CHAPTER 14
Ishmeet
I wake up in a field, head throbbing, the scent of flowers fills the air, and suddenly a vile smell enters as well. I cover my nose and look around, and realize that all the flowers around me are dead, except for the few flowers around me. I stand up, and just as my foot touches the ground around the dead flowers, the flowers light up and they come back to life, just making the vile smell stronger. By now I can even taste the smell, and as I wander, I hear a scream. I run towards it, and minutes later, I’m standing in the middle of everyone: Evalyn, Ty, Ray, Iris, Audrey, and Kai. All of them dying, Evalyn is coughing flowers, Ty, has a sword through his chest, Ray has a gun to his head, Iris is crying bl**d, Audrey is as pale as a ghost, her eyes are red, and she looks as if she could fall at any moment, and, Kai, he’s disintegrating. All my friends and Audrey, the blue sky sinks into a violent red color, the trees start shaking rapidly and the breeze strengthens into a strong gust, yelling starts, the voices of everyone’s cries combine and strengthen, louder, and louder, I try to cover my ears, but are held down by rose vines, they pull me down to my knees, and I watch as all my friends are in pain,
“Ishmeet! Ishmeet!” a quiet but urgent voice rings in my ear, “Wake up, and listen to me! Something dangerous is coming, and it won’t stop until you're gone. Heed my warning, keep your friends close, and keep them safe, you're the only one left who can stop them.” I wake up abruptly, the room is quiet, safe.
“Is it?” a voice whispers in my right ear. I turn right to see nothing but a note,
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Hey, Ishmeet! Hope you're ok, Prince Raj wanted me to let you know that you have the week off from classes, and if you need anyone to talk to, let me know, I’m always ready to listen!
-Evalyn
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I set the paper down on my nightstand and head to the bathroom. After a long, burning hot shower, I change and head straight to my lab station, I open the safe, take out a testing pill, and swallow,
“Can’t do anything to improve if we don’t know what to fix,” I repeat to myself sternly. I grab the rest of the pills and run to my desk,
“Alright,” I say, thinking out loud, “What do we know so far?” I open my notebook and grab my favorite pen, the one that Audrey gave me a while ago.
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Highrocrowminia5/16/25- Friday
- Dated back more than 3 centuries ago
Most likely originated during the Middle Ages Renaissance, or possibly before
- Cause: rodents and fleas
- Symptoms
- Day one: after the bite or getting it through another person, Weakness in the limbs and mild headaches
- Day five: a random burst of strength in limbs, and the headache disappears
- Day ten: Headache returns and increases, nausea, and severe heartburn
- Day twenty: Headache becomes unbearable, vomiting, dizzy spells
- Day thirty; if still alive; Headache makes it impossible to even move, legs will give out on their own, vomiting, explosive diarrhea
- From day 40 and forward, Cells start dying rapidly, metabolism quickens to the point of losing 10-20 pounds every 24 hours, loss of appetite, and death- if not dead yet.
- Symptoms
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I reread what I wrote and finally put my pen down after 4 hours of reading documents and writing. I lean back in my chair and take a deep breath. I take a look at my hand and realize that it's shaking and it’s slightly red. Shaking it off, I decide to conduct some tests. I decide to do a Gas chromatography and a Mass spectrometry. The Gas chromatography separates the different components of a mixture and the Mass spectrometry then further separates the components based on to their mass-to-charge ratio. I take half of the pill and place it in some cold water, once it dissolves I place the drugged water in a vaporizer, I add in some hydrogen gas as a carrier gas, after a minute I continue my work, writing something down every few minutes, I work till late at night, and as I’m in the middle of transferring Hydrofluoric Acid the bell strikes midnight scaring me and causing me to drop some of the chemical on my foot,
“God dammit!” I yell in pain, quickly placing the flask on the table and looking at my right foot. My shoe has an acid burn through it and my foot is burning, so I quickly take off my shoe and gloves. I wash my foot and put on another pair of gloves and I apply some calcium gluconate, wrap my foot and stand up. Hopping on one foot I put everything away and limp my way to the dorms, as I’m only a few hops away from my room, I trip over a shoe and end up on my face. Right then, I start to hear footsteps. I quickly use my hands to push myself up, only to fall over again. I look to my right foot and realize I can barely feel it.
“Sh*t, did the effects have to start now?” I quietly yell to myself. I hear the footsteps get louder to my left, and turn to face the noise.
“Um, Ishmeet, are you ok?” Raj asks.
“Oh! Y-yes,I…I just dropped my earring,” I say sheepishly, not wanting him to know what I did.
“Mhm, then what's on your ears m'lady?" Raj responds in a skeptical voice.
“Huh, oh I…I- yeah I fell, twice.” I respond quietly, trying to sound embarrassed.
“On what?” Raj asks.
“A shoe.” He laughs.
“Well why are you still on the ground, get up,” we stared at each other for a brief moment. I then quickly jump up, but fall down just as quickly “Ishmeet!” Raj says, catching me.
