Princess of Ruin

Chapter 7 - Tremble

Emery

The instant the ground started to tremble, I instinctively curled into a ball and tried to make myself as small as I possibly could. My trembling hands clamped over my ears as I tried to block out the rumbling, images of the walls crashing down around me flashing before my eyes. I could feel my own wheezing breath rattling in my chest as I inhaled and exhaled, blinking rapidly, as though that could rid me of the images running through my vision.

"Emery!" I heard a voice shout as the ground's trembling halted, but it sounded so far away. "Emery!" The voice was sharper that time, accentuated by the warm, gentle hands that clamped around my wrists. My head snapped up, and I found myself looking straight into Aria's very concerned gaze. I was getting very tired of seeing that look so much.

"I-I am alright," I said hesitantly, calming down as I said the words.

"You sure?" my roommate asked, brows furrowed. "You look pale. Paler than usual, I mean, which is honestly an accomplishment for you." I suddenly noticed that she was still gripping my wrists, and I pulled away quickly. I was still entirely wired to expect recoiling as a result of my touch, and it was odd that people here could make skin contact so casually.

"I think I shall return to campus now," I said quietly, unfurling from the ball I still had my limbs tucked into.

"W-what about your clothing?" Aria inquired, stepping back to give me room to stand. The room had suddenly become very stifling, and I was becoming increasingly anxious to leave.

"Kindly use this to pay and have the shop send the items to the school." I fished a small, light blue plastic card out of my pocket and handed it to Aria before I returned to my search for my cane. I quickly located it under a chair, where it must have rolled during the earthquake.

"But-" I limped past the girl before she could finish, clutching my cane tightly enough that she couldn't see my still-trembling fingers. I just wanted to get out. What I really wanted to do was curl up in my bed like I used to and read or knit for hours with no one to bother me, but that option was no longer existent, and while I was glad for it in some ways, I found old habits difficult to break.

"I shall see you later." I stepped outside the shop and into the cold, snowy streets, finally allowing myself to take in long, deep breaths. The ground was completely steadied now, and I felt much more at ease than I had just a few moments ago. I truly did hate earthquakes. They were one of only three things I was afraid of.

Tears bit at the corners of my eyes and froze on my face as I trudged up the street, placing my feet in the deep indents from when we walked into town. The snow came up to my knees, making the journey tough going, and I mentally cursed myself for being so short, even if logic was telling me there wasn't anything I could have done to affect my height. It didn't help, of course, that my bad leg was very angry with me and seemed to not want to move, which only added to my irritation.

A gust of wind blew down the empty street, and I briefly thanked my stupid body that it couldn't get sick or feel cold. Not anymore, at least. Didn't mean the weather couldn't make my knee ache, unfortunately.

And that's exactly what it was doing by the time I made it back to the nurse's office, where a very worried-looking Grant was seated at his desk, tapping his fingers.

"Grant," I called softly. His head snapped up, a relieved expression crossing his features.

"You're back. Nurse Jackie! Emery's back!"

"She'd better be in one piece, or I'm going to murder that damn girl," a gruff voice snapped. A short, well-rounded woman with golden-brown skin, a wrinkly face, greying hair pulled into a tight bun, and harsh brown eyes stepped out into the waiting room, fixing me with a glare. "So. You came back."

"Yes," I said hesitantly, still standing in the middle of the waiting room.

"You need something, don't you," Nurse Jackie said in monotone. "You never come here unless you need something. You haven't come to a single one of your scheduled weekly checks, you know." I held back a flinch. I'd been avoiding the inevitable.

"You ordered me to return if the wheezing continued, so I have returned." The woman stepped forward, towering a few inches above me as she glared straight into my eyes. It reminded me a bit of Elle and her stern, disapproving gazes.

"Come on, then. Let's get you checked out." She took my arm gently, making sure to grab above the elbow, and pulled me into the back, calling, "Grant, sign the girl in, will you?" as she went.

I'd only been inside the infirmary a few times before, and each time I was struck by the sheer tackiness of the place. The room I was taken to had walls painted with cartoonish flowers and farm animals with fluffy clouds painted on the ceiling and stuffed animals sitting on a small table. The only refined bits of the room were the examination table and the cabinets where Nurse Jackie stored her instruments.

"Sit," she commanded, and I lifted myself onto the table, crinkling the thin paper beneath my weight. "So what made you come this time? Your roommate Aria came to get painkillers a few weeks ago, and she mentioned several more coughing attacks than you've come to me for."

"I...did not feel the need to visit before."

"Bullshit," she snapped, pressing an instrument against my chest. "The earthquake brought you, didn't it?" I nodded. "Breathe in."

"Well, why do you believe I have avoided you?"

"Another deep breath, please." I complied, and the nurse pulled the instrument away, shaking her head slightly. She leaned against the opposite wall, right below a painted sheep, and said, "Because you knew what I was going to tell you, Emery. I just don't think you were quite ready to hear it from someone else."

"Well? What is your verdict?"

"Your lungs are breaking down at a faster rate than I'd like. Gloves off." I carefully peeled the leather away from my skin and set them down next to me. The nurse went into a cabinet and pulled out a pair of heavy-duty disposable gloves, tugging them on before gently grasping my left wrist.

"Can you do anything?"

"I really wish I could, Em, but there's not a whole lot. You know how your body does with medicines." I tilted my head back, letting the short hair fall away from my face as I closed my eyes, and let out a long sigh. Nurse Jackie picked up my right wrist and turned the hand over, squinting at it, as though a different angle would make it look better. "You need longer gloves," she muttered.

"That is Elle's department, I am afraid."

"I have so much respect for that woman, but I also kind of hate her," Nurse Jackie grumbled as she pulled my gloves back on.

"Would you like me to send her a letter?" The older woman snorted in amusement at the suggestion.

"It's ok. Please respond to her texts, though. I keep getting annoyed calls asking after you, and it's getting on my nerves."

"I shall have to learn how."

"You're so old-fashioned that it amuses me sometimes," the woman muttered as she pulled off my boots. "When you're not annoying the crap out of me, of course."

"Oh, that goes without saying."

"Are the socks working alright?" I peered down at the black socks that hugged my feet and part of my legs and wiggled my toes.

"Just fine, thank you."

"Marvelous." She leaned back again, and I pulled my shoes back on, taking that as the beginning of the end of this appointment. "I suppose you can leave now. Just please take it easy and be careful. It's not as though I enjoy seeing your stupidly-pale, annoyingly-grumpy face." You're one to talk, I thought.

"I shall try not to exert myself to the extreme," I promised, hopping off the table.

"That's not what I meant, Emery," Nurse Jackie said quietly as I put a hand on the door handle. "Do you know what tomorrow is?"

"No."

"Tomorrow's the first day of the second moon. Your time's run out, Emery. All I'm saying is that you should be careful. They've had two whole moons to prepare."

I looked down at the floor. "There are few things I'm better at than not dying, Nurse Jackie." I pushed the door open, turning back one last time before I left. "They will try their very hardest, but in the end, I am going to be gone long before they figure out how to kill me."