Capítulo 5: Chapter Five: Caught in the Act
Copyright © Lynnifer Ice - July 2021 All Rights Reserved.
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Justin laughed as he looked at my disgusted expression while cleaning off my face.
"What's so funny?" I asked, trying to get the weird taste out of my mouth.
"Your face looks hilarious, Shiro," he paused to grin, "I wish I had a mirror."
"Well, nobody mentioned in that damn class that the stuff would taste so- so...," I trailed off mid-rant, trying to figure out the right word that I wanted. I heard faint voices outside the room, but I decided to ignore them.
"So?" He cocked his head to the side in amusement with an arched brow.
"Gross. Let's go with gross," I concluded as he laughed again while folding the damp cloth he was holding in half.
"Hey, I never said that you had to taste it," he stated, working on cleaning my chin, "I did say you could let go."
"I know, but I was curious about what it tasted like! That said, why did you have to make a mess all over me?! I fully regret my decision of curiosity, though," I scowled before sighing, looking off to the side momentarily. I pouted when he lifted my chin to wipe down my neck.
"Where else did you think it was going to go? Most women either decide to swallow it, spit it out, or have it go elsewhere," Justin rolled his eyes as he kneeled down, folding the damp cloth again. "In your case, for your first time, you decided with the last two last-minute after backing out of the first option," he went on to say as he wiped down my collarbone and chest.
"I could kick your nuts into you from this angle, you know," I warned him, feeling a little annoyed.
"Yeah, please, don't do that," he paused, making eye contact. "Can we just be thankful that we didn't get any into your hair or any on the sofa? I should also mention that it was a good idea for us to get you out of that outfit; I definitely would have ruined it otherwise. Focus on the good things, okay?"
"Being naked is uncomfortable, though. I feel cold. I mean, look at my arms; I have goosebumps everywhere!" I whined, feeling exasperated.
"I mean... The air conditioning in the building is on. So, it is bound to feel cooler here than outside, where it is sunny and humid. Like I told you before we started, I'm not going to make you do anything you're uncomfortable with. If you feel cold, then let's finish getting you cleaned up and dressed. Alright?" He reassured me, taking one of my hands in his with a genuine smile.
"You'd be okay with that? Just stopping halfway?" I asked him, surprised. I heard something like jingling by the door, but I still chose to ignore it.
"Of course, I would," he replied before giving me a playful grin. "Speaking of goosebumps, Shiro, you are quite perky in this area," he gestured toward my bust.
I gasped, quickly covering my breasts with one arm, and whapping him on the side of the head with my other hand, or at least I tried to. He caught my wrist merely inches away from the side of his head, giving me a tsk-tsk kind of glance. Just as he opened his mouth to say something, the dressing room door flew open, booming against the wall. I felt the blood drain from my skin as six other pairs of eyes blinked toward us in disbelief with open mouths. Justin dropped the cloth and my wrist, right before I let out an ear-piercing banshee scream, completely freaking out. Any and all glass in the room broke.
~***~
I was running down the street, looking like a mess. My clothes and hair appeared disheveled, and I was not wearing my shoes. I had left in such a hurry that I forgot all about them. My heart was racing, and my mind was now plagued by the memory that played on repeat. I wished I could get the image of how they looked at us when they barged into the room. I felt so embarrassed and distraught, wondering if I had made the right decision by running away from yet another one of my problems. I hadn't meant to render them, and everyone else left there, unconscious. I didn't know that my scream could do that.
What if I made them all deaf?!
I didn't have any place in mind as to where I was headed. I just knew that the sun was setting and that I had left my friends and potentially any remaining staff personnel unconscious in a private building where there was no public access. Hearing a sound like a twig snapping put my legs into overdrive. I sprinted faster down the road, wondering why I hadn't taken my car today. I had no purse with me, as I had left that behind too, and I could not remember if I had put a spare key somewhere outside, around my apartment door.
As I rounded the next corner, I heard footsteps behind me; it sounded like they were trying to catch up to me. If my heart was racing before, now it was in hyperdrive. I was panting like an overworked horse as I tried to force my legs to sprint even faster. That turned out to be not such a bright idea. With it getting darker, I had not seen that the sidewalk was uneven up ahead, and because of that, I ended up tripping, sliding forward a few feet. I whimpered as the sidewalk scraped my palms and chin. The footsteps kept getting closer. Even though it hurt, I pushed myself up off my stomach to the side, only to see a masked figure heading toward me.
It was like time had been put in slow motion as the masked stranger came closer into view. The stranger stopped just a few feet away from me as I rolled from my side to my back. The streetlamps came on, and with that light, I saw something glimmer in the stranger's hand. Their breathing sounded ragged as they stared down at me. Not wanting to find out what they were holding in their hand, I pushed my hands forward, palms outstretched toward them as I yelled as loud as I could.
