Cerberus' Heart

Cerberus' Heart 10

Sighing for the umpteenth time, I slumped in my chair, my head supported by my hand as I gazed tiredly across the table. An energetic Violet excitedly rambled about her life back in Dubai and her childhood. She recounted something embarrassing and squealed into her hands, covering her flushed face.

I wanted to plug my ears. No. Scratch that. I want to disappear! She wasn't joking when she said she couldn't stop talking; and now? I'm not joking about punishing the one who messed up her genes; if there was one such person. Silently nodding, pretending I was listening, I schemed ways to exact my revenge for my suffering.

Suddenly, it was quiet. Looking up at Violet, I saw her frowning at me. Puzzled, I tilted my head. It was her turn to sigh.

"I'm talking too much, aren't I?"

"You figure?"

"Shut up!"

"That's my line," I retorted back. Again a silence descended upon us. Gulping down the lump in my throat, I asked the question that had been on my mind.

"So... When are you going back home?"

"Already wanting me gone, huh," she teased before sighing once more. She folded her hands on the table, her eyes staring hard at the polished oak surface beneath her sweater.

"But, yes. I do want to go home, it's just that I'm-"

"Scared?" I prompted. She nodded silently. I let out a slow breath, leaning back in my chair.

"If you'd like, I can take you there," I suggested. She looked up at me, hope gleaming in her eyes. Before she could question it further, I reassured her that I'm willing to help. Again, she nodded.

She casted a look at the door, making a move to get up. "Then I'll get ready," she said, leaving me alone. I nodded although she couldn't see me.

~~~~~~~

Once she was dressed in her own clean clothes, she met me downstairs in the reception hall. Glancing at her ripped up jacket, I hesitated for moment before leaving her there and heading up to my room quickly.

Picking out an old, small hoodie from my wardrobe, I headed back downstairs. Her hand clutched at the place over her heart, as the fragile organ thundered away, thrashing itself against her sternum.

"I can never get used to how quick you guys can move," she whispered breathlessly. I nodded solemnly. She was never supposed to find out about my kind. I handed her the hoodie to which she looked at it puzzled.

"Put it on. It's cold outside and your jacket does little to protect you from the cold now," I said.

She was about to refuse, but I thrusted it into her arms. She grumbled but still put it on, sliding her jacket over it. "I'll return it to you," she murmured.

"No need. It's become too small for me. Keep it," I replied. She opened her mouth to reject the offer, but I cut her off, "I have no need for something that I can't use anymore. Besides, it'll be of more use to you," I said, sending her a small smile. She sighed, showing her resignation to argue the matter further.

"Come, let's get you home," I said, pulling the entrance doors open. An icy gust and a few snowflakes swept in through the door and past us.

Once my foot left the threshold, the cold further embraced me though I barely felt its biting influence compared to the human beside me, though there was something that troubled me.

A slight headache suddenly sent a ferocious jolt of agony through my skull. I closed my eyes against the pain and during this short interval of darkness, blurred images danced across the back of my eyelids. The pain passed over just as quickly as it had arrived and I was left staring into the worried orbs of swirling sapphire.