Heroes of Dreamland Rewritten, Book 2: Stars in Far Places

Chapter 14

Curador (Meta) | キュラドル (メタ)

I sit in the corner of the trashed clinic, wrapped in a threadbare blanket from the supply closet, holding a cup of hot tea in my one glove and one bare paw, staring around and questioning myself yet again how all this could have happened. My sword was on the floor when I came to, so I'm assuming I fought something. There's a little bit of blood on the floor, but not really enough for there to be any way to test the person it came from.

The wound on my paw makes me wonder, though. The two twin dots, bite marks, as if from a rather wide-mouthed snake, stare up at me from my skin. What bit me? And why?

I rack my brain once again, trying with all my might to remember. Father was badly bruised and in a great deal of pain when he came to; unsurprising, considering he seems to have been somehow launched into the reception desk so hard he made a dent in it—especially astonishing considering the fact that the desk is made of wood and wood isn't really known for denting in this way. All the patient files have been tossed everywhere; the whole place is a massive mess. I haven't left this room since waking up, despite all that's happened. Father and his receptionist, Pepper's mother, have been transferred to a hospital in the nearest town that has a proper one, a couple counties away. Mother went with them. The police questioned both Father and Pepper's mom before they were taken away, and they questioned me as well, of course. The primary suspect is a yellow guy who came in here with a white baby girl they think he may have abducted, they tell me, but nobody got a photo and they've both vanished completely, seemingly from off of the planet, as far as anybody can tell so far.

I wish I could remember something, anything.

The police are still meticulously studying the room, trying to find anything they can use to track down the culprit, trying to see if they can figure out if any sensitive patient information was taken. Some shredded paper was found on the floor near the electric fan, but it seems to have been magical parchment that erased all of its own contents the instant it was destroyed. There's nothing left of whatever it was, now.

I lean against Blossom, who came the instant she heard the alarm bell and is now sitting next to me, one arm around me, trying her best to be a calming and supporting presence. This is her first time in town, but thankfully, considering the circumstances, no one is giving her any trouble about it. Chances are, she probably won't be coming back into town again anytime soon, anyway.

"You really can't remember anything?" she asks me gently, staring at my strange wound as much as I am. "It looks like you were bit by a big snake or something."

"Or a vampire," I muse weakly, feeling so exhausted, and, for some reason, crushingly sad. The room just has such an intensely sad mood to it, and the fact that I feel like I failed someone horribly (despite having no idea how, or who, or why) doesn't help at all. "I hope it wasn't venomous or anything..."

"The paramedics ran some tests when they came to get your Father and Mrs. Wintergreen, remember? And they said there was nothing. It's just a wound, now, and I'm sure it'll heal quickly," she reassures me, giving my arm a squeeze. We haven't been this physically close in over a year (ever since Father decided he doesn't like her touching me at all about then), and it makes me feel slightly shy, but I push my dumb schoolboy-on-his-teacher crush (at least, I think that's what it is, maybe, I'm really not sure) out of the way and just try to find comfort in her soothing presence.

"I know," I agree, still trembling a bit, my voice shaking. I feel so bad emotionally. I know I screwed up horribly today, and being unable to remember how doesn't help me at all. I know I failed someone who needed me.

I pause for a second, though. "The suspect. He was yellow?"

Blossom nods. "I never saw him, of course, but that's what they said."