Contemplation of Uniformity and Death (Open)

[Camila Reyes]

The auditorium was devoid of students, as it should have been at that hour. It was just after three, and classes were done for the day. Most students were probably on their way back to their rooms to change out of the fancy uniform they were forced to wear. Of course, there were always some who tailored the uniforms to their tastes, though they were often called out by the teachers or the prefects, who were really just doing their job, no matter how much anyone else hated it. There were other people who decided that modifying the uniform itself was not the brightest of ideas, but instead found a different way to rebel. They too were “called out” on their tastes, but less so than those who actually modified the uniform. After all, that was the point of making the students wear a uniform; so that everyone looked the same from an outsider's perspective. But, oh, how wrong that perspective was, because there was indeed a difference in opinion amongst the students that would cause a powder keg explosion if anything disturbed the peace between the rival groups.

The sound of shoes hitting the floor echoed through the empty room and rang in the ears of the girl striding down the aisle. Her sapphire eyes scanned the room for cameras and a small scowl pulled at the corner of her lips as she noticed one on either side of the room. She looked at the black-banded watch on her wrist; it was after three, wasn't it? Sure, she could have gone back to her room to change but even if she wanted to, she could not, because she had pretty much been dropped on the island with only one other outfit to wear besides the uniform clinging to her body. She stopped walking and wrinkled her nose as she looked down at the dress shoes on her feet. Of course, they had give her a crappy, old pair on the boat. She brushed the hem of her skirt lightly, as if trying to remove dust from it. She was still uncomfortable with the length of the fabric that surrounded her waist; she felt like they were purposely screwing with her insecurities. She tugged at the ends of her blouse, huffing as one of the buttons slid out of the hole it was meant to be in. Her brown ponytail swished behind her as she looked down to slide the button back into place. The wardrobe malfunctions were starting to irritate her.

The female continued standing in the aisle, looking around at the empty seats before starting her trip that led to the stage steps. She climbed the stairs carefully, making sure she did not trip as she ascended. When she reached what she thought to be the center of the stage, she turned around, looking out at the audience seats. She closed her eyes for a moment, taking some time to appreciate the quiet place in a normally noisy school. Her eyes fluttered open and she shook her head as a smirk replaced the scowl that had been pulling at her lips before. She bent down to untie her shoes and started to hum to herself while she did so. For some reason, she had been listening to a lot of sad music lately, which was funny, because she had no clothes, but she had a common device that could play digital copies of music. She snorted to herself, taking her shoes off of her feet and approaching the edge of the stage, perching on it. She started to swing her feet, watching as one foot swung past the other idly. She cleared her throat, looking out at the empty seats before closing her eyes. Maybe being on stage will help me with that pesky stage fright I have... She started to sing and her voice, though not particularly strong, was pretty and loud enough to make echoes in the empty auditorium.

“If I die young, bury me in satin. Lay me down on a bed of roses. Sink me in the river at dawn. Send me away with the words of a love song...”

She halted her singing for a moment, thinking about the words that had slipped from her lips. She had to laugh at the absurdity of it all; if someone wanted her dead, they would kill her. Of course, she was glad she started at the beginning because the mention of a mother might have been just a touch inappropriate due to her circumstances. She twisted her mouth to the side slightly, as if she were ruminating upon something important. Her eyelashes fluttered as she started to sing again, thinking to herself the whole time. How would she die? Would anyone miss her? Why was she asking these kinds of questions anyway? Once she concluded the song, her right heel smacked the stage with a hard 'thwack' and she winced, feeling the pain almost instantly. She kept her legs dangling off the front of the stage, though, because she knew if someone heard her, she did not want to be embarrassed because she would surely flash someone when she stood up, even if it was not her intent to do so. She waited for a voice to ring out or a footstep to echo, all the while ruminating in her own little world.

[Stephen Paulinski]

     Classes for the day had ended. Everyone had one to his or her dorms, the beach, the forest, or some other place for after-school recreation. So, why was Stephen still in the school building? He was curious about Ashford. He wanted to explore every inch of it until he got familiar with it. He wanted to navigate the whole island until he could walk everywhere with his eyes closed.

