The Rogues

28- Crimson

Evelyn

Darkness.

My vision was penetrated with a void of pitch back that wondered endlessly like a grim catacomb. It felt like a flash. One minute I was there...hearing nothing but the pulse of my enlivened heart battering inside my chest and the temples of my forehead, seeing only the light of the sun burning in my eyes as a strong force flooded through my fingertips. The next minute, the world around me was pirouetting in circles, warping around the corners of my vision like an illusion. Then, it all went black.

I blinked my eyes a few times before fully seeing the light again. Where am I? Walls of off-white caved around me, and a ceiling fan fluttered in my view. I'm in a room? I lifted my neck and rubbed my eyes, feeling my weight shift on the plush mattress below me. I was on a bed, but it definitely wasn't my bed.

"Evelyn?" a voice echoed over me as my consciousness regained. My head throbbed with an aching affliction, like a bullet struck my skull. I glanced at my hands, the tips of my fingers stung, coated in a film of dark ash that was hot to touch, scorched like I stuck them in the flame of a fire. Burn marks?

"Evelyn!" The voice repeated, the accent thick tempted me. I blinked my eyes once more, seeing the figure of a bronzed skin girl with long black hair tied messily in a braid. She looked frantic...worried.

"Celeste?" I rubbed my eyes, her sharp features now fully clear. "Where--where am I?"

"A bedroom." She replied, heaving in a gulp of air in a sigh and relaxing her shoulders.

"Not my bedroom. So where-"

"-It doesn't matter." She held her hand to her forehead, "All that matters is that you're okay." She eyed me as I shifted confused glances around my surroundings. How did I get here?

"Are you okay?" Celeste leaned forwards cautiously.

"Uh..I think so." I held my hands to my head, my skin was a heatwave. "My head is pounding. I guess I don't really feel my best. That's all."

"That's all?" Celeste lifted her brow

"Yes." I replied, weary.

"That's all?" she empathized, repeating herself with a pushy tone.Why is she acting like this?

"Yes Celeste that's all! I don't get why I- '' My breath was tugged out of my chest. I paused, catching a glance of another figure who leaned quietly against the wall in the corner of the mysterious room. His arms were crossed firm over his broad chest. His dark brown hair curled in a mess as usual, pushed back from his eyes, though some pieces still fell over his forehead. It wasn't unusual to see him angry, but for some reason this look of anger he held unsettled me. I said nothing. I held his gaze, trying to understand his expression. He spoke first.

"I think you're suffering from more than a damn headache, Evelyn." His voice was cold. Bitter as ice. It dismayed me.

"Dominic...I-" My breath caught as I sat forwards to face him, a sharp pain shot through me. My body ached so bad. My muscles felt like they were grasped and stretched into a cord, then folded terribly back under my skin. What the hell happened to me?

"-Whats going on?" The pain I was feeling radiated in my voice.

"You tell me?" Dominic lifted his chin, eyeing me up as if he had never laid eyes on me before.

"Dom!" Celeste shot her head around, giving him a look of disgust. She turned back to me, "Ev, were glad you're okay, truly. But we..." She hesitated, glancing at Dominic for a moment, "...were just a bit aghast. Shocked, That's all."