Part of Them

Part 40

I woke up to a numb feeling in my entire body. I was weak and struggled to even lift my finger. 

Opening my heavy eyelids, I was greeted with a blurry, dark and somewhat green room. 

Momentarily, I was confused, but as I blinked the sleep out of my eyes and lazily let my gaze wander over my surroundings, I remembered that this looked somewhat like the room they had assigned to me when I first arrived at the mansion. 

The familiar pastel green walls and the light wooden floor that was sure to creek once you dared to place your foot on it.

Slowly but surely, I regained my senses and the lame wheels in my brain started to turn: The curse mark on my back had been toyed with and apparently, I was no longer allowed to brush my own hair.

 But the thing I was most curious about was how I would react to Rayi and the brothers. Had my previous curse mark been making me like or hate them more? My guess would be that it had made me like them more, but I wasn't very sure anymore. But assuming I was right with my theory, I should despise their company a bit more now and I couldn't decide whether that was a good thing or not.

Inwardly shrugging my shoulders, I looked around a bit. There was no sign of any of the others.

I was alone.

And I didn't like it. 

It was as though something was missing and I felt like I needed at least one of them here with me to fill that small hole in my heart. But that hole hadn't been there before, had it? 

Huh? Does that mean that the old curse had worked the other way around before? Or had my theory been wrong? 

But that doesn't make any sense. I already disliked them before I was cursed by Linda and because the curse was supposed to basically reverse my feelings, it should've made me like them again, right? Then, shouldn't I despise them a whole lot more now that the curse has been lifted?

But then again, I didn't really know the full details to what extent the curse messed with my head and thoughts -  maybe it twisted my memories a bit too...

I just shrugged it off. And what if I actually liked being pampered by them? That's not so bad for me. It would surely help me feel a bit better about living with that for all eternity.

Not caring about my probably badly injured back, I sat up. Maybe I should go downstairs. The others were there, right? Maybe I could get Rosen to steal some cookies for me. Or I could get Grimm to start an argument between Alerus and Rei like he used to to entertain me back then. It was always fun watching them struggle to tiptoe their way around curse words to throw at each other because they didn't want to have a bad influence on me.

Grinning to myself at those happy memories, I made up my mind to get up. But just as I was about to swing my legs out of the comfortable bed with dark green sheets, the door creaked open. 

Alerus poked his head inside. When he noticed me sitting up, his face scrunched up to a horrified expression.

"Are you crazy?! Lay back down, Faer! Your whole back was still open two days ago! The stitches can only do so much," He exclaimed with a pale face.

Two days?! I've been asleep for two whole days? Just what did they inject me with that day? 

Still processing the thought in my fuzzy brain, I saw Alerus sigh at my lack of action. He ended up at the side of my bed and gently pushed me back down himself.

As Alerus peered down at my helpless pink/gray eyes, with his ocean dark blue ones, his expression softened and he put on a gentle smile, something that can rarely be seen on his always-serious face.

"Everything's going to get better now, I promise," He whispered softly as he started to gently go through my hair with his finger tips. "You're finally going to be happy," Mumbled the black haired male. "I'm sorry you had to go through all this, but I promise you: Everything will get better now. You'll finally be happy - just like you deserved to be from the beginning."

If I were a cat, I would be purring like an engine now. I didn't really understand what he meant with his words or why he even said them, but his pats were a goddamn blessing straight from heaven. He was so incredibly gentle...

I was leaning into his touch like a fool. 

When Alerus noticed this, he chuckled softly and took the opportunity and carefully pushed me onto my side.

"No blood seeping through... That's good," He mumbled, relieved.

I didn't even mind not wearing anything but the bandages around my back. There wasn't really a need to cover my scars, I thought.

His eyes turned into crescent moons when he noticed the small smile playing on my lips. 

I felt good with him around. Alerus was genuine. Well, at least to me.

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The curse is starting to take an effect on Faer...  Do you guys like the way the story is heading?