The Quality of Sound

Chapter 3

My first thought was that I was dead. In heaven, my spirit had drifted up here and I would live a quiet life.
As I slowly was regaining my vision, I looked around the room, gripping the bed to keep me stable.
The sheets were linen and pure white, the walls surrounding me in the room white as well.
As I look around the room to my left, a cart was near me along with a tray full of medical supplies.
My eyes catch sight of a needle and my stomach does a flip. I was not one for needles or syringes, and definitely not shots.
I turn to my right and my breath stops for just a moment, like I hit a wall of awe.
Instead of a wall, a window was there, and the sight was breaktaking.
Trees of many different types swayed gently in the light breeze. Rivers and waterfalls sparkled with clear blue water, the water seeming as if there was no pollution. As I glance out at the horizon, where the earth touched the sky, a ocean could be seen, its waves just as beautiful. As I focused in on the land, I was hit with even more shock.
Animals of all breeds were everywhere, walking around as if they were all family. I caught a lion sleeping under a large oak as if it knew what that tree looked like all its life while I also spotted a pig and a deer grazing on grass close by.
The view was wonderful, I couldn't stop looking at how pretty it was.
Suddenly, a dark thought interrupts my mind. Where am I?
I then start to freak out as memories come flooding make to me. Raven, the weird sound, me about to drown to death, my saver, the pain in my arm.
I look at my arm and fear grips at me. My left arm was bandaged from shoulder to wrist, its bandages as white as the blankets. I grip the sheets and try to stay calm, which was very hard. My arm was injured? How? I couldn't even process how I was here. And Raven, what was she doing? Was she freaking out that I wasn't with her? Was I really dead? I touch my stomach and it felt real to me. I take my good arm, and with my injured arm, I pinch the skin hard letting out a yelp and rubbing at the now raw skin. So this was all real. Shit.
I lay back in bed, my head starting to feel weird, like I was having my thinking gears being turned after so long.
So what was I doing here, why was I here, and what should I do? As I rub at my forehead, I hear a knock on the door and freeze. Who the hell was that? I tremble slightly and without processing what I was saying, I tell them, "Come in."
As they enter the door, my first instinct was to jump out of bed, knock them in the head, and run out of the room. But as I try and sit up, the pain in my arm channels through my limb and I groan in pain, spots dancing in my vision as I slide back down to lay still.
I here them chuckle, and it was the same voice that had pulled me out of the lake. The same person who had saved my life.
"I see you're awake." He says walking over to the tray full of medical supplies.
I wince as he picks up a needle and he turns to stare at me, and I get a good look at his face.
His eyes were light blue, his iriss' also filled with wonder. His nose looked slightly crooked, as if he got in a fight and lost. His smile was so warm and instantly made me feel better, like it relieved me from the weight on my shoulders. His hair was a mixture of black and brown, like he had dyed his hair way too many times. Still, his appearance was something I could never get out of my head, but that was a good thing.
I didn't realize I was staring at him with a stupid face, for he laughs, silky and bright, and says, "I didn't know you took a liking for me."
"What?" Was all I could say, my eyes traveling down to his hands, his knuckles tightening around the handle of the syringe.
I tense and try to sit up again only to find one of his hands resting on my shoulder, pushing me down.
"Hey, lay down, you still need to mend."
"I'm fine-" I start to say but watch as the needle looms closer. My hurt arm instinctively pulls away and I cry out in pain looking down.
"Lexia, calm down." He says placing the needle down and taking my unhurt hand tightly in his. I try to pull away freaking out.
"How do you know my name?" I say frantically looking up at him with teary eyes.
He smiles and touches my cheek lightly. I pull away and look down, our feelings to eachother obviously not the same.
"How do you know my name?" I repeat sliding my hand out from his and trying to avoid his gaze.
"I've been watching you for a while now. You're very loud." His lips continued to stay in a small smile, and it made me uncomfortable. He'd been watching me? For how long?
So far I'd found out the person who'd saved my life was also a stalker of mine. Great.
"If you know my name, then I have the right to know yours." I counter back trying to avoid his bright eyes, but they were too hard to resist. As I stare up at him, his eyes suddenly seemed dark, like fear had gripped him. Fear for me.
"I tell few people my name." He admits to me, taking a deep breath. "But I assume since I have been watching you privately, you do have the right to know." He pauses before saying, "Astor."
"Astor?" I ask in disbelief, not knowing it would be so easy to learn his name. One questions down, fifty million more to go.
"What am I doing here? The last thing I remember...." I falter in my words not knowing how to explain.
At first, he doesn't answer, reaching over and pressing his palm against my forehead. I let out a shaky breath not sure if I should trust him.
"You're warm." Astor says retrieving the needle and turning to look at me with kind eyes. My head broke out into a cold sweat.
"I don't appreciate you putting antibiotics in my body when I don't even know what it is." I tremble.
"Oh, this?" He holds the syringe up and the liquid seems to shimmer in the light reflecting off a bright gold color. "You wouldn't know what this is even if I told you."
"Then tell me what it is." I say scooting away from him slightly.
He let's out a troubled sigh before saying, "This is Flüssige Gold, or commonly known as Liquid Gold, now hold still."
As he raises the needle again, I shake my head and try to scoot away from him on the bed, carrying my hurt arm with me.
"No, not gonna happen. No way is that going to be injected into me."
"You have to have this if you expect your arm to heal. Only this will cure the bones."
"What happened to my arm anyway?" I ask trying to keep him occupied as I prepare to make a run for it.
"It was all my fault," Astor says with remorse in his words. "I pulled you out of the lake too hard, your shoulder was dislocated and the ice was strong enough to break some of your bones including your radius and ulna."
My eyes look at my bandaged arm and I wince. No wonder it hurt so badly. "Thankfully with another helping of Flüssige Gold you should be halfway healed." He tells me with a grin as if it would make it all better.
I look up only half heartedly up at him, already having scooted to the other side of the bed, the door wide open. Calling me to run out. "Well, thanks for helping me, but I think I'll pass."
I stand and bolt for the door. Mistakes after mistakes I made. Suddenly my legs seemed to collapse under me and I yell out in pain falling to the ground. Quick as lightning, Astor catches me before I fall and he sighs shaking his head in disapproval.
"Lexia, you're not fully healed." Astor says sadly.
I let out a yell of pain and breathe heavily, my vision once again spotty. "Please, make the pain stop." I plead clutching my bandaged arm with my other unhurt one.
"You have to trust me." Astor says, the needle in his hand.
I let out a strangled sob and his eyebrows furrowed looking as if he felt sorry for me.
"Take a deep breath...." He says still holding me tightly as he had the day I almost drowned.
I do as he says and he then says, "Close your eyes. Trust me."
I look up at him and he nods. I had no choice but to close my eyes and allow his calmness to overtake me.
At first, I felt fine, nothing happened. But then I felt a sharp pain in my uninjured arm and I cry out, darkness seeming to take me away, and finally I fall asleep in Astor's arms, not knowing it wouldn't be the last.