Malum Sanguinem (Bad Blood)

Chapter Three

Voices buzzed around me in an overwhelming crowd as bright lights turned on. My heart rate accelerated. Hands poked around my body and needles punctured my skin. My eyelids were drugged and had the weight of several bricks stacked upon it. I opened my mouth to speak but all that came out was a painful croak. Where was I? There was a metal rail next to both of my sides and my head lay on a fluffy pillow. I was toasty and and a fuzzy brown blanket covered the lower half of my body. Later, the voices dimmed to soft whispers and the light flickered before completely going out. Another needle was injected to my forearm and my mind was instantaneously drifting off.

Large hands lightly shook me awake and I forced my eyelids to open. Lloyd looked down at me worried, his chocolaty brown eyes were wide and his forehead had waves of wrinkles. My lips twitched into a small smile and I croaked "You were worried?" I meant it as a statement but it came out more of a question.

Lloyd handed me a small plastic cup and helped me clear my dry throat. I thanked him and waited for his reply to my previous question. He shook his head and replied "Worried would be putting it lightly, you don't know how distraught I was. I thought for sure you were going to go into a coma. I didn't realize how much of a shock telling you everything would put you in. I'm sorry, Rosa." Lloyd hung his head low in despair and I realized just how much he blamed himself.

I shook my head and explained, "It's not your fault, and I didn't go into shock because of what you told me. It also had to do with something else." Lloyd frowned but didn't pursue in asking me what I was hiding.

"I'm just glad you're okay. You don't know what I would've done to myself if you had gone into coma. I would've died of depression." I remorsefully looked at Lloyd and wryly smiled.

Lloyd motioned around the hospital room and remarked, "I know you'll get bored of staying in this cramped up room for several days, so I got the doctor's approval to move you someplace else."

I wanted to indulge in Lloyd's happiness but somehow I couldn't muster anything. Usually, he found a way to my heart and got me to genuinely smile. Lately though, I haven't smiled at all. I felt void to any sort of emotion, except the fear that clutched at me.

Lloyd as promised moved me to a better facility in the unfamiliar hospital. It was a cheerful room with yellow spring daisies painted on the walls. The room was also bigger and had great heating and conditioning. The bed was springier and the sheets weren't so paper thin compared to before.

The clock, opposite of the bed, slowly ticked down the seconds before moving the minute hand. Then the minute hand revolved around the global circle once until it became an hour. It continued on and gradually restarted the cycle. It was mystery to Lloyd as to why I was staring at the most monotonous thing in the room when I had flowers and intricate designs on the walls. The scenery outside the huge windows were also gorgeous, but I wouldn't speak to him about the lingering question.

What he hadn't seen he couldn't understand and therefore I never tried to tell him. I stopped speaking altogether and at days end wouldn't eat. I grew frail, my glossy amber hair lost their shine and my strength drained due to lack of food in my body. Nights were the worst, I was constantly harassed by nightmares and would wake up in the middle of the night rupturing into heavy sobs. Lloyd tried to be next to me as much as he could at nighttime but he usually left before the nightmares got started. The following morning he would come with a dozen of flowers and would apologize for not being their for me. Although I knew why he wouldn't tell me about his late night disappearances and calls he received, I deserved to know. I was also getting tired of his overbearing form and how he always stopped mid sentence thinking that anything mildly shocking would put me back into my previous state.