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.
A red head girl was twitching and scrunching up her face two beds down. The distressed sound that left her lips had me rushing towards her, grabbing her hand soothingly while smoothing back her curls from her face.
"Ssh it's okay. Don't move just yet Valerie," I soothed. Her large grey eyes blinked up at me as I tried to calm her accelerated heart rate by stroking her softly.
The doors burst open and a worried doctor rushed in, looking around confused. His eyes zeroed in on me and Valerie, before flashing to Theodore behind us.
"What? How?" Just as he asked that, there was more shuffling and movement and I looked around, watching wide eyed as the other patients began stirring.
He pressed his pager and soon nurses and doctors filled the room. The girl, Valerie Graeme was unwilling to let my hand go and the fear in her eyes had me rooted besides her.
"Luna what's going on? How did this happen?" A familiar blond asked me. Laurel had rushed in the room, looking lost and confused.
"I don't know I just-," I didn't know how to explain it and I was unsure if I even wanted to. I just gave Laurel a lost look, catching the eyes of the young girl that clung to my hand.
"You should be resting Luna. The doctors have mindlinked family members so she won't be alone," Laurel interrupted. I nodded.
"I'll wait with her then. Can she have some water?" Laurel smiled, handing me a cool glass of water with a straw and a cup of ice chips. I took the seat besides the bed, using the controls to get her to sit up.
I held the cup for her as she took small and tentative sips. The rest of the room was in slight chaos as doctors conducted checks and tried to hold back arriving family members.
Some were being moved to private rooms.
"Who-who-," a raspy voice startled me out of my observations. I turned to Valerie and gave her a small smile.
"I'm Artemis. The Luna of the pack," I introduced. Her eyes widened and a faint blush appeared on her freckled cheeks.
"Luna-it's an honour-," I waved away her formalities. I wouldn't be Luna of this pack for much longer anyways.
"There's no need Valerie," she smiled at me, only then glancing down at my hand, her eyes focusing on the markings on the inside of wrist. She traced them softly, and I wondered what she was thinking.
I just watched the chaos in the room slowly dwindle down until it was just Valerie and I in the ward. Just as I was about to ask her about her family, did the double doors slam back open and an explosive redhead barge in.
Her eyes were dark, standing out against her pale skin and they widened with disbelief before glassing over with tears. She quickly approached the bed and wrapped her arms around Valerie, her shoulder shaking with muffled sobs.
Valerie was just as emotional and I stepped back to allow them some privacy. The movement must have caught their attention as the redhead stepped back from Valerie and addressed me.
"Luna," her tone was strong but not cold, her voice slightly thick from her tears.
"Tatiana," I acknowledged. I should have guessed from the surname that Valerie was related to Tatiana.
"Tia, she helped me. Somehow she managed to get me out of it," Valerie spoke, tugging on Tatiana sleeve. She frowned down at the younger girl, furrowing her sharp brows.
"Val, that doesn't make any sense, how-,"
"I just know it. I felt her in my mind, and I felt this light guiding me through the abyss-I can't explain it-Luna tell her what you did," her words were rushed and excited, and I just barely understood her.
Tatiana gave me an expectant look, raising a brow. I just gave her a small smile.
"These marking mean something and today I learnt the extent of it," I answered vaguely, gesturing to my inner forearms.
She gave me an unimpressed look, pursing her lip, so I decided it was my cue to leave. I bid Valerie farewell, nodding about visiting her again. I didn't have the heart to tell her no.
On my way back to my room, I bumped into Aerin.
Correction, she bumped into me. I had a better sense of coordination and faster reflexes than the smaller she wolf.
The smirk she gave me let me know it was intentional.
"Artemis, just the woman I was looking for," I didn't like the look in her eyes.
"Aurelius approached me," she stated, as if it was the biggest accomplishment of all time. I rolled my eyes at her, ready to move on before she stepped back in my path.
"He told me about your mark disappearing," she grinned. "He said you were clearly too weak to bear his mark. So he's decided to reject the mate bond with you and mate with someone more worthy and suited for him. Someone like me,"
I waited for the hurt to come with her words but I felt nothing. Just numbness and emptiness with a little bit of irritation because she was still in my face.
"I will be Aurelius's chosen mate and I will bear his children and future heirs to the pack while ruling besides him," she stepped even closer me this time, trying to look intimidating despite her being several inches shorter than me.
"I just came here out of courtesy, woman to woman, to let you know that he is mine. When we are fully mated there will be no place for you in this pack so you might as well leave now before it gets awkward. Got it?" She snarled.
I let out a dramatic and bitter laugh at her words, throwing my head back too for added effect.
"Oh you have no idea," I shoved past her harshly before locking myself in the room.
Night just could not come fast enough.