“God dammit!” I yell out loud, forgetting Raj is right next to me. “Of course, well, at least I know what to fix.” I continue, still forgetting Raj is there.
“Ishmeet, what are you talking about?” My head jerks up, our eyes locking.
“Nothing, but do you mind helping me to my room?” I say, embarrassed.
“What did you do?” Raj’s tone is getting more serious.
“Well, I might have taken the base drug to see what would happen; I only did it so I could see what needed to be fixed.” I say sheepishly.
“Ishmeet, that's dangerous!”
“I know, I know, but could you just help me to my room?” Raj takes a deep breath and responds.
“Alright, but you can’t be doing stuff like that! Theres a reason it's a testing pill. It’s still in the testing process." He picks me up from the ground and starts heading to my room. He glances at my right foot. “Ishmeet, what happened to your right foot.” I quickly move my head away, facing in the direction we’re heading in. “Ishmeet, tell me what you did, and stop avoiding eye contact.”
“I-em- I just dropped something.” I respond. Raj stops to open my door. He places me on the bed, sits down next to me, and starts talking again.
“What did you drop on your foot to do that much damage?” He says, glancing at my poorly wrapped foot.
“I dropped Hydrofluoric Acid.”
“You dropped what on your foot?” Raj jumps up from the bed and runs to the bathroom. He quickly comes out with a box of first aid. He places the box next to my foot, and starts to unwrap my basically already unwrapped foot.
“Hey what are you doing!” I say, pulling my foot back, but Raj grabs my ankle, restricting me from moving it. “Hey!”
“No, don’t move, and let me treat your foot, or it’s going to get an infection.”
“I can do it myself.” I argue back.
“No, let me do it, for all I know you might just forget or something.” Raj redirects his focus back to my foot.
After Raj finishes,a small piece of scrap paper falls from the window above the bed, landing on Raj’s head, he reaches up to grab it, and reads it out loud.
‘I’m back and coming for you, little angel’
“W-what?” I ask, the last part hitting a little too close to home, “that–only Kai calls me that, and he- no one else knows about that, I-what?.” I say, my voice breaking. “No, no, Raj, you probably read that wrong. You're joking with me, right? Right?”
“What no, I'm, read it, here–” And before Raj can hand me the page, it catches on fire. Raj drops it on the cold hard ground, and steps on it, trying to put the fire out before it's gone, but it’s no use.
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The meet
*
2 weeks later
Ever since that night, I’ve been getting random notes, whether they're in my room, lab, or somehow, in my pockets. And all of them end in Little Angel, and it’s unnerving because only Kai has called me that, or well has known about, except Raj now. And well, now Kai’s gone. But that's not the only weird thing, the King keeps on calling us to the throne room, and everyday we just stand there, nothing happens, no one says anything, but we can’t question the King, so we just stand there, and when it comes to the research, almost everyday, I find the thing that I need most that day goes missing, or that some one messes with my notes though it’s only slightly. As I flip through the pages of my notebook, Kai’s right next to it, an announcement is called,
“ALL RESEARCHERS TO THE THRONE ROOM”
“Just on time,” I say to myself, annoyed, I head to the throne room, only to be the last one there.
“Welcome, researchers. I have wonderful news to share with you all!” The king yells, for the first time in a while; his voice booms across the room. “The illness, Highrocrowminia, has been resolved. The illness has been fading away and is almost completely gone, and a cure has also been created. Although we do still need to figure out why it has been fading, it is still a joyous moment-”
“CRASH!”
We all look up towards the skyline, windows only a figure is standing in the window. The figure jumps down in front of us all, basically destroying the floor beneath it. As it walks out of the shadows, his face becomes clear. It’s Kai.
“K-Kai, you’re-” I stammer, taking a step back.
“Oh, yes, I am. Miss me?” He grins, and we all just stare at him, not knowing what to say. “What~? Cat got your tongue?” Right then, he pulls out a sword from thin air, the sword has a blue undertone and the sides have sharp little spikes on them, drenched in what looks like bl**d.
“K-Kai, what are you doing?” I ask in a warning tone, backing away again.
“Oh, nothing, just, fulfilling my task, and getting some revenge while I’m at it.”
“W-What?” I respond, just as he throws the sword, hitting the King straight in the forehead. His eyes roll back, bl**d dripping from his forehead into his lap.
“FATHER!”
“KARAN!” The Queen and Raj yell in unison, the pain in their voices clear.
“Oops, my bad. My hand might’ve slipped,” Kai says cruelly, using a hand to cover his mouth. He smirks wickedly at me underneath it, and nods his head, gesturing to me to speak.
“You- Everyone RUN!” I yell, fear consuming me, the others and I run in all directions,a few guards run towards Kai, and he k*lls them almost instantly. Ty, Ray, Evalyn, and Iris are running towards the door that was to our left, while I run to the one that was behind us.
