Once upon a story

Chapter Twenty

I woke up feeling numb and tired, my head felt heavy and I didn't want to move my shoulder as each time I did pain would shoot through it like an electric shock. I hadn't felt real pain in so long due to the healing thing. Wolf perks apparently.  When I was fully awake I opened my eyes but blinked them shut again at the bright light. Slowly I reopened my eyes and found myself in a makeshift hospital, still in wolf form. The last thing I remember was the woman locking eyes with me as her and others piled through the door to the fight. That memory seemed like years ago but after that it's just darkness.

I tilt my head to each side and look around the room, there are wolves and humans lying on tables like mine around the large hall, the majority of which are men, some are moaning or crying in their sleep like state while others are sitting up reading or on their phones.

To my left I head the clattering of heals and a troop of women enter, they fan out to the tables. Giving those who were awake a strong smelling medicine and attempting to wake those who are asleep. A small woman that I vaguely recognised from eating dinner each night hurried over to me, as she reached the low table on which I was laying she bent down to my eye level with a slightly scary grin on her face.

"Hello, I see you have finally woken up, would you mind shifting back so we could properly see your injuries" her voice was high and chirpy; it hurt my wolf ears as she spoke. Even with the annoying voice I nodded slightly and closed my eyes. Willing myself to imagine being human, the fire was there and gone in a matter of seconds so I was left lying under the bed sheets as a human. I stretched each muscle slowly, whimpering as I reached my shoulder.

"Right, so it’s your shoulder that's the problem" The lady said still smiling; her voice caused me to wince even as a human.

"Yeah, the last thing I remember was shoulder barging a door so that makes sense" I twist my neck to look at the cause of pain. There was a large purple welt like bruise stretching over my right shoulder and dipping below the sheet so I lost sight of it.  

"I’m Sarah by the way and I will continue to help you until your shoulder is better. I have been caring for you while you have been unconscious and I have to admit since the stunt with the glass door you have had plenty of attention" Her grin was still plastered across her heart-shaped face but this time it was accompanied with a girlie giggle that caused her whole little frame to shake. Her comment about being taken care of made sense as my fur had felt soft and clean, unlike during the fight.

"How long have I been unconscious, Sarah?" I ask trying to remember her name.

"Gosh it must be about a week, six days if I remember correctly" She says, laughing at my completely shocked face, six days, a lot can happen in that time and I would have no idea. I remember the phone laying on my bed and think of all the calls I could have so easily made. My family, my friends, I have no idea if they are ok. What would they think of all of the things that have happened to me after I strayed too far into the wood? The thoughts raced around my head. I didn't realise that I had held my breath before I became dizzy and took a deep gulp of air.

"Are you OK, you've gone a bit blue" Sarah whispered the smile gone from her face to be left with a frown, only to be replaced with a relived look when I replied,

"It’s just a long time that's all" I say, my voice a whisper but she manages to hear it easily.

“Right well then, I’ll go get you a partition and some clothes then we can do a full check of your wounds” Sarah says running as fast as she could in those heals. I lay my head back on the pillow and close my eyes. What doesn’t make sense is why my shoulder is the worst when I was sure that my arms had both been broken.

“Faith? Are you still awake?” Sarah asks touching my forehead. I open my eyes and watch as her and another put up a partition around my bed. Sarah places a small pair of sports clothes on my bed and disappears behind the curtain. I sit up quickly and regret it instantly. After taking a deep breath I decide to rush through getting dressed and then just deal with the pain afterwards. This may not have been the right choice but I was soon dressed and sitting on the edge of the bed. The two piece consisted of training shorts and a thin t-shirt over the top underwear. I pulled at the top which rested across my shoulder and looked down my arm. Now I was focused I could feel a slightly ache in both of my forearms but the real pain still came from my shoulder.

“Are you changed?” Sarah asked from outside. I shout a yes in reply and the partitions are moved away as quickly as the appeared.

“Can I ask you a question?” I say as she walked back over to me and took my arm carefully in her hand.

“Of cause” was her reply as she stared intently at the purple marks running down one side of my body.

“Well, I was sure that I my arms had been really damaged in the fight but they only ache. It’s my shoulder that really hurts.”

“The reason for that is simple. We speed up healing times with breaks which is what we did for your arms as we could reach them however, for some reason when in your sleeping wolf form you protected the rest of your body making it impossible for us to help the process.” I nod and wonder why, it seems odd that I would not want to stop the pain but I suppose my subconscious just thought it was a good idea.  

“Will you put something on it now?” I ask and Sarah nods.

"I’m going to be able to use a specific type of cream for this now that we can see it clearly. I shall be back in a minute." she states hurriedly, I nod and pull my legs back up onto the bed. She speed walks off into the maze of patients and I take the time to look around. The light to my left was flickering slightly so I turned away from it to look to my right. The makeshift hospital was in a very clean, white wash walled large hall. As I woke up I had thought that my shoulder was bad by as I compared it the wounded around me it looked like I was only one of the few worse ones. There was a man with most of his body wrapped in sterile bandages; others had limbs being hoisted above their heads. I spot Kallum with a bruise much like mine running from his face into his chest, he catches my eye and I send him a quick nod, he may be a pain but it helps to be nice to people. Sometimes. Occasionally. He returns it before turning away. I try looking for Toff or Cem but it’s such a large space that I can’t spot either them or anyone else I knew by name, bar Kallum.

The clipping of heals reminded me that Sarah is returning and I see her supporting a large container that I assume is the ‘specific cream’ she mentioned. I swing my feet back off the bed and she placed the container on the floor.

“I’m going to need you to step onto the floor and lift your top out of the way out.” She says and I do as she asks. It seems that the majority of my right side needed this cream lathered over it but I didn’t complain. It cooled the skin and the pain began to subside.

“Am I done?” I ask looking at Sarah as she placed the lid back on the container.

She picked up the container “Yes, all done but you will have to come and find me before dinner today and then after breakfast and before dinner for the next couple of days just so I can reapply it. We need to make sure the swelling goes down.”

“Thank you” I say smiling, we walk together through the beds and I pull my t-shirt back around myself being careful to not let it rest too much on the cream. We part ways once we reach the door and I head outside.

The corridor I find myself in I recognise but that doesn’t help. All of the corridors in this place look the same.  I follow a pair of adults through the maze until I get to the main staircase. While they go up to the rooms I go down. I follow my stomach to the kitchen.

Surprisingly the room is empty and I cross quickly over to one of the fridges. It is jammed with food; it seems that the high hunger levels are expected.  I pull out a plastic pot of chicken pasta, some mini sausage rolls, grapes, raw carrots, mini scotch eggs and a carton of orange juice which are all balanced on top of one and other. With my free hand I close the fridge and look right into the eyes of a familiar face.

“Ah, Sam2 trust you to be hunting for food” I say with a grin which is quickly returned.