Eden's Reality: Chapters 5-6

A small 14 year old boy plans on escaping his abusive father and the house where he grew up in by moving to a boarding school with his two best friends, but on the night before he leaves something unexpected happens, and he wakes up the next day a different person.

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Chapter 5

It was a twenty minute drive to Alexis’s home, which was situated a couple of suburbs deep in the city. The paddocks full of sleepy livestock quickly gave way to dark factories and abandoned warehouses, then spread out into blocks of houses and restaurants. We followed the main road down towards the heart of the city and then turned off into a brightly-lit street full of giant houses with even larger front yards. Dogs barked excitedly as we drove past but were quickly yelled into silence by their owners or grumpy neighbors.

Alexis’s house was at the end of the street, nestled between an empty lot and a house so large that it could almost have been a mansion. Mrs Nakamura parked the SUV outside the front yard just and I slowly climbed out, shivering at how cold it’d become outside.

A neat, colourful garden took up most of front yard, perfectly maintained by Alexis’s mum and younger sister. I knew nothing about gardening but it looked beautiful, with rows upon rows of bright flowers running up and down the fresh grass. There was a large fountain in the centre, depicting resting horse with a couple of birds standing on its back and spewing out water, and a few healthy oak trees were in each of the yards corners. Alexis and I had spent countless happy hours running around here as kids, searching for interesting bugs and playing random make-believe games.

She came over the side of the SUV and smiled at me. ‘How are you feeling?’

‘Better.’ The drive here had helped me relax, but Alexis holding my hand had helped the most. ‘I’m glad I’m here and not at home.’

‘So am I.’ Alexis said as we walked past a cluster of sweet smelling blue flowers. ‘I just wish it was under better circumstances.’

‘So do I.’ I said darkly as we reached the veranda. The house itself was two storeys tall, dark brown and in far better condition than my own. I guess that wasn’t really saying much though...most houses were better than mine.

‘Eden, you go and clean your face, okay?’ Mrs Nakamura said as she opened the front door. It revealed a spacious entrance hall that was almost bigger than my bedroom. ‘And Alexis, could you go see if Nyoko has any clean clothes for him to change into?’

‘What? No!’ I gasped. Nyoko was Alexis’s eleven-year-old sister, who was just slightly taller than me. Whenever I stayed here and needed a change of clothes I wore her ones, as Alexis’s were way too big for me. Luckily Nyoko wasn’t all that feminine and had more than enough pants and shirts to spare, but it still felt weird.

‘I’m sorry Eden, but I’d rather you changed. Your clothes are covered in dirt and grass stains, especially on your back.’ Mrs Nakamura smiled apologetically.

I looked down and grimaced, seeing that she was right. I hadn’t even realised how dirty I’d gotten, but I had lain in the dirt when the imaginary spider had attacked. ‘Oh. Okay then.’

‘Thanks.’ She smiled and then began walking down the side hallway that led to her and her husband’s bedroom. ‘I’m going to get changed and then head off back to your place, but I’ll give you some money for pizza before I leave. Think about what you’d like!’

I nodded and headed off to the bathroom, which was through the massive living room and opposite the guest room that I sometimes slept in. The Nakamura’s house was very, very clean and I always felt slightly out of place when I visited, as if I was some kind of dirty vagrant come in off the streets. They were far wealthier than my own parents, both of them working as a criminal defence lawyers, and it showed in their house. Every room seemed to be twice as large as it needed to be, from the kitchen to the offices right down to the laundry, and twice a week they hired a maid to come in and clean everything. Large paintings hung from the walls, all brand new unlike the ones mum and I bought, and they depicted famous scenes from literary such as Captain Ahab on the deck of the Pequod and Holden Caulfield watching a carousel in the rain. They were all wonderfully painted and I imagined that just one of them would cost more than dad made in a year.

The bathroom was amazing, of course. Its floor was a smooth black marble, the sink was perfectly white porcelain and the bathtub could comfortably fit four of me inside of it.

‘Oh god.’ I muttered as I looked at my reflection, not expecting to look as bad as I did. My forehead was a mass of dirt and blood with matted strands of hair falling around it, and the corner of my left lip was just as bad. It strangely wasn’t swollen though, and when I checked the inside cut I found that it’d already healed.

I quickly washed my forehead and to my surprise found that the scrapes caused by me smashing my head against the hard dirt had healed too, and the scarring was much smaller than it should have been. I hadn’t imagined hitting my head against the dirt had I? Like I had with the spider? Surely not, the scars were there, just…tiny.

Weird. I wasn’t going to complain though. I hadn’t been too keen on the prospect of explaining to the other students at Sanders what’d happened to my face, especially on my first day there.
I made sure to clean my face as thoroughly as possible, not wanting there to be even a hint of blood left when I was done. I was perhaps a bit overzealous though, as by the time I’d finished my hair was dripping wet and most of my face had been rubbed raw. But there was no blood or dirt left!
Alexis came in just as I finished and I grinned as she raised her eyebrows at how wet I was. She sighed, grabbed a towel from the sink cupboard and held me steady with one hand.

‘Here, I’ll dry you.’ she said and began to gently rub my face with the towel. ‘I know how bad you are at doing it yourself.’

