A Rose to the Torch by Bartholomew Lander

Author:Bartholomew Lander [Lander, Bartholomew]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9784908656934
Publisher: Lunarium Books
Published: 2019-10-30T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 20

Coral dreamt lucidly and terribly that night.

It all began with a bout of sleep paralysis. Awareness. A presence. She couldn’t recall opening her eyes, but she took in the sight of her dark room bulging and lensing about her. At the foot of her bed was something breathing. A living shadow, vaguely humanoid, looking down at her with unseen eyes. Coral began to shake violently. She tried to move, but her muscles were fixed solid. Her voice was silent as she tried to scream.

The shadow blurred the edges between existence and concept; it seemed to flicker. The breath grew louder in her ears. It was all in her head, she tried to think, just like alien abductions and old hag syndrome. It would pass in a few moments, and the racing of her heart would be the only lingering sign of this nightmare visitation.

As predicted, the paralysis did fade, and with it the illusion of a presence. But as it did, Coral suddenly realized the room was full of light—not the dim seepage from her dorm’s tinted window, but a rich and unpoisoned flare of sunset. It streamed in from the curtains and illuminated the scaldingly white tile of the hospital room. Golden orange rays bathed the figure at the foot of her bed in a luminous halo. Her tan skin glowed, making her dark eyes and hair even starker and more beautiful.

The breath tangled in Coral’s throat. It was Tamara.

They were both twelve. The era of middle school. It was that formative evening that had shaped Coral’s life until the Orchid Veil had stolen it from her.

Tamara’s eyes caught the light and sparkled. Her lips shook. “Umm… Hi. How are you feeling?”

Still shocked by the girl’s visit, Coral answered the only way she could think to. “Well enough.” Her tongue felt like it was tearing apart as she spoke. The tissue was still raw from her teeth.

The girl stood stammering for a few moments before she managed a coherent sentence. “I’m sorry to barge in. I just… I had to come see you. And apologize for getting you involved.”

Of course Tamara would blame herself. It must’ve been a miserable event from her point of view. As a meek kitten on the savannah of Wheatling Middle School, she’d never wanted to burden anyone. And now because of her, a hemophiliac girl almost died, as far as she was aware. Coral’s heart hurt knowing how the guilt must have wounded Tamara.

Tamara had been bullied for the whole school year. A group of three boys had taken to tormenting her, calling her a hemo and making her life a living hell. It was an aimless sort of harassment, but one which the perpetrators were able to carry out unopposed. No teacher wanted to be labeled a hemo-sympathizer, no matter how baseless the claims were. If anyone had actually believed it, they’d have just given the girl a scourge test. Nobody wanted that blood on their hands.

Coral had watched silently for months, haunted by the animosity she had narrowly avoided drawing herself.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.