Broken Queen

Chapter 17: The past is something you cannot change𖤛- 𝙿𝚊𝚜𝚝 𝚅𝚒𝚘𝚕𝚊-𖤛

Pain.
It overwhelms me.
My face is numb, but my arms, legs, and chest ache.
Tight casts cover my body.
What happened?
I was playing with Margret- pain crosses my mind.
Darkness.
I don't remember what happened.
I only know that I was playing with Margret.
We were just playing.
Tears stream down my numb face, and I notice the many tubes bursting out of my skin.
I'm a monster.
Monitors beep around the bed I'm lying on.
The strong smell of bleach and cleaning products sting my nose.
How did I get hurt?
A nurse walks over to me with pity on her round, heart shaped face.
I see bits of her Blonde curly hair fall out of a mob cap on her head.
We have the same hair.
The nurse looks much older than me, maybe In her early 30s.
I wince at the contact of her hand on my arm.
Tears gloss over my eyes.
"Oh! I'm so sorry sweetie. Are you feeling well?"
She whispers.
I nod.
The nurse gives me some sort of... comfort.
"Aldietha."
She tells me.
"My name, I mean."
Aldietha.
I like that.
She smiles and I try to as well, but am greeted with a sort of tightness.
I try again, but there is something tugging at my face, not allowing me to do this simple task.
Aldietha must notice my struggling, because she lifts her hand to cup my cheek.
"You need time to recover. It's a miracle that you survived."
She whispers with a solemn note.
"Recover... survive from what?"
I question the sudden sadness in her eyes.
"You... you had an incident."
An incident.
"I'll be right back with your medicine."
Her eyes well with tears.
I process the words, as I have only been here for a couple of minutes.
Aldietha rushes out of the room, and I hear a sob escape her mouth from the other room.
"I can't do this! My precious little Viola is wrapped up like a mummy!"
Aldietha cries.
"Pull yourself together!"
I slightly startle at the sound of another nurse.
I know her name, Elaine.
She helped me when I accidentally scraped my knee outside of the castle.
Elaine wasn't exactly nice to me, but she wasn't mean either.
I don't really know much about her other than she got a position as a nurse in the castle after her husband died of scarlet fever.
I hear the door shut and Elaine comes from the direction that Aldietha left in.
The old woman is carrying a small jar and a syringe.
My heart pounds at the sight of the needle.
"Close your eyes."
I squeeze my eyes shut.
Fear washes over my body.
Needles have scared me for as long as I can remember.
"You're going to feel a small prick on your neck."
Elaine tells me.
My neck?
Don't usual shots go in the arm or shoulder?
Opening one eye, I sneak a peek at the green bottle once more.
Elaine catches me and scolds me to close my eyes again.
"What is it?"
I whisper.
"The syringe?"
There is surprise in her voice.
"No, the medicine in the bottle."
I explained.
She pauses.
I hear the glass clink.
A muffled sob is heard in the background.
Aldietha is still crying.
I hope she's okay.
"This is going to... help you."
Elaine whispers.
I relax and lower my voice as she has.
"Okay."
I feel a sharp prick in my neck, and the sensation of cold metal in my skin irritates me.
The metal goes deeper, deeper, deeper...
My muscles relax more.
I hear a door open in the distance, but I don't bother to open my eyes.
I turn to liquid.
"Elaine?"
Aldietha's voice is distant and broken.
Every noise I hear is blurry now.
Deeper...Deeper.
"Go!"
Elaine yells.
I'm not startled by her sudden change in tone.
I only care about relaxing, the sweet taste of death searing it's way through my body.
The relaxation only goes further, clashing with the hot pain of the liquid entering my body from my neck.
I smell... chemicals, bleach, sugar.
I'm drowning in the ocean, falling deeper, down.
"GET AWAY FROM HER!"
I hear Aldietha scream.
I hear the blurry sound of metal falling on the floor.
The screams of women.
Metal is no longer in my neck.
My body numbs.
I try to swim to the surface, but I can't.
The water's too strong, nothing but a cradle of death, rocking me back and forth till I die.
I'm unable to move my limbs, or even lift my eyelids.
I can only hear and smell.
The bleach scent floats away...
Even my smell is leaving me.
Panic sets over, but I'm unable to do anything.
The sounds blur together.
Sounds of clashing and screaming fold together.
"YOU TRIED TO KILL HER! THAT'S NOT MEDICINE THAT'S POISON!"
Crash.
I don't know who said that.
Clank.
I don't know
Everything swirls together.
Everything is the same.
I can't- think.
Stab.
Scream.
Stab.
Pounding.
Door.
Men.
Guards.
Crying.
Death.