Excerpt from
The Cycle of the Six Moons: The Last Winter Moon
Chapter Sixteen: Numb
Third excerpt from The Last Winter Moon!
I skin the bird as I’d seen Jayse do these past few days. The blade glides so easily between flesh and skin, and it can’t feel a thing.
I don’t feel the vibrations in my arm when I hack into the bird’s bones. My hands move on their own now. I’m only an observer. It’s like watching a trained chef when I cut the meat into smaller pieces, like therapy.
I look from the slimy pieces of pink dird meat to the back of my left hand, which all this time has pulled and held the meat in place. I can see a hint of my green veins beneath my skin, my bones sliding beneath when I wiggle my fingers.
The bird that this hand has held has felt nothing. I glide the blade across the back of my hand. A red line appears and spills off the side of my hand to the cutting board. I feel nothing, either.
I drop the knife and raise my hand. I’m bleeding. I know this, but I feel nothing.
“Michelle!” Jayse rushes into the kitchen and immediately heals my hand. “What are you doing?”
“It doesn’t hurt.” The words have no feeling, either.
“Don’t say that.” He takes both of my hands. “Don’t hurt yourself.”
I squeeze his hands. “Jayse, I can’t feel anything. You could stab me right now and I won’t feel a thing.”
He hugs me. “Stop talking like that. It’s not going to help anyone if you hurt yourself.”
Why doesn’t he understand? He was the one who healed my cut; he could tell that I couldn’t feel pain. I stand, my arms at my side while his are around me, so confused why he doesn’t believe me.
After what seems like forever, warmth sinks into my chest. I feel my heartbeat. Warm tears roll down my cheeks. The air is close to freezing.
It hurts so much, I can’t feel anything else.
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