CHAPTER FIFTEEN: NERYS
Somethingdoesn’tfeelright.
My body is too cold and it feels like there’s a heavy weight on my chest. I’m staring up at an unfamiliar ceiling and I don’t know how I got here.
“Neryssa?”
The voice is familiar and yet I can’t place it. A face appears above me and my brows pull together as I try to connect a name to the face.
“Don’t crowd here,’ another voice says, just as familiar but unplaceable as well.
I don’t feel the urge to get away though and I trust that if I was in an unsafe place, my gut would be churning.
There’s someone pressed up against my side, their body warm. I turn my head, looking up into the face of the girl next to me. Her rose gold hair is all out place and her skin tone is too pale.
“Soskia.” I don’t know why her name is the one that comes to the front of my mind, but it is.
She doesn’t say anything, a crease forming between her brows as she stares at me.
“What happened?” I roll slightly to my side, inhaling deeply at the pain that moves through me. I use my hand to push myself up but it's a struggle, my arm shaking under the weight.
Hands grab my hips before I’m gently being lifted. My back presses up against the headboard and I look up at the guy with the orange hair. Finally, his name came to me. “Foxy.”
“Fox,” he corrects, his lips pinching downward.
A soft laugh moves through the room and finally everything feels like it's coming back to me or at least the bare minimum is. “Brynsyn,” I say, watching as he moves closer to the bed. Lastly, my gaze moves to the white haired, cold eyed man propped up against the wall. “Alik.”
“And do you remember your own name?” Brynsyn asks, bringing his face too close to mine as his eyes roam over my face.
“Neryssa.” My throat feels dry and I rub at it. “What happened?” I ask, glancing between all of the people in the room.
“You died,” Brynsyn says bluntly and Alik aimes a glare at the side of his head for it.
“No,” I say slowly, looking up at Fox, but his face gives nothing away. “If I were dead, I wouldn’t be here right now.”
Brynsyn shrugs his shoulders. “Can’t explain it, but you haven’t been breathing for a week.”
I wait patiently for someone to expose the punchline of the joke, but when it never comes, my jaw drops. “You’re fucking kidding.”
“Can’t say I am,” Brynsyn tries to appear casual but there’s just this underlying edge to his voice and it’s what makes me realize he’s being dead serious.
I rub the side of my temple before jerking a hand down to my chest which is definitely rising and falling.
“That just started about a minute ago,” Brynsyn answers my unasked question.
“How long has it been?” I ask, looking up at him since he seems to be the one with all the answers.
“Nine days, it's Sunday.”
Holy fuck.
There’s no way that my mom hasn’t been blowing up my phone. She’s probably already in the office demanding answers.
“I have to…” I throw my feet over the bed and nearly fall flat on my face. Fox grabs me before I can hit the ground, resettling me back onto the bed.
“You need to take it easy,” he says, his voice low and gruff.
“I need to get to my dorm, I need to talk to my mom.”