Twelve

Chapter Twelve

 

 

 

My face.

My arms.

Everywhere.

  It felt as if I was standing in open flame. I clawed at my skin, trying to rid myself of the horrid spores.

  “It’s not coming off!” I panicked.

“What are you talking about-” Kat stopped, seeing the red blisters on my arm. “Oh my God! What is that?”

  “I don’t know!” I said. “It burns! Help me get it off!”

Kat dragged me into the bathroom, which could of easily been the size of my room back home, and turned the water faucet to full blast.

  I stuck my hand under the cool water, thinking that it would wash the burn away.

 Wrong.

“It’s not working!” I said, scrubbing intensely.

 “Here.” Kat said, tossing me a washcloth from one of the many cabinets in the bathroom.

  It landed on my shoulder and I stuck it quickly under the flowing water. “Can you turn down the hot water just a bit?” I ask.

  “Hot?” Kat replied, walking back towards the sink. “I turned the cold on.”

I take my arm from under the water just as it starts to scald my skin. “That’s not cold.” Then I try turning the water off only to have it continue to run as if I never touched it.

“Now it won’t even turn off.”

 Very quietly I heard Kat say, “Uh, Jackie…”

“What if we turned it the wrong way?” I suggested, fiddling with the water faucet.

 “Jackie…” She said again.

When the water still didn’t turn off, I slapped my hand against the granite counter. “This doesn’t even make any sense!”

  Kat pulled the shoulder of my shirt this time, instantly getting my attention. “What?” I ask.

  She pointed a finger to the mirror on the wall that stretched along the full length of the vanity.  

  I caught a glimpse of my messy bed-head of hair and the painful red patches along my face before I noticed Kat. 

  Her emerald green eyes were wide in the reflection, and her face had paled making them stand out even more.

  I stare at nothing other than our reflections, then I notice a tiny movement where the hot water had fogged over the mirror.

  In the midst of the steamy mirror, lines began to appear then careful swirls till one word stood out.

                              Repeat

 

 “Wha…” I start, but the burning pain causes my head to go fuzzy, making it hard to focus on that one word.

  “Please, tell me that you saw it to.“ Kat begged, watching the word fade away. She opened her mouth to say something else, but left it opened when another word appeared.

                          

                      Fincris Che Hoande 

　

 

  The words…They were an unknown to me, yet so familiar. Like a long forgotten language slowly resurfacing, and I welcomed the strange feeling that came with it.

  “Fincris Che-Hoande.” I whispered, and just because it felt so good to say it out loud, I did it again, only stronger with this new feeling growing inside me. 

  Then I had a picture-more of a flash, really, no longer than it took to blink, but it was more than enough.

  It was my Grandmother, just her face. As if I were looking up at her, and she was smiling.

 Then it was gone, the pain and her comforting face.

“Grandma.” I mouthed so that Kat, who was having a dual with the water faucet, wouldn’t hear.

  The strange words disappeared again and when the next thing appeared I had a hard time trying not to laugh out loud.

 

                       J

        

 

 By the time Kat lifted her head it was gone along with the rushing hot water.

  “There,” Kat said. “Just needed a little elbow grease.” Then she caught a glimpse of my grin. “What are you so happy about? And what happened to all the red patches?”

  I looked at the mirror where the smiley face had been moments ago, avoiding my reflection or even looking down at my hand to confirm what I already knew.

  I shrugged, I couldn’t find the words to describe anything at the moment. All I wanted was answers, and I had a feeling that Grandma was the only person who could answer them.  

  Kat huffed and gave a flick of her hand. “Never mind. Let’s just go.” She took my arm, dragging me out of the bathroom. “There’s no way I’m staying a minute longer in this haunted bathroom.”

  I opened my mouth to argue that the bathroom wasn’t haunted, but decided against it since I had no way of explaining what I saw.

  When we entered back into the bedroom I stopped, pulling Kat to an unexpected stop.

 “What, Jackie?” She sighed, her eyes scanning the room. “There better not a be a levitating pillow, or I’m seriously jumping out that win-” She stopped, her sights on the two silver covered trays, each placed on our neatly made beds.

  “Oh,” Kat said, surprised. “lunch.” Abandoning me for the silver platter on her bed. She lifted the lid, inhaling it’s rich aroma. “Even though this place is haunted,” She picked up a fork, already digging into her meal. “They sure…know…how to cook.” Kat said between bites. 

  I went over to my own bed, but ignored the tempting, still warm platter of my own. Instead I gently picked up the pure white envelope nestled on one of the pillows, part of me noting that the light blue flower vase had vanished, but at the moment my full attention was on the palm sized envelope.

  I flipped it over, and found it as blank as the front.

I heard the bed creak as Kat leaned closer to see what was in my hand.

  “Who’s it from?” She asked.

Using my thumb, I popped the seal, pulling a card out with carefully skilled handwriting.  

 

  I await for you tonight at the dinner table.

 

It was signed: Alec Hilton.

Author's Note

First off, please tell me if I made any mistakes and how I can improve this piece.

Secondly, THAT STUPID LITTLE SMILEY FACE WON'T MOVE TO WHERE IT'S SUPPOSED TO GO!!!!!!!!!!!! >:(

Third, this may be the last chapter for awhile until I can settle things with school first and I plan on going back and smoothing out previous chapters.

Forth, I NEED YOUR HELP!
Go to my photos page and vote for your favorite book cover you'd like to see.
I can't decide! XP

A million thanks to Akanksha for getting the book covers for me!!!!!

Fifth, (this is turnning out to be longer than I planned....)

To pronounce the phrase: Fincris Che-Hoande
Fin - chris - Qi (like your inner Qi) - Ho - an - dee

:P just some random word I made up.

Reviews

[Summer D.]

I can't believe I didn't see this chapter.
I MISS ALEC.
Good job Missy~

-Summer

[Ice Girl]

I absolutely loved it!!!!

[AK]

Omgomgomg!!! I didn't realise this chapter was out! I really don't see any mistakes:) Great write!