Anaesthetic Heart

As the end of the day rolled around, I found myself tired and sore although I had had a rather lax day. Zhen had been rather cold the rest of the day, and I was starting to see in him what the other kids whispered about. But it seemed to me, it wasn't just him. All day Mack was silent. He hardly spoke a word to me, and continuously checked over his shoulder throughout the entire day. I was even more agitated by the pompous behavior I was receiving from Faron. He glared at me the majority of the day, and if he wasn't glaring he was murmuring to the cold eyed Naia. I didn't understand her.

"Mack," I whispered, as I waited for the final bell to ring and signal class letting out for the day. I was watching Faron and Naia talk with their heads bent across the class, "Mack please talk to me, its important." My head throbbed as I watched the blonde girls hands move quickly as she spoke.

"What?" He snapped, surprising me right out of my concentrated look and I shot my face to his. He scowled at me, looking annoyed as he once again scanned the room.

"Nothing," I dropped my voice and frowned, "You're the one who told me to talk to you if anything seemed weird, so sorry that I did." I huffed half hurt and half angry. I dropped my eyes down, and turned towards the wall opposite of him.

"Danny, I'm sorry. Please look at me." Mack pleaded, his voice now much softer. I could feel him scoot closer to me along the thick black lab table we were seated at. Softly, his calloused hand pulled my face towards him, as he laid his palm against my jaw. His dark eyes looked calmly into mine, but the agitation remained there, hidden. "What is it?"

"Never mind." I whispered, pulling from him and pretending to immerse myself in the math homework in front of me. Still feeling Mack's eyes on me, but determined not to care Out of spite, I went back to my sneaky task of watching Faron and Naia. Just as I looked at them though, the blonde haired vixen tore her eyes up and glared directly at me. Pain tore through my temple and I quickly averted my eyes, hissing lowly.

"Danny, Danny. What is it?" Mack asked, his voice suddenly thick and urgent. But I didn't care, my head was filled with a distant drumming, like the beat of thousands of sand drums ringing through my ears. Pain burned along my eyelids, making me squint them shut in agony as I moved my entire body away from the front of the class and pulled my hands to my head, trying to shield myself from the sudden onslaught. Mack's voice cut through me quickly, frustration clearly seeping through his tone, "Danny, talk to me right now. What. Is. Wrong." He sounded like he was yelling in my ear.

And just as quickly as it had happened, it stopped. The white hot pain slowly ebbing away and my body slowly straightening up in response. My breath was fast and shallow, each one being pulled from my lungs quickly. I was aware of a pair of hands on my shoulders, painfully tight. I opened my eyes to see Mack's distressed face and fought to find my voice, "M-Mack... The pain, it w-was so intense. I don't know w-what happened." I realized I was shaking and looked down to see it was not my hands that vibrated but Mack's that were gripping onto me with extreme force.

"Are you okay?" Mack ground out, trying to keep the edge from his voice but failing miserably. I couldn't find any words, rather I just nodded and looked at him perplexed and a little scarred. Suddenly, Mack's thick arms were wrapped around me, as he crushed me into a strong hug. "Thank god, I'm so sorry Danny. I didn't mean to be rude."

"It's fine. Stop choking me, I'm okay." I whispered, my voice half the strength it normally was. I sounded like a child who had just been caught being naughty, I felt like a child that had just been naughty. Why was Mack so distraught? Just then the bell rang, and I could hear chairs scraping back and Mack's arms slowly releasing me from their death grip. I stooped to grab my books, feeling oddly clammy and even more sore than I had not ten minutes ago. Mack was faster than me, and by the time I had reached my locker, he had his bag firmly grasped in his hands and looked anxious to go.

"Let me," He insisted calmly, his voice betraying his jarring movements as he shoved my books deep into my bag, "Here, put these on, you don't have time for your boots." He shoved his coat at me and my own white runners then slammed my locker shut as I finished pulling the shoes on.

