Pain was the first thing I recognized. My head felt like it had been split open by some form of blunt force trauma, and it wouldn't have surprised me if I was bleeding as a result.
Pain I could handle.
I wasn't as big of a fan of the unknown.
"I know you are awake. It's not like he hit you that hard," came a female voice in front of me.
"If you are wondering how hard he hit, feel free to try it yourself. Then you can talk to me," I snarked back.
The pain reminded me of the first time I had woken up in this life. Does that mean I was killed and transmigrated somewhere else?
I opened my eyes to try and see my surroundings, but the pain from the light made me shut my eyes again.
A hand slapped across my face, forcing my neck to the right. I took in a breath. Lilies. Ye Mei Hui.
So, I was in the same world as before. At least, that was one question answered.
I flexed my wrists, trying to feel the bindings wrapped around me. But whoever did it was an idiot. They never stopped to check to see if I was armed.
Okay, so in his or her defense, most 6-year-olds wouldn't be armed. But my teacher had just given me a shiny new toy, and I may or may not have given it back.
It's not like I could go into a medical supply store and get a bunch of scalpels, and it wasn't like he was going to miss one. So, I had stuck it up my sleeve when I left biology this morning and I haven't removed it since.
Me: 1 Bad guys: 0
"There is no point in pretending to be asleep; you might as well wake up and face your new reality," continued Ye Mei Hui, and I could hear her pacing back and forth in front of me.
"It's not like I can sleep with you making so much racket," I grumbled. I needed her attention on my front, not what I was doing behind my back.
My hands were clutched together behind my back, my fingers intertwined, and my palms facing each other. The rope had some give to it, but it wasn't enough to make this easy.
The scalpel handle was pressed against my right wrist, and I could feel the hard surface of it against my left wrist.
If I was going to access it, I needed to create enough slack on my right side to let it slide down my sleeve and into my waiting hand. Option two was that I was going to have to use the fingertips of my left hand to be able to reach it instead.
Either way, it wasn't going to be easy.
"Are you even listening to me?" demanded Ye Mei Hui, the screeching of her voice only adding to the pain in my head.
"Nope, can't say I am," I assured her. Besides, who really wanted to listen to her in the first place? Talk about nails on a chalkboard.
There was another strike against my face, but thanks to the first one, I was too numb to really feel it right now.
My tongue shot out and touched a sore spot on my lip. Great. I was bleeding. I didn't like to bleed.
Needing to see where I was, I slowly opened my eyes, allowing the light to penetrate into my brain.
"I don't suppose you have any Tylenol or naproxen, do you?" I asked as the throbbing in my temples got worse and worse. Over-the-counter drugs weren't going to do shit for this level of pain, but at least it would take the edge off.
Another slap and another ringing in my ears.
I moved my head from side to side, trying to loosen up the tight muscles in my neck.
Behind me, my hand never stopped moving.
"What do you want?" I asked with a tired sigh. I closed my eyes; the pain was just too much for me to take.
This body wasn't built for pain, especially this level of it.
"I want what was supposed to be mine," she hissed, and I could hear the shuffling of someone to my side. We weren't alone wherever we were.
"And what is supposed to be yours?" I pressed. Just a little bit more, and I could feel the scalpel dropping down to the palm of my right hand. I started sawing it back and forth, a small smile forming on my split lip as I thought about me yelling at Bai Long Qiang for the same thing.
Then again, he wasn't tied up and trying to cut through ropes.
The scalpel slipped, cutting into the palm of my left hand, but what was one more bit of pain on top of everything else?
I adjusted my grip and continued to cut through the ropes.
"You really have the attention span of a fish, don't you?" sneered Ye Mei Hui as I went silent.
"Forgive me. Once my head stops spinning, I am sure I will be able to entertain you with a lovely conversation," I answered, my eyes still closed.
"Fucking bitch," she snapped, grabbing my shoulders and shaking me.
"She is a kid," grumbled a masculine voice further away. "Leave her alone."
"You had no problems bashing her over the head beforehand," shot back Ye Mei Hui, but she dropped her hands, and I went back to trying to cut through the rope.
"I didn't know she was a kid when I did it."
"How sweet, a kidnapper with a conscience," I muttered under my breath. Suddenly, I could feel the rope behind me snap, and my hands were free.
I slowly moved my feet, trying to see if they were tied up too, but I had free range of motion there.
Me: 2 Bad Guys: 0
I was free.
The only problem was that the world wouldn't stop spinning, and I was pretty sure I was going to puke all over the place.
Great. I hated puking with a passion.