Identity- Once Upon A Time

Hospital Bed 36

The girl's eyes rolled back and the relaxation of every muscle in her body was visible. She crumpled to the ground in one movement, her frail body quickly falling unconscious.

"Oh my God!" David ran to the girl's side as Emma dropped the gun to her feet, her hands still shaking.

"David! Don't​ touch her!" Emma yelled without stepping forward. "We don't know if that stopped her."

"Emma, why would you do that? She was obviously looking for help!"

"I couldn't think of another way to protect us... the sea of shadows was following her, and-"

"THAT'S NOT THE POINT EMMA!" Emma jumped back a bit from his reaction. She had never seen him get this angry before.

"Not only were no shadows present, but it is clear that she was in need of help! Emma as a ruler, I've seen people in their time of need and this girl was clearly delirious and in need of aid. We were sent out here to find out what happened to her and if we were lucky, we could collect her and bring her back to town. You can see from the state she's in that she hasn't left this area for a while. Look at her eyes! They are sunken and full of exhaustion. We need to get her to the hospital as quickly as possible, and it doesn't help if you're drugging her in the process!"

They quickly brought the girl to the car and laid her in the backseat. The yellow buggy dipped and swerved through the muddy dirt paths that traveled through the thick forests of Storybrooke, Maine. Emma thought about what had happened moments prior, what had made her so terrified? It seemed like just a teenage girl, nothing more.

She turned and looked at the girl slumped over in the seat behind her. Upon closer examination, she was quite beautiful; the last sunbeams of the day shining through the car window shone off her rosy pink cheeks from the early-fall chill. Tiny silver highlights shimmered in the stark white of her long curly hair, giving her a supernatural glow. Her body however had clearly taken a toll from the near starvation and stress which she had suffered over the last few months. Because of this, her eyes were sunken and purplish, and her arms were thin and weak. It was truly a miracle that she was still alive.

David broke the silence between himself and Emma once they turned into the main streets of Storybrooke. "Look, I'm sorry that I yelled. It's just..." He was having trouble finding the right words.

Emma shook her head, "David, right now we need to focus on getting this girl to see a doctor as quickly as possible."

David and Emma arrived at the hospital and called for a stretcher. A medical team was luckily available and brought the girl to a hospital bed. She was placed in hospital bed number 36 and had a blank information clipboard.

"Emma, do you know the name of this girl?" Dr. Whale walked over with a checklist attached to his clipboard. In the Enchanted forest and other realms he was Dr. Frankenstein, but here in Storybrooke he was known as Dr. Whale.

Emma shook her head, "I have no idea what her name was, all it said in the job report was that this girl had been missing along with a description on what she looked like."

"Call in one of her teachers or her classmates and ask them who she is. We need to account for every patient in this hospital according to our policy." Dr. Whale walked away impatiently and tended to another patient in the ward as Emma called Mary Margaret over the phone.

The red phone buzzed and buzzed for a few seconds until Mary Margaret finally picked it up, "Hello?" Asked the voice from the other side.

"Mary Margaret? Yeah, it's me Emma, can you come down here quickly? I found the girl who looks like she'd be missing from your class. I need you to identify her."