Cottage on the Hill (MxMxMxMxM)

Chapter Twenty-three

9:13am,Sunday, November 1st

I blinked and shifted my weight, Ollie tightened his grip on me. The empty bed around me tells me that the other three are already awake, and possibly downstairs, and the thrum of the heater and the fact the blankets are down by our waist's means that they've been awake for a while.

I hummed softly, reaching up to rub my eyes as a wet feeling filled the back of my nose. What on earth? My brain struggled to keep up with the feeling as it burst from my nose, blood pouring down my face. I breathed out, gagging as it ran down my throat. The sharp breath made it spray up, and splatter both Ollie and I with blood.

I tried to sit up, but I fumbled around the bloody blankets and attempted to push them off, but Ollie's limbs tried to do the same thing, except going the other way. He let out a short yell as he realised what was going on.

"James!" he yelled as I resolved to thrusting my head forwards to try and stop the blood running down my throat. Nausea rocked me as footsteps thumping on the stairs made me jerk and look up throwing blood further across the sheets. I hope none of them liked these sheets.

James burst into the room and very quickly took in the scene in front of him, rushing to our side and pulling me from the bed. I cupped both of my hands under my nose to catch the ever-falling blood.

"Stand over the sink for a minute until it stops," he said. I coughed and the blood started to trickle of my mouth from where I'd swallowed it. James kept one hand on the back of my head, stopping me from swallowing the grossness.

I heard Ollie get up and chanced a glance out into the bedroom. He stood by the bed, my blood splattered across his face and staining his shirt. Hand swipes on his neck told me he'd attempted to wipe it off before either of us knew what was happening.

"I think it's stopping," James said, holding my chin to press a towel to my face. "Hold this for a minute to catch any last drops." I pressed my bloody hands into the towel and winced, my nose burning slightly. James went back out and dragged Ollie into the bathroom, switching the shower on. "Wash all the blood off, make sure you get it out of your hair," he said.

"Sorry," I said, my voice muffled behind the towel. Ollie tried to smile reassuringly, but I could tell he was quite disgusted and really didn't want to be covered in blood. Not that anyone does. James made sure Ollie was in the shower and then came back over to me, pulling my hands and the towel away to check.

"You ok? That was a big one."

"I think I swallowed some," I said weakly, my voice croaky. From sleep or gagging? My stomach lurched at the thought.

"You think you're going to be sick?"

I shook my head. "I don't think so, but I might take it easy today," I said, glancing at the toilet nervously. I hate throwing up.

"Damn right you are," Casper said, coming into the bathroom with one of the pillow cases in his hands. A large blood stain on the corner made me cringe and turn away. James lifted me onto the bathroom bench and tilted my head back so he could clean out my nose. My hands shook from fright, heart still racing.

"-'m sorry," I breathed.

"It's not your fault." James wiped the blood off my face and very gently cleaned out the inside of my nose. Humiliation coiled in my gut. "Right. I think, we need some new sheets." I looked out at the ruined sheets piled at the end of the bed as Hale pulled off the mattress protector.

"Sorry." I winced. James shook his head.

"Do you want to shower?"

"No, I might get another one. I'll just find some clean clothes." I looked down at myself and sighed. My favourite pyjamas, ruined because of a stupid blood nose. James let me hop down from the bench and pad through to the chest of drawers. I found some comfy clothes and the only pair of jeans I have left since the cull on Friday.