The sound of equipment beeping jolted Eloise into consciousness. Where am I? She thought. Her stiff eyes opened and closed slowly as she adjusted to the harsh bright lighting.
"I think it's the lights." A female voice called out. After a short pause she spoke again. "So turn them off!" Eloise flinched at the severe sound and a hand came to rest upon her forehead, pulling the hair off her sweaty face.
"It's alright darling, I'm here. Mum is here." Mum? Eloise tried one last time to open her eyes and was able to see the ever familiar sight of her mother beaming down upon her. "You're awake."
"I..." No more sound came out from her parched throat. Eloise attempted to swallow and was met with pain and uncomfort, she pointed to her throat to indicate that she needed water.
"Something to drink?" Eloise nodded. Her mother's face left hers and glanced to a male doctor with a clipboard standing off to the side. "Can we get some water please?"
He nodded and left the bright white room, although Eloise's fluttering feeling of anxiety did not leave with him. After he returned with a glass of water, Eloise's mother guided the glass to her mouth so she could drink. Where am I?
Eloise must have spoken aloud. "You're here in the hospital with me. There was a car crash. I had minor injuries but you were not as fortunate. The doctors had to put you in a medically induced coma. I'm so glad you're awake now Eloise, it's been a year."
Realisation dawned upon Eloise as she took in her mother's words. A car crash. A coma. Memories flooded back to the crucial moment of the crash, of tires screeching and metal crunching.
A YEAR?!
A year.
One whole year.
What happened to Faerie? Where's Rowan?
A frown appeared on her mother's forehead and worry lined her face as she registered Eloise's words. "Faerie? Who's Rowan?" She asked.
"I need to go back." Eloise whispered, she ignored her mother's questions.
"What was that dear?" Her mother took her hand in her own, leaning further into her daughter. Eloise's limbs screamed in response, everything set ablaze
"I need to go back." She said louder.
"Back- back where? To Faerie?" Her mother looked utterly exhausted as she ran a hand across her face, taking a deep breath to steady herself. "Eloise, we have talked about this before."
"I have to go, I have to go!" Eloise's voice reached higher and higher, portraying her anxiety and desperation.
Let me go.
I need to go.
I don't belong anywhere. I belong there.
"Ma'am, we might need to restrain your daughter for both of your safety." The doctor's grating voice cut through Eloise's spiralling thoughts. He inched closer and closer to the bed and her mother, signalling to the taller doctor behind him.
"No, no, just let me speak to her. She's okay, she just needs her mother." She waved away the doctor that crept closer to the hospital bed, all the while keeping an eye on the other by the door.
"Do you remember our conversation, ma'am? If your daughter continues to act like this then we have to detain her. Her brain has been damaged from the accident, there was no guarantee that she would return to her normal self." His calm and factual tone sent a rage through her mother.
"I said let me speak to her!" She jumped from her chair at the same time Eloise began to thrash against the hospital sheets. Both mother and doctor fell silent as they watched Eloise struggling.
YOU ARE READING
The Gift of Dreams
Fantasy"You are the kingdom's last hope." Ever since she was a child, Eloise had found herself slipping into the familiar embrace of her fantasies rather than the truths of reality. She was no stranger to the sweet berries and wines that Faerie offered, no...