‘Thanks!’ I said, not going to argue with her. I hadn’t even thought about drying myself. ‘Did you find some clothes for me to wear?’

‘Yeah, I grabbed some of Nyoko’s old pants and a shirt. I left them on my bed for you to change into when we’re done here.’ she said as she dried the back of my neck, drawing out a surprised squeal from me. ‘Aww! That was cute!’

‘Shut up.’ I blushed. ‘My back’s really sensitive.’

‘I know.’ she grinned and then rubbed the same spot, making me giggle.

‘Stop it!’ I laughed and grabbed her hand, but she just grinned and continued to rub the back of my neck. It felt so good that I didn’t bother resisting after a while, just blushed happily up at her and let the pleasant sensations wash over me. After a while warmth began to grow inside my stomach and I was abruptly consumed by a wave of affection for her.

She was so amazing! I felt so much better than I had an hour ago thanks to her, and all she’d done was hold my hand and dry me with a towel. Just being around her was comforting, like it was with mum but…it was different somehow. Alexis was beautiful, with her silky black hair curling around her long neck and…and her soft, curved lips, smooth cheekbones and deep blue eyes that always made me happy when they looked at me…

Butterflies erupted in my stomach just as my chest welled up with something I didn’t recognize, and before I knew what was happening I’d made a soft squeaking sound and dived into her chest. I wrapped my arms around her and squished myself against her body, for the first time realising how soft and warm she was.

‘Eden? What’s wrong?’ she put down the towel and looked at me in concern. ‘Are you okay?’
‘Mm!’ I smiled and squeezed her harder. ‘I’m just really happy for some reason! I love you so much Alexis!’

‘Y-you do?’ She asked slowly and I nodded. ‘Really?’

‘Yes! You’re my best friend and…and…’ I struggled to put what I was feeling into words. ‘I really like you!’

She at me in surprise as colour flushed into her cheeks. After a moment she put her hands on the sides of my face and leant down slightly so our faces were closer. ‘I love you too Eden! I’ve loved you for so long!’

‘Me too!’ I said and then remembered the photo in my pocket. ‘You’re like an older sister! The best older sister ever!’

‘Wha-huh?’ she blinked and her eyes narrowed. ‘Sister? You see me as a sister?’

‘Oh!’ I flinched at her reaction and loosened my grip around her. ‘Sorry! Was that a weird thing to say?’

‘No! No, of course not!’ she said after a moment and pulled her hands off my face. ‘I just thought that you…I was thinking of…because you said…uh…’

‘What’s wrong?’ The butterflies disappeared as an uncomfortable feeling rose inside of me.

‘I…nothing.’ she muttered and took a step back, looking disappointed for some reason.

‘Are you okay?’ I asked, scared that I’d done something wrong. Was it really bad for a boy to tell a girl that he saw her as an older sister? It was, wasn’t it? Shit! I should have just kept my mouth shut! ‘I’m really sorry! I didn’t mean to say something bad!’

‘It’s okay! I’m fine!’ she said and rubbed her face. ‘Sorry Eden. It’s just been a long day, you know? My mind’s not working at a hundred percent.’

‘Are you mad at me?’ I asked and she looked at me with wide eyes, and then actually laughed. ‘What! What’s funny?’

‘Nothing. Nothing.’ She shook her head, grinning. ‘Jesus. You’re just so naïve sometimes. Or maybe I am, actually. I forgot sometimes that you’re…well, you.’

‘What do you mean?’

She shook her head slightly and let out a heavy sigh, her cheeks still red. ‘It doesn’t matter. I need to get a glass of water from the kitchen, and probably an aspirin too. I think I’m starting to get a headache. You should go change into Nyoko’s clothes!’

‘Wh-’

‘I’ll be back in a minute!’

‘I…okay!’ I watched her hurry out of the room and ran my hands through my hair, completely confused. What had just happened? I guess I hadn’t said something weird, but I’d definitely said something wrong, something that had disappointed her. She seemed to have expected me to say something other than that I saw her as a sister but I had no idea what. Maybe I should have said she was my best friend? I thought that was obvious though! And besides, what I’d felt hadn’t been the same as what I felt for Reece and he was my best friend too. What I’d felt for Alexis had been stronger than best friend feelings. I wasn’t exactly sure what it had been but it’d been nice, and kind of exciting.

It…hadn’t been bad had it? Had Alexis known what I’d felt and that was what had made her uncomfortable? But why? It was a good feeling, not a bad one! I’d felt really nice and warm, and really sensitive and exited too. Just thinking about how it felt made the butterflies in my chest start to appear again, and a strong desire to hold Alexis started to grow. She was so soft and squishy, especially her chest! Her breasts had felt…good…pushing against the top of my head…I wished I was taller so I could feel them against my own chest…I think…did I want that? Would it feel good? I…

‘Uhm!’ I blushed as I felt the warmth growing inside me again. This was weird! I shouldn’t be thinking about Alexis’s body like this! It wasn’t right!

I shook my head and hurried out of the bathroom, trying to ignore the feelings inside me. Now was not the time to be thinking about this kind of stuff. I didn’t know what I was feeling but I was starting to realise that it wasn’t as innocent as I’d first thought. Shit.