     That is what Stephen kept telling himself. In actuality, he was so lost that he could not find the exit. He had a terrible sense of direction, and he hated that about himself. He wandered the large, quiet, empty halls with his hands in his pockets and eyes on the linoleum tiles. “God dammit, Stephen,” he muttered angrily under his breath, “How do you manage to lose sight of the exit?”

     Stephen continued to walk through the halls, opening every door he could find. He found the Spanish room, the Algebra room, the Chemistry lab, and the janitor’s closet. He found the German room, the English room, and the boys bathroom. Stephen would have been happy with his progress if he had been searching for any of these rooms. Every time he opened up a door that was not the exit, he cursed himself a bit more.

     “Finally! A staircase!” Stephen ran towards it and bounded down the stairs. He walked through what he assumed was the ground floor. Stephen turned his head and saw his goal: the exit. “Freedom!” Stephen said breathlessly. He pushed open the door and stepped through when a sound stopped him. A voice. Singing. Really pretty singing. Stephen turned on his heel and headed towards the source of the wonderful soprano.

     Stephen found himself in an auditorium. He saw a girl, with chocolate brown hair tied back in a ponytail. Her feet were dangling over the edge the stage, her eyes watching her swinging feet, covered only by her knee socks. Though she was too far away to confirm, Stephen assumed the girl was Camila Reyes. Her voice sounded familiar, and her hair, though simple, was unforgettable.

     “If I die young, bury me in satin. Lay me down on a bed of roses. Sink me in the river at dawn. Send me away with the words of a love song...”

     Her voice trailed off at the end of that line, and she remained silent for a few moments. The boy wanted to walk over to Camila and begin a conversation, but as soon as he mustered up the courage to walk over, she began to sing again. Stephen stopped and leaned against the doorway, listening to the girl’s beautiful voice. She has the voice of an angel, he thought, transfixed on the sound that was escaping her lips. He did not focus on the lyrics, however. Once he had identified the song, he tuned out the lyrics. It was such a depressing song, and Stephen did not feel like tearing up at the moment.

     The song concluded, punctuated by a loud smack of Camila’s foot. Stephen winced. That sounded like it hurt, Stephen thought. He let her have a couple seconds to herself before he began to walk towards her.

As he got closer, Stephen saw the girl’s sapphire eyes, which confirmed that the girl he had just listened to was, indeed, Camila Reyes. Stephen walked up to the stage and rubbed his bare arm nervously. He cleared his throat. “Um, hi.” He laughed timidly before continuing. “You know, it isn’t a requirement that you hurt yourself every time we meet, right?”

     Stephen rubbed his forehead and furrowed his brow. Stupid, Stupid, he chided himself.

[Deleted]

Utsuho took a look at the clock and immediately saw that she was late to her evening classes. The Ashford administration had decided that she was best as a medical asset and assigned her as one of the several nurses that made sure that at least 85 percent of the school was alive and in good health at one time. She was told to take the evening classes, but ever since Utsuho was dropped off at the academy, her attendance to all her classes has been pretty much zero with an occasional negative one. Utsuho sighed, there weren’t many patients today as she had anticipated, probably more because of the fact she sat in the back in the room and looked “evil”, according to some of the few students that did come and visit her to heal. She didn’t mean it; it wasn’t her fault that her wings were black and her only methods of healing looks like she was sucking the soul out of people.

Putting the thought behind her, Utsuho slowly stood from her chair and stretched, popping her fingers and arms before letting them drop to her sides. The school she had been randomly dropped in held a strangely neutral position in her mind, it was boring with the job that she had, but some of the injuries she had seen in the office made her wonder about the abilities of some of the students in the school. Utsuho tugged on her outfit to get her wings into a more comfy position, she had been nagged by a group of students called Perfects about why she wasn’t wearing the standard Ashford uniform, and her response was always the same- nobody ever gave her one and if she ever got one, it’ll most likely get cut to pieces before she successfully got the uniform on. Following Utsuho rationales, trying to make two slits on her back for her wings is the hardest thing on the planet for her unless you had the world’s best professional clothes maker helping: she was horribly picky when it came to where the wing openings were on her back. If the slits for her wings are not absolutely perfect, she’ll try to make them perfect and end up making the uniform unwearable from her trial and errors. In conclusion, it’s just not worth it to try to get Utsuho into any outfit unless you were a professional in bird human cloths.

