The Heroes Of Monument Park

Chapter 2 - Recovery

Ren opened her eyes to a bright room. She winced as the light reached her eyes and a migraine made its presence known. She rubbed her eyes and squinted, trying to get used to the light. When her eyes had finally adjusted, she took a look around the room she was in and found various tubes and wires connected to an I.V. and heart monitor. To her left, Marcus looked out a window biting his nails. Ren felt a tug at her heart. She didn't know how long she had been here, but she was sure that he had tried to stay with her as much as he could.

"Marcus?" Her voice was raspy so she cleared it, wondering vaguely how long she had been asleep. Despite how quiet she had believed herself to be, Marcus' head shot over to her direction. "What happened?" His worry faded from his face momentarily as he let out a small chuckle.

"I should be asking you that. The doctors said that some guy brought you here. Said he found you lying on the side of the rode. Do you remember anything that happened before you got here." Flashes of Little Bird laying on her lap as she struggled to speak ran through Ren's head. She had been so sure that the figure running towards her had been Supernova coming to finish the job.

"Ren?" Marcus looked on edge as Ren shook her head no she couldn't bring herself to lie out loud. "That's okay. I'm sure you will at some point, the doctor's said you hit your head pretty hard." Again, Ren felt her heart tug. She felt so bad for lying to Marcus. It wasn't that she didn't trust him, but Little Bird had said not to tell anyone. For now, at least until she had a clear mind, that would include Marcus. It would only be for the time being. Just until she could understand what had happened herself. She cleared her throat again before speaking.

"I remember walking home and then, nothing." Ren felt guilt like a slap to her face as she looked at Marcus' eyes. She didn't need to look at the rest of his face to feel the guilt she did solely from his eyes. She had never lied so bluntly to him before. Mistaking the look on her face for frustration, Marcus tried to steer the conversation away anything that might upset her.

"Dad should be here soon. He's caught at work. Knowing him he probably snuck out, or he quit." Ren laughed, but was cut short at the pain that shot through her head. She placed a hand at the back of her head, closing her eyes briefly. Her migraine reared with a vengeance most likely angry that she hadn't paid it any attention. It could only have been from Supernova. She wasn't able to control the shiver that ran down her back as she thought about Supernova. His voice as he called for Little Bird to come out of hiding. Then,

"Marcus! Where's all my stuff?" Her migraine hit her harshly causing her to flinch, but she didn't care. If nothing else, she had to protect Little Bird's necklace. Marcus' eyebrows pulled together in confusion, but he answered nonetheless.

"They put it into this little box. Said they had lockers, for their patients." Ren relaxed at the knowledge that the necklace was safe. Marcus still held a confused expression, but he quickly shook it off. "I don't think you'll want your shirt back, though."

"What do you mean?"

"There was this huge hole burned into the front of it. I guess the thing that burned you must have burned through your shirt first.?

"Burned through my..?" Her voice trailed off as she looked under her hospital gown's collar to see her stomach wrapped in a large bandage wrap. The weirdest part of it all was that her stomach didn't hurt at all. She would have thought that something strong enough to launch her through the air would have made more of an effect on her.

The sound of footsteps signaled the entrance of the doctor as well as Ren's mom. She took a sip of coffee as the conversation between her and the doctor ended.

"Ah, you're awake, perfect." Her voice was soothing and Ren quickly felt as if she could relax around her. "My name is Dr. Adler. Now, I am very busy today so I'm just going to get right into it. It seems you have a third degree burn on your abdomen, a mild concussion, and a few bruises and scrapes here and there. We'll have to keep you here for a bit to observe the extent of your head trauma, and make sure there are no problems with the burned area or the skin graft. You were out quite a while, you were starting to worry us."