I headed for Alexis’s room, which was at the very back of the house. It was opposite her sister’s room and next to a large den that contained a pool table, a couple of overstuffed bookshelves and a massive TV that was primarily used to play video games. Whenever Alexis’s parents had a party all the kids would end up down here while the adults milled about in the upstairs dining room and kitchen.

Alexis’s bedroom door had her name emblazoned upon it in bold, golden text and a beautifully painted baby seal looked happily at me from underneath it. Baby seals were Alexis’s favourite animal and I smiled at the painting as I opened the door, appreciating its cuteness. She’d painted it herself last year and I always felt a small pang of jealousy at that. She was so much better than I was at drawing and she didn’t even want to create comics.

Her room was almost as empty as mine was, with most of her stuff having also been packed away to take to Sanders. Some of her sketchpads and drawing guidebooks were still on her desk though, along with her computer and tablet. Various scientific posters lined the black walls, mainly of animal species but there were a few insect and plant ones as well. There was a shelf above her bed where she displayed her favourite series of beautifully made small animal figurines, and a bookcase on the other side of the room was brimming with others that she’d collected. I’d once wanted to collect them myself but each one cost fifty dollars so…yeah…that dream had died pretty quickly.
A sofa bed that I slept on sometimes was next to Alexis’s queen-sized one, and a large baby seal plushy looked up at me from between the two blue pillows. Nyoko’s clothes were lying just under it and to my relief they were pretty gender-neutral. Just a pair of black track pants and a long-sleeved white shirt.

I closed the door and quickly got changed, then looked at myself in the full-length mirror next to the sofa bed. As expected, the clothes fit me far better than they should have, and they actually looked pretty good. I liked shirts that were comfortably tight with a long bottom, and I far preferred baggy pants over tight ones. Still, it was pretty damn depressing that the clothes of a girl three years younger than me fit so well.

‘I wish you’d hurry up and grow!’ I snapped at my reflection. ‘It’s been nearly five years since I stopped getting taller and I’m still only as strong as I was when I was ten! Why couldn’t dad have let me see a doctor so…so I-’

Dad’s enraged face popped into my head and I flinched. God damn it! I didn’t need to be remembering that right now! He couldn’t hurt me here, I was fine. And mum was…mum wasn’t fine! Shit! Where was Mrs Nakamura? Wasn’t she supposed to be going back to my place and checking on mum? Had she left already?

Anxiety washed over me and I began walking to the bedroom door, but I’d barely taken two steps before a horrible feeling exploded inside of me. For a terrifying couple of seconds I felt like I was falling, like I’d somehow stepped backwards off a cliff and was plummeting towards the ground. A scream tried to rip its way out of my chest but it didn’t make it as I crashed down against the ground and the air was pushed out of my lungs. I moaned and lay staring up at the ceiling in a daze as my whole body tingled unpleasantly.

What the hell just happened?!

I turned over and pushed myself onto my knees, then checked my body to make sure nothing was injured. Everything seemed fine and I wasn’t in any pain, but I felt off somehow, like my centre of gravity had been altered.

S-something was very wrong.

Nyoko’s clothes were looser than they had been before. The shirt wasn’t as tight as it had been and the sleeves were longer, as if the whole thing had grown two sizes. And to my embarrassment when I stood up the pants just slipped right off me, as if they too had grown.

‘Uhm!’ I slipped the pants back up and knelt on the ground, pulling the elastic around the waist tighter and tying it into a knot. I’d never had to do that with any pair of pants before! Oh god…had I just shrunk in size?

That’s what I was feeling, the weird off-balance sensation and messed up centre of gravity. Nyoko’s clothes hadn’t grown, I’d shrunk! Was that possible? I’d never heard of someone shrinking before but my body wasn’t normal, it’d been developing so slowly…had it messed up so badly that it was now growing backwards?

No! That was impossible, I was being stupid! Of course I wasn’t shrinking! I’d heard of other people’s bodies developing slowly like mine had but I’d never heard of someone’s shrinking. This was just another hallucination, like all of the other weird stuff I’d seen today. I’d probably imagined the clothes fitting properly, just like I’d imagined that spider.

But…

I threw off the clothes and put on the ones I’d just taken off, and to my horror they were now larger. The jeans slipped off of me and the shirt was even baggier than Nyoko’s one had been.

‘Shit!’ I quickly took them off and put Nyoko’s back on, feeling horribly small in my own clothes. ‘Oh god oh god…okay. Okay! Uhm…uhm…uhm!’

I dropped to my knees and ran my hands through my hair, trying to comprehend what was happening. This was impossible, I couldn’t have shrunk. It wasn’t real, my brain had gotten confused somehow because of all the stress and it thought that I was smaller than I was. And this had happened right after I’d gotten anxious after seeing dad! So it had to be a stress-hallucination thing! I just needed to calm down and everything would be okay again in a few minutes. God! I wish mum was here! Deep breaths…I needed to calm myself down…

‘Eden? You dressed?’ Alexis’s voice came from outside the door.

‘Ah! Alexis! I’m dressed!’

‘Good!’ she came into the room and closed the door after her, then blinked when she saw me kneeling on the ground. ‘What are you doing down there?’

I jumped to my feet and ran over to her. She was definitely taller than she had been, as instead of coming up to the middle of her chest I only came up to near the bottom of it. That was like a ten centimetre difference! ‘Do I look smaller to you?’

