Devils Roses 01 - Cursed

wasn’t feeling the need to change positions. I barely needed to breath. I held my breath just to see how long I could go for. I started to feel weird about not breathing, but not desperate for air. When I breathed I felt better, but it wasn’t as if I couldn’t have made it another twenty minutes without the breath. I decided to test it out and walked to the backyard. I stripped down to my underwear and tank top. I jumped into the cool crisp pool and let out all of the air in my lungs. I sank like a stone to the bottom of the deep end of the pool. I sat and waited for desperation and panic to set in. Nothing happened, so I waited some more.
    I saw a dark figure at the edge of the pool and felt my stomach fill with nerves. I pushed myself up to see Blake’s frowning face.
    “ You were down there for seven minutes.” he didn’t flinch.
    I frowned at him. “I thought you were Dorian, not cool. I could have gone longer, were you spying on me?”
    He nodded. “I wanted to see what you would do when you were alone. I watched you hold your breath on the couch, this is crazy.”
    “ I know.”
    He sat at the edge of the pool and hiked up his pants. He dipped his feet into the pool and cringed at the cold. “My dad hasn’t turned the heat on yet. This weekend he said. It's fifty degrees, Aimes, fifty. The chemicals were just balanced yesterday in preparation for summer.” He pulled his legs out after a couple seconds.
    I shook my head. “It doesn’t feel cold to me.”
    He looked worried. “What if this is a nervous disorder and you’re hurting yourself, but you just can’t feel it—like an after effect from the drugs.”
    I swam to the edge nervously. What if I injured my body and was stuck for all eternity with a deformed body? I climbed out of the pool, using no effort to lift myself up and out.
    Blake raised his eyebrows at that. “Not so feeble, huh?”
    I smiled. “One benefit so far, is I’m stronger.”
    “ Want something to eat?” he asked, handing me one of the lush pool towels. I had always laughed at how his pool towels were nicer than most people’s 'good' towels that you weren’t even allowed to use. I wrapped the towel around me and followed him into the house.
    “ How long was I sleeping?” I asked as I sat at the bar like always, and waited for him to feed me.
    He looked puzzled. “Twelve and half hours. You slept like the dead too, because I tried to wake you up and it didn’t work.”
    “ Did I breath?” I asked feeling pretty worried.
    He shook his head. “Nope, not really and none of the usual snoring either. Waffles or grilled cheese?”
    I frowned at him and crossed my arms. He shrugged and made me grilled cheese.
    I had slept at Blake’s house for five nights, hanging in his basement playing World of Warcraft, and watching TV. Everyday he went to school and hung out with my sister.
    In his free time, he spent every minute trying to solve my issues.
    Drug-induced brain tumor was in the lead, for things that could be wrong with me. I let him believe I had imagined it all, but my heart knew Aleks was real. I wondered where he was. I never left the safety of the basement, even for food. Blake brought it to me on a regular schedule, believing I would end up hurting myself by only eating when I needed to. The food filled me up but something inside me was still hungry. I felt a thirst or a hunger I couldn’t explain. The thirst grew whenever Blake was around, but I had been able to control it.
    Blake had gone out again. I was lying on his bed, not sure of what to do with all of my free time, when I felt it.
    Someone was watching me. My stomach twisted.
    Scared it was Dorian, but hopeful it was Aleks, I looked around the room.
    Instead of Dorian or Aleks, Shane stood in the entrance to the room. He looked at me with a burning intense pain in his eyes. He looked weak and sick. I sprang off the bed and grabbed him.
    As if he needed to touch me too, I was off the ground and dragged up into his arms. He wrapped me around him and held me like a child. His body trembled. I wrapped my legs around him and buried my face into his shoulder. I didn’t know what to say. I owed him an apology. I honestly didn’t think I would do it justice.
    I made the attempt anyway. “I’m so sorry Shane. I didn’t mean to leave. I just didn’t have any choice. I didn’t mean to hurt you like that.”
    He never spoke. He just carried me to Blake’s bed. I shook my head. "The spare room is down