The sun shone through a window as Utsuho busied herself in reorganizing the shelves of medical books from subject to alphabetical order. She then mixed the books up again and placed them back to groups according to subject. Quickly finishing rearranging the shelves, Utsuho sat down on one of the beds, looking out the window. Thirty seconds later, she was rearranging the blood bags, debating what was the quickest way to take the correct bag, without hesitating, to see what blood type it was. After debating over the same two combinations Utsuho had last week, she sighed and walked to the medical log. Taking the log, Utsuho returned back to her desk and started to reread the scribble reports she wrote on the pages, rewriting some parts of the log where she herself couldn’t even understand. But at the end, Utsuho boringly opened one of the blood bags and started to play around with the blood. The last time she was this bored, she had opened one of the windows and was shooting at leaves with her shadows. She had accidentally cut the tree down in the process. The next day, Utsuho got a note that said, “If you disturb the peace again, I’ll tear your ****ing wings off.” Utsuho had her doubts but took the threat seriously. Sighing again, the bored bird girl made a large blob of blood and dropped it onto the table. The blood splattered all over the table but Utsuho easily recombined the blood to another big blob the exact size.

She cringed as her mind floated back to trying to remember her past. Her memories came in fragments, all of them showing snippets of her past in screams and unforgettable pain. In an effort to evade another night of nightmares, Utsuho stood and made her way out of the nurse’s office and into the endless hall of classrooms. She listened as her footsteps echoed through the mostly empty hallway, occasionally passing a student that was sitting in the hall reading. A perfect leaning by a wall glanced at Utsuho suspiciously as she passed. Utsuho favored avoiding perfects, but sometimes, it was inevitable that one will pass by and give her a through questioning. Utsuho soon realized that she still had the big ball of blood floating around her like some sort of evil pet following her, but by the time she knew it, she on the other side of the hall, and passing the perfect again will probably motivate him enough to stop her and question what she was doing. Not wanting to go through questions again, Utsuho turned a corner and heard someone singing. She realized that she was close to the auditorium and wandered vaguely towards the direction of the sound. Her wings were also begging to be extended out after hours of being scrunched up in one place on her back, so Utsuho had at least a somewhat legitimate reason to go to the auditorium.

The singing stopped and Utsuho heard a dull thud come from the auditorium. Hesitating, she opened one of the doors that led to a wing of the auditorium. She heard another voice, a guy’s voice, and stopped as she heard, “-that you hurt yourself every time we meet, right?” Utsuho knew that it was out of context, but anything about injury made her nervous. Looking around on the empty set, Utsuho desperately looked for anything to hide behind other than the dark curtain in front of her. Finding nothing, she scurried to a corner of the stage and kneeled down so the curtain managed to cover her from the people on the stage. Suddenly, there was a loud splash and Utsuho’s mind screamed a colorful display of curse words as she realized that she had accidentally lost focus of the ball of blood that she was still had floating around her. The ball of blood now lay as a red puddle beside her. “Shoot….” The bird girl muttered while standing up, waiting for the two people she was spying on to react.

[Camila Reyes]

She did not hear the steps in the hallway because of her singing. However, she could almost sense someone lurking at the door. Of course, she assumed she was just being paranoid. She did have a bit of stage fright, so she was wary of anyone in the auditorium. She knew that she should not be so on edge, but it was hard to stay calm in a school where most of the students stayed peaceful only because they had to. She was sure that if there were no rules or people willing to enforce them, there would certainly be a bloodbath. There was probably one before I came, I’m sure, she thought to herself, looking out at the seats. They seemed to be covered in a scratchy, uncomfortable-looking cloth that made her want to itch her back for just looking at it. Instead of doing that, however, she pulled out her ponytail holder and let it slide onto her wrist. Her chocolate hair fell around her shoulders and she ran her fingers through it while she sang.