‘What?’ she frowned and looked down at me. ‘No, I don’t think so.’

‘Are you sure?’ I tugged on her arm. ‘Please look really hard!’

Her eyes narrowed and she slowly looked me up and down. ‘…huh. You kind of do seem a bit shorter, actually.’

I stared at her with wide eyes, the bottom falling out of my stomach. ‘I do? This is real?’

‘I…guess so?’ She frowned. ‘Are you alright? What’s going on?’

‘I don’t know! I fell over and then I was suddenly shorter! I didn’t do anything weird, it just happened!’

She knelt down and slowly looked me over again. ‘Well, you don’t seem that much shorter, only like a couple of centimetres. Maybe you’ve…I don’t know…changed your posture or something?’

‘My posture?’ I frowned. That didn’t sound right. ‘When I hugged you before though I was taller!’

‘Yeah but, I was wearing shoes back then.’ she said and I looked down at her feet, which were bare. ‘Only sneakers, but they had a pretty thick bottom.’

‘B-but…’ I stammered and the pointed at my clothes. ‘They don’t fit properly anymore! They feel weird and baggy!’

‘Weren’t they always baggy though?’

‘Yeah but…but…god!’ I threw my hands up in frustration. ‘Do you think I’m imagining this?’

‘No, you’re definitely shorter.’ Alexis said and relief flooded through me. ‘It’s probably just me not wearing shoes or something though. Or maybe I’ve gotten taller! I’m still growing, you know.’

‘That’s-yeah!’ I gasped. ‘You’ve probably had a growth spurt! And I must have imagined all the stuff with the clothes! I’m not going crazy’

‘Nope! You’re not going crazy.’ Alexis beamed and I almost fell over from relief. I reached out to hug her but stopped myself just in time, remembering what had happened in the bathroom.

‘Oh!’ I grabbed her hand instead and looked up at her in concern. ‘What happened before? Are you okay?’

‘Yes! I’m all good now.’ She nodded and swept me up in a hug. It felt different from before due to the change in height, but it was still nice. Thankfully not as weirdly nice as before though. ‘Don’t worry about it.’

‘What happened?’

‘It’s hard to explain and…we don’t need to talk about it now.’ She ruffled my hair and grinned at me. ‘It’s not important. Honestly.’

I was trying to decide if I should push the issue more when there was a jingling from out in the hallway and we both turned to the doorway just as Mrs Nakamura entered. She was holding her car keys and had changed into more comfortable-looking clothes.

‘Knock knock!’ she said as she entered and smiled at Alexis and I. ‘I’m heading off now! I left some money on the kitchen bench for the pizza, you should order it soon so you’re not up too late.’

‘Thanks mum!’ Alexis smiled and detached from the hug.

‘Are you going to make mum come here?’ I asked hopefully but Mrs Nakamura shook her head.

‘I’m not going to force her to do anything.’ She said and smiled tightly. ‘Although I wish I could, to be honest. She knows what’s best for the two of you though, more than I do.’

‘Can you make her take me t-’ I cut myself off, realising that she’d just said she wasn’t going to make mum do anything. ‘Uhm! Can you…uh…’

She put a hand on my shoulder and gently squeezed it. ‘Try not to stress about it, honey. At least not until my husband and I get back.’

‘O-okay.’ I nodded, feeling stupid. ‘Thankyou.’

‘Just try and relax.’ she said gently. ‘Can you do that?’

‘I’ll make sure he does.’ Alexis smiled and patted me on the back.

‘Okay then! I’ll see you guys in a few hours.’ Mrs Nakamura said and nodded at Alexis. ‘Don’t forget to order your sister something as well, okay? She hasn’t had dinner yet.’

‘Ah! Pizza!’ Nyoko came running out of her room, having clearly been eavesdropping on the conversation. She was like a smaller, chubbier version of Alexis with a bowl cut. ‘I want a meat-lovers! A big one!’

‘You can have a small meat-lovers.’ Alexis laughed and looked at me. ‘Did you want to go halves in a Hawaiian?’

‘Okay!’ To my surprise I was actually starting to feel really hungry. ‘Could we maybe get a large one?’

‘What about garlic bread? And coke?’ Nyoko looked up at her sister pleadingly.

‘No coke!’ Mrs Nakamura said as she started walking off.

‘What! No! Mum!’ Nyoko cried and ran over to her. ‘I haven’t had any today!’

‘It’ll keep you up all night if you have some now, and you’ve got school in the morning.’

‘But you can’t have pizza without coke! That’s mean!’

‘What? How is it mean?’

Their voices disappeared down the hall and Alexis and I shared an amused smile. Nyoko was very passionate about pizza.

‘Right!’ Alexis said and grinned at me. ‘Let’s order some pizza and relax!’

‘Mm!’ I returned her grin. ‘Can we play pool for a bit?’

‘I thought you wanted to play on the WiiU.’ Alexis asked as she left the room.

‘I do but…’ I began but stopped, a small shiver running down my spine. I felt an uncomfortable sensation, as if I was being watched, and slowly turned around to look at the back of the room.
Where a woman was standing next to the computer desk, staring at me in utter bewilderment and holding a half-eaten slice of cake. She had flowing black hair tied into a loose ponytail with two thick strands falling on either side of her face, which was long and defined with a scar running down from the corner of her bottom lip to under her chin. A loose black nightdress hung off of her bony frame and I could see an array of other scars along her shoulders and legs.

