The Summoning

VII - Chokehold

"So, when is it I get some answers?" My uninjured leg bounced under the table as I watched II and IV clean the dishes. II's sleeves were rolled up to his elbows and IV had taken off his jacket to reveal a tattered t-shirt. While IV didn't spare me a glance, II looked up briefly, eyeing the bandages on my leg. 

"After you've gotten some rest and your leg has healed a bit." II went back to drying dishes and I marveled at how casual they seemed to treat the entire situation. 

Every once in a while, I could hear IV humming a song I thought I recognized, but couldn't place. At some point, he grabbed a handful of bubbles and offered it to II. II took a moment to consider before clapping his hand down onto IV's and sending a spray of bubbles floating into the air. After seeming to offend IV by wiping his hands on IV's shirt, II was punished with a large dollop of bubbles being placed on top of his head. 

So lost was I in the reverie that simple acts of playfulness brought, I nearly missed a shape darting past the kitchen door. It moved so fast that I questioned whether I saw anything at all. Leaning over the table, I tried glancing down the hall, but was too far away to see anything. 

III strolled into the kitchen, noticing me already staring out the door. "Hey, Troublemaker, need an escort to your room?"

II snorted, shaking his head.

As III approached, I leaned back a bit into my chair. "How do I know you guys won't do the same as the people that took me?"

III stopped in his tracks halfway to me at this and the kitchen went quiet as the other two turned to me. 

"We worship differently." Two took a few steps away from the sink, cleaning his hands that still had traces of black paint covering them. "Our God wishes no pain or suffering on anyone."

III stepped closer and offered his arm to me, similar to last time, and I pushed myself up from the table as I reached for his elbow. My foot caught on the leg of the chair, leg giving out from under me and III was quick to catch me. My grip on his arm tightened as his other arm wrapped around me, clutching me to his chest as he pulled me back up.

A small whine of pain escaped me at the weight briefly put onto my shaking leg. It felt like all the blood in my body was rushing to the wound as it pulsed in pain and I couldn't stop the tears from falling down my face as my hands clutched onto the sleeves of III's shirt. 

"I've got you." III murmured as II and IV stepped closer. He then carefully knelt and took my legs into his arm, pulling me up to cradle me before starting for the door.

"I'll get Vessel. He should take a look and get her some pain medication." II scurried in front of III and down the hall as III carried me the opposite direction.

At the end of the corridor, III shoed open a door cracked open and carried me to a small bed in the corner of the room. This room had a window that looked out into a garden lit by the early afternoon sun.

Just as III stepped back, Vessel slunk into the room like a wraith and knelt by the side of the bed. I wiped the tears from my face as I watched him study me.

Lifting his hand, he beckoned with a finger for II as the other arrived and placed a roll of gauze into Vessel's waiting palm. He then slowly raised a hand to my leg, giving me plenty of time to pull away before taking my ankle and pulling the pant leg up over the wrapped wound. 

II handed him scissors and he deftly cut through the gauze on my leg. Just as I realized I was shaking, III took a step toward me again and laid the back of his hand over my forehead. My breath caught in my throat and I blinked as I tried to not flinch back. 

The shaking got worse by the second, even when Vessel was no longer touching me. He had his head bent down as he prepped antiseptic and tape. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't stop the shivers that racked my body. It only made the muscles over my entire body lock up, shooting more pain through my leg. A sob escaped me and I covered my face to hide it.

A gentle hand was placed on the top of my head, fingers gently carding through the messy tresses as the bandages were unraveled from around my leg. Peaking over my hands, I was barely able to see II absentmindedly running his fingers through my hair as he held Vessel's supplies. 

For a moment, when I thought Vessel was finished, I glanced up to find Vessel waiting with an open palm to me. I didn't have anything, though. His jaw was set in a grim line and the hairs on the back of my neck stood when I was able to see the orbs of his eyes behind the mask glaring up at me. 

When I gave him a confused look, shrinking back in the wake of his demand, his hand looked like it had jolted toward me and I shrunk back. 

"Slow, Vess." II reprimanded, trying and failing to hold back a chuckle. He turned to me, soft eyes under a furrow of a brow. "Your hand, Hayley."

Surprise washed over me at the knowledge that they knew my name. I guess it wouldn't have been hard to figure out, especially if their God were able to tell them. Slowly, I laid my hand palm up in his and he began the slow, gentle process of pulling the gauze off.

Soon enough, my hand was rewrapped and Vessel grabbed my ankle to lay it back down, pulling a blanket over me that had been strewn over the end of the bed. II's hand left my hair as he and Vessel stood, leaving the room just as IV came in to set a cup of water and some pills on the nightstand next to me. 

He said nothing as he pointed to the pain pills, then the cup of water, before turning to leave.

I had so much more to ask, so many questions that needed answers, but was so tired. Picking up the Advil on the nightstand, I took them and finished the cup of water.

After laying on my back, staring at the shadows of trees swaying in the wind, eventually my heavy eyelids slipped closed and I fell into a restless sleep.

Vague dreams of past traumas plagued me; of the water filling my lungs and sharp rocks marring my flesh. The frigid darkness of the sea seemed to envelope me all over again, even as I burned from the inside. Weight pressed harder and harder on my chest, the droning hum of the ocean filling my ears as I sank farther and farther to the bottom.