The Mystery of Coastal Luna

|3|

Cough

Cough, Cough.

With a gasp, Ella woke up. Looking around she panicked as she was nowhere she recognized. Was she transported into a new dimension, is she in heaven? Is she an angel!

"Morning Ms. Linares."

"Ah!"

With a surprised look, the nurse turned around and immediately said, "You are up, are you okay?"

Ella was in a daze wondering where she was, looking around the nurse thought she did not speak English. Approaching her she pulled out the Dominican in her blood and said

"Mira a mi, mira a mí, ¿te sientes mejor? Dígame."

Ella shook her head focusing for a moment only to say politely, "Yo puede hablar inglés. Lo siento mucho pero a dónde nosotros estamos?"

"Oh you were in a daze, you have been out for a couple of days. You got lucky as we found you minutes before you would have drowned. We had to pump your lungs though to get all the water out. You were one of the easiest to pump full of water. Tienes buena suerte hija. You got lucky otherwise you would have been sleeping with the fishes."

Nodding Ella rubbed her forehead feeling an intense amount of pain. Coughing a bit the nurse handed her water and said,

"Since you are awake, I'll get the doctor. Dr. Patel made sure you got the best treatment. You will discuss when you will be discharged, which if you can eat and walk could be today."

"Alright, thank you."

Patel. The name sounded familiar. To be fair she knew a lot of Patels, but she knew three who wanted to be doctors. One actually made it and her name was,

"Alright I'll handle this Lola, Alright so you nearly drowned but we managed to-"

"Liyana!?"

Yelling incredulously,  the woman jumped in surprise. Pulling her hair in a ponytail and walking close to Ella. Ella looked like a deer caught in headlights. Immediately she stammered out,

"Y-Y-Y-Y-YOU work here!?"

Liyana nods, beginning to take vitals while Ella looked dazed. Liyana began checking her blood pressure nonchalantly saying,

"I did, I finished medical school in 2018 and have been here ever since. Closer to mom and dad you know. Any urge to vomit? Any food cravings?"

Shaking her head and answering each question with pure unrelented honesty. Ella was getting thoroughly examined by Liyana Patel, with herself looking purely shocked.

Well to be fair, Liyana Patel was an overachiever as a kid. She is 4 years older than Ella, and was always top of her class. Well known for her attitude and habit to immediately correct anyone, she did not make many friends. Ella was her neighbor down the road from her house. Her family owned a small market on the corner which the Linares family frequented. Mario was a favorite to the Patels as he entertained them, Liyana found Ella endearing at a young age. The two would walk together to the library where Liyana tutored the younger one and her sister. Ella would drag Liyanna to the playground and teach her various games. Those days would end at the shop where they would get ice cream bought by Mario.

Those days felt distant now as the bright Liyanna was now, to be frank she was very badass. In Ella's younger eyes, the person who saved a dog from a tree, willingly walked the roof of the store with no hesitation for their family pet. She saves lives for a living and doesn't break a sweat-

"Ella are you still spacing out!?"

"I am awake!"

Liyanna sighed before placing down the charts, just as Ella was about to blurt an apology, Liyanna swiftly wrapped her arms around Ella. Ella was surprised by the sudden action but she enjoyed it. Smiling, the younger female nestled herself in her friend's arms. For a moment it was silent, until Liyanna graciously landed a hard flick square on Ella's forehead. Ella flinched yelling out on pain,