Chapter 23- Tested
Charlie scoops me up in his arms, and I slowly rub my head but I feel something warm on my hand. I bring my hand in my line of vision and there is a deep red substance on my fingertips. Charlie sprints to a small back door and opens it. Cool air chills my warm body and relaxes my tense muscles slightly. I shut my eyes tightly because the earth keeps shaking and shifting.
Charlie yells, but I don't understand what he is saying. It's like I'm in a completely different world. All I hear is yelling but my mind isn't processing his words. My body moves up and down with his sharp movements as he takes turns and runs at full speed.
I hear two familiar voices that I register as Sasha and Emerald. I try my best to focus in on what they're saying.
"Set her on the bed, Charles." Emerald says and I feel myself being set gently down on a comfy bed [I'm assuming].
"Oh my! Her head!" Sasha whines.
"Yea, I know. It's bad. Natisha got her pretty good. My dad told me to not interfere, but how could I not? She used her self-defense moves, but when Natisha tackled her... her head met the concrete," Charlie explains to them.
"Sasha, wrap her head while I go inform the queen." Emerald orders.
"Do you want me to get the PainAway?" Sasha asks.
"Not so sure, get King Randolph or Queen Chelsea's permission," I hear Emerald say as her footsteps start to grow faint.
"Alright. Charles, do you know if she is conscious?" Sasha asks.
"Um, not sure. I thought she was."
I groan, "I'm conscious. I don't know if that is a good thing or bad thing." I croak. At this moment, I wish I wasn't conscious because this pain wouldn't be as severe. My eyes flutter open.
Sasha leans over me and examines my head, "Yep. Natisha got you pretty good."
Charlie stands at the foot of a small bed that I'm laying in. The bed is all white, and my eyes roll over all the details in the room. It looks like a First-Aid room. It's filled with racks of medicine, injection needles, bandages, sterile gloves, sterile wipes, and other things that I simply do not recognize.
Sasha moves over to a cabinet and takes out a bottle of clear liquid, "This will sting, Arizona, but it will help your head and cuts... stay still." She gently drips a single drop on the top of my head and I can't help but let out a yell. The drop sizzles into my injured skin and I let out another yelp. It burns like acid would, or like when you burn yourself on something scorching hot. My instinct is to jerk but I have to stay still. This is made to help me.
She repeats this on all my cuts and she has to add another drop to my head. Tears gather up in my eyes as I feel like my lungs are out of breath from fighting and screaming. My screams getting louder and more desperate as she continues.
"Okay! Okay!" She says as she backs up, putting the burning liquid back where it belongs, "It's over... oh, I can't stand to see her like this..."
Hot tears roll down my red cheeks as I see Queen Chelsea and Emerald enter, "Oh goodness gracious, Arizona!" The queen says as she covers her eyes from my bleeding head.
"Your Majesty, we were going to ask you for your permission to use the PainAway... it will help her with her scrapes, cuts, bruises, and, of course, her head. Just one scan from the PainAway and her scrapes and bruises will disappear. Now, the deep cuts and her head will probably have to sleep on it." Emerald explains.
Queen Chelsea cautiously uncovers her eyes, "Oh yes, she needs a good scan from the PainAway... we have a proposal that needs to happen as soon as she is fully healed and presentable for the cameras."
"What's 'PainAway'?" I ask, my voice sounding hoarse.
"It's a new high-tech machinery that doctors use. It scans and registers all your wounds and it helps the cells in your body to heal quicker. Doctors mainly use it for deep cuts. Every servant has to learn to use one." Sasha tells me.
"But, you have to be unconscious while we run it... patients have had weird side-effects after they used it when they were conscious, so you are going to be unconscious." Emerald adds.
Sasha pulls out a sterile wipe and a gigantic needle. My eyes nearly pop out of my head when I saw the shiny needle. I dislike just having my finger pricked at the doctor's office sometimes, but sticking me with that long thingie? No way! Not happening.
"No! I am not letting you stab me with that thing." I scream.
"Calm down, Arizona. It's okay." Charlie comforts me.
"It's to help you." Emerald chimes in.
"We promise that it's for your own health." Sasha says.
"Arizona, everything will be okay." Queen Chelsea speaks to me soothingly. Is she actually comforting me? Wow, thats an unusual side to her that I haven't seen. No matter what they say, all I see is that needle coming towards me.
"No, you're all nuts! You've all gone mad if you think you're going to do that to me," I yell at the top of my lungs.
"Charles, hold her still." His mom orders. He agrees and I shake my head while trying to sit up.
"No! No! No!" I plead, my head throbbing. My whole body refuses to be stabbed with the needle. Now you can probably guess what one of my fears are.
He grabs my right arm tautly and holds it still. His grip firm and there is no possible way to rip out of it. The needle comes closer and closer. My eyes squeeze shut and I feel the needle puncture my skin. Once Charlie let's my arm go, I open my eyes but my vision is already going black.
