Crimson Nightmares
Pale Comparisons
The school bell rang and the many occupants of the dorm started to
shuffle out the door on their way to their classes, leaving the new
girls alone in the eerie quiet. Jessica picked up a mop from the storage
closet, "Thanks for helping me clean up, Nat." Jessica gratefully said,
handing a mop to Natalie.
"Anything." Natalie took the mop, "I do feel sort of responsible for
Kim." She stated, "Thanks for staying behind."
"No problem." Jessica said while grabbing a broom and dustpan, "I
actually will be graduating soon so only have a couple of classes, easy
stuff to catch up on. Probably why I'm the Dorm head and all." She
shrugged and started towards the washroom with Natalie close beside her,
"How is your arm, by the way?" Jessica asked, genuinely concerned.
"It felt better," Natalie plainly admitted, "but I've had worse." She
gingerly placed a hand on her arm.
"I'm guessing that you and Kimberly are intertwined, aren't you?" She
asked bluntly.
"Ummm..." Natalie stammered, trying to think of what to say.
"That explains a lot really." Jessica said more to herself then Natalie,
"I never pegged you for the violent type, however when you kept showing
up at school with those bruises..." She stopped in her tracks, "That
means..." She turned to Natalie, "Who would do such a thing to an
innocent beauty like her?" She asked even more concerned then before.
Natalie lowered her head, "I don't know." She admitted sorrowfully, "At
first it was her father, but as far as I know he is dead."
"Her father?" Jessica looked down the hall towards the redhead's room,
"Is that what I saw in those eyes?" She asked softly, "When I peered in
those eyes there was so much fear and pain that I wanted to hold her
tight and protect her."
"Kim is like that." Natalie said with a sigh, "You have to be careful or
you'll be swallowed by those eyes."
"So that is what happened?" Jessica half asked, while trying to get a
look in Natalie's eyes, "How do you feel about this new girl entering
the picture?" She asked curiously.
"As long as Kim is happy then I am." Natalie admitted then opened the
washroom door to look upon the mess and let out a long pained sigh, "For
I can't seem to save her no matter how hard I try."
"Don't tell me you are giving up on her," Jessica let the door close
behind her.
Natalie shook her head, "No, I'll watch her to the very end."
"You are a true friend." Jessica patted the girl on the back, "Now how
about we get this mess cleaned up, what do you say?"
Natalie nodded. She knelt down and began to pick up the larger pieces of
glass. She tried hard not to cry when she came across some of the more
blood soaked chunks. She picked up one fragment and looked into the
mirror, "What did she see?" Natalie thought out loud, "What could have
scared her so much?"
Jessica lifted her head to look at where the mirrors used to hang,
several shards still clinging to their metal frames, "Who knows," She
replied with a weak shrug, "We all have our shadows haunting our souls."
"I wish I could release Kim from hers" Natalie said with a sigh.
"Jessica, are you here?" Amy asked as she opened the door, a small black
bag in hand, "Sorry I took so lo-" She stopped just inside of the door
and stared aghast at the sight before her, "What happened here?" She
asked astonished by all the blood.
"Amy, you made it." Jessica dropped some of the glass she held into a
trashcan and washed her hands, "We've had a bit of a morning adventure."
"I can see that." Amy entered the room, careful not to step on any of
the glass, "Who got hurt?" scanning the blood to see several handprints
and foot prints in the blood.
"Well one is right here." Jessica nodded to Natalie who was still
picking up glass, "I managed to bandage her as best I could, however it
is only a quick fix."
"Morning Natalie." Amy set her bag down on the counter, "Can I take a
look at your wound?" She requested.
Natalie stood to her feet and pulled off her jacket as she approached
the young nurse, "It isn't that bad, really?" She slightly protested.
"I'll be the judge." Amy said as she unravelled the bandage, and then
peeled back the gaze. There was only a small amount of blood on the
bandages and the cut had already begun to heal, "You're right." Amy said
examining the girl's arm, and then looked down at the blood on the
ground, "This wound couldn't have produced this much blood. Was someone
else hurt?" She asked concerned.
Jessica nodded, "Kimberly was cut pretty deeply. Which is why I called
for you."
Amy sprayed Natalie's arm with a sterilizer, "In that case can I see
her?" She asked as she applied new bandages to Natalie's arm and tapped
it in place, "Don't work your arm to hard and it will be fine." Amy
stated to Natalie as she dropped the items back into the bag.
