Once We are Descendants

Chapter 38: Dizzy's Discourse

"He smells like furniture polish and a hint of dusty old books," Dude says.

"Signatures of his parents," Snow smiles. She goes over and scratches the brown dog behind the ears.

"Oh yes, right there," Dude moans in delight, turning his head so that Snow White could scratch it more.

There is a long pause as the adults, and the dog, sit in relative silence in the waiting room for a long few minutes.

Gold clears his throat. "Should we be concerned about the fight that broke out between our pirate and another pirate?"

"They'll be fine," David says. "Emma, Regina, and Crystal are there in case things get out of hand."

"I think we have much more pressing matters to think about," Snow says.

"Like what?"

"Like how do we know whose child is whose and where are they going to stay until Crystal figures out how to fix this? I assume that Whale wants them out of the hospital as soon as possible."

"What about Granny's?" Belle suggests, rocking Gideon gently.

"I could talk to her about it, but there likely won't be enough room for everybody. How many kids were brought into the hospital?"

"I don't know," David says. "I didn't ask."

"Besides, it appears from the looks of it that not all of the children can be considered 'trustworthy,'" Gold mutters.

"What do you mean by that?" Snow asks.

Suddenly, a frightened voice shouts from one of the nearby rooms. "EVIE?!" The voice sounds panicky and very helpless. Almost immediately, Snow's teacher instincts take over and she goes towards the calling voice. Her husband promptly follows her.

"NO! NO! Stay away from me! Don't touch me! EVIE, MAL!"

Snow comes into the room to see a scared little girl with brown eyes filled with tears and her brown hair, which is streaked with many colours, is flying around wildly as she tries to avoid a nurse who came in to examine her.

"STOP IT!" she screeches, trying to shove the person who is supposed to be helping her away. "Don't touch me! Where am I? Who are you?!"

Snow puts her hand on the nurse's shoulder, pulling her away from the frightened child. "Just give her some space, let me talk to her and calm her down."

The medical professional who knew about the fair princesses' gentle nature merely nods and then leaves the room. Snow, David, and Neal are now in the room with this girl. She doesn't look much older than 13, and she wears an interesting blouse with puffy sleeves and a skirt made from scraps of cloth, patched together in a rainbow of assorted colours. She also wears wide glasses that seem to magnify her big brown eyes. She looks at them in fear; she curls up into a ball, pulling her legs to her chest and then holding the hospital blanket up to her face as if to protect herself.

"Please don't hurt me!" she whimpers, her voice muffled by the blanket.

"We're not going to hurt you," Snow says calmly. She takes two very slow steps towards this girl but does not attempt to get any closer. The girl flinches and curls up into a tighter ball in fear. David stays with Neal by the door, knowing it is best to let his wife handle children, after all, it had been her profession for 28 cursed years.

"How do I know that?"

"You don't, you're just going to have to trust your instincts."

"Where am I? Where's Evie? Where are my friends?"