
"Are you really surprised?" she asked, knocking his hand off of her shoulder before she turned her torso around to face him more head-on than she did before. "I'm artist Tanaka."
Her class formed at her words shocked that she would claim to be good at anything, until they heard Ben give off an amused snort, putting his hand on her head to ruffle her hair.
"True."
He was confirming it?
Why was Ben confirming that Messy was good at something?
The only one seemingly brave enough to ask the question on everyone's minds was Donovan Picket.
"Artist?"
Turning towards the other boy, Ben only smiled even more. If that was even possible.
"Yeah!" he exclaimed, moving towards his own desk, digging through his bag before he pulled out a carefully folded piece of paper that looked as though it had been carefully preserved. Ben turned back towards the class, carefully unfolding the paper. "Check this out." He turned the paper around, holding it out towards their classmates. "She gave it to me for my birthday."
Immediately, the class broke into absolute chaos, freaking out over the hand-drawn sketch Ben was holding out, not to mention just how well made it was.
Cecilia rolled her eyes, leaning her head on her knuckles.
Was it really that hard to believe she was good at something?
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May 20
Wednesday 2215
It was the day.
The day when they were to have their tests returned to them, and kind of, sort of, the day the class were finally going to get the final proof that Cecilia Brandet really hadn't changed and she was still the same useless self that she's always been. They could still silently make fun of her, even though Ben has expressed his desire for them all to treat Cecilia just like every other student.
Finally, the scores appeared on each of the student's desks, and everyone collectively threw a glance at Cecilia.
Said girl was staring at her desk-screen, eyes wide in shock.
46 %.
She'd passed the test.
It's not exactly a passing grade, but she didn't have to retake the test, and that was a big enough change that it left the whole class in a state of silent stupor.
The only one not really surprised was Ben.
Eyes narrowed, the athlete made up his mind.
Bending forward, the athlete tapped the artist on the shoulder.
"Hey, Brandet." He spoke up, making the girl turn around towards him. "You still on those pills."
This made Cecilia frown, as well as several other members of their class as his question registered into their brains.
"Of course I am," Cecilia confirmed, thinking back to the two bottles that were currently chilling in her bag, waiting for lunch when she'd pull them out like she'd done every day since she first got them.
She still got the strangest feeling from them, but that didn't mean she wouldn't take them.
Frowning, Kondou Yuki rose slightly from her desk.
"What pills?" she asked, voice drenched in suspicion.
Cecilia rolled her eyes.
Did they think she was taking drugs now to make her scores better?
Apparently, Ben caught onto this as well, as he stood up from his own chair, facing their class president with the fakest smile Cecilia had ever seen on his face.
"The pills the doctors gave her to help her brain." He explained, sounding as though it was the most obvious thing possible.
Which, Cecilia actually suspected that it was, seeing as she had just gotten out of the hospital. She actually would have been more surprised if she hadn't been prescribed some sort of medications.
That just showed how mean her classmates could be.
"Her… what?" Donovan asked, throwing a worried look to Cecilia.
Sighing, Cecilia reached out a hand to grab Ben's wrist, but he shook her off.
"Tanaka…" Cecilia tried, but it didn't look as though Ben had any intention of stopping.
"Apparently, a part of her brain refused to develop when she was younger which gave her a function handicap." His smile slowly slipped away from his face with every word that escaped his mouth. "You know, not being able to think straight or tripping whenever she's focusing." He ended the sentence with a hard look directed at everyone that had actively made it their business to bring Cecilia down.
"Oh yes."
"You've all been bullying a handicapped person."
----------------------------------------
For the class to find out that the so-called “favoritism” the teachers had shown her was because of a function handicap that no one had thought to find out about…
They didn’t feel at all proud of it.
They had felt (in their own twisted imaginations) as thought their treatment of the tiny girl was warranted, with the way she treated them and with the way she passed the classes without (seemingly) doing anything.
Now… they felt like shit.
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May 21
Thursday 2215
She should have seen this coming.
She had noticed the looks thrown at her through the corridors as she walked between the classes. She could feel the heat of the gazes, the anger surrounding her as she moved through the school, but she'd never actually seen the people giving her those looks and with the patrols living the corridors, she hadn't paid the looks any more attention than for whenever she felt them.