‘Oh!’ she said in a familiar voice and I gasped. That was the same voice I’d heard when the spider had attacked! ‘Bloody hell! What the fuck have I done to you?’

‘Huh!?’ I gaped at her, just as bewildered as she was.

‘Eden?’ Alexis asked and I turned to where she was she frowning at me form the doorway. ‘You okay?’

I stared at her in confusion and pointed at the woman. ‘Look!’

Alexis followed my hand and blinked. ‘See who?’

‘Her! Can’t you s-’ I began but stopped. The woman was gone. ‘What the hell! There was a…’

I stopped myself. There was no way that woman had been real, just like that spider hadn’t been real and I hadn’t shrunk. What was going on with me? Was I losing my mind!? Oh god! I needed to calm down!

‘Are you okay?’ Alexis asked as I frantically rubbed my face and eyes.

‘I-yeah.’ I swallowed. ‘I’m just…I don’t know. I need to relax like your mum said! And I’m really hungry too! We should order the pizza now!’

Alexis grabbed my hand and smiled. ‘Yeah, let’s go. You’ll feel much better after eating something.’

‘I hope so.’

‘Trust me.’ she said brightly and led me out of the room, her warm hand once again starting to calm me down. ‘You’ll be fine.’

I looked back at the corner of the room as we left, but there was nobody there.

 
Chapter 6

The next three hours passed by in a pleasant haze as Alexis, Nyoko and I hung out in the den. We played pool for a bit but after Alexis beat me four times in a row I decided that I didn’t like pool very much anymore and we spent played video games instead. I wasn’t very good at them either but most of Alexis’s games were co-op so it didn’t hurt my pride too much whenever I lost, although the fact that Nyoko was better at them than me didn’t feel good.

I’d felt a bit off for the first hour but as soon as the pizza arrived I devoured a couple of slices and felt infinitely better, just like Alexis said I would. It hadn’t settled well in my stomach though and as the night progressed I began to get mild stomach cramps, which drained what little energy I still had left. I slumped next to Alexis and drifted off into a light sleep, letting her and Nyoko focus on their game. I’d gotten the impression that Nyoko was getting annoyed with how badly I was playing anyway, and she seemed much happier with me gone.

I don’t know how long I slept for but I was woken up by the sounds of the front door opening. As I drowsily pushed myself up into a kneeling position I heard someone enter the bathroom, and after a moment Mr Nakamura came into the room with a pleasant smile. My drowsiness disappeared in an instant and I focused all of my attention onto him.

‘Hey guys.’ He said, brushing his floppy black hair out of his eyes. ‘How’s your evening been?’

‘Good!’ Alexis said. ‘We’ve got some pizza left if you and mum want some.’

‘Thanks! But we’re good, we ate at Erin’s.’

‘The roast chicken?’ I asked and he nodded. ‘Was it good?’

‘It was great. Your mother’s a fantastic cook.’

‘I like turkey.’ Nyoko said happily. ‘Turkeys are ugly but chickens are cute and it’s not good to eat cute things.’

‘That’s why I never eat lamb.’ I said and we solemnly nodded at each other.

‘What about beef?’ Alexis asked and I sniffed unhappily.

‘Cows are jerks. I don’t care what happens to them.’

‘Anyway!’ Mr Nakamura said as Alexis began to ask me something else. ‘Could I speak to Eden for a moment?’

‘Sure.’ Alexis said and got up, pausing the game. ‘Come on Nyoko.’

Nyoko gasped. ‘Wait! We’re nearly finished! We just have to find the DK coin and w-’

‘Nyoko! Come on.’ Alexis said and pulled her to her feet. ‘It’s time for you to go to bed anyway.’

‘No it’s not! What’s the time?’ Nyoko struggled against Alexis’s grip.

‘It’s eleven thirty!’

She stopped struggling. ‘Oh! That’s late!’

‘Yeah, it is! So come one.’

‘Alright.’ She conceded and Alexis let go of her. ‘Goodnight dad. Goodnight Eden.’

We said goodbye and then Mr Nakamura sat next to me, his weight pushing the cushion down and making me lean involuntarily towards him.

‘So, Eden.’ he began but I didn’t let him finish.

‘Is mum okay?’

‘Yes! She’s doing fine now.’ He nodded. ‘But s-’

‘Is she going to take me to Sanders tomorrow?’

‘…no.’

‘Why not?!’

He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. ‘She’s worried your dad is going to hurt you if he sees you tomorrow.’

‘Then she should come here!’

‘She can’t. Your dad won’t let her see you by herself and she can’t sneak off because it’ll be pretty obvious where she’s gone, so she’s going to stay at home for a while. She thinks that if she doesn’t visit you then your dad won’t as well, and she can keep an eye on him.’

‘Can’t she get away from him for a bit then?’ I asked hopefully. ‘Like slip out during the day or something when he’s working?’

‘It’s a three hour drive to Sanders from your place. Your dad would definitely notice her absence.’

Crap. I’d forgotten how far away Sanders was. ‘Well…then maybe it’s fine if he comes then? He said he was sorry, and he really seemed to mean it this time! He even gave me money!’

