Dead Ringer *Watty 2016*

Hospital

The medics were on the scene in a matter of minutes rushing to Larkin's aid, and Larkin was still in shock as they began asking her questions.  "Coraleigh?"  An attendant medic said staring in her eyes.

Larkin couldn't understand who they were talking to.  "I was attacked," she kept thinking on loop, "talk to me."  She wanted to demand but her mouth wouldn't work her mind felt frozen.

She couldn't feel her hands and the world felt as though it was moving in slow motion, she wondered why her face didn't hurt.  Despite the attack she just wanted to have Briar by her side.  "Coraleigh, can you hear me?"  The medic asked looking Larkin directly in the eyes.

"Why are the looking for someone else?"  Larkin wondered, wanting to know when she would get medical attention.  Then a horrific thought occurred to her, "Was someone else hurt in the accident?"

She felt them slip something around her arm and a bright light was shined in her eyes.  Then they were lifting her body onto something hard.  She didn't want to be carried away she wanted to stay there with her friends and help the injured girl so she began to struggle against their restraints trying to fight back.  "Someone needs to come with her," a gruff male voice said, "she is going to be very confused."

Larkin waited for Briar to step up and say she would go but she couldn't find Briar anywhere.  Instead a boy walked up and said that he was her attendant and that he would go with her.  "I don't have an attendant," Larkin said perplexed but it all came out in a large jumble which the medic took as her agreeing.

From that moment on the boy stuck to her side as the rolled her to the train station and on a train.  At first she was uneasy but by the time she was on the train she liked his being there and he was beginning to seem familiar.  Her mind was beginning to clear, "Its nice to ride this with you."  She whispered to him, the words not coming out the way that she wanted them to.

He looked at her confused which only confused her farther.  The train passed through Cian city and her mind became even clearer.  "I know you," she said, "You were with her when we met."  Larkin said as the realization dawned on her.

A look of pure panic crossed his face and he leaned very close to Larkin.  "Lark," he said in a serious voice and she tried to focus her fuzzy mind, "Do not say another word."  He annunciated each syllable which slowed his speech down enough for Larkin to latch onto it and follow his instructions.

She remained quiet for the rest of the ride and by the time they pulled into the hospital she was regaining some memories of the ruse that she was pulling and understood why everyone kept calling her Coraleigh.  The doctors continued their work as she silently laid there, trying to cooperate but in too much pain to really help at all.  Finally a kind doctor leaned down near enough that she could hear her, "I am injection serum 447 you are now going to fall asleep."  With that a thick cold liquid was injected into Larkin's left thigh.  The effects were almost immediate and her eye lids began to droop and then the world went black.

When Larkin awoke it felt as though no time had passed but when she finally pried her sleep sealed eyes open the world was different.  Her room had been decorated in bright pink origami spirals and there were pictures of Cora, Oakley, and Harlow on the table next to her.  Arch sat in a chair across the room snoring gently.

Larkin began to move her arms and legs one at a time, checking for injury but finding none.  Then she delicately reached a hand up to feel her face, finding no scratches or bruises of any kind.  This movement caught the attention of the doctor who was filling paperwork out outside the rooms class door.  She quickly yet quietly went to Larkin's side.  "Good morning Cora," she said kindly.

"What day is it?"  Larkin asked confused by the healed injuries trying to remember back to her childhood scrapes and scratches that seemed to take months to heal.

"You were injured on the day of wed and today is the day of Fri."  The doctor responded.

Larkin's hand reached up to her face trying to check what she had already felt and the doctor let out a quiet laugh, "Its serum 447, it healed the injuries."  Larkin nodded.  "You have a very kind attendant he hasn't left your side," the doctor said trying to slyly hint at the possibility of something else.

"He's not my boyfriend, he's my brother."  Larkin said angry that the doctor was trying to imply that she was breaking the rules.

"Oh ok," she said trying to hide her confusion at the use of the antiquated word brother and then she left the room.

Larkin decided that she needed to wake him up so she pulled the pillow out from behind her head and chucked it across the room at hit.  Her aim was slightly off and he wasn't fazed so she reached for the second pillow.  This time she calculated the shot more and threw with all of her force, hitting him straight in the face.  He sat upright, alarmed.  At first he was confused but then he saw the pillows laying around his feet and he scowled at her.

"Nice to see that you are feeling better," he commented before throwing the pillow back at her.

"Excuse me," she said in fake disbelief, "I'm the patient here you can't attack me."

"Oh please," he answered rolling his eyes and seeming uncharacteristically relaxed.

The doctor had seen the commotion so she came in with her arms crossed.  "I need to get some discharge papers please do not break things while I am gone," she scolded with her eyes fixed on Arch as if saying that an attendant should behave better.

She wouldn't dare to scold a Cian.  "If she knew that I was a pleb she would be glaring at me too," Larkin thought.  Then her mood turned glum as she a realization hit her.  "If they knew I was a pleb would anyone even bother to save me?"