Page 6 of Thrust into the Light
She pointed to the bowl closer to the floor, the blanket on the pole, and the higher-up bowl as she says the things. I still don’t want to ruin my water though by going in it. My face must have made a funny face or something.
“The toilet, you sit down on like you would use a bucket, but it has water in it when you are done, you push this down and water flows into it, and flushes it all down the drain, then it fills up with more water. No, it’s okay, it’s not going to hurt you. I’m sorry, I was just trying to show you how it works is all. This is the sink, the side over here is hot water, and this side is cold water. Turn them on slowly, if it’s too hot, turn up the cold side, if it’s too cold, turn up the hot side. Right here is the soap dispenser, get your hands wet from the sink, then push this and get some soap on, rub your hands all over with the soap and count to thirty while rubbing, then run your hands under the water until all the soap is off. Right here is the paper dispenser where you can get some paper to dry your hands. When you are done, throw it in the trash can right here. I am going to stand out inyour room and wait for you while you use the restroom. If you need more help or have any more questions, just say my name and I’ll come back in here, honey. Again I am sorry.”
She walks out of the room and shuts the door behind her. I follow her instructions and use the bowl lower down, which she called a toilet. I do what she told me to do and press the button once I am done. Then start to wash my hands and realize I have no clue how to count to thirty. I do my best and think that it is long enough and use the papers to dry my hands. I open up the restroom door to head back to my bed.
Connor and Agnes are standing in the room talking. Connor doesn’t look happy, and Agnes looks like she is going to cry again. Did I do something wrong?
“No, sweetheart, you didn’t do anything wrong. We were both just a little shocked by how much you knew. I have a volunteer shift starting soon, but I will come by to check on you whenever I get a second to. If you need me for anything, please let Agnes know, and I will be here as fast as I can.”
I don’t know what a volunteer is, or what a shift is. But I nod at him and notice that he changed what he was wearing. He leaves the room and Agnes turns to me.
So your match results came back. Connor is one of your matches. The match database just confirmed it. Which is great news, he is such a good young man. Your blood work has also come back and you show no signs of infection or anything that is going to keep you here in the hospital for too long. We need to build up your strength in your legs for a few days. Which should work out just fine with timing. The new school semester starts up very soon and since your magic has awakened, you’ll have to go there to get your training.”
“You may even meet some of your other six matches there! I am sorry, I am rambling. There is food here for you, and Doctor Owens approved of removing your meal restrictions, so I ordered you some scrambled eggs, toast, hash browns, bacon, and a bowl of fruit for breakfast. June will be by a while after breakfast to take you for a walk this morning. After your walk, Iwill show you how to work the shower so you can get cleaned up. I will also show you how to brush your teeth and hair. If you ever feel you don’t know how to do something, please let me know, or if you don’t understand something either. I am sure Connor would be more than happy to help you with anything you don’t understand as well.” She gives me a hug and then leaves the room for a second and brings in a tray again. This one has a weird bowl on top of things.
“There is a lot of food here, so eat what you can. These are the eggs, these are the hash browns, here is the bacon, and you know what toast you had last night with your broth, and this is your bowl of fruit. If you don’t like something here, you don’t have to eat it. Just let me know which of these you don’t like when you are done and we won’t order them again, okay? I need to go check on a few things while you eat, so if you need help with anything, remember just say help and I will come back.” She smiles at me and then leaves the room.
I try a small bit of each food left in front of me. The eggs are super soft; the toast is crunchy and makes my lips move against themselves funny again, crunchy hash browns, sweet fruit, and the one thing I have found in the world that makes everything seem so much better, the amazingly awesome bacon.
6
After Agnes showed me how to work the shower and brush my teeth, I sit down on my bed looking out the window at the dark sky. Reds, oranges, and yellows bleed into the darkness at the edges as the sun goes down on the other side of the building. Dark clouds are visible against the even darker sky. Bright light flashes in the sky from the dark clouds and it hurts my eyes. A loud rumbling sound comes from outside and the windows shake in place. I can feel the rumble in my chest. More light streaks through the sky outside my closed eyes and closed window. The rumbling is getting louder and closer to the hospital.
A loud sound is coming from outside. I don’t know what it is, but suddenly Agnes runs in. “Honey, we need to get into the main part of the building. We can’t have the lights off in the hallway, so you’re going to need to keep your eyes closed. There is a big storm brewing outside. The emergency sirens are going off.”
I nod at her, and keeping my eyes closed, move towards the sound of her voice. I get close enough to her and she grabs my hand and pulls me along behind her. In the hallway, the light behind my closed eyes is so bright, and even with my eyes closed, it hurts a bit. Instead, I focus on the feeling in my chest every time the rumbling from outside comes. Agnes directs me to sit down, so I feel behind me and touch the wall, then slide along it and sit down. There is a lot of whispering and talking in the hallway.
