Lost In Time

A Forgotten Conversation

Somehow along the way, I got my ankle out of that darn bucket. It was swollen and angry, but I kept on moving anyway, still holding on to the mop handle. I turned the corner then turned right back, heart beating fast. The doctors and nurses were coming out of Raide's room.

"We better go tell her husband and son...she only has a few minutes left..." One of the nurses said sadly, the rest nodding gloomily, walking slowly down the hall as I spied on them. If they saw me, they'd definitely take me to the ER, cause I looked bad. But if they did that, Raide was dead. Quick as a (injured) bunny, I was hobbling across the hall and let myself into Raide's hospital room.

I sneezed as soon as I closed the door, plugging my nose with my hand. By the Father, oh what a smell...I'm never eating fish again. Rotting fish. Baked seaweed. Think of every single slimy, rotten, fetid thing that smells bad from the ocean, and that was this smell. It was awful. Nevertheless, I approached her, doing my best not to notice her severely cracked lips, or gaunt cheeks, her skin flecking off of her bones, or how her mouth was open and her teeth were rotting away...I did my best, but noticed and wanted to hurl anyway. Her sunken eyes, nearly all the way back in her skull, fluttered open weakly, the brilliant cobalt blue they had once been now gone nearly white.

"E-Eli? W-what are you doing-g h-here?" It was hard for her to speak, her voice raspy and aged. I got as close as I dared and put my backpack, wet and rank, on her white clean hospital sheets, ruffling through to find the sea's bounty.

"Saving you...I hope." I didn't actually know if this was going to work, but Dracula wouldn't lie to me...I think.

"Oh honey...I-I've made-e m-my peace..." She swallowed, trying to continue but it clearly hurt her to speak. It was horrible, seeing the life drain from her. Where was Narkus and Dim? Weren't they supposed to be here? "With it. I-I am ready to go, b-but p-promi...promise me that you w-will be-be there for Dimitri...m-my poor baby...n-no matter w-what Eli, p-please p-promise me you will be t-there, for h-him." Her hand visibly shook with the effort it took to reach and grasp my wrist, her slimy bones sliding down my skin.

Pebbles in my hand, still hidden in the backpack, I nodded, swallowing thickly. I would save her, but...she was dying. A tear slid down my cheek. "I promise you Raide. No matter what, I will be there for him." Even if he doesn't want me to be. Her eyes, a lit with peace, fluttered closed, a smile on her face as she started to slip away.

"Good, good...tell them I love them, will you? I didn't w-want them to see me...go..." She was going, I could tell. Pushing my squeamishness aside, I held her palm open as I put a few of the pebbles in her hand, arranging her fingers to close around them. They immediately began to take effect, thank you Father, as her hand began to glow with ethereal light, nearly blinding me as I reached over and touched some more of the pebbles to her black MoonStone, feeling the warmth as the power transferred. I had more pebbles, and as the magic left the others I replaced them, putting the now cool ones in my backpack. I would return them to the ocean later, praise the Moon, whatever I had to do, but I was just so grateful it was working. No Reapers came down to smite me for interfering, so I assumed that this was meant to be. Relief had me swaying on my feet as the last of the stones gave their power, and Raide looked as good as new, no, better. She was glowing with health, breathing normally, and her MoonStone was glowing brighter than ever. She would be alive for a long time, I knew. Dim wouldn't know the pain of losing a parent early, at least not for a good long while.

I hefted the backpack on my tired shoulders when Raide began to stir. Oh no. Instinctively, I knew she wouldn't remember anything, not after a traumatic coming-back like that. Just as she moaned slightly in her sleep, her voice back to its usual beautiful tone, the door began to swing open. No, no. Oh no. I shouldn't have worried really, because I fell through the floor and landed in some painful splits on Pop's condo's tan wooden floor. The rift, my saving grace, closed with a snap on the ceiling, and my secret was kept. Thank you Father Time!