She prided herself on her observational skills, for nature's sake!
How could she have let her guard down!?
She had been walking home from school that day, stopping for a few seconds in front of a vending machine and ruffling through her bag to see if she had any loose change anywhere in there. The afternoon such was glaring down at her, heating up the air around her even though it was only late May.
She had been having this strange feeling of dread ever since she had stepped out of the school gates, out of sight from the watchful eyes of patrolling prefects, but she hadn't paid any attention to it, too eager to get home, too hot to care.
Stars she wished she had done that now.
As her attention had been focused on the insides of her bad, and her ears had been filled with the sounds of her own things being shoved around inside of it, she never noticed the shadows or the multiple sounds of footsteps approaching her from where she'd just come from.
That is, not until one arm had wrapped itself around her upper arms, and a hand slammed down over her mouth.
As her arms were suddenly pinned down at her sides, her bag fell out of her hands, making her belongings scatter over the pavement, the glossy cover of her favorite sketch-book blaring up at the sky in the light of the sun.
She tried, she really tried to get out of the arms but the more she moved, the more the person tightened his grip around her, clenching his fingers around her mouth the more noise she tried to make.
It hurt.
It hurt so much.
Not just from the grip on her mouth but also because of the strain she felt on the stitches, the stitches that were just days away from being removed. She felt the bio-material loosen slightly from her skin.
"Well, well, well."
That voice, she knew that voice.
"What do we have here?"
Aaron Masters, her seventeen-year-old upperclassman stepped into her line of sight, his hands in his pockets and a look in his eyes like a predator, satisfaction, and something akin to hatred buried underneath it all, though why that look was warranted, Cecilia had no idea.
The fencing captain lets his eyes wander over Cecilia's body, sizing her up, leaving unpleasant shivers running over every inch of her skin in their wake.
His mouth broke into a smirk.
"If it isn't the school looser." He chuckled, stepping closer to her.
Two pairs of laughter followed that comment.
Really? It… it wasn't even that funny.
Aaron leaned in close to her, close enough that she could feel his breath brushing over her nose.
Suddenly, she had to fight her lunch from crawling back up her throat.
When was the last time he brushed his teeth?
"You're surprisingly hard to catch Messy," Aaron said, reaching out a hand to poke Cecilia under the skin, his dark eyes looking even more frightening up close.
Desperately, Cecilia tried to pry herself away from the men, she tried kicking, clawing, even biting, but seeing as her feet were now dangling in mid-air, she guessed that that would be impossible.
Seriously, just how strong is this guy?
"Oh, don't try to run," Aaron said slowly, almost purring. "After all, you brought this on yourself."
Cecilia froze, staring up at Aaron with wide eyes displaying her confusion.
Seeming to see said confusion, Aaron smirked, even more, running his finger down the skin of her neck, stopping at the collar of her blouse where he twisted his fingers into the fabric.
"Your stepping over your boundaries Messy." He growled, getting even closer to her face. The only time Cecilia would ever be thankful that someone is covering her mouth with his hand. "Someone like you, hanging out with someone like Ben Tanaka." Cecilia could feel the tightness of her collar around her neck, beginning to cut off her hair supply the more Aaron clutched at it. "It just won't do."
Suddenly, Aaron let go of Cecilia's blouse, stepping back to jerk his head down towards an alley.
An alley that Cecilia knew was very deep dead-end usually filled with discarded cardboard boxes and housed a rather large trash bin.
Aaron walked first, allowing his "lackeys" to follow him.
They did, leaving Cecilia's things scattered over the asphalt.
It was then that Cecilia noticed the third member of the party, a tall lanky boy that she had seen every once in a while during archery practice on her way home from school.
Cecilia could feel the tears burning behind her eyes as Aaron stopped, gesturing with his hand.
The next thing Cecilia knew, she'd been violently thrown straight into the concrete wall, her fall broken somewhat by the pile of concrete boxes lining it.
Gasping in pain, worried that her stomach wound would re-open again, Cecilia turned to face the three men, revealing that the one to have held her was a tall man with a strong muscle build, obviously from the wrestling club.
