The Darkness You Curse

★ Chapter 3.

Dorian

It's been two weeks since I felt the skin of that girl on my own and my physical reaction to that incident still has me baffled, still has me confirming her attendance first thing when entering Dr. Draven's lecture.
The moment her, in comparison, small body collided with mine played in my mind like a broken record, making me question numerous things - one of the things being my ability to talk.
According to Dr. Hollis, a therapist that Damien had managed to organize for me behind our father's and sister's back, I was a selective mute.
To this day I used a notebook to communicate with the doctor so how was it possible that three words had involuntarily tumbled out of my mouth in the presence of none other than the girl no one looked twice at out of fear?
Granted, I was aware that each letter hadn't been more than a mere whisper but from the look in her green orbs when she looked up at me I knew that she had heard me.

Nessa Thorvald's name was spoken by many since her mother busied every police officer and reporter in the state only a year back for crimes that rendered everyone speechless.
It's like the girl had not existed before, as if they had forgotten that she is still the person they went to school with their whole lives.

According to people she should have been locked away the same day as the person they now call the 'Baneyard Angel Killer' instead of Ariane Thorvald.
Under their breaths you hear them state that Nessa made goosebumps erupt on their arms, how they always felt that something was off about her and how her eyes looked as lifeless as those of the victims of the person she grew up with.
What they forgot is that Nessa was not the only person they grew up with whose parent was sentenced to prison for murder or maybe they used her friendship to that girl as confirmation in their fear clouded minds.

Logically I possessed the ability to see that Nyx Fletcher was in the same position as the girl she clung to in the halls but it was Nessa I felt for.
It couldn't be easy to be put into the same category as the people you grew up being connected to by blood, not to mention that she barely had any time to adjust to her circumstances as the changes of her life were more recent.

And looking at her right now as she hurries to secure her laptop in her bag, seemingly in need to get out of the spacious room as quick as humanly possible, had something pull at the organ beating inside my chest.
She seemed not to get enough air despite multiple windows standing wide open and it had me frowning in worry.

I knew she had noticed my eyes on her on more than one occasion, just like I had felt her watching me but while I normally never let my gaze remain on her more than a few seconds at a time I couldn't seem to look away now.
The oversized dark t-shirt she wore did little to conceal the rapid rising and falling of her chest. Sweat coded her forehead, slightly matting her roots.
Nyx almost instinctively put a hand on her friends back in a soothing gesture which only caused Nessa to visibly flinch.

My heart stopped briefly at the display, her reaction seeming way too familiar. As if my body remembered the reasons for my own dislike to physical touch, phantom numbness started to hug my limbs.

With almost robotic movements and fixated gaze on the other side of the row I reached out to grab my own stuff. I suddenly shared Nessa's urge to run out of here.
It proved to be of disadvantage being the only person not using a laptop at university when a handful of pens escaped the, apparently open, pencil case and hit the floor loud enough for multiple sets of eyes to fly my way.

Heat immediately found its way into my face and stole my ability to function properly. Helpless I bend down to reach for the objects only to have my forehead hit the  table corner with such a force that I feared it would disfigure my face for the next few days.
Can the ground just swallow me whole?

Ignoring the throbbing of my head I just continued my task but when my arm stretched to pick up the last pen, I saw it already lying in the palm of a pale hand.