This isn't what I expected. Death is so much more... feeling than I expected. Fire licks through my entire body, bones snapping piece by piece. I cry out begging for a reason that the gods would decide I'd have such a painful death. A painful last memory of the world I would be leaving. The world that I was slowly starting to enjoy.
"Another jump!" Bolts run through my body, my chest curling in a u motion. I taste the saliva that builds at the back of my throat. It's coppery, "Fuck come on! Damn it, Cherry. Stay with us."
I hear the wails of a woman, my mother? Why would she be crying for me? Another scream as the jolt moves through me. I feel my body snap in half, body folding forward. I'm in a half awake state trying to blend everything together, nothing makes sense, nothing worthy of making sense at least, "She's rejecting. Fuck Levi! Stop crying and get over here."
Levi? The man that pulled me from the bar? Wait who is he? Who are these names I keep hearing shouted around me, "Mary, grab towel. Her spine's snapped. We have minutes before we either lose her or she shifts. I need to clean up the blood so I can see."
Shift? I take the copper filling up over my tongue. I try to bend an elbow but it snaps backward. My scream resonates from me but only a gurgle of pain to showcase for it, "She's coming back! Again!"
The final bolt rocks me. I feel my eyes break open fear filling my entire being. Memories fall away from me. I can't keep a damn thing straight. Blue eyes meet mine. He seems happy to see me, but I fall back into a scream before I could register anything about him. His hands fall over me while I snap into another direction, "Everyone back! She's shifting!"
Fur sprouts over my skin. My heart races at the situation. What the fuck am I doing? What is going on? I fall off the bed my body become a ball of full. My new form throws itself into the wall trying to find balance. Neither me or the other voice whispering in my head can figure out why we can't stand. The man in a white coat approaches us with his hands out. I howl at him trying to tell him to go away, he doesn't listen, "Luna, Cherry, you lost your leg. You won't be able to walk until we get you a brace. I need you to focus on shifting back."
What is he saying to me? The inner thoughts agree. Nothing makes sense right now. This all absolutely fucked. Am I in hell? Is this where I end my life and become nothing more, "Hey, baby. Come back to me." The blue eyed man tells me. I snort. He raises his brows looking back to the doctor with worry.
"Her wolf doesn't know what's going on. She has no idea who we are. What the fuck Sanders?" The man yells standing up. I fall back on my ass looking down to see a numb instead of the rest of my left leg. Am I wolf? Where's my leg?
"This could be a trauma response. So much happened in so little time for her that she is choosing to remove all memories of the events. Until she shifts back I won't be able to identify how much memory she's lost, Alpha."
A blonde falls in front of me. She seems so kind, her smile lighting up the room. Another man stands behind her with his hand on her back, "Hey... do you know your name?"
I'm... Who am I?
"She doesn't remember." Alpha responds for me.
The blonde smiles again, "Okay. That's fine. I'm Mary. I'm a good friend of yours. You've been through a little bit lately okay? We are here to heal and help you. Can you do me a favor?"
She's nice. I'll listen to her, "She likes you Mary. She'll listen."
Sanders looks at Alpha, "You're scaring her. I need you to calm down or I'll have to ask you to leave before you do to much damage. Breathe. Mary has this." I didn't notice the anger coming off him in waves. Mary rubs her hand over my fur letting me purr against her.
"Okay, your name is Cherry Scarlett. I call you Cher normally. I need you to think about your human skin. Use me as a reference if you need to. Think about hands, hips, hair, all the things. You're a brunette with green eyes. Pale skin. You have longer hair."
I take her advice using her as a reference. My body starts to snap back, some things taking a little bit longer than others. I find myself shifting into a more human body. I'm naked. Alpha hands me a rob allowing me to cover my body. Mary gives me a soft grin holding out her hand, "You've lost your leg due to an accident. We don't have a prosthetic for you yet, may I touch you and help you stand?"
I nod to her. The inner being likes her too. Something about her seems familiar and friendly. I like that. She's kind. She wraps her hands under my arms and easily lifts me to standing. It doesn't burn the slightly sweat for her. Her arm comes under mine keeping me steady as I jump over to the bed I fell off before. The room is wrecked on the side the animal fell. That was me.
"Okay, sit here. This is Sanders. He's a healer. That's like a doctor but for us. He is also a friend and wants to help you."
I turn to make eye contact with Sanders. He nods at me and tries to form a smile. Tears brim his eyes, but I have no idea why. What's sad? I seem fine, "I'm Healer Sanders. I've been working with you for the past week or so. What's the last thing you remember?"
"I went to chemistry class yesterday. I have a paper due on chirality Friday." Alpha punches something scaring me. I shudder under his gaze. Something's tugging me to him, something I don't understand.
Sanders forces a tight smile, "Okay, good good. And how old are you Cherry?"
"Nineteen."
Alpha comes over to the bed holding out a mirror, "Love, you're twenty-five. About to be twenty-six."
"Levi!" Sanders chastises snatching the mirror from him, "We can't overwhelm her. It could cause it to be worse. We should slowly introduce her to fucking life changing information."
"Twenty-five?" I laugh shaking my head, "Absolutely not. I can't buy a beer let alone rent a car!" However, something does feel missing, a black nothing in parts of my brain where I feel like something should be there. Sanders sighs looking between Levi, and I? So what's his name? Alpha or Levi?
"He's right, Cherry. You've lost about six to seven years of your memory. A large chunk of events. Levi, also nicknamed Alpha, cares for you. You two are a couple."
