A Beautiful Mistake

Suspicious Healing

I didn't think, I just acted. One half of my brain shut down and the survivalist part of me took over. I lifted my blade, it's edge glinting in the sun as it winked. The tiger came down on me, it's paws extended and it's mouth open, ready to tear into my flesh. It roared louder this time, and I braced myself for impact as the tiger came down on me, and held myself ready. The force of it's jump knocked me over and I fell backwards, my head bouncing off the base of a tree. The jarring of the impact made my skull crack open and my teeth to snap together. I could feel the blood rushing out of me as my head exploded with pain, making me black out. I couldn't even scream - the pain was too unbearable to do anything.

I lay still for a while as I felt the life seep out of me. I swam in and out of consciousness as I was struck by the fact that I was going to die soon. The thought didn't comfort me, but I wasn't afraid at all anymore. I looked down at the tigers body, it's head resting on my lap and it's legs sprawled out on top of my legs. A sharp silver spike was protruding from the base of its head, and I reached up to touch it and realized it was the knife. I huffed a surprised breath that caused my ribs to scream out in pain, and I lapsed into silence again. So this is how it ends. Death by tiger impact. Ha ha. I felt weightless now, as if I was floating. I felt no pain at all and it was bliss. I breathed in a big gulp of air, the smells of the rainforest cleansing me. Everything was turning white now, all glowy and bright. I smiled slightly and closed my eyes, waiting for death to finally close it's cold hand around my soul. A small noise sounded from far away. I stirred in my state and listened intently. There was no mistaking it - the sound was crying. Little sniffles that soon got louder and louder, and finally erupted into wailing sobs that wracked around my brain causing me to wake up more. It was a terrible sound - only one made from someone who's experience the worst pain, suffering and loneliness. It made me want to reach out and find the person and comfort them. Tell them everything's going to be alright. Suddenly it screamed out and wailed 'Come baaaack! Please! Please. Come back. I love you! Don't leeeeeeave me!" The sound made me cringe and I was determined to find who it was coming from. I moved slightly and the crying hitched, as if surprised by something. It sniffled and said "Kaylee?" in a weak voice.

I groaned and sat up and all the pain in my body was slowly coming back to me, but not as harsh as before. I fluttered my eyes and slowly opened them and saw that I wasn't in the jungle anymore. The tiger was gone, the sound of the birds and animals were gone, and what was replaced was a dizzying image someone’s face hovering over me, their expression concerned and worried. I tried to sit up but a strong hand held me down. "Shh you need to rest. Don't get up," it said.

It was a woman's voice, soothing and familiar. I looked up at the source of the voice to find a woman with fine dark hair and deep chestnut brown eyes. It's all too familiar, but unknown. She was a familiar-stranger, someone I knew but have never seen before. 

"Wh-who are you?" I said in a ragged voice. I winced as it scraped my dry throat.

The woman sighed. "You don't remember me?" she said with a pained expression.

I shook my head slightly. "N-no I've never seen you b-before," I whispered. I looked around the room. It looked like a small hospital room, stark white all around. A lone armchair sat in the corner, unoccupied. A bedside table stood beside me, a tray with assorted fruits and nuts. There was a window on the wall in front of me, covering nearly the whole side. But it was pitch black and I couldn't see anything through it. A door was to my left, but there was no handle on the inside of it. That was odd, I thought. Before I could ask any questions, the woman sighed said,

"Well, they did say this might happen,"

"Who are 'they'? Who are you talking about? Where am I? Do you know me? Who am I? Where did I come from? What-"

"Shhh... Don't worry. Everything will be explained soon enough. Now all you need to do is rest that cute little body of yours, okay? I'm going to give you something to kick start that, but you need to relax for it to work. Got it?" she said, impatiently. She kept glancing towards the tinted window as if expecting something to come jumping through it.

"...Okay fine. But I want to know answers soon because I have a lot of questions that must be answered," I replied back.

"Yes, yes that's fine everything'll be okay don't worry we have you under control. Yes now just shhh close your eyes, try to get some sleep everything will make sense soon," she rambled. I watched her intently and she smiled back at me, but there was something in her eyes. Something I didn't trust. A bead of sweat was trickling down the side of my forehead and I reached up to wipe it off. She jerked back and gasped, slowly stepping away at me and looking at me in disgust and horror.

"Don't touch me!" she screamed. My eyes widened and she gasped, as if surprised by her sudden outburst, "I... I'm sorry I... thought you were going to touch me. Y-you can't touch me. At all. I... I have a condition," she explained and smoothed out her off-white button up shirt. She stayed where she was and said, "Sleep tight," and shuffled away, never taking her eyes off me even as she reached the door. She pulled out a key-card sort of thing and slid it down the side of the door. The door unlocked with a loud click that echoed around the room and she stepped through and slammed it with a bang, and then I was alone.