Chapter 4

Slowly, I applied pressure on the knife, sliding it on my skin. A red line appeared on my arm, and with the hot blood rushing out, turned into a puddle. The pain started to kick in within a few seconds. Adrenaline took over the control of my body, and I had to drop the knife.

It was hurting more than I imagined it would.

I pressed on the cut with my right hand, and started grinding my teeth. I could feel the viscous, hot liquid accumulating on my arm, and in my hand that's holding it. I wanted to yell, but I couldn't have anyone hear me. Instead, I let my pain out in some silent moans.

Only after the initial adrenaline diminished, I remembered what I was doing. Although I didn't want to, I released my right hand and exposed the cut again. Having the cut facing downwards, I held my arm over the white fabric in front of me. Enduring all the feelings, with the drops of blood coming out, I started painting it just the way I wanted; blood red...

A weird tingling started just moments later, so I had to stop there. I turned my arm so the cut would face upwards again. I wrapped my right hand around my arm, and pressed against the cut.

"I should stop... the bleeding." I said to myself. "I need to stop the bleeding..."

I got up from the floor and started walking around aimlessly. I went to the kitchen, then the restroom, then back to my room many times. Yet, I couldn't think of anything in panic.

Suddenly, I realized that I was no longer feeling a pain - it had been replaced by some sort of... numbness. I slowly released my arm to take a look at the cut.

"It stopped."

Before I could even do something about it, the bleeding had stopped by itself. However, there was a pretty solid mark on my arm now, with an easily visible dark purple area underneath it. If someone was to see me in this situation, it would be quite hard to hide it.

I bit my lips, thinking anxiously.

"I'll just wear long sleeves all the time." I said. "Yeah, who could say anything as long as it is a school uniform?"

While I was going back to my room, something happened. My vision got all blurry, and I lost my balance. The last thing I had felt was hitting my head on the door frame.

- - - - - - - - - -

I woke up with a weird taste in my mouth, and some mild headache. Opening my eyes and looking around, I instantly understood why: I was laying on the floor and tasting the carpet.

It took me quite a while to remember everything that happened yesterday night, but when I eventually did, the first thing I did was taking a look at the cut on my arm.

"It didn't heal even the slightest bit yet." I said. "Screw this!"

While I was getting up, my stomach rumbled. I hadn't eaten anything last evening - it was only normal that I would lose consciousness. Before heading to the kitchen, I went into my room to take a look around.

"The fabric... Where did I leave that?"

I saw the red stained white fabric in front of my laptop (which had ran out of battery and shutdown). The fabric was barely painted, despite all the effort I spent.

"Fine, that won't do it." I said. "I guess I can just buy some paint today."

I went to the kitchen to eat something. The paper bag my uncle brought yesterday was still on the table. I looked inside and took one of the delicious pastries.

"This one has cheese, this one has olives... This one... has nothing, I guess. Let's eat this first."

Halfway through my breakfast, I noticed something odd.

"Today looks unusually bright. I wonder why..."

It made perfect sense when I looked at the clock. I should've been in the second lesson by now. If I got ready and made a run for it, I could make it to the middle of the third lesson. The question was if I wanted to do it or not.

If I didn't go altogether, I would save myself from some scolding from the teacher, and better yet, I wouldn't have to trouble myself. I could just lie to my uncle that the school was good...

On the other hand, if I did go, I would keep myself from increasing that ever-increasing number of lessons that I didn't attend to.

"I'm going." I thought. I wore my uniform, got some food in my hand and left the apartment. I ran the whole way to the school building, trying to take bites from my food every now and then. And just as I thought, I made it to the middle of the third lesson. But since the lesson had already started and I didn't want a lecture from the teacher, I just waited outside the classroom.

Just then, I heard someone running up the stairs, approaching the floor I was in. A girl with her school bag appeared. It was obvious that she had been running for quite a while.

She saw me watching her, looked up, and smiled as she tried to catch her breath.

"You too?" she asked me.

"Eh?"

"You are late too?" she chuckled.

"Looks like it." I said.

"Overslept?"

"I- Yes, I overslept."

"Same here..."

She walked to my side and leaned on the wall.

"By the way, I'm Luna."

"That's an interesting name." I said. "What does it mean?"

"It means The Moon in some language, I don't know which one." she said. "But it sounds cool, doesn't it?"

"It does." I said. I noticed that she was looking at the pastry in my hand - the one that I couldn't finish.

"Want some?"

"Sure."

I divided it into two pieces and gave one to her.

"Thanks... Didn't have time to have breakfast. I appreciate it."

And then, the bell rang.

"My classroom is just across." she said before leaving. "Goodbye, Roman! See you later."

"Goodbye."