I briefly came back to awareness again, as a sharp pain wrestled me from the arms of sweet, blissful unconsciousness. There was Khuzan's face hovering above me but it was blurry. He was saying something but I couldn't make any sense of it. More fiery pain had me scream out loud. I smell burned meat for a brief moment but I couldn't even begin to comprehend what was happening around me, before sweet oblivion claimed me again. Maybe it was for the best. Or rather, maybe it would have been for the best, if the fuzzy mist of memories I couldn't quite make sense of hadn't decided to wrap around my weary mind like a burial shroud. I didn't want to face these memories now, but I was too tired, too exhausted to put up a fight.

Slowly the fog of memories clears. It leaves me standing on a balcony with my back against the railing, facing a room as plain as it is strange. A hotel room? A hotel was something like an inn, right? A refreshing breeze ruffled my hair. I enjoyed it for a moment. Oh yes, I had enjoyed it! It had been a rather hot and humid day after all. Or hadn't it? There was the muffled sound of that strange music again. Only the barely recognizable rhythm let me recognize it as music at all. It was distant, but not too distant. The students were partying in their rooms, four stories below and across the yard with the pool. A pool, that was kind of like a pond, right? Except it was for swimming? Somehow I had the impression that that should have irritated me. Except it didn't. It wasn't my duty to supervise them tonight.

They would have to get up early next morning. Let them regret their late night party then. But who was I to talk. If anything I would have to get up even earlier and yet I was standing here on the balcony sipping a beer. I savored the memory of its taste for a moment. That was some rather good beer. The handful of empty bottle on the ground next to me gave testament to my solitary drinking binge. Sure, they were rather small bottles but still. I would regret emptying them all in the morning for sure. Wait a moment! Beer? In bottles? What kind of madness was this? Never mind. Today was my day off. I had a right to enjoy it! One of the other teachers could deal with the students. Never mind that they were all senior to me. They had dumped more than enough work into my lap during the rest of the school trip so far after all.

I better not let mother know that I ever entertained such a thought. It was going entirely against the sense of duty she had tried to install in me ever since I could remember. I better not ever mention these weird memories at all, not to mother, not to anyone. With an annoyed sigh I put down the empty bottle next to its brethren. A few steps brought me to the small fridge in the room. A fridge? I opened it and got the last bottle of the six pack I had bought earlier. I put the cold bottle against my forehead to ease the headache I was developing. Oh, a fridge! It keeps things cold! What convenient enchantments! Without noticing it I had returned to the balcony. I had opened the bottle along the way as well. I leaned back again and took another sip, savoring the taste with closed eyes.

I could hear the door of the hotel room open and then close again. That would be Hada Otohe, my supervisor at school and here on the school trip, as well as the teacher I shared the room with. I could hear every step as the slightly older woman stalked right over to me. High heels. Who would wear something like that? Out of their own free will? Now I half opened an eye. There the senior teacher was standing right in front of me, with a deep scowl marring her face. High heels, very high high heels at that, jewelry, too much perfume and a dress that no one with any sense of shame would have worn. She probably had hit one bar at the esplanade after another, trying to pick up a date. The old witch might have been successful as well, judging by the smell. It took me a lot of effort not to make a face at this pungent mix of smells that clung to her. And for some reason the woman seemed downright livid.

The senior teacher crossed her arms in front of her chest, tapping her right foot against the ground. She started to berate me. I couldn't understand the words. Or maybe I couldn't quite remember them? But the words still felt like a knife that was thrust into my heart, again and again. On any other day, or at least on any other day when I had six beer less, I would have started bowing and apologizing after a reprimand like that. Today was not any other day though. No, what was I thinking? Why would I bow and scrape in front of a woman like that? That wasn't right! That wasn't right at all! It was a little relief as the foggy memories kept playing out. I hadn't bowed. I hadn't apologized. Instead I had challenged her and her authority.

That was the way to go! Except, whatever I had said got her really angry. No, that was an understatement. It made her utterly livid! She was screaming at me now, screeching like a harpy or something worse even. Somehow, for some reason, that sound was familiar. It sounded like something else I had recently heard. I stared at her flabbergasted. It was all I could do as she kept going. I couldn't even begin to formulate a proper reply. I reached out to her, trying to calm her down. That was about as far as I got. The other woman didn't push me all that hard. The way I was already leaning back against the balcony's railing it was hard enough though, to send me flying over it. Buzzed and perplexed as I was, I didn't even scream. Before I had a chance to truly realize what had just transpired, I hit the tiled floor next to the pool, four floors below. The last thing I saw was her cruel face sneering down at me.

She had killed me. That damn … she had killed me! Even as I thought about it the memories started to fade again. All except for the cruel face sneering at me. I woke with a start and a wordless scream on my lips, almost catapulting myself out of the bed I had been resting in. Maybe I would have actually landed on the floor if something heavy hadn't been resting across my lap. The searing pain in my side was almost enough to knock me back out. My sudden jolt had been enough to wake my sister. Even in the dim light of the infirmary I could see that her hair was disheveled and that her eyes were red. She didn't look good. She looked about as bad as I felt. She launched herself at me, grabbing me in what felt like a bone crushing hug. I dropped back to the mattress together with her and let her bawl and cry at my chest, patting her back lightly. I was still alive. Somehow. I wasn't sure what I should make of that. For the time being I decided to cry with my sister.