A boy held the door open for a slightly younger girl who trailed into the living room after him. The girl had a book in her hands and was grinning widely. The boy ruffled her chocolate brown hair and the girl let out a disgruntled noise as a small pout formed on her lips. The boy reached over and plucked the book from the girl’s arms and he raised his eyebrow. She let out another yelp of protest and tried to swat the book out of his hand. He raised his eyebrow and flipped through the book. His words were icy cold and froze her over like a plant in the winter that had been crystallized in ice. He told her that even if she was taking singing lessons at school, their parents still liked him better. Tears pricked her eyes as she pulled the book from his hands. She smacked him with it and ran upstairs to her room, holding back the tears that threatened to spill. Why did her brother have to constantly remind her she was just the experiment child? It was bad enough her parents implied it every day, so did he really have to rub it in her face? Obviously, he did, because if he didn’t feel like he had to, then he wouldn’t. So, she opened the book and started to read it, hoping to do something that would please her parents. At the very least, she would finally be able to do something she loved.

She shook her head, singing the last words of the song and stretching her hands out behind her. She had to stop slipping in and out of memories while she was by herself. One time, she was going to be caught off guard and she would certainly suffer then. The sound of footsteps made her snap her head up and she her face flushed a little. Oh great, here comes Casanova, she thought to herself, seeing a familiar head of white hair approaching. She let her pained ankle simply hang alongside the other one, acting as if nothing was wrong despite the glint of pain in her eye. She rolled her eyes in mock annoyance and let out an exaggerated sigh. She tried to indicate that she was joking by the tone of her voice when she spoke.

“‘Oh, am I out of breath in this fond chase! The more my prayer, the lesser is my grace...’”

She stated the lines jokingly, as if to implicate that he was following her. Of course, the smirk curling across her face gave away the fact that she was joking. She was sure that he had just gotten lost and heard something familiar and gravitated toward it like a moth to a flame. She shook her head, bringing all of her hair over her right shoulder.

“And for your information, I do that a lot. Er, hurt myself, I mean… Do you always sound like a bit of a doofus around pretty girls?”

She snickered a little, a smirk still playing on her lips. The smell of blood reached her nostrils and she turned her head toward one of the wings of the stage. She did not hear the soft words of the other student that was present nor did she sense her. However, she was curious as to where the smell of blood was coming from, so she looked at her ankle after pulling the sock down. There was no sign of a laceration, so the smell must have been coming from somewhere else. She heard another pair of feet and looked toward the right wing of the stage. She tilted her head, squinting as if to see the other person better. She did not rise from her spot so that she did not flash Stephen. Lord knows I’ve already done that enough, she thought dryly.

[Stephen Paulinski]

     “Do you always sound like a bit of a doofus around pretty girls?”

     Stephen let out an awkward laugh. He honestly did not know how to respond to that. It did not help that she gave him a gorgeous smile, either. His mind became like putty as he fumbled for an answer. “Duh, um, uh...”

     As Stephen worked to find a witty retort, one of the girl’s earlier comments echoed in his mind. “‘Oh, am I out of breath in this fond chase! The more my prayer, the lesser is my grace...’”

     Stephen let out a little smile. Shakespeare, he thought, Now, this is something up my alley. Stephen knew what Camila was getting at; she was trying to poke fun at him, saying that he has been following her. Stephen shook his head and chuckled. “Novice,” he said humorously before retorting with a quote himself from the Bard:

     “Words without thoughts never to heaven go.”

     Stephen smiled jokingly, hoping that she would get that he was trying to say that just saying words without thinking about them would not mean anything, considering the quotation she had just used had no correlation to the thought she was trying to convey.

     As soon he finished his quotation, the girl turned her gaze away from his, frowning. Stephen mentally hit himself. God dammit, Steven, he thought, exasperated, Why did you have to open up your big mouth and offend the pretty girl?

