I awoke in a wholly unfamiliar room but even so I knew two things for certain, a) I was no longer wherever Felix was and b) I was still as confused as I was before I went to sleep about the advice Felix gave me. Slowly because my body was aching in that -just had ten rounds with a rogue werewolf for no apparent reason- kind of way, I moved out of the bed and studied my surroundings.
I know I’m back on Arston as now I had the utmost pleasure to feel pain and lots of it. My limbs ache with a heaviness that makes them feel like lead, my every movement is effort but I find my feet anyway, eager to see friends. I stumble out of the room and find myself in the familiar surroundings of the guards main reception, how odd of me to wake up here of all places.
Slowly, I’m gaining my footing a little as I keep walking and am no longer unsteady on my feet. I can hear shouting in the distance, what’s going on out there?
Keeping my pace purposefully slow I walk towards the main hall where the shouts are getting louder and louder with each step. I’ve reached the main hall now and the sight before me is shocking to say the least. There are loads of prisoners, demon, fae, werewolf and even vampires. I’d say most of them all out in front of the guards shouting about something.
I walk straight towards the ruckus, I’m surprised to say both Jack and Leila were at the front shouting things, at the guards, but everything was getting drowned out by everyone else’s noise. I walked nearer still, straight to the heart of everyone where there were more guards than I had ever seen trying to keep the crowd back. Back from what, I don’t know and right now I don’t care either.
I want to say a quick hello to my friends and then go to sleep for as long as I can without having a nightmare. Which won’t be long as I am no longer with Felix, which automatically means nightma-
“Anna!” A voice shouts in the distance, I keep walking to where I don’t even know now, my feet are on autopilot.
“Anna! For God’s sake!” Someone bumps into me and knocks me straight out of my stupor I look around to see Leila squeezing me like we’ve not met for a few years.
I squirm out of Leila’s grasp and stumble with the effort and quickly steady myself as I notice everyone watching us, the last thing I wanted was to make a fool out of myself. “What’s the big deal guys?”
“The big deal?” A voice I immediately recognise as Jack’s grunts and I could tell from his voice that he was ready to kill me. Or kill someone at least. “Anna, you were gone for a week!”
“What?” I turn to face him, a little too fast it seems as now I’m really dizzy.
Thankfully he doesn’t seem to notice too caught up in whatever he’s angry at, “You spent a week with Felix, we thought we had lost you.” His voice drops to a whisper and he’s staring at me with something I can’t read inside his eyes, some look that I think I’m supposed to understand but right now I’m so dizzy I can only barely comprehend what he’s actually saying, let alone anything else.
“I swear, it was only two –“ My body fails on me, the dizziness taking over and I fall only for my fall to be interrupted with a pair of strong arms as my body falls asleep I surrender myself into them.
***
There’s something beeping around me, its hard to describe its definitely not an alarm clock, I’ve heard that those are quite annoying, this is different. This is the steady sort of beeping in the same tone not loud not quite but just very…relentless.
My limbs feel heavy but not in the painful way, more in the you’ve been in one position for too long now – move now kind of way. I open my eyes slowly, to a soft glow the ceiling looks familiar but don’t all ceilings? I turn my head slowly, realising that I’m in my own room now but am still unable to find the source of the beeping.
“Anna,” a soft voice murmurs from beside me, “you’re awake.” As soon as he says that a hear the door open and someone has left the room. “How are you feeling?”
“Okay, I guess,” I croak, my throat having closed up on me. “What happened?” I ask, my voice barely audible.
The perceptive dude he is, probably a healer of some sort notices I can barely speak and hands me some water. I gulp it down gratefully trying not to drink too much at once, but failing as I end up spluttering anyway.
“You fainted, do you remember?”
“Vaguely,” I answer my head throbbing at the small task of thinking.
“You’re doing well, you just need rest and you’ll be fine in no time.” He says smiling kindly at me, “I’ll be back later to see how you’re doing but a few people would like to see you now.”
I smile in thanks, taking small sips of the water just to make my throat feel less like sand, gathering my thoughts while I did so. My life had taken such a u turn suddenly, from boring prison life to a life that included something that was bigger than I could possible know.
I recalled Felix’s wisdom, not even trying to ponder upon its meaning just yet as I know that it will only give me a migraine. I have no idea what the prophecy is, but I’m not wiling to admit that to anyone as of yet.
I had one objective, when I went to see Felix and that was to find out the prophecy and even then I couldn’t fulfil it. I deflate a little at my lack of knowledge and how after going through the past few days all I knew was some fable and random words of wisdom.
“Hey,” a soft voice interrupts my pity fest.
“Hi,” I look up to see Jack sitting where the healer sat.
At that moment the door is flung open, “She’s awake?” I hear Leila all but scream, she searches frantically for me and when her eyes find me she launches herself onto the bed.
“You okay?”
“Yeah,” I reply smiling at her antics, “although I wouldn’t mind a walk and a shower,” I stretch my muscles feeling them awaken inside me.
“The doctor said you have to rest, A – Leila can help you with the shower though,” Jack states.
“Jack! I’m capable of showering myself thanks! And when did we start calling healers doctors? Isn’t that a human thing?”
“Since, none of the healers on Arston couldn’t help the only human here, a doctor was sent from earth,” he retorts acerbically.
“Jack-“
“Have your shower,” he orders, venom in his voice as he leaves, banging the door shut. I look to Leila for some explanation how did he go from nice guy to wanting to bite my head off in a matter of seconds?
“He’s just having a hard time adjusting, he’ll be back to normal plus he’s doing that self blame thing where he thinks its his fault you’re hurt.”
