Chapter 6 : Scars

Time for the first action oriented chapter! What will happen to Violet? Will she be killed by the mysterious creature, or will she somehow survive?

 

Chapter Six: Scars 

            The monster’s claws come swinging down towards me as I sit paralyzed before my soon-to-be murderer. I wonder how much this is gonna hurt. Well, its claws will strike my head first, so hopefully I’ll die quickly and not feel pain. It doesn’t really matter anyway, right? I’ve already resigned myself to this fate. It doesn’t really matter if I die. I don’t have any particular impact on this world. The world doesn’t have that many great things to offer either. On top of that, I’m not close with my family and don’t really have people I trust as ‘friends’. So, it’s probably best if I just die here, right? …Right?

But…then what is this feeling? Why did I shed tears at the thought of my death? Do I have…regrets? Well, of course, but who doesn’t? It’s natural to have regrets. But maybe, just maybe…I don’t actually want to die. It surprises me but…I think I’m actually afraid to die. I guess natural instinct wins over rationalism. Too bad I’m paralyzed. Quite ironic, huh? I realize I don’t want to die, but I can’t even do anything about it. Damnit, I don’t want this!

I shut my eyes as the ice-cold claws of Death sink into my flesh, ending my pathetic existence.

Or at least that’s what I expected to happen. Just before the shadowy creature’s claws can tear into my face, I hear a collision and a disturbing shrieking sound. I open my eyes and am surprised, to say the least, by what I see.

Standing in place of my assailant with his back to me is Atum, in his usual West African-Indian-Egyptian clothing. He must have knocked the creature away, because I can no longer see it anywhere. Atum looks over his shoulder at me. His usual happy-go-lucky expression is missing this time. He looks dead serious. It’s odd to see him this way.

“Can you stand?” he asks me firmly.

I suddenly realize that I am no longer paralyzed. I stand up awkwardly, still feeling a little strange.

“W-what was that thing? And what the hell’s with the sky? Where is everyone?” I ask, voice trembling. Guess I’m still shaken up by this whole event.

“There’s no time to explain. How does the sky look to you?” Atum asks, urgency apparent in his voice.

Despite his odd question, his seriousness causes me to comply. I look up at the sky. It’s still a disturbingly dark, churning sea of horror. There are streaks of red, purple, and several other colors to a lesser extent moving and swirling about. The dark sky makes it hard to see my environment properly. It’s much harder to see things in the distance.

“Not very good,” is my short response. Atum seems to be satisfied with my answer and proceeds to grab me by the arm and pull me away from the field where I was attacked. The pace appears to be a jog for him, but I have to run just to keep up. It’s hard to run while someone is pulling you by the arm, too.

“W-wait! Where are you taking me!?” I shout, surprised by Atum’s sudden action, “I mean, what’s the rush? That monster is gone, isn’t it?”

Without breaking pace and without turning to look at me, he answers, “No, it is still around somewhere. I only kicked it away from you earlier, but then it disappeared. It will certainly come back. I’m sure you can tell the environment still hasn’t returned to normal.”

That’s certainly true. Even though I don’t completely trust him, I decide to follow Atum since he seems to know what’s going on. He doesn’t seem to be trying to trick me. If he wanted to harm me, he’s had a million chances by now. Plus, he could’ve just let that creature kill me.

Atum leads me away from the academic buildings on campus, through a short trail in the woods and towards the large lake that exists slightly off campus. It strikes me that I do not see a single soul on our way there. Where the hell did everybody go? We make it to the lake, which looks damn terrifying since it’s reflecting the current state of the sky.

“Creepy…” I say, uttering quite the understatement. I suddenly realize it feels unusually cold. My thin long sleeve shirt and shorts aren’t enough to keep me warm. My body starts to shiver. I turn to Atum, who is standing beside me.

“So, uh, Atum. What’re we doing out here?” I ask him.

Atum puts a finger to his lips, signaling for me to keep quiet. He seems intensely concentrated on something. His eyes are shut and his face is the most serious I’ve ever seen it. I feel a current in the air moving around him, but somehow I can tell it’s different from the disturbance in the air that occurs before one of those shadowy monsters shows up. I’m tempted to ask him what he’s doing, but I get the feeling I shouldn’t bother him right now. After standing there with his eyes shut for a couple of minutes, Atum suddenly opens them, leaving me confused and shocked.

His eyes are glowing. And not only are they glowing, but they’ve changed from his usual grey eyes to a violet color...

“Y-your eyes…t-they look kinda like…”

“Like your eyes, Violet?” Atum says with a smile. His carefree mood seems to have returned.

“Looks like our guest has finally arrived,” Atum says as he points to the far side of the lake, where the familiar shadowy freak of nature is standing on the water. What the hell? And instead of standing on two legs like before, it’s standing on all fours in an awkward, creepy position that resembles a spider. No human could stand like that, that’s for sure. Suddenly the creature lets out a strange shriek despite having no mouth. Like a spring that’s been coiled up, the monster launches itself with alarming speed towards the bank where Atum and I are standing.

Atum cracks his knuckles, and stretches his arms. He then proceeds to stretch his legs.

“Um, Atum, I hate to bother you but if you’re planning on doing something, please do so now,” I say, trying unsuccessfully to hide the panic in my voice.

His purple eyes still glowing, Atum winks at me and then gets in the track starting position, as if he’s about to start running. Which is exactly what he is about to do.

In an instant, Atum takes off from his starting position and sprints and glides on the water towards the monster which, at the same time, is quickly crawling towards Atum like a giant four-legged spider on amphetamines.

