Deep in the Violet | Neteyam X fem OC

Chapter twelve

Lo'ak slowly limped through the lab, stopping by Kiri. She was hanging out with Spider. "Hey, Kiri. She's up."

"Have they told her yet?" she inquired, worry in her voice.

"Probably not, they went in just like a minute ago."

"And you left?!" Kiri exclaimed, and she ran in the direction of the exam room, turning back, yelling at Lo'ak, "Coward!"

The door opened, and Kiri entered. She saw Naveah sitting up on a bed, looking paler than usual and a bit confused.

"Naveah!" Kiri ran right from the door straight toward her bed, hugging her tightly.

"Oh, hi, Kiri," Naveah greeted with a soft smile and returned the hug. Despite her efforts to banish the nightmarish imagery from her mind, the room still triggered anxiety. Having her friend there for comfort was a relief.

Kiri's presence interrupted Norm in the middle of a sentence, but he seemed glad that Kiri arrived.

"Ehm, as I was saying," Norm continued, "The reason why you fainted is quite simple. You were dehydrated and over-exhausted, plus there might have been some counter-reaction between the meds Spider gave you and the natural remedy you drank. So, there's no reason to worry about that."

"We have taken care of that, as we gave you some IV fluids that we use for the Avatars," Max said, pointing somewhere at Naveah's arm tied in a sling. She looked at it and finally noticed a small transparent tube coming from below the fabric. She followed the trail of the tubing with her eyes, noticing its connection to some sort of weird transparent bag hung on a tall stand beside her bed.

"On the other hand," Norm paused, trying to find the right words to convey the message. "There is also another matter that we wanted to address. A bit more... concerning one." A small frown appeared on Naveah's forehead. Kiri took her hand, squeezing it gently as she knew what was coming.

"You see, the way your skin looks, your condition, the albinism..." Norm struggled to form his words. Max stepped in, finishing his sentence. "Albinism carries a significant health risk. Your skin lacks the key component that protects it from the sun's rays... and when your skin gets damaged over time, it can develop little spots on it. Fatal ones, if left untreated. Just like the one you had on your wrist..."

"Had?" Naveah exclaimed, quickly looking at her right wrist. There, where used to be a small pink spot, she now only found a short, thin red line. "You... you did things to me while I was unconscious? Without my permission?!"

Naveah was freaking out, panic was searing in her widened eyes. Was this the nightmare again? She freed her hand from Kiri's grip, frantically taking off the breathing mask from her face.

"Please understand, you could have actually died if we did nothing! There still is..." Norm's sentence was cut short as Naveah stood up. She tried to walk towards the door, but her arm pulled on the IV tubing, and the stand it was connected to fell down, knocking down the tray with scalpels. The metal blades rang loudly as they scattered upon the floor.

"I want to leave. Now. Take this thing off of me." Naveah's voice was filled with anger, and her chest rose rapidly with each heavy breath. Norm came over to her side, taking out the catheter from her forearm. But before he could put a band-aid on it, she was on the move, the door closing behind her disappearing figure.

"Uhm, that went well," Max mumbled.

Naveah stormed out of the lab, gasping, and stopped right at the edge of the camp. Her fingers were trembling. Her thoughts whirled in chaos, a turbulent torrent of fear, confusion, and anger. She felt like she was losing her grip on reality. The woman's face kept flashing in Naveah's mind, as if she could still feel her predatory eyes on her. The heartbeat pounded loudly in Naveah's ears like a war drum. She needed to escape from this suffocating madness, but she had no idea where to run or what to do.
"Naveah!" Kiri's voice seemed to pull her back to reality. She heard her approaching steps from behind until she stopped at her side. "Are you alright?" Kiri asked.