I look to the blue eyed devil, "That doesn't seem right. I'm with Darrel. We're engaged." I can't process what they are saying to me, none of it seems right. All of this seems more than wrong to be specific. The sends a deep growl through Levi. I try not to shake in fear at his anger, "And he seems way too angry."
"He's just frustrated. He loves you dearly and hates to see you like this. Why don't we get you some crutches and a shower?" I look down at myself from his comment. I'm covered in blood, robe does nothing to hide the streaks of red that litter my skin. Some light bruising remains but disappears slowly the more I watch it.
"What the hell happened to me?" I pull at the robe to see a deep scar running over my elbow, an even deeper one on my hip.
"I had to use skin on your hip to close up the leg so you could heal. Everything else we will tell you with time. No need to stress yourself when we have much more imperative things to get you caught up with."
"I look like I killed someone."
"Yes." Sanders doesn't say any more. I point to the final guy in the room. Sanders fills in the blank, "That's James. He was the one that helped you recently. He is dating Mary."
"Oh okay. Can Mary take me? I'd like a shower and some food." Mary nods quickly running back to my side.
"Of course. Come on. Do you want crutches or a wheel chair?"
"Crutches. I'd like to stretch my muscles. They feel super cramped." Probably because you were dying and your muscles started to rigor mortis, "What?"
"Sorry, Cherry. Ignore that." He cuts a glare to Mary, "We have an odd way of communicating. That was a slip up. Let me grab you those crutches."
Everything about them is odd. Especially Levi being about to understand me in the animal thing I was. Mary hands them to me when he returns and walk me out of the small office. The sun is super bright, James coming up with some sun glasses for me, "Thank you."
"Anytime." He croaks running ahead of us while Levi stands behind. Mary stays right next to me helping me slowly hop myself over to a larger house on one side of a farm. As we walk down the the path I see the other people stop. They all look towards me, hands going over their hearts, and fall into a bow. Everyone on the walk back does it. Even children. They all look to me in pain, remorse, all those emotions that I have no fucking idea how to process. I'm still in the mentality I have class tomorrow. My name's Cherry. How could I remember school but not my name? What parts of life am I remembering that might be a lie? Where's Darrel?
The men seem to be guarding me from them, their eyes scanning the area around us as we walk. The people make no move to come near, but if they find themselves to close they step backwards to let me have space, "What are they doing?" I whisper to Mary who giggles.
"These people care about you and respect you. They are saying thank you in our little way."
"What are they thanking me for?"
"Protecting them. You took hits to keep an enemy distracted. Because you did that, we were able to over power as they lost their command. It led to our win. You also friended an unexpected person who was able to shift the tide with his help."
"Oh..." I watch the front door fly open. A smiling face greets up. A smaller girl exits to the other side of the door.
"That's Jackson and Tiki. They work for Levi directly."
His booming voice comes over the land before we get there, "Welcome back Luna!"
"Jack, no." Mary scolds, "She's experienced memory loss."
Levi runs up from the back to greet his co-worker. Levi slaps his shoulder with a sad smile, "Let's get inside. She needs a shower."
"Damn right, I can smell her from here!" He pinches his nose in mocking. I laugh at him which sends him into a fit.
"You seem cool." I mumble walking past him. Tiki huffs rolling her eyes, "And so do you!"
"Well thank ya! Mary do you need help with the shower?" Mary looks over at me, I shrug.
"Sure, extra hands are helpful. Can you grab her some clothes from Levi's room? I'll take her to mine and give her a sitting shower. Hun, can you bring up the shower chair?" James nods running off to an unknown location.
"Do we really need the chair?" I mumble to her. She nods.
"Can't have you slipping and knocking your ass out can we?"
"Fair enough." Levi stands in front of us watching my interaction with the group. Something about him freaks me out, or attracts me. I can't decide. Whichever it is, is enough to keep me from interacting with him as much as possible, "Do you need something, sir?"
Mary breaks in and comments for him, "He can make you some food. You know what she likes right?"
"Of course. I'll get that started."
She carries me up the stairs and into her room. The shower chair is waiting in the bathroom for us. I peel out of my rob and plop, her laughter contagious when she starts the water. It comes out warm pilling over my skin while I wash as much as I can without help. Tiki comes into the bathroom with a comfy set of clothes. She also warms a towel for me with the dryer so I won't come out cold.
When I finally get myself to the bed without falling on my ass, Mary sits down with me, "Dinner should be ready in fifteen minutes. How are you feeling?"
"A little overwhelmed, but that's expected right?"
"Of course it is." Tiki waves her way out. I give her a hug in thanks. Tears brim her eyes when she leaves but she doesn't make mention of why, "You have anything you want to ask?"
"So... Levi..." I whisper twirling my thumbs around one another, "How long have we been together?"
"Long enough that he built you a house!" She laughs. I widen my eyes trying to find the lie but find none, "You've lived here about a week while it finished. Together you two were picking furniture and stuffs."
"And the wolf thing?"
"Totally normal. We're all wolves here. You are newly shifted so you'll have some weird things that might happen over the next couple days."
"So when will you all tell me what really happened?"
"We are putting it on Levi to tell you. He wants to make sure your okay before we go dumping all of it on you. Maybe we will get lucky and you'll come to remember on your own."
"Levi seems... mean." I couldn't find a better word to describe him, but Mary just sighs.
"He's rather brash, and caring. He loves you dearly and wanted you to be completely okay after everything that happened. He feels like he failed you, and wished it was him instead."
"Well I suppose we should go eat then."
"I suppose we should."
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