     Camila began to stare intently at one of the wings of the stage. Stephen realized that she was not mad at him, rather she had seen or heard something suspicious coming from that direction. Stephen followed her gaze. At first, he saw nothing. He heard the girl take in a sharp breath, presumably smelling something. Stephen let in a big breath through his nose, smelling something metallic. It smelled very familiar…

     Stephen was pretty sure he knew what he was smelling, but he wanted visual confirmation before making any sort of conclusion. He scanned the pitch black wing, seeing nothing but absolute blackness. I honestly don’t know what I was expecting, Stephen thought dryly. Stephen was about to give up his search when he saw a red glint on the edge of his vision. Oh no, Stephen thought, feeling his entire body go cold. His body went rigid as he slowly moved his gaze down to the ground. “Oh, no,” he whispered.

     His suspicions were correct. He had indeed smelled blood. A pool of blood was slowly expanding on the wooden floor of the wing. Stephen’s mind briefly flashed to the man he had burned. Stephen had resolved to never let anyone ever get hurt again as long as he could help it.

     “Hello?” Stephen called out as he jumped onstage. He walked slowly towards the inky blackness. He spoke hesitantly, trying to keep his composure and not burst into flame. “You’re bleeding. A lot. I think you need medical attention.”

[Deleted]

Utsuho stood there nervously as she watched the guy approach her, she soon realized that he couldn't see her. "Hello?" Taking a nervous step forward, Utsuho heard the man talk again, "You're bleeding. A lot. I think you need medical attention." Amused by man's concern, Utshuo gave a small laugh, before discovering a big problem. She had underestimated the splash range the blood had caused when her ball of blood dropped onto the ground. Utsuho began to smell the iron of the blood as it slowly began to stick on much of the left side of her body. The fact that her top was also white did not help. 


Giving a more nervous laugh, Utsuho spoke while trying to get some blood out of her hair, "No need to be concerned, just a small spill... that's all." She didn't sound convincing at all but that was the best Utsuho could do while her mind was scrambling to find some sort of way to make herself more presentable. Giving up on trying making herself look less bloody, Utsuho walked forward until she reached the lit portion of the stage. She made sure that she was within view of Stephen as she stood several feet away from him. Even though she tried to look like nothing bad happened, her appearance made it more questionable than she really was.

There was streaks of blood running down Utsuho's left side of her face and colored part of her hair. Her left of her top was completely soaked in blood and several droplets slid down her leg.

Utsuho gave a small glance at Stephen. He looked like the average Joe to her, other than his strange white hair, he looked like any other typical student. Looking behind him, Utsuho spotted the girl that was most likely the one who was singing just minutes ago. She was unusually pale in Utsuho’s view but Utsuho kept her mouth shut since she knew had to explain more on why she was covered in blood than to question the appearances of others.


With a small smile, Utsuho spoke again, “Ah, good evening, don’t mind the blood, I can’t- erm seem to control my powers sometimes.” -No, that sounded too weird- Utsuho thought to herself. “I mean, no, I didn’t stab myself- or anyone else...” She stopped again and decided to think for a second before before speaking, "I can manipulate blood, okay? I was carrying some blood with me and it fell." pulling at the bloodied left side of her outfit, Utsuho continued talking, "This is just, uh, accidental splash stains..."

[Camila Reyes]

She snickered at his attempt to find a comeback for her question. Gotcha, she thought smugly, a smirk still stretched across her face. She saw him shake his head and quirked an eyebrow. Novice? If I didn’t know you were joking, I would have hurled something at you already, she thought darkly, though keeping the smirk she had worn earlier. She rolled her eyes a little, shaking her head as a small smile crept across her face. Finally, someone who actually spoke her language and understood her references! Not to mention the fact that he had referenced one of her favorite Shakespeare works, Hamlet. She let out a chuckle and sent him a small, genuine smile.

“Hamlet, eh? You have good taste. Though, I can’t help but think you’re calling me crazy, which might or might not be right, considering with whom you speak.”

