Gifted | Sleepy Bois Inc

Chapter Eleven

I fumbled around my pockets for the house key, finally fishing it out and inserting it into the lock. The door clicked open, allowing me inside.

It was sort of a rule that I didn't get blood all over the place if I decided to come home instead of going to Tryxel, so I did my best to staunch the blood dripping from my neck as I made my way towards the bathroom. Phil got angrier at the fact that his carpet was ruined more so than the fact that I got hurt.

The pain was starting to set in. Adrenaline had kept me from feeling the full force of the wound, but now that I was home, it was starting to die out. Each step made me wince. I tried my best not to move my head too much.

I got to the bathroom and stepped in, only to see Wilbur washing his face at the sink.

"What in the---" Wilbur yelped as he leapt away from the basin, spraying me with water. "Techno?"

"Who else would it be?" I asked sarcastically. "Uhm... can you please step away from the sink before my blood gets on the floor and Phil throws a fit at me?"

Wilbur obeyed wordlessly, stepping to the side to let me take his spot in front of the sink. I exhaled and reached my sore hands forward into the stream of water, watching as the blood on my hands ran down the drain.

"What happened this time?" Wilbur asked, regaining his composure. "You look like an angry dog attacked you."

"Nah, it was a skeleton," I said mildly.

I glanced up at the mirror to see the reflection of Wilbur's disbelieving look. I also saw how completely drenched I was. Well, at least a wet carpet was better than one stained in blood.

"A necromancer?" Wilbur guessed, stepping forward with a clean cloth to help me wash the wound.

I winced as he ran the fabric across the shredded skin. "Yeah. Not something you see every day, huh?"

"Don't count yourself as lucky," Wilbur grumbled. "I can't believe you got hurt so badly. Aren't you supposed to be good at this?"

"Oh, I'm sorry, it's not like I've ever fought a skeleton before," I scowled.

Wilbur rinsed the cloth and gave me a hard look. "You were distracted. There's no doubt about it. Techno, you're skilled enough to take on anything, even if you haven't fought it before. The only reason you could get hurt this badly is if you weren't paying enough attention to your surroundings."

He was right, but that didn't mean that I had to like it. You'd think that having a hyperactive brain would allow you to notice everything all at once, but I had been so focused on George that I had forgotten the bigger threat of the skeleton.

"Is Phil home yet?" I asked, hoping he'd say no.

"Yep," Wilbur said, much to my dismay. "Came home a couple hours ago. He should already be asleep, actually."

Now that he mentioned it, I could hear the distant sound of Phil's snoring, even from downstairs. The mention of sleep made me suddenly reason that Wilbur should've been asleep, too. "Wait, why aren't you in bed?"

He shrugged. "Couldn't sleep. Ate a cookie, went outside and sat on the ground for a while, looked at the stars. Been a busy night. I just came back into the house."

I watched as he reached into the cabinet and pulled out a roll of bandages, turning back to me and beginning to bandage my wound. Of course, I hated that I was taking up his time, but I knew how he liked taking care of me when I returned home all bruised and in pain. It was like his way of apologizing for all the times he hadn't been there for me. I appreciated the gesture, and so I let him do it.