Stricken

Chapter 3-Black and White

ALICE

I'm surrounded by darkness. I try to move, but my limbs feel like concrete, and my eyes feel sewn shut. I can hear beeps and muffled voices, but sometimes I can make out a few words:

"...highly unusual..."

"...no injuries..."

"...confirmed it was a direct hit..."

I could discern the words of one familiar more easily:

"I'm so sorry. They made me do it. I'll make it up to you, I promise. Dr.Knighte will help you. She helped me. You'll wake up soon. And I'll be waiting. I promise."

I don't know when I woke up, I just know that, in the swirl of confusion, something felt like it was pulling my mind, telling me it's time to get up.

Bright white light pierces my vision. Beeps of machines and versions of, "She's waking up!" fill my ears. I'm staring at a white ceiling while doctors in white lab coats surround me.

White ceiling, white coats, white walls, white sheets... Why is everything white? I wonder in my half conscious state.

I feel a sharp prick on my wrist and become some-what aware of doctors checking my vital signs, moving machinery, and taking some sort of tube out of my throat, though how long it took, I have no idea.

My blurry vision adjusts to see a slender woman's face framed by shiny black hair.

"Hello," she says in a level voice. "My name is Dr.Knighte."

I try to respond, but my throat is too dry.

"Don't try to talk. You have been in a coma for eighteen days, don't over
exert yourself." She turns around and accepts something from a nurse. She adjusts the bed so that I'm sitting up and holds a glass to my lips. "Drink this," she commands.

I part my lips and let the cold water slosh down my throat, quenching my thirst. I wince as I feel a sharp pang in my stomach and I hear a loud grumble.

"You haven't had solid food in two weeks, we'll put you on a diet that will ease you back into it." As she speaks more, I hear a slight accent in her voice, though I can't quite place it's place of origin. "Do you remember what happened?" she asks.

"I-" I pause and furrow my brows. I remember exactly what happened, but something kept me from mentioning Rowan's dare."I was being and idiot and swimming during a thunderstorm. My friends tried to stop me, but I didn't listen," I croak. Dr. Knighte studies me with dark, narrowed eyes, almost as if she can see right through my half-truth.

"Alright," she says with a sigh. "A nurse will bring you some protein pudding shortly, but don't eat too fast, it will be hard for your body to take it in."

She goes around and checks the equipment that monitor my vitals as I slowly test each muscle, starting with my fingers and toes. When I find nothing wrong, curiousity gets the best of me. "Other than the coma, was I injured?"

Dr.Knighte slowly turns towards me. "You weren't injured. That doesn't mean you won't be experiencing some unusual changes the next few weeks."

"What do you mean 'unusual'?" I ask. Unless you're the Flash, I'm pretty sure the only thing lightening-induced-comas can do is deteriate your muscles.

She gives me a blank look, so much hidden in her eyes. So often, she must have to find he nicest way possible to tell a patient there's nothing that can be done, or keep the real impediments of the situation from light, because her gaze is completely unreadable.  "That is something only you can answer with time," She scribbles something down on her clipboard before exiting my room, leaving a silent nurse-- that doesn't seem too sociable--as my only company.

The nurse avoids looking at me as she continues to do various things around the room. As she moves over to a table by the window, sunlight washes over her. What? For a second, I though I saw a flash of green on her light brown hair... I furrow my brows and focus on her hair, and suddenly, everything changes.

The nurses hair turns light green, with colorful flowers braided into it. Elvish pointed ears peek out from her green locks, and every thing she does has an unusual grace.

My eyes continue looking around, discovering many specks of light fluttering around the room, tiny sounds-almost like voices- traveling between them.

Maybe lightening comas can make you delusional...yeah, that's it.