The Distinct

New Home

My eyes fluttered open. I was in a grey room that smelled just like the medical room at the president's castle. The smell burnt my nose. I crinkled my nose and tried to breath out of my mouth.

I sat up and threw my legs off the bed. Every muscle in my body was tingling. Whatever they had used to put me out sure was strong. I stood up, even though it probably wasn't the smartest idea, and walked to the window. I looked out.

I was several stories up. Maybe this was a hospital... But when I looked up I saw a beautiful beach and the ocean beyond that. Who puts a hospital on a beach? Beaches are supposed to be happy places and hospitals are not always the most enjoyable place to be. It probably wasn't even a hospital.
Just then Quentin walked in. He smiled at me.

"Hey sleepyhead. Welcome to Distinct Island Community Hospital." So it was a hospital. What kind of fun suckers were these people? You just don't put hospitals on beaches.
"Hey." I answered. My voice came out really scratchy and tired sounding. I cleared my throat. Another tingling ran through my body. I collapsed back into the bed. Quentin moved towards the bed and sat down beside me.

"So how are you feeling?" He asked.
"Not good." I replied. I suddenly got very cold. I shivered. Quentin pulled the blanket up to my chin.
"Mm thanks. That's really warm." I said.
"No problem." He answered. "How was the ride over? I see that they didn't kill you."
"It was fine. I slept the entire time pretty much."
"That's good." Quentin replied.

We sat in silence for a few minutes.

I was starting to warm back up. I pulled my arms out from under the covers and laid them on top of my stomach. Quentin grabbed one of my hands in his. He opened my hand up and started to trace the lines on my palm. It tickled.

"So how old are you?" I asked.
"I'm seventeen. I'm only an apprentice reader. Last night was my first time doing a reading on my own." He answered.
"That's nice. I'm only fifteen, obviously." I blushed. That was dumb. Why did I say that?
"What's your full name?" Quentin asked me.
"Uh, Marvel Lee Kope. How about you?"
"Quentin Andrew Pike."

I liked this. I was getting to know him. And that made me happy. It distracted me from the fact that I was scared out of my mind to be in a new place where I didn't know exactly what was going on.

We talked for another half an hour. I found out that his favorite color was orange, his favorite sport was basketball, his favorite food was pizza and he had an older sister named Kaylin.

We were interrupted by a doctor coming to check on me.

"Hello Marvel Kope. How are you feeling?" The doctor asked.
"Trashy." I answered. The doctor wrote that down and then looked at Quentin.
"Are you family?"
"Uh, well, not really. I just came to check on her." Quentin stammered.
"Are you her boyfriend? If you are her boyfriend you can stay with her permission."
"Um..." Quentin looked at me. I nodded.
"Yeah sure. I'm her boyfriend." Quentin said.
"And he has my permission to stay." I quickly added.

The doctor nodded. He checked my blood pressure and asked a lot of questions. I told him about the weird tingly thing and he said it was normal. Then he said he needed to take blood. I started to cry.

"Hey. What's wrong?" Quentin asked. The doctor had gone to see if a room was empty for my blood work.
"I hate needles." I said. Another batch of hot, salty, tears spilling from my eyes.
"It's alright. I'm coming with you." Quentin said. He used his thumb to wipe my tears away.

He sat down on the bed. I leaned forward and hugged him. He awkwardly put his arms around me and rubbed my back. We were just faking the boyfriend and girlfriend thing but we totally could pull off being a real couple.