"STAY BACK!!!" I screeched as a large force of air sent the stranger flying backward into a tree with a loud crunch. My eyes widened, turning my now shaking palms, toward my face.
What the hell did I just do? That was me, right?
My hands were all cut up and bleeding from scraping against the sidewalk. They stung immensely. I looked back up, but the stranger lay flat, face first, in the dirt below the tree. Even though the person had looked like they would attack me only seconds before, I still became worried.
Oh, dear goddess... I hope I didn't kill them.
As I slowly got to my feet, trying not to wince at the sharp pain I felt through my body, I heard a low groan come from the stranger. I quietly stepped backward; my eyes locked on the stranger. Hearing them groan was enough to let me know that I didn't kill them but also tell me that I had to get out of there.
Maybe running out at dusk was a bad idea... At times like this, I really miss Dad. Okay, I need to get out of here, but where is here?! I wasn't paying attention to where I was running so, now I'm probably lost. Great... I'm lost, alone, and have some creep after me. Nothing went according to plan today!
I growled in frustration, only to hear a loud growl behind me. I yelped, flinching on the spot. A large dark-haired dog leaped out from the shadows, baring its teeth, but it stalked right past me. It was snapping its jaws at the stranger who was shaking his head, gathering his bearings. I watched in bewilderment as the dog's hair stood up on end as it closed in on the masked stranger. The stranger grabbed the glimmering object again, slowly raising their body off the ground; they looked at me, then at the dog, their hand tightening around the glimmering object in their hand. The dog snarled at the stranger in a threatening tone, then looked back at me for merely a second. That one second that I locked eyes with the dog said it all. The dog wanted me to run. So, run, I did. As I turned to run, despite the burning pain I felt, I saw the dog charge toward the stranger out of the corner of my eye.
Thank you, Dog, that I don't even know. I owe you one.
I ran until I could feel my lungs and limbs burning for oxygen and rest. The sun had set, and there wasn't much light from the moon; tonight, it was a waning crescent moon. I had taken another wrong turn at some point because there weren't any more streetlamps. I was not usually scared of the dark, but too much has happened today, and it had me on edge. I was trying to push past my limits and run in a direction that I hoped would take me back into town when I ran into something hard yet soft. I fell backward on my tailbone, wincing at the sharp pain. Whatever I ran into had yellow eyes. I froze as my eyes focused on what was in front of me.
A wolf.
How far did I run to be in wolf country?! I am so dead...
The wolf's back was to me, but it had craned its neck to look at me. I held my breath as the wolf turned around to face me entirely. I was expecting it to snarl or snap at me so, I tightly shut my eyes, visibly shaking. Instead, I felt a wet snout against my face with tiny, short breaths, meaning it was checking me out by scent. I heard a soft, sympathetic whimper from the wolf as it licked my cheek. My eyes shot wide open, startled as the wolf moved closer and nuzzled its head against the side of mine.
Huh...?
A tiny twirling breeze danced around us like a ring, picking up leaves with it. It spun faster until all one could see was just leaves flying at lightspeed. At that moment, I witnessed the wolf transform into a man - a naked man at that on all-fours.
EH?!?!?!!??!
He adjusted his posture so that he was sitting on his heels. I was surprised to see that he had a beard and mustache and a very hairy chest.
"Are you okay," he asked in a deep yet calm and caring voice.
"You- Uh... I'm not seeing things, right?" I stared at him in both awe and disturbance.
"Oh," he awkwardly stated, placing his hands in his lap, "I guess you haven't seen another mutant before, have you? You... How should I put this? You smell different. You smell human but also not human at the same time."
"Wait, what? Another mutant? You mean you're a-...?" I rattled off, my brain feeling overwhelmed.
"Yes, I'm a mutant. My power is that of a changeling. I can change into any kind of animal that I have come into contact with, but I can't copy humans. Which of your parents is a mutant?" He asked me with curiosity gleaming in his eyes.
"My mother was... How did you know that I was...?" I felt confused.
"Like I said, you smell different. Wait, was?" He responded, his shoulders tensing.
"Yeah, was. My mother left shortly after I was born so, I never got to know her. My father was a human. He got the news that my mother died when I was around age six. He was never the same after that. I ended up losing him when I was eleven years old; I lived with my best friend and his parents after that until I lost my best friend at age sixteen. Then I stayed in a foster home until I was eighteen," I explained, clutching my hands, biting the inside of my cheek to keep from wincing. The wounds on my hands stung immensely, but there was no way I'd show weakness in front of a stranger.