What is the deal with the Athletic division and wanting to inflict physical damage to her?! If it hadn't been for Ben she might have been traumatized to the point of refraining to be anywhere near any member of that division ever again.
Aaron marched right up to her, grabbing a large chunk of her hair and yanking her up to face him, making her bite down on her lip to keep the cry of pain in.
Crouching down in front of her, Aaron clicked his tongue.
"I don't know how you managed to work yourself into his circle, but it will end right now." He promised, tightening his hand on her head in a way that made her bend her head back, exposing her neck to him. "Someone needs to teach you a lesson on where you stand in the school food chain." He nodded along with his words, and a glance behind him showed Cecilia that his two friends were doing the same thing.
The school food chain?
What is this? A soap opera from the late 20th century?
"Afterwards, maybe you can give me some of what you have given Tanaka, huh?" Cecilia's eyes widened.
They… they believed that she was exchanging physical favors for Ben to talk to her? How stupid are they or do they simply not keep up with the school rumor mill? Or maybe they did and just got a hold of the wrong rumor.
Suddenly, Cecilia found her face slammed straight into the concrete wall.
The pain was absolutely excruciating, but she kept her lower lip firmly locked in between her two rows of teeth. Maybe a little too hard, she could feel a trail of something wet slipping down to her chin as she fell back against the cardboard, fingers clenched into tight fists, trying to keep her tears from falling.
She wasn't going to give them the pleasure of seeing her cry.
At least… not after this little.
The tingles were back, the tingles that had become so very frequent over the past few days. Ringing through the tips of her fingers, moving to the rest of her hands quicker than they have ever done before.
The tingling evolved into a major itching sensation when a kick landed at the side of her abdomen, and she felt the bio-material completely fall away from her skin.
Now, she was in danger.
Good thing she was too occupied panicking to properly register the itching in her hands.
She needed to get away from these men, but how was she going to do that?
She didn't know how to fight, she was already at a disadvantage with her height, and then there is the added danger of the still healing hole in her stomach that she really, really didn't want to re-open. She doubted these men would think to call for an ambulance should they realize that her stomach was bleeding rapidly. In fact, they would probably dump her in the bin and leave her there to die.
Was it just her, or was the temperature rising even more than it was before?
A pair of hands clenched around her ankles, pulling her away from the cardboard so that she was lying with her back on the asphalt, several scrapes forming over her skin as she stared up at the three men looking down at her.
All three of them were smirking.
"Truly, this is all your fault Messy," Aaron said, lifting his leg, preparing to bring it down on her stomach.
Thinking quickly, Cecilia curled herself in a way that her forearm took the kick instead of her abdomen. Surely, she'd be able to survive getting her arm broken, anything to keep her stomach wound from re-opening.
This reaction didn't seem to sit well with Aaron.
Bending down, he grabbed her by the hair again.
"You don't get to decide the target." He growled, slamming her head down on the ground.
For a moment, everything became blurry, the lights too bright, and the hits that beat down on her didn't register as much, but that didn't mean that her body wasn't instinctively protecting the most vulnerable part of her.
Sweat was starting to drip down Cecilia's brow more like a tap that had been turned on that the small individual bead that it had been before.
Seriously, was she the only one feeling the head? It was like sitting too close to a fire, or the highest of fevers one could ever imagine having when down with the flu.
Her brain seemed to return to normal, just as Aaron slammed down her shoulder, sitting down on top of her to straddle her stomach.
Something glimmered from the corner of her vision, and her blood froze.
A knife. Aaron was holding a knife in his hand, slowly moving it up towards her face. The other two men moved to pin down her arms and legs, leaving no room for her to turn as Aaron pressed the tip of the knife to her jaw.
Alright! Cecilia felt as though she was on fire, how was none of them feeling the heat?!
"You know…" Aaron muttered, brushing some of Cecilia's hair out of her eyes. "You may actually be too pretty." He mused. "I'll just have to make your face fit your social status, should I?"
Before Cecilia knew what happened, Aaron had slashed the knife down the front of her jaw. It had come so suddenly that Cecilia hadn't had time to brace herself for the pain, which resulted in her letting out a loud, ear ringing scream of terror and pain. It ha just wrenched itself out of her throat.
