The Song of Night and Snow

Chapter Two

Auryn?

She saw a bright light. Even through the lids of her eyes it shun through, causing her to squint. She brought a hand up to shield her eyes from the new brightness, but winced at her movements. A sharp, wrenching agony spread through her body. She felt like her skin was on fire, like a hundred needles were being poked and prodded all over her body. The pain itself was enough to almost put her back into the deep slumber she had only just gained consciousness from.

"Auryn, hunny, you can wake up now."

She heard the voice again, not sure whether she was going mad, or she was dead. The latter seemed unlikely since she could feel her limbs—something she wouldn't be able to do if she was dead. Yet, the thought felt more appealing as she remembered the burning sensation she was feeling throughout her body.

"What if she doesn't wake up?"

She heard a second person, but was unable to make out the owner it. She could tell the worry from their voice, and the tone that they used. Whoever they were must be close to her.

That still had her wondering two things: one, who did the voices belong to. And, two... where was she?

"She will, any minute now."

She heard that first voice again as she struggled to open her eyes, it was almost as if they were glued shut, and had remained that way for a while. Bringing her hand up again—ignoring the pain it caused—she wiped sleep from her eyes. Now she could see a slight picture of the room. It was white all around, except for the blue screen that cut her off from whatever was on the other side. The bed she was laying on was, also, all white. The only other thing she noticed was a few machines and computers. If she had to take a guess, she would say she was in some sort of hospital.

She tried sitting up, but immediately regretted the decision. The pain she was feeling was unfathomable. With her vision now being encased with black spots, all she could make out was who she predicted was a nurse, and a tall man, dressed in all black. But before she could question who he was, he left.

She only came back and now fully aware of her surroundings when she heard the door to the room click shut. She thought that was weird but decided she would question it later.

"Where am I?" She hadn't realised her voice sounded so groggily. Some water could help, she thought.

As if reading her mind the Nurse pressed a clear glass of water into her hands, once the Lady knew she could hold it sturdily she let go and turned back to her computer.

The Nurse turned in her swivel chair and looked at her with a big, warm smile. "Auryn, you are in the hospital at the moment, but I would like to ask you a few questions myself if that's alright with you?"

She nodded in response, lost for words in her state of confusion.

"Great!" The Nurse beamed, "first-things-first, my name is Samantha, but you can call me Sam. Now, i would like to test your memory and make sure you didn't injure your head in any way, soo—she said, dragging out the o—tell me, what do you remember before you woke up just now?"

Auryn put the now empty glass on the table next to her as she began to recall her memories from that night. "Well," she started. "I remember going to meet someone, I was on my way up the mountain when... I think I was ambushed? I remember a fight breaking out and suddenly there were a lot more people surrounding the area." I took in a deep breath. "I remember getting badly hurt but it's all kind of fuzzy after that."

Sam jotted something down on her notepad and turned her gaze back to Auryn. She then continued to run some more assessments on her. Once she was satisfied, she got up and said she could be discharged in the morning and left it at that; Sam then made her way out of the room, leaving Auryn alone to her thoughts.