‘Your mum doesn’t want to risk it, and I agree with her.’ Mr Nakamura said tightly. ‘Your father’s become more and more erratic ever since he found out what Jon had been doing to you and frankly, it’s just not safe for you to be around him anymore. It was probably never safe you to be around him, to be honest. I can’t remember a single week over the past year when you weren’t covered in bruises from his fists.’

‘Yeah, but..he…he doesn’t mean it.’ I said weakly and gritted my teeth as a cramp assaulted my stomach. ‘He just gets angry sometimes, and it’s usually my fault s-’

‘What?’ Mr Nakamura growled, making me flinch. ‘It is never your fault Eden!’

‘Yes it is.’ My stomach clenched and all the guilt I’d felt before reared back up. ‘If I hadn’t of kept that stupid photo then dad wouldn’t have gotten so angry and hurt mum. That was my fault. I know it was!’

‘That was your fathers fault! He completely over-reacted, just like he did when he first found out about you dressing as a girl. He takes things way too far.’

‘What about when he found out what I’d told the police about Jon? When he threw me against the hospital wall and broke my arm?’

‘What? Yes!’ Mr Nakamura said, sounding surprise. ‘Of course! That was one of the worst things he’s ever done! You should never have lied to the police about that, he should have been arrested!’

I clenched my fists to stop them from shaking. ‘I lied because it was my fault! Cos if I’d died like I was supposed to then he and mum would never have known what Jon did, and they’d be happy! He w-’

‘Eden, no!’ I jumped and saw Mrs Nakamura standing in the doorway, her face aghast. ‘None of this is your fault! You know that!’

The expression on her face filled me with a new kind of guilt and I stared shamefully down at my lap. Shit. If I kept talking like this I’d just upset her and her husband and I didn’t want to do that, not after they’d been so nice. I shouldn’t even be here! I’d messed up and now I was burdening them with my presence, it wasn’t fair for me to upset them like this.

‘You don’t really think that do you?’ Mrs Nakamura sat down opposite me and put a hand on my leg. ‘That your parents would be happy if you were dead?’

‘…no.’ I shook my head and avoided looking at her. Hearing it out loud from someone else made me feel sick. ‘I was just upset, I didn’t mean it.’

‘Suicide won’t make anything better.’ Mrs Nakamura said gently.

‘I know.’

‘If you’re feeling like hurting yourself the-’

‘I’m not going to hurt myself.’ I said quickly. ‘I was just upset but I’m fine now. I…I don’t want to talk about this…can I call mum and see if she’s okay?’

‘Your mother’s fine.’ Mrs Nakamura squeezed my leg gently. ‘Don’t worry about her. When we left she was just about to go to bed, so I think it’d be a good idea to leave her be for the night. She’s been through a lot today and needs a good night’s sleep.’

‘Can’t I call her just for a minute? I won’t even mention dad or anything!’ I looked up at Mrs Nakamura pleadingly. ‘I just want to hear her voice! Please!’

She began to say no but her lip trembled and gritted her teeth. ‘I…guess that’s fine. But just for a minute, okay? And I want you to promise me that you won’t bring up anything serious. ’

‘I promise.’ I said eagerly and watched as she pulled out her phone and called mum, then handed it to me.

‘Hello?’ Mum’s beautiful, tired voice lit up my ear.

‘Mum!’

‘Eden! Are you okay?’

‘I am! Are you?’

‘Yes. I’m much better now.’ she said brightly. ‘Alexis’s parents made sure of that.’

‘Are yo-’ I began but stopped. I was about to ask her if she was going to come to Sanders tomorrow but I already knew she wasn’t. ‘Uhm. W-when can I see you again?’

‘I was thinking that I’d see you at Sanders on Friday afternoon?’

‘Really?’ I gasped. Mr Nakamura had made me think that I wouldn’t get to see her again for a month or something! ‘What about…uhm…’

‘Your father’s going to be…he’s…’ she trailed off for a moment. ‘We spoke on the phone half an hour ago and decided that it would be best if he moved in with some friends at the end of the week.’

‘He has friends?’ I’d thought Jon had been his only one.

Mum laughed. ‘Yes! He does have friends, strangely enough. The guys he goes drinking with. He’s staying with one of them.’

‘Is he going to come back?’ I asked quietly.

‘I don’t know. But you don’t need to worry about that now, okay? We’ll talk about this more when I see you on Friday.’

I forced myself to not ask any more questions. ‘Okay then.’

‘Are you excited about tomorrow?’

I actually took me a couple of seconds to realise she was talking about Sanders. ‘Oh. I guess so.’

‘You don’t sound excited!’

‘It hasn’t really sunk in yet.’ I shrugged, even though she couldn’t see it. ‘Today kind of threw me off.’

‘I can imagine.’ Mum said sadly. ‘But tomorrow’s going to be a big day for you, so get excited! It’s the start of a whole new era of your life, and the first steps towards you creating comics!’

‘Yeah.’ I tried to sound excited but couldn’t muster up the energy, still hurt by dad’s words. My drawings were shit, he hadn’t lied about that. And now I was starting to doubt that the cartooning class would actually help me. You couldn’t turn shit into gold. ‘I’ll probably be more excited tomorrow when I wake up.’

