White Noise (The Inadequate Experiments 1)

2. Scar Tissue

Calliope

I awoke to the sound of crying. There was nothing subtle about the sound; these were raw, heart-wrenching tears that couldn't be stopped. For a moment I allowed myself to wonder if the tears were for me, then pushed the thought away. I could tell I was in a hospital bed, but the sadness radiating from the other person in the room was so profound that it seemed as if something even worse had happened. I struggled to open my eyes and push myself into a sitting position and groaned. Any pressure I put on my right arm sent flames dancing over my skin.

The crying stopped. "Calliope?"

Against my will, my eyes slid closed again. "Mum?" I asked, my voice like gravel.

Another sob escaped my mother's throat. "They weren't sure when you'd wake up!" She cried, throwing her arms around my shoulders before leaping backwards as I cried out in pain.

"I'm so sorry, Cal, I... I don't know where's safe to touch. I'm sorry." She blubbered.

I took a deep breath and forced my eyes open again. White. That was all I saw at first. White walls, white roof, white bed sheets.

White bandages covering the entirety of my right arm.

I squeezed my eyes shut. "Mum, what happened to me?"

She pulled back the sheets silently, revealing more bandages travelling down the right side of my body to just above my knee. "There... there was an explosion. At the Centenary Show at the theatre."

"An explosion?" I asked, incredulously.

"You and Libby were in the foyer when the blast went off. You got caught by the flames." She said the words slowly, carefully.

My eyes travelled back to the bandages, fearing what I would find beneath them.

"The doctors said its only tissue damage, and that you're lucky it missed your face and your hair. They said you probably wouldn't have made it."

My heart thudded in my chest. "Mum," I said slowly, "where's Libby?"

My mother choked back a sob, covering her face with her hands. "They... they never found a body." Her words were no louder than a breath.

"No."

"I'm sorry, Calliope, I know this all must be hard for you—"

"No." I repeated. My little sister couldn't be... I didn't even let myself think the words.

That was when the door clattered open, sending my older brother sprawling to the floor in a tangle of limbs. My mother and I turned, our eyes wide. Despite everything my mother had just told me, he managed to look sheepish with a smirk on his face as he dragged himself up from the ground. He brushed dust from the knees of his black jeans and looked over his shoulder, pointing to a chair outside that was obviously out of place.

"I, uh, heard voices, so I rushed over and well, I kind of tripped." He explained before scrambling back into the hallway and setting the chair straight again. He ran his fingers through his ash blond hair as the smirk dropped away. "I'm glad you're awake, Cal." He told me with a small smile.

"What happened to your Watch?" I asked; I had noticed the black bangle missing from his wrist when he was sprawled on the floor.

His hand absentmindedly moved to hide his right wrist where his Watch used to sit. "I broke it while I was helping look for survivors." He told me. He looked at our mother. "I suppose you told her the news?"