"Damn. That's a pretty rough past. Did your dad teach you anything about your powers? I know you have them; your mutant gene is more dominant, or at least that is what my nose says. Besides that, there's this wind barrier around us which I know that I didn't create. So, let me guess... Your powers have to do with air manipulation; am I correct?" He went on as he changed his sitting posture to crisscross.
"He gave me a rough estimate based on what my mother's powers were. Based on things that happened, he deduced that my powers were, yes, with air manipulation. He also told me that there were two subcategories that I seemed to have the ability for: air pressure generation and molecular combustion. Although, I never learned how to use or control them because my mother wasn't there to teach me. So far, all I know is that my powers activate based on how strong my emotions are," I continued to explain before I gasped, remembering an important detail. "I also found out today that my scream can render people unconscious!"
"Your scream? Could you elaborate?" He tilted his head in confusion.
"Well, I got super embarrassed because someone that shouldn't have seen saw me nude. So, I ended up shrieking... Everyone became unconscious, and all the windows and glass broke. That has never happened to me before. It scared me, actually. So, as usual, I ran away just like I run away from all my problems. That's also how I ended up with these wounds," I paused to show him my scraped bare hands, "-and how I ended up here, lost."
"Well, in the world of fairy tales, people would probably call you an air bender, but in the mutant world... You're classified as a hybrid mutant. It isn't often you'll see a mutant with air manipulation powers in addition to a siren's power," he stated, resting his chin in one hand with his elbow resting on his leg.
"Huh? A siren's power?" I asked, feeling more confused by the second.
"That's right. That would explain why you smelled so weird. I knew I could smell mutant and human, but there was something else that I couldn't pinpoint. Either your old man kept secrets from you, or someone in your family was a siren in the past; the gene happened to get passed down to you. Either way, you have siren blood running through your veins, along with human and mutant. Meeting a hybrid mutant is so rare that it is almost unheard of. Now, here I am, meeting you. Oh, by the way," he smiled sheepishly, "I should have introduced myself before. My name is Tom. Now to answer my own question that I asked before... Based on your appearance and short explanations, I would say that you are not okay and need help. Am I close?"
I slowly nodded, confirming his suspicions. "Yeah, I do need help... I'm lost and hurt and really confused. You wouldn't happen to know which way goes back to town, would you?"
"Which town?" He asked me, sitting up straight with interest.
"Willowwood," I stated matter-of-factly.
"Holy shit. How far did you run???" He leaned forward, surprised by my inquiry.
"I'm not sure...? I can't be that far away, can I?"
"Lady, you're about sixteen miles away from that town. I can give you a ride there on my back if you like. Where do you need to go?" He said with a drawn sigh, leaning back with his eyes to the sky, "Sixteen miles... Unbelievable..."
"I'm sorry, did you say, sixteen miles?" My eyes widened at just the very idea.
"Yup. That's what I said. You're in no condition to be moving around anymore tonight. Just get on my back, and I'll take you where you need to go," he said to me, deciding on his own.
The whirlwind around us dissipated immediately as I struggled to stand up. I didn't even have the chance to oppose his offer, but then again, my body felt too exhausted to argue. I just about choked on my saliva as I watched Tom change into a black bear. I ran my hand over his fur in curiosity.
Oh, goddess~... That feels so soft!
"Thank you for this, Tom," I smiled warmingly as he kneeled down for me to get on his back.
It was a struggle to climb up, the backlash of pain catching up to me as I moved each limb. As I leaned forward to rest my chest against his back, my hands held onto a patch of fur on each shoulder. As I let my cheek rest against his spine, I finally noticed that I was in a wooded area.
That explains the scent of moss... I must have really been out of it if I couldn't even recognize my surroundings.
As soon as I told Tom that I wanted to go back to my apartment and quietly told him the address, trying to be cautious if anyone else was around, he started off in the direction of my hometown. I wasn't sure how long he had run, but I do know that I had fallen asleep on his back because one minute I was looking at a bunch of trees, and now I was looking at an oak door. My body felt light for some reason, and I wasn't sure why until I heard a rumble against my ear. My head turned, only to find that Tom was standing at my apartment door in all his glory, holding me in his arms.
"Well, you slept well," he chuckled, not letting me down, "I was looking for a spare key, but I can't find one."
"If I remembered to put one out, there's a hidden pocket behind the mailbox by the door," I suggested as I turned my head toward the said object.
He reached behind the mailbox with his fingers without putting me down, bringing out a minor green key. He unlocked my apartment door, but before just waltzing in, he paused to look down at me.