‘Have Alexis’s parents told you about how you’re getting to Sanders?’

I shook my head and then blushed when I realised she couldn’t see it. ‘Oh, no! How am I getting there?’

‘They have to leave early and won’t get off work until late, so you and Alexis are going to get a train there for the dorm introduction meetings, then they’ll come by after that and drop off your stuff.’
‘Did you give them my suitcases to take?’

‘Yep. You packed everything you needed, right?’

‘I-’ My stomach cramped and I suppressed a grunt of pain, then continued speaking. ‘I think so!’

‘Well, if you’ve forgotten something then give me a call and I’ll bring it on Friday.’ Mum said through a yawn. ‘Sorry about that! I’m a bit tired.’

‘You should go to bed then!’

‘I am in bed! And you should be too, it’s almost midnight.’

‘Can I call you tomorrow?’

‘I’ll call you, okay? Around lunchtime.’

‘Okay!’

There was a brief pause before she spoke again. ‘Alright. I…sleep well, Eden. I love you.’

‘I love you too mum!’

She made a happy sound and then hung up. I let out a heavy sigh and ran my hands through my hair, feeling much better but still…not great. It was weird talking to her on the phone, especially after what had happened, and I was still upset about her not coming tomorrow. I knew why but it didn’t make me feel any better. And while it was awesome that I’d get to see her on Friday that was after a whole week of Sanders! I wanted her to be there at the start, to see my dorm room with me and walk around the grounds and have lunch together. That was what I had been most looking forward to tomorrow, not actually moving into Sanders.

‘Are you okay?’ Mrs Nakamura drew me out of my thoughts.

‘Yes! Thankyou so much for letting me speak to her!’ I said and handed her back the phone. ‘It…helped a lot. I feel better now.’

‘I’m glad.’ she smiled and got off the couch. ‘Now, why don’t you go and clean your teeth? I’m going to set up the sofa bed in Alexis’s room for you to sleep in.’

‘Thankyou!’

She smiled and left the room, and her husband got up as well.

‘You going to be alright?’ he asked and I nodded. ‘Alright then. I’m off to bed. I’ll see you tomorrow!’

‘Goodnight!’

As I watched him leave my stomach cramped again and I grunted in pain. They were starting to get really painful now, and seemed to be spreading out somehow, if that was even possible. My chest was beginning to ache too, as well as my liver. I really hoped I didn’t get worse throughout the night and end up unable to go to Sanders. After everything that had happened today, getting sick from eating pizza seemed like the most embarrassing way possible to miss out on my first day at Sanders.
Once my stomach calmed down I cleaned my teeth and then went to Alexis’s room, where Mrs Nakamura had just finished setting up the sofa bed. She gave me a hug and left after telling me that I should wake her up if I needed anything throughout the night. I thanked her and jumped onto the bed, rolled around for a bit and then burrowed under the covers. Mrs Nakamura had given me two pillows and I gratefully wrapped myself around the largest one just like I did at home. My head was a mess of worry and disappointment but my exhaustion weighted them both down and after a minute I began to doze off. Barely a minute had passed though before Alexis came in, called out goodnight to her parents and shut the door behind her.

‘Eden? You awake?’ she asked and I squeaked tiredly. ‘Did dad tell you about tomorrow?’

‘Yeah. We’re getting a train to Sanders.’ I mumbled and turned over to look at her. ‘We don’t have to wear our uniforms tomorrow, do we? Cos I think mine’s in the SUV.’

‘Nah, tomorrow’s only for people living in the dorms.’ She sat on the edge of her bed and looked down at me. ‘We’re going to have some kind of meeting in the dining hall and meet all of the dorm heads and their bosses.’

‘Have you met yours? Your dorm heads?’ There were six dorms, split in half by gender and each with their own separate dorm heads. I’d met both of mine but I only really remembered one, a kind old man with an oversized moustache that made him look like a video game villain. He’d been really understanding about my height and told me that he’d make sure that none of the older boys bullied me, and if they did to come to him straight away and he’d sort them out.

‘I met one of them. I think her name was Julia, and she was nice I guess. I just…’ she let out a nervous sigh. ‘I wish we lived closer so I wouldn’t have to stay there. I don’t know any of the girls and I don’t like the idea of sharing a room with a stranger.’

‘I’ll be around! And Reece too!’

‘Boys aren’t allowed in the girls section though, and Reece isn’t even in our class. I’ll only see you in classes and the co-ed common room and canteen. Beyond that, I’ll be spending most of my time with a bunch of strangers.’

The bitterness in her voice surprised me and sat up. ‘I thought you were really excited about going to Sanders.’

‘I’m excited about the biology and photography classes. Not the dorms.’

‘You’ve never said anything about it before!’

‘I didn’t want to complain.’

‘It’s not complaining!’ I crawled off my bed and onto hers, ignoring a painful cramp in my side. ‘I’d be terrified if Reece wasn’t going to be with me! I don’t know if I’d even be going if he wasn’t sharing a room with me, so you’re really brave!’

She looked at me sadly through her hair. ‘I wish I could share a room with you instead.’

‘I do too!’ I hugged her tightly, hoping that I was as comforting to her as she was to me. ‘It’s stupid that they don’t let boys and girls share a room. We sleep in the same room all the time and nothing bad ever happens!’

