Sacrifice by Nikki Haase

Author:Nikki Haase [Haase, Nikki]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-05-07T16:00:00+00:00

19

We called a cab to take us most of the way home, then we walked the last stretch that led to Jack’s. We’d get the bikes later. As the alcohol wore off, so did Shawn’s willingness to stay in the same room as me. While Mark and I found refuge in the living room to care for our hangovers, Shawn found solitude and peace at the bottom of the pool. Mark mindlessly poked at the eggs I had made for us, a look of disgust and anguish playing across his expression. They had stayed their inhumanly bright green since he had woken up, just as my eyes had yet to fade away from their bright red hue.

“Ruby?”

“Hm?” I spoke to the cold eggs in front of me.

My stomach wasn’t allowing me to eat either. I took small sips of water and only moved the food around my plate in a lame attempt to trick my mind into thinking I had eaten something.

“Why didn’t you tell us that alcohol tries to kill you the next day?” He groaned and grabbed the small trash bin that I had placed in the room under precaution.

I rolled my eyes. “First off, you’re being dramatic—the fact that you’re alive after drinking that much is unheard of though. Secondly, I keep forgetting that everyone around me was raised in the Lab. And speaking of that, your social skills are kind of incredible considering that fact.”

Mark shrugged, his head still hanging over the trash bin. “We weren’t as heavily sedated as the guys from ‘A’, so we were allowed to interact with each other more often. Plus, I enjoy the company of most people.”

“Oh.” I pushed my eggs to the side and set the plate on the coffee table. I curled up into a ball on the couch as Mark emptied the contents of his stomach into the plastic canister.

“So, what did you and Shawn talk about last night?” His voice echoed slightly into the bin as he dry-heaved every few seconds.

“Nothing,” I lied.

Shawn’s drunken babbles were nice, but they didn’t mean much of anything—not since he could no longer keep eye contact with me for more than a few seconds. Only one thing he had confided in me with kept tormenting the utmost corners of my mind.

I was late.

Late for what?

After a couple more successful vomits, Mark stood, an arm wrapped tightly around his stomach. “That’s it. I’m taking Shawn’s idea.”

I followed him out of the living room, through the dining room and kitchen, and onto the porch. My stomach threatened to betray me and paint the ground around me with last night’s bar food.

“What? Drowning?”

“No.” He stripped down to his boxers and stepped outside into the bright sunlight.

Like the other guys, his body was toned and sculpted through rigorous training. His skin was etched in scattered scars along his chest and back from old wounds.

“Heal the element,” he said softly.

I watched, confused, as he lay down in the yard under the shade of a large oak tree.

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