My heart rate picks up as the rumbling gets louder and louder, closer and closer, almost like it is right above the building.Something sounds like it breaks under the near-constant rumbling coming from outside and someone screams. The light behind my eyes suddenly goes dark. A lot of people start talking and one of the other nurses who works with Agnes speaks up quickly, “It’s alright everyone, the power went out, try to keep calm, the generator should come on soon.” I don’t know what a generator is, so I open my eyes since there is now darkness. I look around the room. There are quite a few people in here with me. A lady holding a small girl. The man in the chair with wheels that Connor was helping when we met. A few men scattered around the room, but there is a group of men surrounding someone sitting right in the middle of them. All the men are looking at one the person sitting between them. I wonder if that person is here in the hospital. Are they sick?
It is very strange, to be sitting here in the dark with more people than I can ever remember seeing in my life. The small girl looks so afraid and the woman holding her keeps rubbing her back and making noises that sound like shhhhh to her. Saying things quietly to her about how it will be alright and the lights will be on soon. Why is the small girl afraid? Does she not like the darkness? It is strange. Darkness is really the only thing I have ever known outside of pain, and it’s here in the darkness that I am the most comfortable. In the darkness, no knives are slicing into me. No torture and HE isn’t here. He was never around when it was dark. No pain came to me during the darkness, only when the light was on.
A bright light comes from the area where Agnes and the other nurses are sitting, coming from a small rectangle one of them is holding. She brings it up to her pointed ears and is talking into it. I don’t understand what that is, but she is nodding her head while it is next to her ear, and she doesn’t look happy. She hangs up, then turns to the other nurses and is talking to them. They all nod and begin walking around, hands outstretched, using the table they sit behind to help guide them. Can they not see in the darkness? Some of them have their eyes closed. How are they supposed to see where they are going if they don’t open theireyes?
The nurse who was using the bright rectangle brings her hand up to her mouth and makes a strange sound.
“Excuse me, everyone, we just received word that because of the powerful nature of the storm, it has taken out power to the entire city. The generators are not coming on, and the magic reservoir is now empty. The most serious cases are going to be moved out of Stormgrove to another hospital. We are also going to send children and their families to another hospital. Anyone feeling like they need to be transferred, please talk to your nurse and bring up your concerns with them.”
As she finishes talking, a lot of people in the room begin talking quietly. With so many people in the room, even though they are talking quietly, it is loud in here. I guess a lot of voices at once, even quietly, can be loud. Agnes makes her way around the room; I watch her as she stops and talks to some people, and after she is done, some of them get up and walk down the hallway, while others stay where they are. She isn’t a person walking around with her hands out in front of her. As she finishes talking to the people, she stands up, looks around the room, smiles at me, and walks over.
“Well Honey, I see you are almost as at home in the dark as me. Would you like to be transferred to another hospital?” I shake my head at her.
“Alright, well hopefully the power will come back on soon. If you want, you can go back to your room and lie down there. While the power is out, if you need help with anything, you’ll have to yell for help this time. Since the generators are down, so too is the magic that fuels the help spell.” I nod at her and begin to stand up. She helps me stand up and watches me for a bit, nodding to herself. I turn and head to my room. I wonder where Connor is. Was he here when the storm came through? Was he somewhere else?
7
Connor
“FUCK!” I can’t move my arm to get to my phone. Gods damn storm! As soon as I finished my volunteer shift, I spent all of my time trying to get things figured out and settled for my match, instead of getting to know her more. I know she won’t want to live with me for a while until she can trust me. Even though the thought of her being by herself really pisses me off. What if she needs something, and no one is there? Well, I guess I won’t have to worry about that while she’s at the academy for the next few years to get her powers under control.
I wish my powers had something more to them than telepathy. Telekinesis would be nice, so I could get this fucking tree off. My car, and me. I can hear the sirens coming closer. Thankfully, my car has the magic that sends out an alert if an accident happens.
As the paramedics move up to my car, they peek in. I know some of them from my volunteer work at the hospital.
“Connor! Can you feel your legs? Arms? How much pain are you in?”
“I can feel my legs, can move my toes and wiggle my fingers, but I can’t move this tree off the car. I would say a three for pain level?”
“Fire is a few minutes out. I’m going to do as much of an assessment as I can until they can get this tree off your car and we can get you to the hospital. Everyone is being rerouted to Northpass General. Stormgrove is out of power and the generators are down. They are moving the serious cases out, andanyone that requests to be moved if Northpass has the room for them.”