She laughed softly. ‘Not yet it doesn’t.’

‘What do you mean?’

She pulled out of the hug and looked at me seriously. ‘Well, okay. I’d never sleep alone in the same room as Reece, or hug him like this. I do with you because even though I like…I mean, because you’re…you…but one day you’re going to get older and…and be like Reece.’

I processed that slowly, not quite sure what she meant. ‘What do you mean like Reece?’

‘You know. Attracted to girls.’ she said after a moment, seeming embarrassed.

‘Why would that-oh!’ I finally figured out what she meant. ‘Reece wouldn’t try to try and kiss you or something! He’s really nice!’

‘I know, but I’ve caught him looking up my skirt a few times and a f-’

‘What?!’ I gaped at her. ‘He looked up your skirt?’

‘It’s not a big deal. Heaps of boys have tried to look up my skirt. Some girls have too.’ she blushed slightly.

‘Isn’t that scary? I’d never wear a skirt if I caught someone trying to look up it!’

‘You get used to it.’ she said casually. ‘Skirts are…weird. They’re annoying to wear but they look good, especially on girls with long legs. Dresses too. Oh! Have you seen the girl’s school uniform?’ I shook my head and her eyes lit up. ‘It’s amazing! All of the items are fitted, even the shirts, and the blazer looks so professional! But the dress is the best part, it’s short but not too short and the white hemming looks amazing with the white socks we have to wear.’

I'd never really found clothes all that interesting and as such was having trouble following what she’d just said. ‘What does fitted mean?’

‘It means that it’s tight, it hugs your body and doesn’t float out all over the place like our old uniform did.’ she said distastefully. ‘I am so glad I don’t have to wear that stupid thing anymore.’

‘My uniform is like our old one. It’s baggy and horrible, and is way too big for me.’ I said miserably.

‘You’ll grow into it.’ Alexis said confidentially.

‘I hope so.’ I began to say something else but another stupid cramp appeared, this time at the base of my stomach. ‘Ugh! Did that pizza make you feel sick?’

‘No, I feel fine. You don’t?’

‘I keep getting these cramps every now and then around my stomach.’ I said just as another cramp appeared near my kidneys.

‘Did you want me to get an aspirin?’ she asked but I shook my head, the idea of putting something else in my stomach making me queasy.

‘I think I just need to sleep it off.’ I said and crawled back onto my bed. ‘My body’s probably just tired and needs to sleep.’

‘Yeah, it probably does actually.’ Alexis said and got up. ‘I’m going to turn the lights off then, I’m going to sleep too.’

‘Do we have to get up at a specific time tomorrow?’

‘Well, we have to catch the train at one.’ she said as she flicked off the lights. ‘So we’ll probably want to be up by eleven. I’ll set my alarm clock but we’ll probably be away by then anyway.’

‘Probably.’ I agreed, getting under my bedcovers and hugging the pillow to my chest again. ‘Goodnight Alexis!’

‘Night Eden! Sweet dreams!’

‘You too!’ I said and closed my eyes, hoping that I’d feel better in the morning.

I didn’t sleep well. The cramps got worse as the night progressed and I started to wonder if they were even cramps anymore. It felt like my internal organs were being squeezed all at once, from my heart to my intestines down to my kidneys, and it felt disgustingly weird. After a while my head began to ache too, and a burning sensation started encompassing my body.

Dreams assaulted me every now and them, unpleasant ones about dad hurting mum and Alexis screaming at me for some reason, telling me everything was my fault, but they never lasted very long. The woman I’d imagined from before appeared in some of them too, asking me where I lived and telling me that she was sorry, that she didn’t mean for this to happen.

I gasped awake multiple times during the night and the burning sensation got so bad that I ended up taking off Nyoko’s clothes and sleeping naked, something I never did. I was too uncomfortable to be embarrassed though, and fear was starting to creep into the back of my mind. This was not a normal kind of sickness, at least not the kind you’d get from eating a bad pizza. Every cell in my body felt like it was on fire and the horrible squeezing feeling inside of me was getting worse by the minute.

Was this because of the spider!? Had it actually been real and poisoned me? Were my organs failing? Shit! They were, weren’t they! What else could this feeling be! Oh god. I was dying! I needed to get Alexis’s parents! They’d know what to do, and if they didn’t then they could call an ambulance and they’d definitely know what to do!

There room was upstairs though and I didn’t think I’d be able to make it in this state. I needed help.

‘Alexis!’ I croaked and pushed myself up onto my knees, my body drenched in cold sweat and shaking uncontrollably. ‘Alexis!’

I tried to crawl over to her but pain exploded inside of me as the burning sensation intensifying to the point that it felt like my body was actually melting. I tried to scream but nothing came out beyond a pained whimper and collapsed onto the bed, the last of my energy dying. My insides erupted into agony and I thrashed about helplessly as a pain I’d never experienced before wracked my body, both inside and out. My vision blurred and the sensation from before happened again, like I’d fallen off a cliff, and I was suddenly drowning in darkness.

It devoured me.

 

Sorry for the delay with this, I was hoping to post it on Friday but things kept getting in the way, and a small change I made earlier in the story had a horrible domino effect later on and I've had to rewrite entire segments which have had an even larger domino effect and...AGH >.<
My head hurts.