The Dark Saviour [14]

Chapter 6

two months later

Horns blared around me, setting me on edge. This place was loud--too loud. In the distance, I saw Loki approaching the hospital that I was standing in front of.

Hopsital. Hospital. Hospital.

I repeated the word in my mind a few times, making sure it would stick before I took off, blending in with the crowd. The person in blue clothes--nurse!--had given me a black top and blue bottoms, along with some strange cupped and strappy device called a bra and some new underwear.

That I understood. The underwear, that is.

I grunted, pulling at the bra that felt tight and as if it was digging into my shoulders and ribs. I couldn't understand why I was being for to wear this--this was something for grown-ups, and I was certainly not a grown-up.

I was "just a kid" and "didn't understand anything" according to anyone and everyone.

Just an unsuspecting nine-year-old destined to kill a king.

Yeah, I didn't understand anything. Sure.

Fear churned in my stomach, though that might've been the hunger. I already missed the scheduled meals I would receive--turkey and wheat bread sandwiches with tomato and lettuce and a cup of fruit and utensils and a napkin and jello. (a/n Yes, they do serve that in hospitals, at least the one I was in. No, I wasn't hospitalized during my two-month hiatus, I was volunteering and worked in the kitchen. I was the soul that got to assemble those meals and spill jello juice everywhere except the tray it was supposed to be in.)

Jello. What a strange thing. At least it tasted good, and it was fun to prod with my fork and make it dance. Loki probably thought I was being ridiculous when I shook the jello in front of him, amazed at the way it danced, but he never said anything.

That was one of the things I liked about him. Even if he thought I was being weird or stupid, he never said anything. The others treated me like I was made of glass as if I would break if they said or even thought the wrong thing.

Loki didn't do that. He treated me like a normal person, not like a child or a piece of expensive china.

A particularly loud noise pulled me from my thoughts and I kept walking, looking at the buildings around me. This world was so big, it would take lifetimes to explore it all.

It was amazing.

My eyes settled on a building called a "library" and I decided to go inside. When I entered, it was as if I entered a dream.

Books piled on shelves stretching as far as the eye could see. Books about anything and everything--from gardening to adventures. I strolled through the shelves, looking for something interesting to read. Eventually, I found a book titled The Lord of the Rings.

Even the title was intriguing. However, my instincts were screaming to put it back and leave, to go find somewhere safe, where I could figure everything out.

So I listened, and I left.

But not without the book.

Not without somewhere to escape to when life got hard. Not a second home that I could visit whenever I wanted.

Not without hope.