Camila’s eyebrows furrowed when she noticed Stephen’s muscles stiffen. It was not until a young woman covered in blood stepped into the light that Camila realized that she was smelling blood. Her own muscles tensed and she felt her breath catch in her throat. She forced herself to exhale and tried to squelch the coming feeling of dizziness and panic. Seeing blood set off a terrible chain reaction that gave her horrific flashbacks and caused her to break down. Of course, the last time it had happened, she had been alone, but that was because the attack came after she had woken up from a nightmare about the gruesome scene she had discovered on her last day at home. Her hands moved to the edge of the stage and gripped it until her knuckles were blanched white. The color drained from her face rapidly, though she tried to keep a straight face so that she would not give away the fact that she was internally panicking. She caught some of the female’s words and mainly the fact that she was a blood manipulator and the blood had fallen and splashed all over her. Camila’s breathing became shallow and fast and she turned her face away from the girl so that she could calm herself down.

“Blood manipulation? You must be useful in the infirmary for controlling bleeding and such…”

Her statement was directed at the girl, though Camila was not actually facing her. She started to rock back and forth a little, moving one hand from the edge of the stage to cover her sapphire eyes. Just smelling the crimson essence of life was not as bad as actually looking at it. I guess it was venous blood, due to the color, she thought to herself while she struggled to keep her breathing even and her panic under control. Images started to flash before her open eyes and she shook her head, trying desperately to will them away. Way to go, Reyes. Get freaked out at a little bit of blood, why don’t you? she thought bitterly. What good will you be to Battlefront if you’re having a panic attack in the middle of a battle? She bit back a yelp that wanted to escape her throat. She just had to suffer through the memory that was branded into her brain before she could return to reality. The scene was as horrifying as it was the first time she saw it, though more details stuck out to her as she watched it play.

After a few minutes, her breathing started to even out and she stopped rocking back and forth. She kept her right hand clamped over her eyes, though, as if she was afraid that she would see the scene before her in reality. Her hand still gripped the stage and she swallowed, closing her eyes and breathing out slowly to continue calming herself. Once she felt safe again, she peeled her fingers away from her eyes. Camila shook her head, trying to get rid of her terrified facial expression before looking at Stephen. She could not look at the other girl, at least, not until she felt that she would not have another breakdown. I have to stop that somehow, she thought to herself, dropping her gaze to her sock-covered feet.

“What’s your name, Miss? Surely you have one…”

[Deleted]

Utsuho noticed Camila reacting strangely as she showed her blood-covered body into the light. Confusion filled her mind as Utsuho tried to figure out why the pale woman was overreacting so badly. Was it her appearance? Other than the blood that she had tried to explain what happened, Utsuho still could not understand, her wings weren’t even out and she still haven’t gone into her ‘evil mode’ yet. Could it be the blood? Utsuho pushed the thought away just because she assumed everyone in the school had experienced blood one way or another (according to the injuries that Utsuho had seen as nurse) and had gotten used to the sight of it. Blood to Utsuho was almost like water, except she disliked the taste of it. Her times being experimented on made the sight of blood and flesh something so “normal” that someone could gut a person right in front of Utsuho and she would most likely just stand there puzzled at most.

“Blood manipulation? You must be useful in the infirmary for controlling bleeding and such…” Utsuho heard the woman say and with a troubled smile replied, “Of course, I am actually a nurse here.” With the remaining blood that was still wet enough for her to use, Utsuho lifted a few drops of blood from her blood-soaked cloths and let it float around herself. “I can stop bleeding big or small, but for big leaks, break my focus and I can’t stop the bleeding.” Utsuho watched as Camila rocked back and forth in a strange way that she had only seen in text- as Utsuho could recall from a book she read in the nurse’s office, Camila looked like she was having a panic attack. The problem was that Utsuho didn’t have a damn clue how to help.


“What’s your name, Miss? Surely you have one…” Without thinking, Utsuho laughed and backed up, extended her wings and took an exaggerated curtsy, “Nurse Utsuho Yujin, at your service.” Standing straight again, Utsuho noticed that Camila had begun to act normal again so she let the blood float around Camila for a few seconds before recalling the blood back to herself. Utsuho noticed that Camila was not looking at her. Maybe it was the blood… Covering her body with her wings to clean them and to block her blood-soaked body, Utsuho looked at Camila and asked, “May I ask what your name is? And why are you overreacting so much? I mean, this is just blood…”

[Stephen Paulinski]

     Stephen could tell that Camila was making an effort not to show the fact that she was panicking. Obviously, the girl did not like blood. Camia began to rock on the stage. Well, that can’t be good, Stephen thought worriedly. Camila’s breath began to quicken as she put a hand over her eyes, gripping the stage with the other until the the fingers were stark white. Stephen wanted to comfort her, but he was not quite sure how to. Before he could think of a way, she stopped; her breathing returned to normal and she stopped shaking and rocking.

