Elementia

Chapter 9

I had always been rumored to be tough, stoic, and distant. Everyone thought I was the type of person who couldn't feel anything– not even pain. Yet, when faced with death, I showed more emotion than I ever knew I could.

    What if I don't make it? What if Caspian doesn't make it? What if we both don't make it? Am I going to die? No one has ever come out of these tests alive.

    It was all I could seem to think about as Dr. Enki lowered my hospital bed, so I was lower than he was while sitting down. He then injected a needle into my shoulder. I looked over at his table, filled with different colored tubes and needles. I tried to get what I thought would be my one last look at Caspian, only to realize that he was also looking at me.

    My vision started to go black. I didn't know whether I was dying or passing out or being put under. My mind started to panic. Once my vision was fully black, I started having weird dreams.

    There were many dreams but I only remembered some of them. One of the visions I could remember started out with fire. The fire took over my vision. After what felt like only a few seconds, I saw Caspian and I on our last date. It was nighttime however all the colors were vividly pronounced. It was as if I was watching myself from outside my body.

    I watched as I lay my head on Caspian's shoulder, watching blue colors start to form where my head touched Caspian's shoulder. As I looked over to his shoulder, I noticed that it was also starting to change into red colors. The colors did not mix at all– in fact they took over the sides of the dream. The blue took over all of the left side and the red took over the right side.

    I looked on as the two colors seemed to have a fight for who would continue taking over the other side. The fight felt as if it lasted for hours. In the end they swirled around and mixed to make a beautiful shade of purple.
    The shade of purple took over everything in my vision. The shade swirled around and twinkled. It seemed to spin. It was such a pretty sight to see. All of a sudden, the purple fled from my vision so that I could only see black.

    However, this time my vision stayed black. I started hearing voices around me– at my sides, in front of me, behind me, above me. It sounded like they were talking about me, unaware that I could hear them.

    "She's not responding well to this new treatment," came a familiar voice. "I don't like the looks of those spots on her head and hand."

    "What should we do now, Doctor?" asked another voice. "We've already tried all the other treatments."

    "Wait!" a third feminine voice exclaimed. "We have something that might help her."

    "Dr. Spera! You both came back from the Roclines? Have you two finally discovered a vaccine for the Virus?" asked the first voice, energetically.

    "We've only had experimental success but when we heard that Ash was here, we came running to help her. This may be her only chance to live," said a fourth masculine voice. Whoever these people are, they apparently know who I am.

    "You've come just in time. Ash has responded negatively to all the treatments we have, though they are just as experimental as your vaccine. Yet, we'll try anything to bring her back," explained the first voice. "I see you brought Alinta with you."

    Alinta? Why does that name sound familiar? And so do the Roclines?

    "Yes, she was a great help to us. Without her, we probably wouldn't have this vaccine," said the third feminine voice. "Alinta, please put the vaccine in the treatment valve."

    "If this works, we'll be sure to give the boy the same thing. For now, he looks stable but is still comatosed," said the first voice. "You did bring two copies, right?"

    "Yes, of course," replied the fourth masculine voice.

    For a long while– I couldn't distinguish whether it was minutes or hours– I didn't hear anything. There were no more voices. Though I knew I had heard the last name Spera before. The name Alinta also was familiar to me as were the Roclines and the voices of Dr. Spera and the other Dr. Spera. It was all familiar to me but the information felt just out of reach.

    I also wondered who the boy in the coma was and whether he would ever get out of the coma. To be honest, I didn't understand any part of what the voices were discussing. The only thing I understood was that they were talking about me and some kind of condition I was in.

    I wished I was able to understand what everyone was talking about.