Human Spines

Noticing Sickness-II

Dumaine

        "Emmeline...? Emmeline...? Hey! Emmeline?!" She's not responding. Her breathing is normal, but her eyes aren't even blinking. She hasn't moved since I finished playing for her. I think she's possessed. Or I'm so tired I'm hallucinating.

        I grab her wrist, checking her pulse. She's perfectly fin—where did this blood come from? Her fingers are coated and her shirt is speckled with sticky red blood. It's in her hair. Not cool.

        I'm inviting myself into Lochlan's room through the bathroom, where I've noticed there are no locks. I keep the lights off, and creep to the far bed. Black hair twists out from under the blankets and my first instinct is to rip it out of his head. I yank the covers off of him but my wrist has been seized. I jerk my arm away but am caught around the waist and spun around. Hans. He's begun to waltz me away from the bed.

        "Dancing is better than killing, is it not?" He grins, whirling me around. My vision blurs as we spin.

        "I wasn't going to kill him, Emmeline needs help." I squirm.

        "Oh." He continues dancing a moment more before releasing me. I almost fall to the floor, tripping over my own feet. "I thought I was saving the day with dancing." His head hangs a millimeter lower.

        "It's too early to save the day." Lochlan is up, as Scottish as ever, his hair bent every which way and his clothes crooked. His bones pop as he stretches his arms to the ceiling and yawns. I wish I'd gotten some sleep. "Where is she?"

        "In here." I lead them to Emmeline. "She isn't responding and I can't tell if she's possessed or not. She's got blood in her hair and on her hands." I don't tell them the only reason I needed one of them is because I'm afraid I'd try to dissect her wound once I found it.

        "That's not Emmeline." Hans is looking, not looking, looking, not looking, discomfort in every wrinkle on his face. Lochlan crouches down in front of her. I hate his stupid face. He takes hold of her clasped hands and breaks them apart.

        "She's had a listening Demon possess her so she could be healed." He grabs something from her hand and shoves it deep into the backpack beside Emmeline. He follows her bloody trail with his finger, and her eyes don't even readjust to see what's in front of her. "Her ears are the source of the blood, but she's better now. She's going to be unresponsive until the Demon learns how to get out. It's a very simple creature. It doesn't know how to do anything in her body. We kinda just have to wait this one out."

        "Wait this one out? Emmeline's not going to like that." I shake my head, almost smiling. She'll be annoyed with Lochlan when she wakes up.

        "She will if we spend our time figuring out a plan for what to do next. C'mon, back into the other room." He stands, brushing his knees off.

        "I'm not leaving Emmeline by herself," I protest.

        "She's not by herself, she's with a Demon that knows how to do nothing but heal her. And Hans will keep an eye on her." He's already walked through the bathroom, expecting me to follow.

        Hans is taking my hand and spinning me toward the room. I trust Hans. We enter and find Lochlan's legs sticking out from under his bed. So I kick one.

        "Hey, hey, hey! This is a no-violence zone! No kicks, no fists!" Hans glares at me, his hands on his hips. His eyes are stern for a moment but now his mouth breaks into a smile and I can't help but return it, taking a seat on his gently used bed. Lochlan pops back up, a stack of clothes in his hands. He dumps them onto his bed and begins sorting, tossing the smaller garments behind him, creating a nice pile beside me.