Page 6 of Queen Takes Sunfires 1
I felt so... thin. Weak. Unsubstantial. I couldn't remember how I'd gotten here, or even where here was. But it was important. I had to remember. Before.
Before they came to bring me back. Back to pain and torture and endless light.
I closed my eyes again, reveling in the peace of darkness in my own head. Sleep, quiet—a miracle I hadn't known in so long. One didn't dare sleep there. It was impossible. The sun was too bright. Too painful.
But where had I been? Why couldn't I remember?
"Karmen? Can you hear me?"
I forced my eyes open. A young man stood beside me, studying some papers on a clipboard in his hand. He wore a white coat that for a moment made me flinch. But light didn't bounce off the whiteness of his coat or cause me any pain. It didn't sear my eyes. It was just... white. A color. Not pain.
Amazing.
He looked up and smiled at me. "Excellent. I'm Dr. Mason. Do you remember what happened?"
I grimaced and shook my head gingerly. At least it didn't feel like my skull as going to break apart this time.
"Did someone hurt you?"
I didn't answer, but he read the careful blankness on my face and nodded. "We're going to run a few tests to see what's wrong. You barely had a pulse when they brought you in, so we've already started you on an IV. Your blood pressure was nearly non-existent, so we're most worried about internal injuries."
He laid the clipboard on the bed beside me. "Is it alright if I touch your abdomen to see if you have any tenderness or swelling?"
I tightened my jaw but nodded. Bits of a nightmare flashed through my mind. Blazing fire wrapped around my midsection. A foot slamming into my side. My head. Not a normal foot or even a boot.
I clearly saw a skeleton in my head with fire flickering around the bones. My heart pounded and the room spun around me. My eyelids fluttered and I started to float away.
"Hey, now, easy. Stay with me, Karmen. I'm not going to hurt you. I promise. I called for a female doctor, but she's in surgery at the moment. It'll take her an hour or two to come check you, and by then it'll be too late. I can see if a nurse is available, if that would help?"
Panting softly, I focused on him. His kind words. His face. There was something important about the way he looked at me. Something that I needed to remember. "It's okay," I finally managed to rasp out. "I'm not scared of you."
He pulled on some gloves before gently laying his fingers against my stomach. I glanced down my body, surprised to find a blue cloth wrapped around me. It was some kind of clothing, I thought, but it was entirely shapeless. The blue was faded, as if it was very old. But it was still lovely. Color. I didn't think I'd ever get tired of seeing something other than gold.
Another image flickered in my head. Shining, brilliant, blinding gold as far as my eyes could see. Burning with painful brilliance. So bright that it was pure agony to look at, but there wasn't anywhere else to turn my gaze. Even with my eyelids squeezed shut, that light still invaded and burned my retinas.
I pushed the memory away and focused instead of the man's gentle probing. The stroke of his fingers was purely clinical and non-personal. Sure and confident but gentle, he pressed carefully, watching my face to see if I showed any sign of pain. He tested each rib and my lower abdominal area. Nothing hurt. In fact, I couldn't remember ever being sonotin pain.
"Well, that's a good sign," he said cheerfully as he stripped off the gloves. "I don't sense any swelling that leads me to suspect that you need emergency surgery. Though your extremely low blood pressure and weak pulse is concerning. Have you been ill?"
"I'm never ill," I replied automatically. Then I realized what I'd said, and my eyebrows shot up with surprise. "I don't know how I know that, but I'm not ever sick. I'm as sure of it as I am that my name is Karmen."
"Do you know your last name? Or surname?"
I lowered my lashes slightly, veiling my eyes. Instinctually, I knew not to answer that question. My surname was important in some places. It might actually get me killed.
"I see." He smiled slightly, not offended that I'd declined to answer. "Well, it's not important for now, though I'm sure the police officer who called for an ambulance will likely want to explore your background a little more thoroughly."
He waited for my response, as if expecting me to be afraid or worried. I wasn't sure why. The only thing that would make me afraid was if that skeleton thing suddenly appeared.
That would be very, very bad indeed.
"Try to get some rest while we wait on the labs. Can I get you anything?"
My stomach growled so suddenly and loudly that I jumped, startled by the ferocious grumble. He laughed, shaking his head. "I'm sorry, but I can't approve any food at the moment in case we do need to whisk you to surgery. But I can have a nurse bring you some ice chips."
I wasn't sure what that was, exactly, but I nodded. Anything to get him to leave. He stepped outside the room and I relaxed a little bit. I looked around the room, trying to place the location. It was so strange to see things but not immediately remember the words. It was like learning how to talk all over again. Nothing was familiar.
Like the cloth I wore. I could recognize it as some kind of clothing, but it was so completely foreign and odd. The color. The material. Wherever I'd been, we didn't have anything like this.Strange machines beeped beside me, numbers flashing, tubes pumping something into my arm. It was clear, so I wasn't sure what it was. I did feel a little better, more alert and less likely to float away, so it was evidently helping. But I still felt like I was stretched too thinly. I could feel the weight of my body pressing down against the cushions and pillows beneath me, but it didn't feel real or substantial.
