Shadowveil - The Forgotten

Chapter 6: Clouded Mind and a Fragment of Truth

When Patrick came to, he realized that he was still lying comfortably in bed. His sense of time and space had been completely warped since arriving in Cordale and he had no idea how long he'd been asleep. He rubbed his weary eyes and threw off the dark purple bedcover. With some effort, he managed to crawl up against the headboard.

As his vision gradually cleared he noticed that he was still naked, but Samantha wasn't in the room. His clothes were folded neatly over the back of the white chair beside the wooden desk. He found himself drawn to the light coming in from the room's single window and went over to check outside. The sun was out in the clear blue sky, birds flew by and people were minding their everyday business on the snowy December streets. Everything seemed peaceful now compared to the shocking events of the day before. It was almost too peaceful. "What the hell is going on? Had the foggy and twisted world I escaped from yesterday been replaced by this carefree place?"

His ruminations were interrupted when he turned around to see Samantha suddenly entering the room. She was wearing the same clothes as yesterday and Patrick felt she was even more beautiful today. She was carrying a metal plate with a couple of cheese and jam sandwiches, a glass and a pitcher filled with water.

"H-hey!" he stuttered awkwardly and used his hands to cover his privates.

"Hey yourself! You can relax you know," she said tongue-in-cheek and put the plate on the wooden desk. She went over to his side and hugged him intently before giving him a kiss. "It's not like I didn't see all of that yesterday. I don't think you had any more episodes during the night. But you were tossing and turning long after you suddenly passed out."

"How long was I out?" Patrick asked worriedly and hugged her back. It was good to feel her warmth again.

"You were asleep for around six hours, I think. It's around 2 pm now."

"Thanks a lot for taking care of me. I'm just curious. Even though you didn't know who I was yesterday you went out of your way to help me. Why did you put yourself at risk like that?" Patrick continued, intrigued by her actions.

"Why? I saw you being assaulted outside my place and I couldn't just ignore you. I've been holed up here for a long time after my parents died in a traffic accident and up and left the restaurant to me and Bentley, my ex-boyfriend. And then... then I lost him too; in an accident out on Deorum Lake. The restaurant's currently closed for renovations. There was some brown mold in my grandma's old bedroom and it caused a lot of problems a little while ago. Some of it even spread to my room." She pointed at the wall behind the bed. "You can't see it now, but there was a hole here. It's gone now. The mold removal guys fixed it free of charge."

"Damn. I'm really sorry for your loss and everything," Patrick said kindly.

"Thanks. It still hurts, of course but I'm trying to find some kind of peace. I was happy you turned up suddenly though. I heard you yelling like crazy outside last night and just wanted to help you, no matter who you were. Is that so strange?"

"No. Not at all. Thanks for looking out for me Sam, even though I was fucking jerk and just left Cordale without a word," Patrick replied and looked down.

"It's okay," she said and lifted up his head. "I know you and your friends were troublemakers when you were young, but that's all in the past. And you never caused as much problems as the others anyway."

"I'm still really freaked out by what happened before you found me yesterday. What's going on here anyway? Yesterday things went batshit crazy. The streets were totally empty and that strange fog was everywhere when I suddenly woke up in the forest close to the city. Then, when I looked out the window just now everything seemed totally normal. And what the hell was that horrible monster you saved me from?"