Of Monsters and Humanity: The Genesis

Chapter 14 - Terra

Fifty-seven days before....

I hadn't talked to Flora Mae in three days.

In fact, I really didn't talk to anyone in three days. I didn't sleep, either. I couldn't. The first night after the gala, I didn't sleep. The next night, I tried to, but I started seeing black-ink blood and smiling faces until I woke up and panicked because of the darkness of my room. The third night, I sat in bed with the lights on and my eyes wide open.

My grandparents noticed that something was wrong, and I had waved my grandma off the night of the gala. But since then, she had pestered me nonstop about it and asked if Damian had done anything to me. Of course I told the truth: he didn't. They'd ask why I was acting so strange, then. And I continued to tell them that I couldn't speak of what haunted me, for their own safety. It was better to leave them in the dark then leave them in a cell, rotting, because of my loud mouth.

I didn't want to tell anyone, though. There was no urge inside of me mixed with the guilt of knowing what I had seen that screamed at me to speak. It wasn't quite fear, though, either. It was just a lot to swallow at once, and I didn't know what to think. There wasn't really much that you could think when you find out that there are others walking among those who you call human.

It was disgusting. In fact, the second day, I just layed on the bathroom floor because I felt so sick. I hadn't eaten much if at all after the gala, but everything in my stomach after was hurled into my toilet that entire day. My grandma was wondering if I had food poisoning and continued to ask me if Damian raped me or something, but I kept having to wave her off and promise her that it wasn't him. I didn't want anything to happen to him and I certainly didn't want him to see me like this.

And he didn't. I ignored my phone until Tuesday evening after my grand performance of being completely fine and eating a whole cup of soup (that didn't sit very well in my empty stomach after, but I managed to keep it down for the sake of continuing to live). I was surprised to find that he called me once Sunday night but didn't leave a voicemail, and once both Monday and Tuesday night and left one each day. A few texts were thrown in, too.

I didn't want to read them--it was all too much. I took a deep breath and called him.

He answered on the second ring.

"Hey," he almost exclaimed, sounding out of breath.

"Hey," I whispered before I rolled over on my bed and said, "wait. Where are you?"

"Practice," he responded, his voice sounding like someone running.

"Oh, shoot. Why do you have your phone on you?" I asked, my voice surprisingly returning to semi-normal. It felt almost reassuring.

"Well--I don't know. I mean, I was waiting for your call--" he started before I heard a booming male voice yelling in the background.

"When does practice end?" I asked quickly, an idea suddenly sparking in my head.

"In about twenty minutes," he breathed. "Shit. I gotta go. Call me after?"

But I couldn't answer. I hung up and found clean clothes to throw on before racing down the stairs. "Hey, grandma, I'm going out," I called as I rummaged through the fridge for a couple bottles of water.

"Wait! Abigail!" she hollered back. I heard her racing footsteps coming from the sunroom and to the kitchen. "Where are you going?" she asked, exasperated, her eyes wildly confused at my random outburst of being alive.

"I'm just meeting a friend for a little while. Is that okay?" I asked, stuffing the water bottles in my bag before slinging it on.

"Who?" she asked as if I didn't have friends other than Flora Mae.