Antumbra - A Lost Cause

Antumbra - Chapter Nineteen

The first thing Arva heard was beeping. It didn't wake her up, but it got her attention, and she began to panic. Arva tried to take in a breath, but choked. Something was in her mouth, in her throat, and she grabbed at it. It was some kind of tube, and she gagged, pulling it out as the sickening sensation of the thing sliding up and out of her throat nearly made her throw up. She threw the tube away, coughing and gasping for air, and took in her surroundings. The beeping next to her quickened, and she looked at a computer monitor mounted on the wall. She looked around the pure white room, then down at herself. She was in a pale green gown, in a white bed, and it all began to make sense. Of course, it was a hospital. The fear and anxiety began to subside.

"Heh..." she tried to speak, but her throat hurt, and her voice was hoarse. She felt sore all over, bruises and bumps, cuts and scrapes. Then came prickles down her back as she tried to sit up. She couldn't remember what happened, but she tried to speak again.

"Hello?" She managed to whisper, "anyone?"

Nobody answered, so she swung her legs out of the bed. Something jabbed at her arm, and she looked down to see another tube, this one smaller, attached to her inner elbow. It hurt, and it was attached to a bag hung on a stand beside her. She'd seen these things in movies and TV shows, but never knew what they were, but knew that patients in hospitals always had them. She didn't think they'd hurt, however. It felt weird, Arva had not been in a hospital since she was eight and had to have stitches. She felt her head. She was covered in bandages, even ones over the cuts she got from the night before, if it was even just one night. She'd slept, but didn't know for how long, but it felt as though it had been a while. She climbed out of the bed, it was high off the ground, or she was just shorter than the average patient, and awkwardly stepped down to the cold floor. Arva felt uncomfortable, and clutched the gown behind her as she took the fluid bag on the stand with her towards the only door. There weren't any handles on it, and she wondered how it was supposed to open, but there was a button on the wall. She pushed it, and the door slid open so quickly it made her jump. Arva poked her head out into the hallway, looking up and down the plain white corridor. It was empty, and didn't much look like any hospital she'd seen. It was too basic, too narrow. The hallway turned just a few feet away from her door, so she hesitantly made her way there, only to hear someone approaching. Arva didn't know who to expect, but this was the last person she ever thought she'd see again.

"I see you're up," Marcus smiled.

"Mr. Wilhelm?" Arva asked, confused. None of this made any sense to her.

"I'm sure you have many questions," he said.

"Where's my friends? Where's my family?" Arva asked as things slowly started to come back to her. Those were the important questions, the ones she needed answers for right then and there.

"They're safe," he said, holding up his hands to guide her back to her room, "if you'd please return to your bed, I can explain everything."

"I want to go home," Arva said.

"And you will," he replied, "you're not a prisoner, but you had some serious injuries, and there is much to discuss." Arva begrudgingly acquiesced, and awkwardly walked backwards towards her room, not wanting to turn around in the hospital gown. She hopped back into her bed, and Marcus took a chair from the corner and took a seat next to her.

"Where are my friends?" Arva asked. "A boy and a girl, they were with me, she had a cut on her leg."

"They're here," Marcus explained, "they're being taken care of, like you. Your friend had to have a piece of shrapnel surgically removed, but she's quite stable. The boy is fine, no serious injuries, you can see him soon." Arva let out a huge sigh of relief. The last thing she really remembered was the three of them hiding, Elia bleeding, and Arva just thinking she had to lead that thing away from them.