*
Too consumed in escaping, I keep on running, the dark forest swallowing me whole as I flee from the horrors of the castle. My body refusing to stop, I have no idea what's going on behind me, whether my friends are alive or not. I push myself forward, each desperate stride fueled by a mixture of fear and hope.
Why can’t I stop? What is wrong with my body?
My face grows hot, and my eyes start to water, blurring my sight. My legs are burning with pain, but I keep running, too scared to face the problem at hand.
I slow down but don’t stop, my head starting to spin from the excessive running. As I slow down, I trip and fall to the ground, landing onto my knees, and instead of getting up, I curl up into a ball and sob. I’m overwhelmed with emotions: sadness, fear, drive, betrayal, and anger. My tears flow down my cheeks and to the ground, the dirt and grass poking at my skin, but I don’t move, I just let it all out, I cry for what feels like hours, and once I felt all cried out, the only emotion I felt was anger and betrayal,
“AFTER ALL OF THIS, THIS IS WHAT I’M GIVEN!? I LOVED YOU, I NEEDED YOU, AND YOU JUST LEFT ME? WHY?! WHY?! WHY THE HELL WOULD YOU LEAVE ME!?” I manage to choke out from my sobs, my voice cracking from my sobs.
“I loved you! I thought you were gone, and that was unbearable, but this—this is so much worse! Why, Kai, just why?” I beg, my voice weakening. I bury my face into my hands as my tears return, I cry for at least another hour, laying on the ground, like some pathetic weakling. I stand up, tears finally coming the slightest bit of a halt, head spinning like I got off a roller coaster. I wipe my face as I walk over to one of the thick bulky trees near me and let out my anger, needing to channel it somewhere, rather than just breaking down again. I clench my fists, my knuckles turning white as I use all my strength, I start punching the tree with full force. I focus on my fists hitting the tree, the scratches forming on my knuckles digging deep into my skin.
After a bit, the physical pain started to fade away, but my anger stayed the same. I started punching faster and harder, to the point where my hands felt almost invisible. The only thing that could be seen was the indents forming in the tree. I slow down, then stop, dropping my hands to my sides. I back away from the tree slowly and realize the damage I had done to the tree and my hands. I look at exactly where I hit the tree and see bl**d dripping from it, my bl**d. I look down at my knuckles and stare. No emotions or thoughts, no pain, just nothingness, zero.
I stare at my knuckles, and I thought about what I could do, not about the satisfying burning sensation I started to feel, just the pain I could inflict.
“Ishmeet!” I turn aggressively, look to see who called my name
Ray's blood red eyes lock with mine.
“Ishmeet! You're alive! Guys, I found her!” Ray yells, his voice filled with relief, he starts to walking towards me,
“Ishmeet, are you o– Your hands! What happened!? And your nose is bleeding!”
“What? It’s just my bl**d,” I say, indifferent to his concern
“What do you mean, ’just my bl**d’?”
“Well, it's just my bl**d, it doesn't even hurt, it just feels satisfying,” I respond
“Have you gone insane!? You're bleeding out.” He starts to run towards me, but before he reaches me, in the corner of my eye I spot something, and my body reacts before my mind does, I push Ray out of the way, an arrow hits my upper arm, my hand presses the wound, the arrow in between my fingers, the others, now behind me start to panic, I yell out, not of pain, but as warning
“He’s back!” all of us understand and we start sprinting away, this time in the same direction, I rip a cloth from the bottom of my shirt, and wrap my arm to prevent leaving a trail of bl**d, after a long hour of running we all stop in a clearing, I quickly turn around and check the surrounding area to make sure he isn't following us, once I’m back, Evalyn and Iris run over to me,
“Ishmeet, what did you do to your hands!” Evalyn says, holding my hands, my bl**d staining Evalyn’s soft hands
“And your arm, there’s an arrow!” Iris yells, I turn my head to my left where Iris is standing, and indeed there's an arrow in my arm, two of them actually,
“Oh,” I respond, not blankly, I use my opposite hand, grab both of them and yank them out, the feeling of my skin ripping, not bothering me one bit.
“Eeek!” Iris yells in worry
“Ishmeet!” Ty yells, his arms out like he’s about to grab me, “Didn’t that hurt, like, a lot?"
“No.” I respond, everyone's face is filled with concern and fear,
“Why- Why don't you sit down?” Ray says behind me, pushing me towards the ground, making me lean on a log behind me.
“Why? I feel fine?” I ask, seriously, and stupidly confused, now leaning on the log, the cool, rough bark through my shirt.
“Yeah, you guys, I don’t think she's fine.” Ray says to the others, completely ignoring my question and presence,
“Yeah, I mean, she yanked two arrows out of her arm, and didn’t even flinch.” Ty says, glancing towards me.
“Hello? I’m still here” I say, intruding on their conversation. They all turn towards me and they start examining my arm and my hands, they all wrap my wounds with different cloths. As they do so I’m overcome with drowsiness, I try to stay awake but inevitably end up asleep.
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