"Why don't I have time, what's going on Mack?" I asked confused, my heart pounding in my chest as he grabbed my hand and began pulling me down the hall, "Damn it, hold on. I forgot my ring. I'll just be one second!" I pulled my hand from Mack's as I ran back towards my locker. I could hear Mack yelling that he'd meet me right outside the door, and yanked my locker open. I grabbed my new ring from Gran and ran back down the hall to head out the doors. I stepped into the bright lights of the winter sun, and was met by a large crowd of chattering students and a jittery Mack.

I felt something shove by my shoulder hard, like a linebacker just rammed me in the back. I looked around to see the onyx eyes of Naia glaring at me as she walked away, and again my head burst into flame with white hot pain. I cried out from the sudden rush and with my eyes shut tight, gripped my temple fiercely. It felt like a thousand killer bees were swarming around in my head, buzzing and stinging until all that was left of me was a throbbing, dying mess. I felt Mack grab me by the waist and pull me away. I could see flashes as I opened and closed my eyes, stumbling to walk through the pain. Tree, tree, picnik table, parking lot, truck. I could hear Mack fighting with his keys to open the door of his truck, before he slid the key in and it clicked open. I struggled to keep my eyes open.

"Shh, careful now Danny, in you go." Mack soothed me as he helped me into the passenger seat, and slammed my door behind me. My head was still throbbing in excruciating pain, when I unexpectedly felt something warm coming from my nose. I briskly ran my hand under my nose at the same time that Mack climbed into the truck. I pulled my hand away to see a few bright red dots of blood on the back of my hand, shakily I reached over and showed Mack, "Fuck." He cursed under his breathe, as he reached over to me and buckled in my seat belt in. He then reached into the backseat and grabbed the wool blanket, throwing it over me as I closed my eyes and gripped onto my seat.

With that, he stepped on the gas and pulled out of the parking spot. The tires squealed on the pavement as he sped towards the large round-about leading out of the student parking lot. "What the fuck is wrong with me?" I shouted, pain tearing through my skull. Abruptly, Mack stomped on the break and my eyes flew open as my seat belt caught me from flying forward. A small blue car had cut us off from entering the round-about, causing me to fervently search the car for the driver. When my eyes landed on the shrewd face of Naia, I screamed in pain as my head felt like it split in two. The pain made me keel over in my seat and I could feel Mack's hands shaking my side as he begged me to stop screaming. The truck sped forward.

I felt as if someone had taken a pick axe to my temples, then shoved their entire hand through my eardrums and swished around in my brain for a while. I was only aware of the fact that I was still screaming by the salty taste of my own tears now reaching my lips and falling into my gaped mouth. The pain was unbearable, but I could faintly hear mack yelling through to me, "Please, Danny. Oh God! Fuck! Just hold on, We're almost there. Danny!" I blacked out from the pain.

I was drifting; in and out of consciousness and in and out of blackness. I would come back, only to be driven further into the murky depths by the searing pain that met me when I awoke. But I could feel. I could feel the truck speeding down the road, the sharp corners that Mack took way to fast, the thrumming of the old engine under the strain he was putting on it, and his hands as he kept checking for a pulse. That scared me. The truck came to a sharp stop, and I was conscious for a moment, although I could not open my eyes.

Hands were on me, lifting me, carrying me. My head lolled back into the crook of the person's arms. Then the smell of oil and raspberry jam hit me, and I knew the strong arms that supported me were Mack's. Then came the yelling. The heart shattering, ear splitting yelling. Danielle, is she okay, is she hurt, is she alive, it happened, when, why now, who saw this, is she breathing, my baby girl. The pain was now freely ebbing with extreme force, spreading from my head to my chest and down through my body to my limbs.

My eyes slid open in passing flickers. I could see flashes again, only the pain made the edges of what I saw black, and sinister. Each image scared me, as it passed along my line of vision. Mack's agonized face, the house getting closer, Gran and Dad in the doorway, the entry, hands, the staircase, the hallway, my door, Dad's blue eyes staring into me. I screamed again in torment, and as my scream died off so did the pain. And then it was black. And I was falling.