Out Of This World

The world was misty, I was stuck between consciousness and unconsciousness. Nothing was as clear as it should’ve been, yet I was completely aware that Kim was in the process of saving my life. The clearest part of it all was the pain. I didn’t know what she had done when the burning sensation lit my flesh on fire like a bomb going off in my stomach. I didn’t know if it was intended, or a mistake. I didn’t know if the burning was supposed to cure me, or kill me quicker.

Either way, I would’ve been grateful.

And then I was pulled out, just like that. The burning hit it’s crescendo, screams filled my ears, awakening me from my half slumber and yanking me out from death’s flaming grip. Just like that.

The initial pain had gone, along with the intense heat that had pressed itself upon me for the past…Days? Hours? Minutes? All that was left was a stinging in my skin as the warmth of bile flooded into my mouth. I sat up; a weight fell off my body and landed with a heavy thump on the ground. I got on all fours, coughing and spluttering and spitting. My stomach lurched and watered down blood spilled out from between my lips. I coughed some more before leaning back on my hands, throwing my head back and taking in great gulps of air.

Kim

I looked around to see her sprawled on the floor in her underwear, chest heaving and a deep gash across her stomach. Sticky blood oozed out from it and I was suddenly aware of a great amount of it on the floorboards and my own torso. I scrambled over to her and picked her up, before reaching for some sheets to wrap her in. I tried to stand up but found myself too weak, so I lay Kim back down and dragged myself to the door.

“Dad!” I yelled as best I could, “Dad!”

There was a muffled cry of, “Ben?” before footsteps began thundering up the stairs. I crawled back over to Kim and lay down next to her, giving into a different kind of blackness to the one that had previously been battling over my life.

I woke up to the obnoxious caw! of one of the Island's indigenous birds. A horizontal beam of light was shining through the top of the blinds and onto the other bed where a figure lay sleeping on her back. I rubbed my eyes, sat up and stretched. I felt rested and slightly restless. I wanted to get up and tackle someone. I felt in desperate need of a laugh.

I stood up, my muscles ached and my back cracked. Taking a few steps across the room, I leaned over and took a look at Kim. Her skin was pallored and her face looked tired, yet peaceful. The covers came up to her hips and above them I could see a bandage wrapped securely around her abdomen. She stirred a little and her head tilted towards me, her eyes fluttering open. She wriggled over a bit and patted the spot next to her. I smiled and lay down, pulling her into a hug.

“Kim…you saved my life,” I said softly, pecking her gently on the cheek.

“Good morning, Ben,” she smiled.

We lay there in a comfortable silence for minutes on end, listening to the sounds of life outside, glorifying in them all that we had survived to listen to them for yet another day. Kim mumbled something to herself.

"Pardon?" I said, turning my head to look down at her.

"I'm hungry," she said, rubbing a hand over her bandaged stomach.

I nodded before getting up and helping her to her feet. Together we walked downstairs. When we got to the kitchen, we paused at the door, taking in the scene before us.

Michelle sat at the table, her hand curled into a fist around a soggy kitchen cloth, her head resting on the surface and her chest rising and falling quickly in a restless sleep. Grace was also leaning on the table but in a more awkward position that would undoubtedly hurt in when she woke up. Mark was staring at an open newspaper; his eyes were glazed over and he had probably read the same sentence infinite times, if at all. Dad stood behind him with his back to us, staring fixedly out the window.

I cleared my throat and he turned around; Mark's eyes came into focus and his head snapped up to look at us standing in the doorway.

"Morning," Kim smiled. The two men smiled feebly at the both of us and, noticing that I was the only reason Kim was able to stand, began fussing around for seating arrangements.

Mark pulled up a chair for me and Dad grabbed a more comfortable one from the dining table for Kim. I sat her down in her seat before sitting down myself. Grace stirred, her eyes opened groggily and then began to flutter wildly at the sight of us. She leapt up from her chair and bustled over, embracing us tightly and placing a series of kisses on our cheeks. The commotion woke Michelle who got up and did the same.

There were repeated mutterings of "How are you feeling?" and "Do you need anything" and Mark began to interrogate Kim on how she fixed me. The chatter was interrupted by one word, one mind numbing word that in the recent events had gone forgotten.

"Ada."

We all stopped mid sentence and turned to look at my Dad. He was leaning against the kitchen counter, pulling at his bottom lip. We stared at him expectantly; no one wanted to voice what we were all thinking. Except Kim.

"It was her," she said softly. She made is sound more like a fact, and little like an accusation.

She took a deep breath in, wincing at the pain in her stomach.

"Before the party, she came to my room. She had soldered the door shut and I thought it was you, Ben." She looked at me apologetically. "When I tried to climb out through the window, she was there. She told me to stay away from you before soldering my window shut as well and taking the drain pipe down so there was no way I could escape."

I started.

"I sent her to get you and when she came back, she said you didn’t want to come because you were pissed at me," I informed her, aware that we had everyone's undivided attention.

"Ben," Grace cut in, suspicion drawing her brows, "Did Ada give you anything to eat or drink at the party?" Her gaze was intense, she knew something, she just needed me to confirm it.

"Uh," My voice caught in my throat at the stark realization of it. "She made me a drink," I said weakly.

Grace nodded before turning and producing a test tube the size of a pinky finger from the counter behind her. Inside was a tiny piece of grey rock. A sticky red substance thinly coated the glass.

"We found this in your vomit," she said.

I took the test tube from her and held it to the light.

"What is it?"

"We don't know, we thought it might have been an alkali metal, like lithium, assuming that the drink she made you was on fire."

"It was."

"But, with you being half human, it would have killed you before it had time to heat you up."

I shook my head. I couldn’t believe how blind I had been. I glanced at Kim apologetically- she had known all along, she had tried to warn me that Ada wasn't to be trusted. She looked at me dismissively before looking away.

"So Ada spiked my drink," I sighed.

"Yes, but it's her motive that worries us most," Dad said.

"And what's her motive?"

The adults all exchanged a look of worry and dispair.

"We don't know."