Page 33 of Demon's Desire
“Earthquake!” Torie shouted. “Everyone get under the coffee table!”
“The coffee table is glass!” Mica yelled. “Everyone crawl to the hallway! Now!”
Everyone started moving. I turned to follow them, putting my hand to the floor, and a sudden sharp pain shot up my arm. I’d completely forgotten I was holding glass. How fucking stupid was that? I cried out and dropped it on the coffee table, closing my fist and crawling after everyone else. I could feel the blood pooling between my fingers, but I ignored it.
We didn’t have anything in the hall like a coat rack or pictures, so there was nothing to fall on us. When I reached everyone else, Kelly grabbed me and pulled me to her side.
“Everyone get down!” Kelly cried, putting her arm around my back as she doubled over and put her head between her knees. We all followed suit. I closed my eyes and covered my head with my bloody fist and put my other arm over Kelly’s head.
We all stayed there for a few moments. I could hear things falling in the other rooms: pots and pans from the kitchen, books from the living room, stuff in the bathroom, my bedroom. I wasn’t sure how long it was until things finally stopped shaking around us, but eventually, it did.
When it was over, we all slowly started to sit up and look around. I couldn’t immediately see that anything was broken, but I wasn’t sure. I started to stand up, still keeping my fist balled.
“Mia!” Mica practically screamed, grabbing my shoulders and turning me to face away from him. “Did you hit your head?!”
“What?” I frowned. “No. Why?”
“Holy fuck!” Kelly gasped, placing her hand on my head. “Y-your hair is fucking covered in blood!”
“Oh… No, it’s not my head,” I said simply, turning back around to face them. I held up my fist. Even in a ball, there was blood dripping from the cracks. “I cut myself on the glass.”
“Damn!” Torie muttered, taking my wrist and pulling me toward the bathroom. “Come here. Does it hurt?”
“I mean, yeah.” I nodded. “But it could be worse. I think it’s pretty shallow.”
Mica and Kelly stood at the door as Torie pulled my hand over the sink. I had left a slight trail of blood on the way to the bathroom. When I opened my fist, I saw two small cuts in between my pointer and middle fingers, one right outside of my life line that was a bit deeper, then another short one below my pinky.
“Oh, honey…” Torie said softly as she turned on the water. “Kelly, get Band-Aids.”
She nodded and started going through the cabinet. I was going to need more than Band-Aids, but I honestly wasn’t sure we had much else. Torie slowly put my hand under the water, and I cringed at the feeling. The pressure against the cuts made them sting.
“Um… Well, we have these,” Kelly said, setting a small box of Band-Aids on the counter. “But that’s not enough. I have some hydrogen peroxide, though. That helps, right?”
“No, it doesn’t.” Mica came over. “Here. Kelly, Torie, you two over there. I’ll take care of it.”
Kelly blinked. “You know first aid?”
“I work for a vet.” He smiled at her as he took my hand to keep holding it under the water. “I know what I’m doing. Also, yes, I do know first aid.”
“Oh. Right.” She smiled at him and moved over to the door with Torie. All the water running off my hand was solid red, and it hurt like hell.
“Jeez, Mia,” Kelly sighed. “The back of your head is freaking me out.”
“I’m sorry.” I rolled my eyes.
“It’s only cause she’s blonde,” Torie offered. “The blood just shows up more.”
“Yeah, but it still looks freaky,” Kelly muttered.
Mica held my hand under the water and didn’t let me move for five minutes. After that, he let go of my hand and opened the cabinet to grab a washcloth. He wet it, then took my hand again as he turned off the water. He started gently dabbing the cloth over the cuts. He tried to patch it up with Band-Aids, but they were all small, so he had to overlap eight of them.
“All right, I’m going to the CVS on the corner,” he said when I was semi-patched up. “I’m going to buy real bandages and then redo this right, but this will hold you over for now.”
Sort of. I could already see the middle parts of the Band-Aids turning red.
“Okay. I’m gonna hurry,” he muttered. Clearly he saw it too. “I’ll be right back.”
I gave Kelly a look and nodded in Mica’s direction. She furrowed her brows and gave me a look that seemed almost pleading. Was she sure that I didn’t need her, because she would stay if I did. I just nodded and gestured to him again.