     The hand that covered her eyes was the last remnant of her moment. When she finally removed them, she locked eyes with Stephen.

     “What’s your name, Miss? Surely you have one...”

     For a brief moment, Stephen was wondering why Camila was calling him “Miss”, much less asking him his name. Stephen internally laughed at his own stupidity after a few seconds. That mirth was quickly replaced with worry and concern when he began to study Camila’s facial expression. She was still in shock from seeing the blood, he assumed. Whatever the reason for her breakdown, she would not look at the bloody figure on the wings.

     “Nurse Utsuho Yujin, at your service,” said the blood covered girl. Stephen turned to Utsuho. What he saw made him freeze up.

     The girl had wings. Black wings. Demonic wings. Stephen let out a weak laugh as he backed up a few paces. Without thinking, Stephen reached up grabbed Camila by the arm and pulled her gently down off of the stage, away from Utsuho and behind himself.

     Stephen had no idea what Utsuho’s agenda was. She had said she was the nurse, but Stephen was not about to let his guard down around a demon.

     Stephen did not want to let on that he was afraid. He wanted Utsuho to feel comfortable, so if he needed to get Camila out of there quickly, she would not be able to catch up.

     Stephen let out a small, nervous laugh. About halfway through, the sound stuck in his throat. Well, so much for not showing fear, Stephen chided himself.

     Stephen cleared his throat before beginning a conversation with the demon girl. “Hi, Utsuho,” Stephen began with as much cheer as he could produce through the fear, “My name’s Stephen Paulinski.” Stephen pointed to Camila with his thumb. “This is Camila Reyes,” he told Utsuho.

     Stephen looked Utsuho up and down again. She was covered in blood. Absolutely covered in it. The blood was not her own. She had said that she was manipulating it. Why? And where did she get so much to manipulate?

     Stephen began to fake a coughing fit. “*cough* S-*cough* sorry-*cough* *cough*.” Stephen tried to communicate an apology to Utsuho through his loud coughs. Through his coughs, he directed his voice to Camila in an almost inaudible whisper. “Are you okay?” he asked quickly before turning back to Utsuho, gradually reducing his coughing until it ceased.

[Camila Reyes]

Camila was trying not to let panic take over her expression as her sapphire eyes fixated on the blood on Utsuho’s white clothing. Of course, she had seen blood before, but the amount on the other young woman’s clothing was nearly giving her war-style flashback and an accompanying panic attack. She continued to rock back and forth, biting her lower lip until it bled a little to prevent herself from crying out. So much blood… The thought made her breathing quicken as she clamped her hand tighter over her eyes. Her skin seemed even paler than before and she seemed to be quivering for no real reason. The horrible scene flashed before her eyes once more before the panic died away. With a final, shaky breath, she felt calm return to her, but she did not remove her hand from her eyes. It was as if she left the hand there to remind someone of the remaining panic in her gut.

She nodded at the other young woman’s words, finally removing her hand from her eyes as the blood-covered woman spoke. She turned to see for a moment, breathing in slowly to remind herself to keep calm. It was odd, because the young woman was wearing normal clothes, not scrubs. Camila usually picture nurses in their “proper” attire and it was hard to believe that someone who looked like she barely graduated high school could be a nurse. She could see the confusion on the other young lady’s face, most likely lingering from Camila’s earlier panic attack. After a few moments, Camila could not look at the other girl anymore and faced Stephen, though it was clear she had confused him when she asked for the other girl’s name. Her cheeks flushed a little and she coughed into her fist, whispering to Stephen softly.

“Sorry to confuse you… Hey, are you okay?”

