Banished

9: Drink Me

"Is laughter the best medicine? Click your heels to learn the horrible truth the Society for Natural Magic Enhancement doesn't want you to know."

-Fairy-e-mail spam box

9
Drink Me
Dorthea

The dream ended with a pop as I woke up. I reached over to my nightstand and fumbled around inside the drawer, my eyes still closed. Feeling...feeling...nothing.
That's right. Mom took my notebook. I'm not supposed to record Rexi's story in it anymore.
Less work for me, I guess.
A smile crept across my face. Real or not, it was good to see Gwen get exactly what she deserved. Maybe instead of watching what was happening in the land of Story in my dreams, I'd write one last thing, what I thought might happen next. Make up a happy ending for Rexi. Or at least one that didn't entirely suck. Then I could close out that chapter of my life and find an ever-after of my own here.
That thought, that control made the morning seem brighter than any since I'd woken up in this hospital.
With a stretch, I rolled out of bed and put on my best pair of scrubs, which looked identical to every other pair in the closet. Hospital couture. My no-slip socks were all the rage on the runway, I'm sure.
Even as Bubba, the name I'd dubbed my nonverbal security guard, grunted with arms folded as I passed him, my mood could not be crushed. I whistled zippidee-doo-da as he followed me down the hall to the common room for breakfast.
Today's menu was French toast sticks. I wasn't exactly sure that counted as food. More a food-like substance. But they tasted pretty good drowned in sticky stuff and apple sauce. Bubba took my tray, swapped the metal silverware out for plastic, and then plunked it down on an empty table. After that, he resumed his post at the door.
I'd put the first dripping stick in my mouth when a little munchkin with a mass of tangled red hair ran up and plopped down beside me.
"Oh, my gosh, it's you!" She squealed in delight. "I've heard about you. Are you really a princess? If you are, where's your animal sidekick? Do you live in a castle and have a crown? Have you ever kissed a frog? Do you know any wicked witches? Is magic real? Will you sign my book?"
Overwhelmed, my mouth hung open, the apple sauce dripping off my lip. I went to say something that would have been elegant and intelligent, but I choked. Literally. Bubba had to come behind me and whack my back.
The little girl stared at me with wide eyes. "Wow. Was that poisoned apple sauce?"
A woman ran across the room. Her hair was the same fire red as the girl's, and it also probably hadn't seen a brush in days. The little one wore hospital clothes. The older one, a rumpled blouse. "Jessica!" The woman picked up the squirming kid. "I turn my back for one second..."
She then turned to me with a look of wariness and tired apology. "I'm sorry my daughter disturbed you. It's just she has this obsession with fairy tales, and she's heard the nurses talking about you..." Her face colored. "I'm sorry. That was rude. I can't even function anymore. I haven't slept in weeks, with waiting by the phone for the hospital to call us if they found a donor. And now there's so much to do before tomorrow's surgery, and I can't get her to take any of her medications. I'm terribly sorry. This isn't your problem. We'll go."
"Awww, but I don't want to go. I want to eat with the princess." The little girl wiggled out of her mother's grasp.
Bubba and several other staff members moved from their posts toward us. I held up my hands. See? A nonthreatening interaction. We're totally cool.
I whispered to the half-pint, "Your name's Jessica?"
She nodded enthusiastically. "But you can call me Jessie!"
I couldn't help but smile. I looked up at her mom, at the mismatched buttons on her shirt, at the tears threatening to spill down the dark circles under her eyes, and I knew what to do. "Okay, Jessie. Some people have called me Princess Dorthea of Emerald, but you can call me Dot. And I'm not a big fan of taking my medicine either." I stuck out my tongue and pulled a yuck face. Jessie mimicked me. "But I'll make you a deal. I would love to have breakfast with you and answer all your princess questions, but only if you promise to take your medicine when your mom tells you to. If that's okay with your mom, that is."
The mother nodded but held her breath. Jessie scrunched her nose, gnawing on her lips. "I dunno. It sounds like a trick."
"No trick. I promise. I'll even take my medicine too." I held out my hand to shake. "So do we have a deal, Lady Jessie?"
She put her warm hand in mine and shook it for all she was worth. It was so small I was afraid it might break. Her mother let her breath out in a huge whoosh, collapsing in the chair across from me.
"Let's see. Where should we start?" I thought back to Jessie's questions. "I used to live in a beautiful and grand emerald palace. And I had a whole closet of crowns. And a room just for shoes! Enough shoes to give the elves' labor union hissy fits. And thankfully, I've never kissed a frog. My best friend used to be one though. And I have kissed a chimera. I guess you could call him my animal sidekick. Just never to his face. I know far too many wicked witches, and yes, magic is absolutely real and will bite you in the butt if you're not paying attention. So be careful what you wish for."