Despite the fact that Atum is dancing across the water like an ice skater, the creature is not nearly as surprised by this development as I am. Just before they run into each other, the creature swings one arm at Atum, attempting to rake him with its long, deadly claws. However, Atum is prepared for the attack and uses his momentum to jump off the surface of the water, do a flip and land behind the monster, catching it completely off-guard. Atum playfully, but forcefully kicks the monster’s “behind”--if it has one--knocking it onto its face, sprawled out on the water. Somehow it still stays above the surface of the water.

The monster isn’t seriously damaged by this of course, and immediately springs back to its ‘feet’ and begins slashing at Atum in a frenzy, using the claws on its hands and feet. The spectacle resembles a swirling black mass with silver blades spinning and lashing out from within. To my surprise, Atum is able to successfully dodge these attacks with little to no effort.  He’s even resting his hands behind his head as if he’s enjoying himself!

After keeping up its attack for a while, the shadowy beast realizes it isn’t going to hit Atum this way. It suddenly stops and sinks below the water’s surface so fast that it takes me a couple seconds to realize what’s going on. Suddenly Atum is focusing again, no longer playing around. His sudden switch back to serious mode makes me nervous. Atum first looks down at the water beneath him, trying to seek out the creature, but then he starts looking all around himself, his violet eyes glowing in the dimly lit environment.

I wonder why he isn’t looking in the water when the monster clearly sank into the water--wait a minute. Earlier, when Atum kicked the monster away when it was about to kill me, it disappeared and then reappeared here. Does that mean those things can telepo--

Suddenly, I see Atum gliding across the lake towards me, a panicked look on his face. I sense something coming from behind me. A blood-curdling shriek fills my ears as the monster behind me prepares to sink its claws into me. I turn halfway towards the monster and bring my arms up to shield my head instinctively. Too bad it wasn’t aiming for my head.

I feel its razor sharp claws pierce the right side of my abdomen and rake diagonally upwards towards my chest. I see drops of red blood fly up into the air, following the path of the claws. As I’m falling to the ground, I realize the monster is flying away from me like it’s been hit by something. Or someone. Before I hit the ground, Atum catches me in his arms. It seems Atum flew up and kicked the creature in the face while it was cutting me, preventing it from cutting deep enough to kill me. Still hurts like hell and I’m bleeding a lot. I feel faint.

“Hang tight, for a few seconds, Violet,” Atum says as he gently lays me down on the grass. He then walks off, presumably to finish the fight with the monster. I try to stay conscious, but it’s no use. A few seconds later I black out.

*          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *         

I wake up tucked in my bed, feeling all kinds of terrible. What the hell happened? Oh yeah, I went to class, got bugged by Atum, then went to take a nap and draw in the grassy field. Then s**t got weird from there. I try to move but groan from the pain. I feel weak, and my whole torso stings due to the cuts that are several inches long, going diagonally from my waist area up to my breasts. I opt not to move for now, lying perfectly still in my comfortable bed. I look out the window out of curiosity, and reassuringly, the sky is back to normal. But how did I get back in my dorm room?

“I see you’re finally awake.”

I’m startled by the voice, but can’t exactly jump in surprise in current condition. I gingerly turn my head to the right, and at my bedside is Atum.

“You brought me back to my room?” my voice sounds a little weak.

“Yep, sure did,” he responds cheerfully.

“What happened with…that thing?”

“It’s been taken care of. More importantly, how are you feeling?”

“Like crap. My whole torso hurts.”

Atum chuckles at this and says, “Well, don’t worry, Violet. I helped treat the wounds so you should be good to go by tomorrow. You weren’t cut very deeply thanks to me, so it’ll all be fine. I even gave you some medicine to help accelerate the healing.”

Several things he just said confuse me. “W-wait, you treated my wounds? Do you have the medical experience for that?”

Atum makes a confused face. “If you’re asking whether I’ve done it before, then the answer is yes. Many times. Is there a problem?”

I sigh. “Well, I guess not since I’m still alive. But what’s this about you giving me medicine? I don’t remember that?”

Atum laughs again. “That’s because you were still unconscious when I gave it to you. Don’t worry, it wasn’t anything weird, it just helps your body heal.”

“Don’t give me medicine without my consent, thank you very much,” I grumble, trying to pack as much venom into my words as possible.

“Yes, ma’am, I understand,” Atum says mockingly as he gently pats my head. I don’t even have the energy to snap at him this time. Besides, he did save my life today…I suppose I should be nice this one time. That reminds me, I really should thank him for today.

“Well, I guess I’ll be off. You need some rest,” Atum says as he turns his back to me, getting ready to leave.

“Wait--ah!” I quickly sit up, sending waves of pain through my wounds. The blanket falls off of me, revealing that I am no longer wearing a shirt. Instead I have bandages around my abdomen and chest. I suddenly realize what happened. Atum treated my wounds. And my wounds went all up my torso. Of course he’d have to take my shirt and bra off to do that! My face grows hot with embarrassment as I quickly cover myself with my blanket.

Atum just looks at me with a confused expression on his face. “You really shouldn’t move so suddenly, be more careful. I bandaged you, but it would be bad if you were to start bleeding again.”

“G-get out!” I scream at him.

“Yikes, I see you’re back to normal.”

Atum laughs and waves before disappearing into thin air.

I lay back down on my pillow, deciding to rest a few more hours. Tomorrow’s gonna be a pain in the a*s for sure. Going to class with these injuries? I let out a sigh. I gently trace my finger from my bandaged breasts down to my waist.

“I forgot to thank him…”