Sanguine - Aro Volturi

Chapter fifteen

"Sweetie...sweetie...I brought you some water sweetie, are you ready to give it a try?" the voice was obviously female, and old - definitely old. Like the soft tones of a grandma. My eyes peeled open slowly, squinting against the harsh lights on the ceiling, my throat was like a desert, and my attempt to reply made me rasp in pain.

"Ssh, don't you try too hard sweetie," the woman says and pushes a plastic straw towards my lips. The water could've been cold or warm I couldn't tell but it felt heavenly as it washed through my mouth and quenched the agonising thirst. "It's going to take a few days for you to get your strength back, now just relax and I'll grab the doctor for you."

The old woman rose from my bedside and I only then noticed her clothes. A pale blue dress with a white pinafore style apron and one of those upside-down watches pinned to her chest – she was a nurse.

My eyes moved down to see my own body, from my waist down I was tucked into some soft beige bed sheets, a knitted blanket draped over my knees. The beige clashed with the white and blue check hospital gown I was wearing, the gown that covered everything but my arms that were cuffed with white bandages and had a drip connected to the back of my left hand.

Now that I was conscious the pain was returning to me, albeit a dull ache in comparison to what it had been before I had miraculously ended up in a hospital bed.

A small collection of flowers littered the beside table and window sill which with my slightly blurry vision I could make out a cloudy sky and the odd tips of trees. My eyes continued to scan the room, medical equipment was stashed in the corners, neatly hidden within plastic draws or were flashing away with the volume kindly turned to silent unless anything drastically changed I assumed. A cup of water was beside me the straw still inserted into the cool liquid, I tried another sip, the dryness of my mouth had subsided but with that slowly my consciousness was returning in force. Memories of what had happened flew to the forefront of my mind and I was taken over with a sense of nausea.

The door opened and the friendly nurse returned with a man in tow. He looked about forty and was dressed in dark blue scrubs.

"Good morning Mrs Voltaire, I hope you are feeling better now you are awake?" He asks. Two things struck me.

Firstly he'd called me "Mrs Voltaire" that wasn't my name. Secondly his accent was thick English, not an ounce of American twang, surely working in the states would've rubbed off on his accent?

"I...where am I?" I ask and the nurse smiles softly, returning to her resting place on my bed and giving my a gentle pat.

"You're at the Royal London Hospital, in the ICU, ward 2," the doctor says simply and my mouth falls open in shock.

"London...London, England?" I ask.

"Yes," the doctor smiles gently and moves closer to the machines beside my bed. He presses a few buttons and then returns his attention back to me. "Don't feel too put off about not being able to locate certain memories, with the trauma you've been through sometimes its better not to remember all the details."

"What exactly did happen to me?" I ask and the nurse pats my hand soothingly.

"I only know the ins and outs of your injuries, I cannot say the details of the events that lead to you being my patient," the doctor says and lifts up the paperwork resting on the cabinet by the door. "I'm going to take another blood test, Nurse Wilson will take your dinner order, I think its best for you to start getting back to normal routines as quick as possible."

"Wait...I'm sorry but, but I don't know why I'm here? Not the hospital part, the England part...why am I in London? How did I get here?"

"Your husband brought you in, once I've taken the bloods I think he'll be incredibly happy to see you, he hasn't left the waiting room in four days," the doctor says, a smile touching his lips as he preps the IV line attached to the back of my left hand, he stops the flow of clear fluid and disconnects the lines. He filled three small tubes of blood before discussing a few more medically things and instructing the nurse again to take my dinner order.