What Kills Me Read Online Free PDF

in its bulging black eyes.
The deep, pounding rhythm. The noise from my dreams.
Wup-wup-wup-wup. I realized that it was the flap of its
wings.
    “What…?”
    “You’re awake.”
    A man clad in a long, royal-blue robe,
belted with a gold rope, was standing at the side of my bed. He
looked almost timid, his hands clasped on his stomach. I recognized
his face, his salt and pepper hair, his sagging jowls.
    “How are you feeling?” he
asked.
    “Weird,” I croaked. My throat hurt.
“What happened?”
    “You fell, my child.”
    “I fell,” I said.
    I was jolted by the memory of Paolo.
The dark pit. I shot up. The man sat down carefully on the edge of
the bed and put his hand on my shoulder.
    “Shhh. You’re all right.”
    “But…”
    “He’s gone, my child. He’s
gone.”
    I settled back against the pillow. I
felt so tired.
    The man searched my face, his
expression concerned, his posture tense, as if he was waiting for
something. The room smelled of sandalwood. It was empty except for
the bed, a desk, a packed bookcase, and an open
wardrobe.
    A knocking noise drew my attention
back to the moth. It fell and swept upward, smacking into the
glass. I winced. The man followed my gaze. He got up to open the
window. The moth fluttered back, as if hesitating, then disappeared
into the night.
    “That’s a strong bug,” I
said.
    The man didn’t respond.
    “You were the one who rescued me,” I
said.
    “Yes. I’m Uther. What is your
name?”
    “Axelia.”
    “Axelia,” he said, pronouncing it
carefully.
    “Where am I?” I asked.
    “You’re still in the church,” he said.
“These are my quarters. I am the guardian of this
sanctum.”
    “What happened again?”
    “You fell, my child.”
    I did. I fell. I remembered my hands
against slippery rocks. I remembered the taste of blood. But I
couldn’t remember if those memories had been dreams.
    “That guy tried to kill me,” I
said.
    “Yes.”
    “He got away?”
    “Yes.”
    “I have to go,” I said, pulling back
my white blanket. “I have to go back to Sofia’s. I need to call my
parents. We need to tell the police what happened.”
    I gaped at my clothing. I looked like
I was dressed for school, in a white button-up shirt and a short
black pleated skirt. My feet were bare and dirty; mahogany-colored
bits of something were encrusted under my toenails and around my
cuticles.
    “Lettie, my niece, cleaned you up and
put you in her clothing,” Uther said.
    I tried to get out of bed but my limbs
felt like they were filled with cement.
    “Axelia, you must rest. You’ve been
through a lot and you’re very weak right now,” Uther said. He held
my arm and maneuvered me back to the center of the mattress. “Try
to relax.”
    “But I need to call my
parents.”
    There was a small rap on the
door.
    “Lettie, now is not a good time,”
Uther said.
    The door opened and a girl who was
about thirteen years old poked her head inside. She had two
ponytails—two light brown cotton-candy puffs that matched her
caramel skin—wide-set eyes, round cheeks, and a pointed chin. “I
just wanted to see her,” she said in a chipmunk voice.
    “Letticia. Go now.”
    Our eyes met and I attempted a feeble
smile. She came running into the room with tiny steps, like a
ballet dancer flitting across the stage, and stood at the foot of
the bed, wearing the same outfit as I was. She was the prettiest
girl that I had ever seen. She smelled like baby powder.
    “Hello,” she said in a melodious tone.
“I’m Lettie.”
    “I’m Zee.”
    “Do you like my clothes? They fit you
well.”
    I fingered the iridescent buttons on
the shirt. “Yes. Thank you.”
    “How do you feel?”
    “I feel…exhausted,” I said.
    “Do you feel different?”
    “Different? How?”
    “Well, what do you feel?”
    “I don’t know.”
    I became distracted by the white
flecks in her blue eyes, which were like frothy ocean waves, and
had to shake my head to clear the image. I couldn’t gaze