Natalie nodded, “Alright.”
"Kim should be in her room." Jessica said as she opened the door for the
nurse with Natalie close behind, rolling her sleeve back down.
"Do you know what happened?" Amy asked.
"We are not sure." Jessica confessed, "We found her in the washroom
shaking and covered in blood." Jessica approached Jenn and Kim's room,
and then knocked lightly on the door, "Kim? Amy is here to look at your
arm." She paused for a moment, "Can we come in?" she politely asked.
The door slowly opened and the red head peered out at the group.
"Can we come in?" Amy said giving the girl a warm smile.
"I.. I guess..." Kim said quietly and moved out of the way of the door,
allowing for the girls to enter.
"What do you want?" Jenn glared coldly from her spot curled up on the
bed.
"I'm just here to check on Kim's arm." Amy said, dodging the girl's
stares, "Now Kim, do you mind rolling up your sle-" She suddenly noticed
the housecoat Kim wore was spotted with blood with one arm completely
soaked. The bandages Jessica had only recently applied to the girl's arm
was soaked crimson and slowly unravelling, "You're still bleeding?!?"
Amy exclaimed, quickly dropping to her knees, opened her bag and pulled
out a pair of scissors, then began to cut away at the bandages.
"What?" Natalie rushed over to Kim's side and stared down at the girl's
arms, "Kim, why didn't you say anything earlier?"
"I feel fine." Kim stated almost in a daze. For the first time they
noticed how pale Kim was.
Natalie turned to Jenn, "Were you going to let her bleed to death?"
Jenn seemed startled, "We were just resting. She seemed fine." Jenn
threw off the blanket to find more blood on her shirt, "I..." She
suddenly realized she was so deep in her own despair that she didn't
even notice that Kim was slowly bleeding to death in her arms.
"It is not as bad as you make it sound.” Amy pulled the last of the
bandages off the girl's arm, "She is not going to die." She started to
dab at the wound with a disinfectant and Kim winced and tried to pull
away from Amy, "Hold still." Amy commanded and the redhead stopped
squirming and bite down on her tongue against the pain.
Natalie knelt down next to Kim and wrapped her arm around the girl,
"Everything will be alright." She said, pulling the girl's head into her
shoulder so she would not see what Amy was doing.
Jenn sat on the bed shaking her head in disbelief, "How could I...?" She
mumbled, clenching the sides of her head.
Jessica sat down next to Jenn, "It's not your fault." She hugged the
girl, letting Jenn cry on her shoulder.
Amy used some surgical tape to hold Kim's wound together, "It's alright.
It is not as bad as it seemed." She applied some gauze and wrapped the
girl's arm tightly in bandages, "I want you resting up and not using
that arm for a bit alright?" She commanded, letting go of the girl's
arms and standing to her feet without waiting for a reply.
"Thanks for helping." Jessica said, still hugging Jenn.
"How are you doing, Jenn?" Amy asked approaching the two girls and
seeing her bloody foot, then kneeling to examine her injury as well.
"I..." Jenn shakily broke away from Jessica, "I don't know..." she
stammered.
"Don't worry yourself too much." Amy reassured the girl as she wiped
away some of the blood to find only a small scratch upon her big toe and
applied a bandage to it, "Kim will be just fine. Here." She pulled out a
pill bottle from her pocket, "These should weaken the pain in her arm.
Can I trust you with these?" She asked seriously.
"I... I don't know..." Jenn's eyes darted around the room then back to
Amy, "Amy can you tell me... what happened to a friend of mine?" She
nervously asked.
"Maybe, depends on who it is." She began to gather her things, “I’ve
been here for a while so might know who they are.”
"Ma..." Jenn found it hard to form the words and swallowed hard, "May
Young..." She spat out.
Amy dropped the bandage roll that she just picked up and gave Jenn a
shocked look, "You remember her?" She asked with a gulp.
"Someone said she..." Jenn sniffled back another sob.
"You can visit her if you like." Amy placed the last of her things in
her bag and stood, "I can take you to her."
"Really!?!" Jenn got up, "You really know where she is?"
"Amy, is this such a good idea?" Jessica asked concerned for Jenn.
"We can't just keep dodging the question now can we?" Amy said calmly,
"Come along if you wish." She started out the door not waiting for an
answer.
*****
To be Continued...
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