[[Until We Become Lions]]

Chapter 17

The throbbing pain was the first thing Danijela noticed upon realizing she was in fact not dead. What a pity because every part of her body was screaming in agony as she began to panic, unable to open her eyes. She felt something brushing against her face which caused her to panic even more, her mind conjuring insects crawling all over her or worse.

"The anesthetics are wearing off." She heard someone say. A man. His voice seemed familiar but in this state, she couldn't quite place it.

She felt herself trying to move her mouth but could only hear herself uttering incoherent groans like her mouth had been sewn shut. This. Was. Not. Good. Her fight or flight sent her into swinging her fists until she felt something tangible.

"Somebody please restrain her!" The same voice called out.

With sheer determination, she opened one eye, confirming her earlier belief that her other eye had swollen shut. A numbing dull pain shot through her eyelid and radiated behind her eyeball itself. Two nurses held her arms at bay as she continued to flail, once again finding herself in a hospital bed. There were more people spread throughout the room like there was a little fiesta going on that she was the centerpiece for. Maria Marquessa stood off to the corner, speaking to what appeared to be a makeup artist judging by the layers of makeup they wore, and the brush they held in their hand. That must have explained the feeling she had against her face.  With them was a ...camera crew?

What the hell is happening?

She tried looking around the room but found her movement severely limited with the number of bandages they had used to bandage her eye and head all together. The Voice approached her from an angle that she could not see.

"Miss. Rojas, we must check your cognitive functioning. Are you able to tell me what day it is?"

What a stupid question. She tried answering but found the movement clumsy like her lips were swollen three times too big to be able to even enunciate each separate letter.

"...Two-toose," She grunted, frustrated, "Tuesday."

The Voice shuffled and finally appeared in her line of sight. The doctor from the club, and the same one she had met again a few days prior. Dr. Reyes. If he was satisfied with her answer his face did not show it.

"Can you tell me what your sister's name is?" He asked, like he was checking off an invisible check-list in his head.

Danijela's hands tightened as the nurses finally released her, seeing that she had finally calmed down, "Evee." She said clearly, "W-where is Evee?"

As if on cue, the door to the room swung open. Her sister's wide eyes honed in on her immediately. Danijela noticed she was no longer wearing the red dress from this morning but had swapped into a yellow camisole and jeans with sunflower patches on them. Danijela remembered buying the outfit for Evee for her twelfth birthday. Silly her, that was coming up wasn't it? This was certainly not the surprise she had hoped to give her sister but Evee looked more than thrilled to see that Danijela was awake.

"Dani!" Evee shouted.

Against the nurses caution, she launched herself onto the bed, nearly crushing Danijela with a hug. Danijela wheezed as she cautiously tried to position Evee in a way that didn't seem like she was trying to push her off but goddamn, not on the bullet wound..

"Hello my estrella . Are you okay?"

Danijela cupped her sister's cheek. While she wasn't currently crying, it was clear by the dried watermarks on Evee's face that she had been earlier.

"I'm okay. Just a little shaken up." Evee responded.

Danijela leaned in and kissed her sister on the forehead, holding her close, even if her shoulder strongly advised against the movement. She peered over Evee's head, curious as to why she did not see Diego with her.