Camila turned a little to look at the young woman again and choked a little on air. The young woman was now sprouting dark wings that looked as if she were an angel whose wings were dyed black after a tragic fall. It was odd to see such a dark color against a pale complexion, though it was even more odd to see a bubble of blood float toward herself. Camila swallowed, staring at the ball for some time, hoping that it might cure her of her fear and panic. Much to her chagrin, however, the hyperventilation started again, though the flashbacks did not come because the blood then floated away. She felt a hand around her wrist and yanked it out of Stephen’s grip, her instincts all but screaming for her to kick him in the face. However, he grabbed her other hand, pulled her behind him and stood in front of her, as if to protect her. A chocolate brown eyebrow shot up to her hairline as she placed her hands on her hips. Who did this kid think he was anyway? She jabbed both of his sides with her index fingers, a frown marring her features as she did so.

“I’m not a weakling, ya’ know! Hell, I could kick your ass if I wanted to, whether you decide to be a respectful kind of man or not-”

Her voice came out in a soft hiss as she heard the other young woman address her. She peeked out from behind Stephen’s broad shoulders to answer the question that was addressed to her.

“Reyes. Camila Reyes, that is. A-and for the record, that information is classified.”

Camila’s statements cut Stephen off before he could introduce her and she gave him a light smack on the arm for good measure. I can introduce myself. I’m not helpless, she thought, clenching her teeth together. When Stephen finally addressed her, Camila’s eyes met his and she narrowed them a little, as if she was going to warn him of something he said that had insulted her.

“I’m fine. You don’t have to speak for me; I’m a big girl and I can use my words, dammit.”

[Deleted]

Utsuho gave a more perplexed look as she saw Stephen back away from her. Am I doing something wrong again? her brain repeated continuously in her head. She watched as the man choke up a laugh, as if he was afraid. Tilting her head to the side, Utsuho ran her hand through her hair, even more confused. Why would he be afraid? What was he afraid of? Why was the girl so afraid of blood? The questions made her head spin in circles. Do they think I'm evil? A look of fear spread across Utsuho's face as the thought sank in her head. She watched as the Stephen grab Camila and pull her off the stage. But when Utsuho saw Stephen pull Camila behind him, something clicked inside her mind. Utsuho gave a gasp, her pupil's dilating for seconds as a distant memory rose from the archives in her head, memories that she wanted to get rid of forever.



In seconds, Utsuho saw the faces of two siblings, the older brother was standing in front of her and his younger sister was hiding behind him, however Utsuho couldn't recall the sister's face. The memory looked almost exactly like Stephen and Camila except that in her memory, Utsuho had accidentally cut the young girl with darkness and her brother was coming to protect her. Utsuho shook her head, Why am I remembering this? “My name’s Stephen Paulinski.” Utsuho pulled herself out of the depths of her mind and focused on the guy standing several feet away. She watched as Stephen tried to introduce the woman but she poked her head from behind Stephen and spoke first “Reyes. Camila Reyes, that is. A-and for the record, that information is classified.”



With a slight nod towards Camila, Utsuho gave a slight bow, "Nice to meet you Stephen, and Camila...." Utsuho's eyes were looking at Stephen and Camila behind him, but became distant as the memory of the siblings floated back into her head, but with somehow a new-found feeling of urgency. After what to Utsuho felt like was an hour, the memory suddenly changed. Like someone was spinning her a hundred times a second, the memory blurred as screams filled her head, followed by laughter. The memory refocused to two bloody bodies on the ground. It took less than a second for Utsuho to understand what happened. She had killed them.



"What was that?" Utsuho whispered to herself, looking away briefly, as coughing interrupted her concentration. Refocusing on the two students, Utsuho realized why her mind wanted to give her that memory now. With an angry growl, Utsuho looked down at the floor muttering under her breath, "Screw you, history is not going to repeat itself today..." But the thought the memory happening again made Utsuho's stomach drop.

The coughing continued and Utsuho shoved what just happened back into her pit of bad memories, "Ummm, Is everything alright here?" Her voice trembled as she took a step towards Stephen and Camila. What Utsuho didn't know was her body was overreacting to the nervousness- her clammy hands were unconsciously clenched into fists and her wings had fully extended.