Element

✭ Chapter 55

The pounding in my ears is unbearable... It's as if someone has fought their way into my head and are berating my brain with their fists. I groan loudly, trying to bring my lead-heavy arms to my ears.

The ceiling ahead of me is white; it's white tile when my vision becomes less blurry. I crane my head to the side painfully, looking through a small window in the pale blue door.

My father stands right outside of it, like he's a dog and I'm his prized bone. He speaks with someone, yells, more like, but I cannot discern the other face. Slowly, the pounding in my ears subsides, and I recognize the other voice to be General Forge's.

"No Forge, this is all your fault. I warned you that those suits were only in a prototype phase and you used them anyways! Look what it did to my daughter! She could've been killed."

"If you had had those suits done on the deadline this wouldn't have been a problem! You shouldn't place this on my shoulders; I have enough to worry about."

"Oh, pardon me, your excellency," my father sneeres. "I didn't realize that forcing others to do harder jobs was so difficult."

"Mind your tongue, Naciat."

"Do I have to remind you who gets drafted when the war starts? All those young people, off to fight on the front lines while you sit in your office, away from harm, dictating who lives and who dies."

A loud crack reverberates through the glass. I can see my father's expression of shock as he holds his face.

"You may not speak to your superiors in such a tongue, or I will ensure it is ripped from your mouth. Are we clear?" My father doesn't respond. "I would fire you; I would like to do nothing more, but we need the most talented technician in Dimicel to arm us. Maybe your daughter will act as incentive to that."

In all my life, I have never seen that look cross my father's face. His eyes dance like flames, eyebrows stitched together and his top lip curled. He is absolutely livid, that much I know. Yet, even as he exuded defiance, he said nothing.

"Thank you for your time, Naciat." Forge says curtly, pushing past the door, leaving my father stranded.

Once the general is safely out of the corridor, my father hurls his fist towards the wall, shouting an array of expletives. He, too, takes off, but in the opposite direction. I wish he would have come in, instead. Just for him to explain.

***

"Ramaya... You have visitors. Friends from school, I believe," my portly nurse says. Her name is Charlene. She's quite a garrulous woman; she'll talk about nearly anything. Just a few hours ago, she refused to stop chatting about her newborn niece. The little girl, she claimed, was named after Charlene's great-great-great grandmother. She wouldn't shut up about her either.

Not that I minded; there was little on Charlene's mind but the thing that made her whole. Her family, she said, was at the forefront of her mind at all times. Rather unlike myself, she had formed an unbreakable bond with her sister, who was her senior; all the while, Parisa and I struggle to see eye to eye on even trivial matters.

Charlene does not bring me my sister— I had seen Parisa only hours before. Instead, Kaelie, Alanna, and Brooke bumble shyly through the doorway. "Hi guys!" I chirp, trying to sound upbeat. My voice, to my surprise, instead sounds tired and lethargic.

"Would you like some water, dear?" Charlene asks. I nod gratefully, hoping that hydration will ease my hoarse voice. "And will you lot have anything?" she turns to my guests warmly, but they politely decline.

They stand awkwardly at the foot of my bed, not sure where to place themselves. "Sit," I command. "Pull up a chair, for heaven's sake just stop looking so strange!" Brooke cracks her familiar smile, choosing the side of my bed as her perch. Kaelie and Alanna pull two chairs to my left side, and suddenly I feel surrounded by warmth. "Better, now isn't it?"

Still, they smile with unease. I know they come to tell me something, and I'm a little more than anxious to hear it. For seconds, we sit in silence as Charlene fills my glass and bustles out of the room once more.

"You've come to say something; I can see it in your face. What is it? Can you tell me what happened?"

Kaelie glaces up to meet my eyes. "Ramaya... I wasn't there but—"

"You fainted, Ramaya. You fell right out of the sky like a sack of bricks." Alanna interrupts, searching for my response. "They... They said you had fever and a really serious infection."

"For god sake, Ramaya, why didn't you say anything?" hisses Brooke. "Who knows what could've happened if you hadn't been caught!"

I stare at the pristine white sheets that cover my legs; I fear that any words coming out of my mouth might paint the picture of a stubborn, arrogant idiot, too sure of herself. "I was caught?"

Those words are more of a statement than a question. Of course I was caught; the next question, of course, was by who?

The girls share a knowing glance, before Kaelie sighs. "It seems that a certain hazel eyed fiend was eager to repay the favor."

Rhodes. Of course it was Rhodes. That name seems foreign to me now, so much so that I don't remember the last time I spoke it. "Oh," I say. Because it is all I can say. In my heart, I am grateful, but my mind brings me back to my heartache. I am, in a small way, angry that he was the one to catch me. I had sworn I was capable of caring for myself, but that evidently isn't true. "Is there anything else... I should maybe know about?"

They shake their heads a resounding no. If there is ever a time for someone to break silence, this is it, I think. Kaelie, Brooke and Alanna grapple with their own thoughts, ones I do not have access to, and leave me stranded on my own little island. On any other terms, silence is a welcome change in my life, but in this moment, it isolates me.

***

I am escorted back to the school at 11 PM. The doctors and school officials thought it would be best. To avoid publicity and all. In all honesty, I don't mind. When I arrive at the school, the nurse is there to escort me.

I don't know her name, even if I've seen her more than any other student this year. She doesn't wear a name tag.

We transcend the staircase at a painstakingly slow pace. Naturally, I am not as physically mobile as I am used to, but I could certainly move faster than a tortoise with three legs.

After what feels like hours, we reach my dorm room, the number plate a familiar sight. The nurse supports some of my weight as I unlock the door, aiding all the way to my bed. She mentions something about having finals in my room the next afternoon. That would be Sunday.

I have had plenty of time for studying; it was all I could do at the hospital. Parisa had brought me my books, but that was the only time I had seen her. My parents showed their faces twice; once right after I woke up and again a few hours before I left. Both times, I was too afraid to ask my father about Forge.

Or, perhaps, I already knew what had happened. My father, technology developer at a private firm, had been signed by the army to build armor and weaponry. It seemed that his team couldn't reach the deadline for the armor in the tournament, and we were given prototypes. It explains why my suit ripped. Dad was mad at Forge for using prototypes and endangering my life, but Forge was mad that my dad hadn't met the deadline.

Perhaps the most haunting was my dad's mention of war. It sounded so finalized, already written in the stars. "When the war starts." God, I know times are tense, but the assurance in his voice confirms my greatest fear and shatters so many of my hopes for the future. We are going to war.

--

That's an update in record time, if you ask me. Like a week later and there's already a chapter up! I hope you guys enjoy (this is kind of a filler chapter if you ask me). The next chapter will round off Element, but I'm considering a new approach for the the Shadow plot. 

I have been longing to write some of the most intense scenes (both emotionally and action wise) plotted out for Shadow. I wanted to ask you: Should I create a brief compilation of Shadow parts, connected through third person narration? It'd be a sort of epilogue and would still have some of the impact we wanted Shadow to have.

Please let me know what you would prefer: A plot layout or actual writing? I hope you enjoy, and if you see any errors in grammar, spelling, ect., let me know!

With Kind Regards,

Wien