CHAPTER SEVEN

When Heli woke up the next day, her head was against the tile and her neck ws frozen in an odd angle. As Heli staggered to her feet, instantly she fell back down again, her hands gripping the tile. Her stomach hurt so much she couldn't even walk. Scanning glowing white the shelves for food, food, her ravenous gaze settled on a piece of pale bread that blended with the porcelain plate it was resting on. 

Heli crawled over to the shelf and ate it within three seconds, not bothering to chew as she shoved it into her night. There was another plate, also with just a single piece of bread. After eating that too, Heli slowly stood on her feet and winced at the smell of blood in the air. There was a large puddle, now dried, of faded red next to her. Looking next to her at the body, now giving off a sickening stench, she thought, very briefly, with a rush of triumph, 

I did that. I did that! 

Then Heli covered her mouth, her eyes widening, and a single tear leaked from one, and the other hadn't seen the light of day in the whole duration she had been there. What had she just thought? Didn't that mean she was… really … evil? She looked down at the white string. 

Nothing was clear anymore. 

Everything was hazy, just like the vision in her left eye. 

She wanted it to be clear so, so badly.

To wake up one day and be happy. 

What would that be like, I wonder? Heli thought, momentarily drifting off. She was snapped back by voices coming from outside the door. 

"What? The elder's been killed?" Came the deep voice of an officer. Heli clamped a hand over her mouth even tighter and promptly scampered out the window before anything more could be said.