This pleased Aaron.
"That's more like it." He chuckled, leaning down over her. "Scream all you like, no one is going to hear you."
He raises the knife again, this time moving it closer towards her eyes, the glint in his eyes absolutely evil.
"No…" Cecilia wined through the stinging of her jaw, trying to wiggle herself out of their hold, but only found them tightening their grips to a bruising one.
As if she wouldn't already have enough of those.
Aaron's knife moved even closer to her skin.
"No." Cecilia wined a little louder, eyes widening and fear swelling up inside her at the sight of the knife's tip slowly lowering towards her light-brown orbs.
Aaron only chuckled, even more, Hand finding her bleeding jaw to keep her face still as he aimed his knife, lowering it even more, seeming to aim directly at her left pupil.
The heat was absolutely stifling now, she could barely breathe, like she was sitting inside of an over.
The knife was as good as touching Cecilia's eye when everything burst.
"NO!"
The first thing that had told her that something had happened was the sudden outburst of pain from the man holding down her wrists only for said grip on her wrists to drop, then, the knife was away from her line of sight, Aaron scrambling away from her, eyes wide in terror as he stared at her and soon, the third guy joined him
The fear was clear as Cecilia stared at them, and soon, they were sprinting away from the scene as though their lives depended on it.
Confused and in pain, Cecilia moved her arms to push herself up, and it was then that she saw them.
Flames.
Bright orange flames lit up her hands, licking her wrists. So bright in fact that it most likely had been impossible for the three men to have not noticed them, especially since their position had most likely burned the man holding down her arms, which explained the cry of pain.
Cecilia stared at the flames in silent terror, watching as they grew bigger and bigger.
Slowly, the flames started spreading over the rest of her hands, climbing down her wrists, only growing more and more bright as they went, more fierce. And yet, she still couldn't feel any heat from them.
Had she become so scared that her brain has blocked away the sensation of her combusting into flames?
Wait… that, that's not possible.
This was even more frightening than anything she'd ever been through.
In a panic, Cecilia tried to stand up, only to fall over and catch herself on a wooden crate that was loitering in the alley.
The fire started instantly.
It started with just the one crate burning, but it soon spread over to the cardboard boxes and whatever it was within the bin, surrounding her in the bright orange fire, locking her in the alley.
Everything, was ablaze.
The fear took over, she started screaming at the top of her lungs, frantically spinning around in the chaos, mind not working enough for her to try and figure out a way to save herself.
The fires were almost covering her whole arms now.
Trying to get away from the flames, Cecilia found herself on the ground again, her back pressed up as tightly as she could against the concrete wall, staring at the fires raging around her.
Her screams had long since turned hoarse.
It was her fault, she'd started the fires, fires originating from her own skin.
She could feel the fires eating away at her clothes.
So this was where she was going to die huh?
She'd survived getting shot in the stomach, only to die from spontaneous combustion.
Tears started streaming down her face, mixing with the blood still pooling out of the slash on her jaw, only to evaporate in the heat that radiated all around her.
She was never going to see her mother again.
Or her father.
Or Ben.
A small chuckle escaped Cecilia even as the tears still streamed.
She would even be happy to see that teacher again at this moment.
Just then, she spotted something through the flames.
A shadow.
A man.
A tall, lean man dressed in a familiar looking expensive black suit, sporting a matching black fedora at the top of his head. She couldn't see his face but she didn't need to.
It was Luke Salafay.
For a long moment, Cecilia could do little more than stare at the teacher in open shock, momentarily forgetting the bright flames still licking her skin, devouring her clothes.
Slowly, the man stepped through the flames, weaving through the roaring fires as though they were merely the no-name people you pass on the sidewalk on your way to somewhere important, and for some reason, it didn't look as though the heat or the fact that they were surrounded by a blazing inferno was bothering him. As a matter of fact, the flames didn't even latch themselves onto the fabric of his expensive-looking clothing.
The teacher didn't pause for even a second as he marched straight up to where she was still curled up against the concrete wall, burning arms held out in front of her as she stared at the approaching figure, his dark eyes not revealing any form of emotion that could have told Cecilia exactly what he was thinking.
