Chapter 2 – Voices

Elizabeth's POV

Maggie and Nick were looking at me like I was some alien. I tried to focus on taking deep breaths, my mind still in shock.

Did I just hear a voice in my head? No one seemed to act strange, except some people around us that were looking at me like I had grown two heads and a tail.

"Lizzie? Liz? Is your heart ok?"

I could get a grip on reality just when I saw the concern in Maggie's eyes.

"Yes, gosh, sorry guys. I thought I've heard something."

"You were zoning out, uh? Please, tell me you were thinking about some naked boy."

"Nick, do not pester her!"

I chuckled. It was always like this with those two. Nick was ironic, cheerful, and sometimes painfully honest. Maggie was attentive, caring, and incredibly quiet if not for rare occasions. She was the best for him and he was the same for her. I was just in the middle of them.

"Don't worry Maggie! He would hate to see me with someone, wouldn't you?"

I knew I was right. Nick always felt protective over me, like he was my big brother.

"I wouldn't mind if I have approved him first, actually it could be the proof you're human just like us."

"You would never approve anyone and you know. You think you're the only decent guy in town!"

"Because I am! And I-"

"Guys, I'm sorry to interrupt you, but Lizzie, Lora is basically staring at you and I am not the only one who noticed."

I cautiously watch over my shoulder to see the gorgeous girl staring at me. Her astonishing light blue eyes were piercing the back of my head.

Lora was good, she was a year older than us. She arrived from another nation and had to repeat the year. She was beautiful, the dark hair and skin contrasting her eyes, her movements were almost hypnotic. She was not really talkative, but her problem was her boyfriend.

The guy was tall and muscular. His sharp features made him even more menacing. He almost broke an arm to a guy in our class just for glaring too much at her. He was a psycho, and that made it difficult for Lora to make friends. But she didn't seem to care, her friends were some of the people who lived out of town, next to the mountains. Some Hamish troublemakers, who everybody knew were better to avoid.

I quickly diverted my eyes from hers when I heard my head starting to throb like someone was scratching it from the inside.

"Maybe she's just thinking about something. You do it all the time, Maggie. You creep people out and only after they escape you realize you were staring at them."

I grimaced at her light punch on my shoulder. The scratching became almost unbearable.

"Ouch. Guys, I'm not really feeling well, this head of mine is probably too stressed about tonight. I have the worst headache ever, I'll go take something, maybe a visit to the infirmary isn't a bad idea. See you this evening. Please come as soon as you can. Don't leave me alone with my mother, she will make me go insane about the party."

"Don't worry Liz, we'll be there right after changing clothes."

"Yeah, just once she had decided what to wear. Basically, it's like saying see you tomorrow."

I smiled feebly and left them bickering. That headache was making me go insane.

I am coming.

This time I had to lean against the wall. I was going mad.

I rushed to the infirmary and started looking for a pill strong enough to lessen the pain in my head. Once I found the painkillers, I took one without even controlling if its ingredients could interfere with my heart pills.

I sat on a chair in a dark corner and tried a massage on my temples to soothe the pain.

After a while, the scratching subdued, but my head felt still heavy. I decided to go back home, skipping the last classes. I probably just needed some rest, and I couldn't survive the party in those conditions.

I sent a message to my mother to let her know I was going home earlier to take a nap. I knew she would have nothing to say about it. I was a responsible teenager after all, and I never skipped classes without good reasons. She didn't answer right away, so I supposed she was in a meeting with some clients.

When I got near home, I felt like I might have collapsed in a minute. Maybe those painkillers weren't so good, after all.

I opened the door in a haze and went straight to my room. I stopped in front of my door when I heard my parents speaking in their room.

"I know that we aren't sure if the pill will still work after her birthday, but Frazier told us about the risks of increasing the dose."

My mom's voice cracked at the end.

"Tess, I don't want to see her like that. I'm ready to go all the distance for saving her, even if it means that she's going to suffer a bit, at least she would almost be normal."

Dad was dead serious.

What were they talking about? My first thought was that my sickness was getting worse. Maybe that explained why I was feeling odd today. I couldn't help but gasp a little.

Was I going to die?

The question resonated in my mind while I gently closed the door of my room behind me. I wasn't afraid.

Why I wasn't afraid? Where was the sadness one should feel hearing something like that?

I couldn't dwell more on it, since one hand forcefully claimed my mouth and a solid grip tightened around my wrists.

"Don't scream. I'm Lora. Don't take your pill tonight. Believe me. Do. Not. Take. It."

I was scared shitless, and I tried to free myself with all my force, without achieving a single step back from the girl.

"I'm going to set you free now. Don't scream, I mean you no harm. I'll be gone in a minute, but please, do as I told you."

I didn't have the time to spin around and confront her, that she jumped from my window and run down the street. She was fast. I stood still in the middle of my room; I could hear my heart pumping furiously in my chest.

Fear. I was scared. That stirred something inside of me and the scratching started all over again, this time it was so unbearable that I almost fell on the floor. I crawled outside my room, I tried calling for my parents, but I couldn't manage to utter a single word. I continued crawling and I went to the bathroom where I feverishly took one of my dad's pills for his migraines. I laid in a fetal position for a long time before the pain slowly diminished.

What the fuck was that?