Tiger, Tiger

Tiger, Tiger: Chapter 26

Well hello there my lovelies :)

I have worked rather hard on making up for the shortness of last week's chapter, with, in my opinion, a massive one :D I really hope that you enjoy it! Let me know! xxx

(P.S. Awkwardly just voted for my own chapter by accident and have no idea how to undo it...)

................................................................................................

Moving back beside the bed, I stooped to press a parting kiss against Mum’s forehead, her skin cold against my lips. This time she didn’t even rouse like she had at Julie’s touch, but I had to force my body to accept that she was just deeply tired and not in any more of a serious condition. The tugging in my heart had to be stopped as I stepped away and towards the door on the far side of the room, where Julie and Francis waited patiently.

“Keep safe, sweetheart,” Julie smiled. I knew that it was just an everyday remark, yet somehow it resonated as a warning within me like it never had before. Was I safe anymore? The certainty that had once been there seemed like a distant, childish hope. This world was more dangerous than I had ever imagined.

“I will,” I responded customarily, though I couldn’t promise it, “Will you come to visit? I’m sure that she’d appreciate that.”

She hesitated for a moment, as if old rules held her back, and then she nodded vehemently. Her smile seemed almost triumphant as she said, “Of course. I’d like that too. Maybe even tomorrow? I’ll pop by to see how you’re both doing.”

The knot in my stomach began to loosen, settling instead as comforting warmth at the knowledge that we had friends again – people here to care for us like we had done for each other at the labs. Mum didn’t have to feel like I was all she had left to hold on for. An exhale of relief slipped through my lips and I smiled genuinely. “I look forward to it.”

With that I slipped past them and into the corridor, eyes adjusting from the bright yellow room into the duller hallway. There was a small draft and it chilled me through to my bones unexpectedly. I tested my body at the thought and found my limbs weak and frail; no waiting strength in my muscles as there had once been, no longer the power ready to throw me into animal form. I was a weak, human little thing.

Meaning to take the first step on the stairs, my foot did not find its solid form but instead thin air. Tenseness coiled in my stomach and my weak muscles locked as I pitched straight forwards away from the landing and the railing, plummeting down face first. With a force that knocked all of the wind out of my lungs, I hit the stairs on my side and curled into a ball to crash the rest of the way down – head against the banister, ribs on the steps.

When I finally came to a stop, flashes of light circled inside my head as a dull ache began to pound behind my eye sockets. There was a definite sense of notrightness somewhere in my crumpled body. Footsteps hammered against the ground beneath my face as Rose flew around the corner and her parents gathered at the top of the stairs that I had just descended in a heap.

“Oh God!” Rose cried, crouching beside me. “Alexis, can you hear me? Are you ok?”

All I could do was moan in pain for a moment. No words would force themselves from my mouth, my jaw locked tight in a grimace, until something popped outwards in my chest, back into place, relieving a little of the pressure on my lungs. I was sure that I could taste blood somewhere on my tongue too, tangy and metallic. That fall should not have hurt so much, not like I was a jigsaw puzzle with all my pieces shoved into the wrong places.

“I’m fine,” I groaned between clenched teeth and rolled onto my back. The lights only spun faster so I returned to my side. “Just need a second for my head to stop spinning,” I whispered, pain choked.