Part of Them

Part 23

Warning!
This chapter covers some serious topics and might disturb sensitive readers.

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"What the hell are you doing here?" I yelped in a high pitched voice, not prepared for this at all.

When I turned to face him, I noticed a horrified expression on Alerus' face.

"Oh my Lord, I'm so sorry! I-I didn't mean to!" He stammered, "How could this even happen?"

With trembling fingers, he motioned for me to come over to him with his hands.

"Come here, let me take a look," He said.

But when I didn't nod my head, but instead, shook it and claimed that I'd do it myself, he looked absolutely terrified.

"What?" He asked confusedly.

"No, you most definitely won't! What's gotten into you? Come here," He commanded.

"Watch me," I smirked, and with a swift, quick movement I pushed the shoulder back in place with my left hand.

Something in Alerus' had seemed to click as he watched this and suddenly he disappeared through the door in a flash. Tilting my head at his strange behavior, I shrugged with my healthy shoulder and relaxed my upper body so that my still hurting shoulder could rest a bit.

Maybe I shouldn't have popped it back in myself. After all, it does seem a little harsh to do it yourself. But in all honesty, I'd rather do it myself at this point.

Shuddering at the thought of exposing myself in a vulnerable state to Alerus, I exhaled a long sigh.

As I stared at the ceiling, ready to just give it all up, I heard thundering footsteps run up the stairs.

What the hell did Alerus do? Did he call the others to come too, or what?

Oh dear Lord, please don't.

Anxiously biting my lips, I thought about hiding in the bathroom, but that would only create more of a ruckus and it wouldn't really help my situation at all. A door was no obstacle for those people.

The thundering footsteps got louder and louder and on instinct, I jumped to my feet and dashed towards the window. I was in fight or flight mode and right now the window was my only flight option. But I knew very well that a fall from that height could kill me, so it couldn't really be called flight if it led straight to your doom.

Which life would be better though? An eternal life, of which I don't have any control or just death? After death nothing matters, right? So not even life would matter.

I didn't want to spend the rest of my life with my brothers and Rayi. They wouldn't allow me to do anything and would constantly keep an eye on me, which meant no privacy at all. Was a life like that really worth living? Hell no, not forever.

I hadn't really considered that I might have to spend all eternity with them yet. That thought had only occurred a second ago. They would probably never let me go and life with them would just be a freak show.

Suddenly, it seemed very logical to jump from the balcony head first. Just to make sure I really die, of course. Hopefully the ground right below it was pavement.

Seeing as the footsteps were now almost at my door, I didn't waste another second throwing the glass door to the balcony open and climbing onto the railing. Only now did I realize that I was barefoot.

The ground is cold.

I don't belong here nor anywhere else.

I don't have any place to go to.

Perhaps death is my home.

How ironic, a vampire with eternal life, aka no aging, finds that death is the place he feels most at home.

This is quite funny.

Chuckling to myself at my silly thoughts, I looked down and exhaled. The ground seemed so far away, yet so close. And just as I had hoped initially, the ground right below consisted of cobblestone.

Death was guaranteed this way.

Stretching my arms to go for a head dive, like you would do when jumping into the water, I felt as though I was ready for what was to come and closed my eyes.

But suddenly I heard a loud bang behind me. They had reached the door to my room.

Smiling a rare smile, I flung myself off the railing. But just as my feet left the cold texture, I felt a cold hand grab my ankle and a second later, there were 10 hands gripping onto it.

In that moment I released an ear piercing scream, though it wasn't out of sheer frustration, but out of pain.

I could only feel pain.

They were holding onto the very ankle that I had sprained a couple days ago.

The pain was unimaginable.

"Let go, let go!" I screamed.

Within the blink of an eye, I saw Alerus nod to the others and then, suddenly, I was being pulled up by my leg.

Grunting in pain as they pulled me into their arms, I shielded myself from them with my arms. I didn't want any of this. Trying to kill myself, running away from them or just living in general. Nothing felt right.

Can't I just stop breathing? That would be so much easier.

As they were all hugging me, I felt a pair of hands lift me up high into their arms. Then, all the other arms disappeared and I was carried back into my room.

Expecting to be dropped off at the bed, I was surprised as they took me back out of the room instead and walked through the long corridor into the direction of the stairs.

As the person carrying me pulled me closer to their chest, so that my face was stuffed in their fuzzy, black wool sweater, I continued whimpering silently in pain to myself. In response, I felt a cold hand pat my back. I was glad my ugly and pain filled grimace was being hidden, but even so, I never let a tear slip. I'm no child, I don't cry in front of people.

After walking up the creaking stairs, whoever was carrying me kicked the door to the small infirmary open and placed me on the bed. The smell of hand sanitizer lingered in the air.

Curling together in a ball, I refused to look up at any of them.

"You are going to lay still and you won't struggle," said a voice full of authority, leaving no room for discussion.