Jessie practically vibrated with happiness in her chair.
"Let it out, kid, or you'll explode," I said before taking another bite of my breakfast.
She pulled out her book. The Definitive Collection of All Things Fairy Tale: A Companion to the Survival Guide Series. "Are you in here?"
I took the book and flipped through. Not surprisingly, the only mention of Emerald City was quite far from the truth. Or at least my truth. "Naw, I'm sort of undercover. But I know pretty much everything there is to know about Fairy Tale."
I expected Jessie to be disappointed at my lack of proof, but she only got more excited. She took the book and turned to the page on Cinderella. "Tell me about her."
I lowered my voice to gossip level. "Just between you and me, the reason Cindy could never go to the ball is cuz she was a lazy slob. Never ever kept her room clean. Had a horrible animal-hoarding problem too. But excellent taste in shoes, that girl."
"And her?" Jessie flipped to Beauty.
"At the moment, Beauty is the beast. Major, major anger management issues. But smartest gal you'll ever meet. She has a bit of Stockholm syndrome from being kidnapped though."
"What about her?" This time she pointed to Sleeping Beauty.
"Don't get me started on Rose. You can smell her perfume from a mile away. And I'm still not sure how she got famous for sleeping in for a thousand years."
For another twenty minutes, Jessie peppered me with questions on everything from mini unicorns to spells to less than charming princes and exactly what a chimera was. For the first time, I shared my life without fear or judgment. Somewhere along the way, more little ones joined us until even the floor behind me had listeners.
"Tell me about Snow White," a girl who was about four years old piped up.
I fidgeted for a minute. "Maybe I should skip that one." I covered her ears and whispered to the adults. "A teen living with seven men just isn't really an appropriate story for a kid her age."
Jessie's mom laughed, long and hard. "Oh, dear, I haven't laughed in...I don't know how long."
"Hey, Dot." Jessie tugged on my shirt. "You said you used to have a crown. Why aren't you wearing it?"
I sighed. Also a story not suitable for children. I did my best to edit. "I made a wish, a very selfish wish that hurt a lot of people and changed their happy endings. But that's why I'm here-to try and set it right. That's why I'm just Dot for now."
The on-call nurse tapped her watch. "It's time for your medicine, Jessie."
"Awww..." she complained.
"You promised," I reminded. "And you can't be a princess if you don't keep your promises."
Jessie smiled and threw her arms around me. "I think you're still a princess."
I hugged her back, and then her mother picked her up and laid a hand on my arm. "You have a gift, young lady. Thank you."
A gift. That's what Dad said. My memories were filled with the curse of Emerald, and while I never thought I would say it, I was starting to prefer this life.
The nurse on duty whistled loudly. "Story time is over, you rug rats. It's time to get on with your therapies. Nope, I won't hear an ounce of whining," she said over the groans. "Thank Ms. Gayle, and please head back to your rooms."
After a flurry of thank-yous, I was soon alone again. Well, not quite. I still had Bubba in the audience. And one other person.
"You know, listening to you, I can almost see it." The guy from the roof wandered closer to me. "The purple toadstools. The ABC serpent. One would almost think you'd been there."
"Yeah, me too. I think that's the problem."
He shrugged. "What you did there was really cool and nice. And maybe you're not as crazy as I thought."
"That's a glowing endorsement, Sir..."
"John," he inserted. "No fancy title or anything. Everyone else calls me John, so I guess you can too."
"John it is. Thank you. And thank you for following the crazy girl up the dark stairs into the storm. It was very brave of you."
His blue eyes lit up as he smirked. "Perhaps I should add 'Danger' as my middle name."
I laughed but then groaned as a sudden pain hit my stomach.
"Hey," he said and chuckled. "The joke wasn't that bad."
"No, pain. It burns." I clutched my abdomen and curled up in my chair.
"I'll get someone." He started for the nurse's station, but he ran squarely into Bubba.
"She just needs her medicine," Bubba said.
"So the giant does speak," I joked before the gut-wrenching pain took my breath away again.
"Drink this." He shoved a little cup of red liquid at me.
"What is it? I've never had that before." I tried pushing it back.
He tipped it to my lips and poured. "It's new from Dr. Zelda."
I gulped it down. It was either that or suffocate from the pain.
"Jeez, dude," John said, sniffing the cup. "It's probably some opiate. It should stop the pain, but I wouldn't be surprised if it knocks you out cold."
True, because within seconds I was too tired to even stand. Bubba hoisted me up and carried me to my room.