His Rogue Luna

Twenty Three

Drapetomani
(n.) The overwhelming urge to run away.

My stay at the hospital quickly grew boring and by the second day, I was going insane. I had regular visitors and even though I had been fine since I woke up, I would only be discharged later tonight.

Night could not come fast enough as the day seemed to drag on. It was still only afternoon when I had grown tired of waiting, my fingers twitching in anticipation.

I decided to get up and walk around the hospital to distract myself. Thankfully, I was wearing some sort of pyjamas, and not a scratchy gown that left me half exposed.

I padded softly down the hall, avoiding doctors and nurses until I stumbled across a ward. There were two long rows of beds, all of the beds full of unconscious people. Most of them were hooked to all sorts of tubes and wires, lying pale and lifelessly on the bed.

There was no one else in the room so I stepped further in, my eyes looking at the faces of all the patients. They must all be in some sort of coma to have such slow heart rates.

The closest one to me was an older male, his messy hair sprinkled with grey. I picked up the chart at the foot of his bed.

Godwin, Martin
39
Burnt in house fire March, unconscious since.

I went around and read all of their charts, my heart aching for them. They all ranged in how long they had been in a coma. Some for three weeks and some for three years. The causes were all varied too, from accidents to attacks.

Reaching out, I brushed my fingers on the hand of Bianca White, a 17 year old girl who'd been unconscious for a year now.

Her hand was cold and limp in my grasp and I focused on the energy humming through my body.
I could feel it with each beat of my heart, with every breath I took. It was like a warm light at the centre of my being.

I concentrated on bringing that light towards the surface of my skin, trying to push that into the hand of the girl I held. I don't know how long I stood there, focusing on my power.

I felt a twitch and I opened my eyes, looking down at Bianca. I could see her pale skin regain some of its colour, her cheeks turned a rosy hue. I waited for her to twitch again, to give anymore signs of life, but she didn't.

With a sigh, I placed her hand back down gently, moving away to the next bed.

Just like that, I tried focusing on my power, using my healing skills to try and help them all, but none of them seemed to wake. I scoffed to myself internally. Clearly I was deluded to think I could somehow magically heal these people who had goddess knows what kind of brain damage.

I wasn't even entirely sure the extent to which my power could work.

A soft moan interrupted my thoughts and I turned to the sound, watching as the youngest patient in the room stirred slightly. I rushed closer towards him, placing my hands on his shoulders.

His eyelids fluttered open to reveal green eyes that stared up at me in wonder. Theodore Vale blinked up at me, his eyes finally shifting into focus.

"Theodore can you hear me?" I asked softly. I needed to call a doctor in here. He tried to speak but ended up choking. I patted his back soothingly.

"Don't try to talk just yet, your throat is dry. I'm going to call a doctor," I pressed the red emergency button on the wall besides his bed when I caught more movement out the corner of my eye.