Shapeshifters

5. Shadowed Reality

Questions are bubbling inside my chest like a shaken can of soda, it would take just a moment's distraction for me to explode again.

As if he could sense that, green-eyes sat at the foot of my bed, hands still pressed on my shoulders, keeping me in place.

-Wren, I want you to take a deep breath, can you do that for me? -The corner of his lips tugs into a smile that does not reach his eyes. He's looking around a lot, a nervous twitch of his eyebrows letting me in on the fact he's worried about something else entirely.

I take a deep breath.

It doesn't escape me the fact that the audience of nurses from seconds ago has delved back into routine with scary efficiency. It's as if nothing happened, no sharp objects were pointed, no one screamed at them as if they were misbehaving children, and there was no discussion of sedating an unstable patient. Their movements aren't anxious or unsure now, they are moving quickly, following procedure, cutting and measuring, writing and talking, they are working like a well-oiled machine, no bugs, no gags, no mistakes.

He also takes a deep breath.

-Where...

-I have to go! -He cuts me off, almost afraid I'm gonna start spilling words uncontrollably and he'll be stuck with me and my erratic vocabulary, and he's right to be afraid. -Something came up, something serious, I promise I am not gonna be long, I am sure you are very confused and you deserve to know what is going on but I have to go...

He's no longer trying to mask his distraction, every single noise in the room seems to pique his interest, he's jumping at every shout and command, the sounds of doors opening make his head turn faster than a gunshot, his emotions are everywhere, scattered on the bed between us, on the floor, on the walls, I can tell something is eating away at his heart, worry is making is hands shake against my shoulders, I almost feel like consoling him, hadn't I been the one who woke up in a strange place with no sense of time or reality.

-Where the fuck am I? -This is the most pressing issue, the one I can't keep contained in my chest even though he's already halfway standing to leave. -You can't just run off when I...

-I'm here! I'm here, I'm sorry Ashe... -A man approaches my bedside, panting as if he ran his way here, red hair and a bushy beard partially covering his freckled face. He's not as tall as green-eyes, but he's got broad shoulders, and large arms, while green-eyes reminds me of a cat, he makes me think of a human saint-bernard.

Green-eyes, Ashe, is standing now, looking at the man as if he just saved him from a mortal sentence.

-This is Felix! -He partially hugs the man, placing him in front of himself as if he's a sacrifice. -He can answer any questions in my absence, he'll make you feel right at home!

-What? No! Where.the.fuck.am.I? -My voice is a lot steadier than I would've expected, I hope he doesn't notice I am also surprised by my tone.

They stare at each other for a second, then green-eyes closes his eyes for a second and proceeds to look at me the most apologetic way I've ever seen a man look before.

-I am sorry Wren, I'm sorry! -Then he turns around and sprints out of the room dodging nurses and gurneys with cat's grace.

My eyes shift to the man he left behind, Felix, we stare at each other in awkward silence, both a little startled, as if daring the other to make the first move. He clears his throat, his eyebrows relax slightly, compassion filling the tense spots in his expression, he's approaching his forties and definitely has children because his choice of approach is to go "Hey Kiddo".

-I know you must be freaking out...

The soda can just popped.

-Where am I? How long have I been out? What happened to me? Why are the nurses like... Soldiers? What the fuck is going on? Who is that mother fucker with the deep voice? What...