"May I enter? I'd like to tend to your wounds and help you get to bed if you'd let me before I leave," he politely asked with sincerity.
"I usually would say no, but I will make an exception, in this case, considering the circumstances. Yes, you may enter my apartment. Please, at least wrap a towel around your waist once we get inside; I don't want to have to constantly see your package down there," I added at the end, rolling my eyes.
He laughed as he opened the door and carried me inside, closing the door with his foot. He wandered down my short entry hall to an open room where I had a single sofa and coffee table with a bookshelf on the side. My bed and nightstand were a few feet away from the couch; those were all on the carpet. The opposite side of the room had tiled flooring composed of my small yet efficient kitchen: a two-burner stove, mini-fridge, wall cupboards, and a sink contained in a three-foot marble counter. There was a short hall to the kitchen left that led to my combined bathroom and laundry room. All the wood in the apartment was oak, and besides the hanging light over the kitchen sink and overhead light in the bathroom, I only had a tall standing lamp by the head of my bed.
"You have a tiny apartment, uh... I don't think I caught your name?" He went on to say as he sat me down on the sofa. "I'll be right back. I'm going to go grab that towel you want me to wear," he added before he trotted down the short hall and into the bathroom. He emerged seconds later with a towel wrapped around his waist and a first-aid kit in his left hand.
Well, that was fast, and how did he find the first-aid kit so quickly? Wait... Oh, that's right... I forgot I keep it in the towel closet.
"My name is Shiro. Thank you again for tonight, Tom," I answered and thanked him in the same breath.
"Shiro," he let my name roll off his tongue. "That's a pretty name for a lovely lady. Well, nice to officially meet you, Shiro," he concluded as he sat beside me, placing the kit on the coffee table.
We mainly sat in silence as I bit my tongue to keep from whimpering as he treated my wounds. I had to admit that he was pretty good at doing this. Although, I did turn red like a beet when he told me he had to take my pants off to treat the wounds I got on my legs. I was thankful I had remembered to put my panties back on in my rush earlier today. I avoided any eye contact when he took my jeans off. I was in no position to deny help with my wounds, so I tried to muster as much patience and courage as possible. Tom, on the other hand, was highly professional. He only focused on dressing my wounds and nothing more. I was at least thankful that he wasn't a pervert. By the time he was done, I had wraps and bandages on my hands, arms, knees, feet, and chin. I was impressed with his handiwork, to say the least.
Tom was a total stranger to me, but I somehow trusted him enough to even help me change into a nightgown. He had dressed me from behind so that I would not have to worry about him seeing the front of my body. Tom did exactly as he promised to do, tending to my wounds and helping me get in bed. Once he had pulled the covers up over me, he told me he would leave a note on the table with his contact information and that he'd shut off the lights and lock the door on his way out. I only nodded to everything he said because I didn't realize how tired I was until my head had hit my pillow. Within a couple of minutes, my eyes closed; the last image was Tom writing on a piece of paper. Then, sleep overtook my body.
~***~
I opened my eyes to the mourning dove singing outside my kitchen window. The sunlight was shining through, lighting up my tiny apartment. I stretched out my limbs before sitting up in bed. My body felt well-rested and recharged. Not an ounce of pain was left in me. Out of habit, I reached over to my nightstand for my phone to check the time. However, my phone was not there. That's when the previous day's events all replayed in my head. My phone was now most likely with one of the guys, along with my purse. Otherwise, they'd still be sitting in that building with my shoes.
Shit.
I cursed to myself, wanting to of been able to avoid the guys for just one day. Without my phone, though, I had no idea of figuring out what time it was. Even my watch was left in my purse! I groaned in annoyance as I got out of bed, walking to the bathroom while taking my nightgown off at the same time. I took all the wraps and bandages off of me; they were all covered in blood, but every wound I had, had healed overnight thanks to my quick-healing ability. I filled my white-finish steel bathtub with lukewarm water and a few drops of bubble bath. I opened a jar that I kept by the tub, taking out a handful of dried lavender. I tossed the handful in the water before sealing the jar. I got into the bath, turning off the water, and just let myself sink into the water, allowing every muscle to relax.
I was humming to myself with just my head poking out of the suds when the sound of keys jingling startled me. The jingling continued as I heard the doorknob turn and the door open. The jingling stopped once the keys were wiggled back out of the lock. The door closed, followed by the sound of someone relocking the door. I held my breath as I heard keys dropped onto the kitchen counter. I stayed perfectly still, not making a sound, even when I heard heavy footsteps walk around. Then, a loud voice echoed through the apartment.
"Miss Shiro Anatolio! Come out, come out, wherever you are!~"
- End of Chapter Five -
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