He was completely stoic. No emotions to read. The fluid movements of his body being the only indicator that he wasn't actually an android.
The closer the teacher got, the more Cecilia found herself unconsciously press herself even further up against the concrete wall behind her. It wasn't until she could feel the pain of her skin being scraped as she moved that she realized what she was doing, but she didn't stop.
There was something about that emotionless look that sent alarm bells screaming in her head.
Funny how they decided to turn on when the man that has been living under her family roof arrived and not when her hands suddenly lit themselves on fire.
"Remoyama-sensei…?" she found herself muttering as the man came closer.
Slowly, the teacher crouched down in front of her, his emotionless eyes locking with her own, fiercely holding them in place as he opened her mouth.
"Calm down." He spoke, deep voice steady and the relaxed undertone washed over her.
Still… if he'd thought that would be all it took for her to calm down, then he had another thing coming with the way the alarms were still blaring inside of her head.
The teacher took a deep breath, allowing the slightest tinge of annoyance to seep onto his face.
"No." he firmly ordered, eyebrows furrowing as he leaned just a bit closer to her, obviously minding the flames that seemed to be ages away from ever dying. "Listen to me." He locked his eyes with hers again, allowing himself to show the urgency that he had obviously kept from her earlier. "You need to calm down."
Slowly, the alarms began to quiet down at the emotion drawing forth onto the teachers face.
Apparently, someone being able to block any and all emotion from being shown on their face was something that Cecilia's instincts did not take kindly to and so they reacted rather violently at the sight of something that definitely shouldn't be humanly possible.
No matter how hard anyone tries, ones true emotions should be able to show in body language, the color of their faces, or even the glint in their eyes. But this teacher's eyes never revealed anything.
It was like trying to read the emotions of a corpse.
No wonder the alarms.
The fear still raged through her tiny body, the heat of the flames not allowing her to follow the man's instructions.
"I…" she breathed, voice shaking as she tried to gather the words. "I can't…"
"Cecilia." The teacher sternly told her, successfully stopping the babbling before it even started. "Right now, you're trying to put out a fire with gasoline." Despite everything that was going on, Cecilia found herself frowning at the strange metaphor the man had come up with, not to mention the unfathomable amount of understanding said metaphor brought forward. "Calm down!"
"I'm on fire!" Cecilia found herself screaming in a strange mix of annoyance and terror. "How can I calm down!?"
For a long moment, the teacher looked hesitant, looking away from her with his eyes closed before his expression set in a fierce determination. His hands shot out, grabbing hold of Cecilia's furiously burning wrists.
"NO!" She screamed furiously, desperately trying to yank her hands away from him, but his grip made it like she was trying to yank them out of concrete shackles. "What are you doing!?"
He kept his eyes locked with hers, his face not contorting into pain like she would have expected. It forced her to calm down enough to not scream, but her breaths still came out in hiccups.
Glancing down, a gasp tore its way through her throat.
His hands…
His hands weren't reacting to the flames.
His skin wasn't turning black, red, charring or any other thing that she suspected skin would react when coming in contact with direct fire. Despite anything, his skin remained flesh colored.
On closer inspection, she did notice a small twitch in his eye to indicate that he actually was affected by the heat.
"Calm down, or your flames are going to eventually eat away at my hands." The man almost hissed as she stared at him in open shock at what he was doing. "Everything is going to be fine if you just calm down." He yanked at her wrists to force her to pay attention to his face and not his hands. "Breathe with me."
Nodding slowly, Cecilia closed her eyes, allowing herself to listen to the teachers heavy breathing. Each deep intake of air filling up her lungs before letting her chest deflate in a slow exhale.
Slowly, she felt the pace of her heart level out.
Eventually, she didn't need to force her breath to come out evenly.
The heat began to seep away from her direct premise, leaving behind little more than an irritating and persistent tingling sensation that probably would have been much more annoying had she not been so relieved at the absence of the heat.
Finally, she was calm.
"That's it…" the teacher breathed, slowly letting go of her wrists. "Open your eyes."
It took some time, but Cecilia was finally capable of doing as he asked.
They were gone.