The queen helps me lay back down and then I can't see anything.
***
When I wake up, I find myself in my bedroom and not in the First-Aid room. My hands reach up to feel my head and there are bandages covering my wounds. I examine my arms and legs that I knew had to have scrapes and bruises, but there were none. They must've all disappeared under the magic of PainAway.
What time is it? I thought.
My clock told me it was around dinner time. Well, there is an upside to this situation. I don't have to attend dinner with those people, but I have to admit, Queen Chelsea seemed concerned about me. Maybe she isn't as much of a venomous snake as I thought. Now, she still is rude but maybe there is actually a heart in that chest of hers.
A knock on the door brings me out of my thoughts, "Come in." I exclaim as I sit up in bed.
KC enters with a tray of food for me, and I see that it isn't salad. "I heard you had a rough today, Arizona." She states as she sets the tray on my lap.
"'Rough' is an understatement." I comment as I stare at my delicious meal that is fish. I'm content.
"Yes, how's your head?" She asks.
"Better, thank you." I begin cutting my fish.
"Ya know why Natisha did that, right?"
I shake my head gently as I set a piece of wonderfully cooked fish in my mouth with my fork. KC continues, "It was a test. King Randolph suggested to test your skills that you learned, and they offered me to do it. I told I wasn't fit for the job and they gave the job to Natisha. She really didn't mean to hurt you. It was part of her job, but she got fired this afternoon. When she tackled you, she accidentally, ya know, knocked your noggin on the concrete."
"Wait, so it was all... a test?" I ask, sipping some water.
She nods, "Every Royal when they learn self-defense goes through a test that is similar to yours. Sadly, you failed, but I mean, she hit your head on the concrete..." Pity was in her voice, but I have to admit, I'm pitying myself right now! My skills were tested without me knowing and I got injured fairly bad. It feels a stab in the back.
"This was all a stupid test?!"
"Yea, I know. A little bizarre..."
"Ugh! You have no idea how frustrating this Royal junk can be..."
"Trust me, I know, but ya can't do anything about so just go along with it. At least, that's what I do. Well, I have other activities to attend to. Press the 'Help' button on your LivingSquare if you need any assistance. Bethany will be up soon to give you something." KC says as she exits my bedroom.
I let out a sigh. To be honest, this whole Royal stuff is turning out really tough. I think this is the first injury I've ever had that didn't involve my clumsiness. Well, today has been a wild ride. That explains a lot of my experiences lately: a wild ride. I wonder what this wild ride has in store for me. Something tells me I don't really want to know.
I finish up my dinner and press 'Help' on my LivingSquare. Shortly after, Bethany arrives to pick up my tray, but she has a bag draped around her left shoulder, "Hi, dear! Ya done with your dinner?" I give a slight nod and she finishes what she was going to say, "Hope you enjoyed it. Now, don't freak out... but I'm having to give you some more medicine for the healing process to be quicker." She says with caution.
"What's the problem with you giving me medicine?" I ask, then she took a needle that was in a plastic bag from the her other bag she was carrying.
Needles are my worst nightmare.
"Please, don't!" I already plead. She comes at me with it and whispers comforting words to me but I refuse. "Stop! Don't!"
When she punctures the needle in my arm, it is in my line of vision. I feel light-headed and like I am going to get sick. When she takes it out, she wipes my arm with a sterile wipe.
"Now, Arizona, it will make you sleepy in a few minutes... have a good night." She says as she adjusts my sheets on my bed and brings my blankets up to my chest as I lay back down."Calm down. Everything is okay." She moves a strand of hair that was in my eyes and gives me a kiss on my forehead.
This medicine works quickly because as I see her gently shut my door, I feel sleepy. I want to drift off into a dreamless, comfortable sleep. My eyes feel like they're holding a lot of weight, when in reality, they aren't. They feel weak and they want to close. Don't close. Don't close. Don't close. Of course, they close. After a while, I start snoring.
The thing that I thought before the drugs took me down was of how I was tested. The word 'test' always motivates me to do well. In school, I had all A's. P.E. we always had fitness tests and I would exercise to make sure I was in the High Fitness Zone. 'Fail' is a foreign word to me, and I can't stand the word! Those two things bothered me: 1. That it was all a test. I could've ended up getting more injuries than they bargained for! Did they not think of that? 2. KC said I 'failed'. For me, the words 'test' and 'fail' don't belong in the same sentence.
Even though number two bothered me, of course, I hated the fact that I was beaten for a stupid test. I was... tested? This whole situation is too bizarre...
A/N: Shoutout to swimmer48 for being the first one to figure this out. I purposely put small clues to help the readers find out that it was all a training test. Now, there were others after her that mentioned that it may be a test, but she was the first so I thought I'd give her a random shoutout. Thanks again all my Royals! Love you all.