Pain.
Pain beyond description.
Followed by darkness.
A darkness that seemed like it would never end.
And then light.
So bright that it nearly blinded her eyes.
She opened her eyes, shutting it back, unable to keep it open due to the brightness.
"She's awake!" she heard a voice say.
Someone forcibly opened her eyelids, and brought a small torch close to her.
She immediately closed it back.
"Lady Clarkson. Can you hear us?" a new voice said.
"Yes," she croaked, surprised at how hoarse her voice was.
"Switch off the lights!" someone else said.
Aurora slowly peeped her eyes open, when someone flung themselves on her.
"Oh I thought you would die!" she heard Kate cry.
"How long?" she croaked.
"Five days," Adelaide said, sitting near her leg, looking as glamorous as she looked on the television.
Kate moved back and helped Aurora sit up.
"What did I miss?" she asked, clearing her throat, as Adelaide helped her slowly drink water out of a transparent cup.
"Ten girls were eliminated," Adelaide said. "Not too sorry to let them go".
Aurora looked around.
"Don't worry, we kicked the doctors out as soon as they made sure you were fine," Kate said.
Aurora could vaguely remember a pair of tear filled blue eyes, of sharp excruciating pain.
"What about the Report?" she asked.
"Oh, nothing interesting. Andrea had to do some damage control - she attended the interview instead of you," Kate said.
"Boy, remind me to never get on her bad side again," Adelaide said, whistling.
"Grigori was speechless when she finished screaming at him," Kate said, after seeing Aurora's questioning look.
"Wow," she said, noticing Kate and Adelaide stare at each other. "Do I want to see the recording?".
"Definitely," Adelaide said, nodding enthusiastically. "If only I had a PR person like her, my life would be set".
Aurora giggled before she noticed her two friends exchange glances again.
"What is it?" she asked, growing worried.
"You know how as part of the Selection you're supposed to plan a certain event?" Adelaide asked.
"Yes, what about that?".
"Well, the three of us were allotted as a team, and the Queen gave us the choice to pick which event we wanted," Kate said slowly.
"Which one did you pick?" Aurora asked, getting excited. "Tea party? Garden picnic? Club night?".
"Halloween Ball," Kate said.
"You chose the hardest of the five?" Aurora shrieked.
Her heart rate machine beeped dangerously, and she began breathing deeply.
"Okay," she said, calming down. "O-kay. We'll do our best".
"Atta girl," Kate said, while Aurora simply shook her head, still unable to cope with the fact that they had to organize a Ball.
"We went on a couple of dates with the Prince," Adelaide said conversationally.
"Which one?" Aurora asked, smiling mischievously.
Kate blushed.
"The Queen and Eric just left for lunch," Adelaide said suddenly.
"Which one?" Aurora asked again, this time, wearily. "Never mind, I don't want to know. I don't want to talk about either of them".
Before someone could reply, a doctor entered.
"Good afternoon, Lady Clarkson. How are you feeling?" he asked.
"Like hell," she replied with a weak smile.
The doctor chuckled. "You gave us quite a scare, Miss".
Aurora stared at her thin palms.
"Your diet will be carefully monitored by your mentor, and I've written a few additional medicines for you to take. We've fixed your ribs, but it has a few side effects such as dizziness, nausea, headaches etcetera. But those should subside within a week," he continued.
"So I can go?" she asked.
"I would advise a day or two of bedrest, but you can go, as long as you promise me to not exert yourself," he said.
"Thank you Doctor," she said gratefully, nodding at him.
Once he left, she looked at her friends and asked, "Wanna go for lunch?".
"I knew you would say that," Adelaide said, sounding delighted. "Which is why I got you this".
She threw a black shirt at Aurora, who opened it and held it up.
I just rose from the dead and still look hot.
"Isn't that a quote from your vampire movie?" she asked.
"It is," Adelaide said proudly. "It's signed. It's a collector's item".
Aurora looked back at the shirt and saw a signature with elaborate loops.
"It surprisingly fits your situation very well," Kate said thoughtfully, handing her a pair of jeans.
"That bad, huh?" Aurora asked, only now understanding the severity of what happened.
The two of them nodded.
"We'll wait outside," they said, knowing that she hated changing in front of other people.
Aurora slowly stood up - despite feeling wobbly, she managed to maintain her balance and slipped out of the thin hospital gown and pulled on the clothes her friends had given her.
She stared at herself in the small mirror, and saw that she look unnaturally pale, almost like the vampire Adelaide portrayed in the movie.
Dark circles had formed around her eyes, almost looking like bruises.
Her friends slipped into the room. Adelaide gently made her sit on a plastic chair, and combed her hair into a simple plait.
"Come on. Let's go," she said, holding her hand.
***
They made their way to the dining hall slowly, and Aurora leaned heavily on her friends whenever she felt her legs fail her.
As they stood outside the dining hall, Kate asked her quietly, "You sure you're ready?".
Aurora nodded.
They walked in, and saw that the circular tables were still there in the hall. Three seats were empty in the table where the royals sat.
"Let's sit here," Aurora said, pointing to the table farthest to them.
She would not converse with them.
She would not allow them to hurt her again.
As they walked, Aurora felt her knees buckle and fell to the ground, as her head began to throb excruciatingly.
"Rora!" her friends called, but she raised a hand, telling them to stop.
She clutched her head for a moment, breathing deeply till the moment passed.
For a moment she could hear the voices around her get distorted and echo, she could feel her pounding head feel dangerously heavy.
And then it passed.
Soft hands hoisted her up, and when Aurora looked up, she saw that it was Queen Elora.
She flinched and stared at the place where the Queen's skin touched hers.
She immediately retracted her hand.
But the touch... it felt very familiar.
Aurora grabbed the Queen's hand and saw a healing cut on it.
Not completely healed yet, but it wasn't an angry red.
Aurora knew this cut, she knew this hand.
She had been the one who had tended to it when it got hurt.
Aurora stumbled behind, leaning on someone.
She had been manipulated.
The Queen was a sadist - being nice to her in a disguise just to hurt her in her real costume.
She had extracted all the information she wanted, and used them against Aurora along with her sister.
She dropped the Queen's hand, and turned.
"Let's go," she said.
"Rora-".
"I said let's go!" she snapped.
She felt the Queen touch her shoulder, and turned back.
"Don't. Touch. Me," she hissed, before walking away, her friends holding a hand each.
Dun dun dun.
How did you guys like the chapter?
Are you on Team Elora or Team Aurora?