I sigh, not really know what to do, I don’t know how Jack could blame himself for something that had nothing to do with him. How he came to that conclusion I have no idea, but right now I really need a shower. I pull back my duvet and slowly push myself out of bed, swaying once my feet hit the ground. Tentatively, I take my first step only to loose my footing straight away and crumple instantly. Leila hearing the thud comes rushing to my aid only to find me on the floor in an awkward position, slowly recovering after just banging my head on the side of the door.
“Anna! What happened? Did you try to get out of bed?”’
“Kind of, looks like walking isn’t something I should try yet,” I say with a groan. She helps me up and puts an arm around my shoulder supporting me on the way to the bathroom. A steaming hot, lavender bath was waiting for me, which I all but melted at the sight of, without even waiting for Leila to leave I began to take my clothes off eager to feel the warm water ease my sore muscles.
Once she saw me into the bath safely, just in case my legs decide to fail me again and I do something stupid like drown in the bath. I don’t know how long I lay there for, contemplating how dramatically my life changed in such a short span of time. All of a sudden, everything I had ever known, the only life that I had ever known had been blown up in smoke. Changing into something I no longer recognised now, something completely unpredictable.
My life so far, was amazingly mundane it was pretty much the same thing day in day out and now all of a sudden was change. In all its huge, sparkly glory the bitter fruit that once bitten, your life alters irrevocably and will never be the same, that was change for you. But what was life without a few risks? Nothing, really. Just a whole load of mundane, the same thing day in, day out.
Was that what I wanted for my life? To rot away in prison and then to become just another soldier on the dispensable squad? Giving my life for people who had never even acknowledged mine. No. That is most certainly not what I want, I wanted to see the sun and feel the wind in my hair. I wanted to try new foods and see all the different climates for real and not just a fake eco system, I wanted to swim in the sea with fish and feel the warmth of the sun on my back.
I wanted all these things and more, the little things in life that so many take for granted on a daily basis – I want. That’s the life of a prisoner though, stripped off their basic rights.
Sure, I wanted all these things but was I really willing to achieve them? Was I really prepared to accept whatever the consequence was – the outcome of my actions was, good or bad? I am the key to the prophecy, apparently, not that I know what that means or anything. It was basically, all on me. All that responsibility, on me.
Ultimately, despite everything I did want change. I did want a different life from what I have. Realistically, at the back of my mind I know that I can’t live like this forever, I’m human and ultimately don’t have much going for me so even if I was selected to go into the army when I hit 18 I wouldn’t have a good life there either. I don’t know what the future will bring but nobody does, not even those fortune tellers who simply mirror what you want them to say.
Even despite my dreams of escaping the fate of a prisoner, there is no way of knowing whether the future will bring change. Sometimes you just have to leap into the unknown In the hope of something better than what you have, because that’s the way life works.
I lay there, in the bathtub until the water is freezing cold around me contemplating on my decision for change. To do something that will potentially benefit me positively and change my life forever, it wasn’t just me here it was everyone who wanted out of this prison and off Arston. If I was the key I had to help them, help them and myself at the same time.
Not knowing what I was doing was a minor detail, something to be figured out along the way but didn’t Felix say something about following my gut? And I’ll know what to do when the time comes? That’s only very slightly reassuring, that I’ll know what to do when it matters most. I don’t need to know them just yet, it’s okay to not know everything all the time so long as you’re willing to learn as you go along.
With that thought and a somewhat more renewed confidence in myself I sit up in the bath and call Leila for help. Once dry, I changed and got back in bed with an amazing bowl of hot chicken soup as I eagerly waited for Jack to come visit me.
***
It had been three days and I was still waiting, the rate of my recovery shocked my doctor but I was more than happy – the faster I was recovering the faster I could get out of this damn room, find Jack and beat him up for not coming to visit me. Of course there was only so much I could get away regarding the beating seen as I was only human but, I would try.
I want to know the progress being made on the business of the prophecy. I’m not even sure what that means, or what that entails but right now I was probably the one person on Arston who had no clue of what was going on.
I so needed that to change. I had kind of hoped that going to see Felix would have not only given me answers but would have also made me look like I could actually accomplish something, without the presence of genes that would give me super strength, or any of the other abilities that the super naturals had.
With slow, monitored steps I walked out of my bedroom after what seemed like an eternity, I wasn’t allowed very far today but I’d be damned if I let the doctor keep me cooped up. I scan the cafeteria looking for signs of life or food. Either would do. This recuperating stuff was very hungry work.
I take a few more steps, my footing becoming steadier with this burst of confidence I take a few more steps and then a few more. I’m actually walking! After a few days of lying down and working my way up from not being able to walk unsupported to walking on my own like this was exhilarating. Against the wishes of my doctor I continue walking toward the kitchen blissfully ignoring my surroundings on the look out for celebration food.
Just as I find ice cream and am about to indulge into the creamy, dairy goodness a voice stops me.
“Why the hell are you out of your room?”
Anger flares through me as I face the one person who hasn’t even bothered to come visit for the past three days and all of a sudden cares about my welfare.
“So now you care? But that’s only because I’m in the way right? I’m an inconvenience to you, right? Send her to her room like she’s some kid behaving badly. Well, I’m not, Jack and you can’t control what I do. Especially if you only care abut me when it suits your needs.”
I leave him standing there in the kitchen and through my anger manage to bring along my bowl of ice cream, which becomes my only companion for the night as I shun everyone leaving me alone with my pity. Eventually I fall asleep with tear tracks down my face.
***
I know i said weekly updates before, but now it's actually happening! Vote and comment to let me know what you think! If i can get 15 votes by tommorrow I'll upload friday ;D
<3 Zahira