Page 24 of A Game of Queens
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 thepolice 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.
The room itself was mostly made of some kind of clear material. I could see people walking by and hear their low voices through the open doorway. More material hung from the ceiling to provide privacy. I reached out and pulled the materialcloser, studying the pattern. Green, like those olives I vaguely remembered, dotted with diamonds. So simple, but incredible to me. I couldn't recall ever seeing something like it before.
I lay back and closed my eyes. Deliberately, I tried to picture myself. My face. What color were my eyes? What color was my hair? I didn't know. I tried to picture myself in clothing. Maybe something like the doctor had been wearing. Pants. The word made sense suddenly. I knew what they were, but I couldn't imagine myself wearing them. Maybe I always wore a... gown. Dress? Yes, that was a better word. But I still couldn't picture myself at all.
Focusing on each breath, I tried to still the tumult inside me. Peace. Quiet. I was in a place of safety, though I didn't know where or how. I was no longer in a place of danger. I still didn't know where I'd been, only that it had been very bad. A place that I would do anything to stay out of. I concentrated on each inhale and exhale, letting my muscles relax one by one. Tension strained inside me. Desperation. Anxiety. I needed to flee, my body was sure of it. Something bad was coming.
I wasn't sure how long I lay quietly, trying to control my anxiety, butI knew the doctor had returned even without opening my eyes. I felt him. Like an energy force, a slight disturbance of air against my skin that told me something approached. Then I smelled him. The hot liquid that he'd guzzled a few minutes ago, even though it tasted bitter on his tongue. The greasy round thing he'd indulged in earlier. My brain substituted an image automatically, the young man holding a large sandwich of some kind in both hands. Onions. Pickles. Ketchup.
I didn't even know what those things were. But I knew he'd eaten them.
How is this possible?
My breathing quickened, short and shallow. I started to shake. There had to be something I was missing. Something I didn't understand. It was so important. My safety depended on it, but the harder I tried to understand the jumble of sensations flooding my head, the less it made sense.
A strange metallic sound made my eyes fly open. I watched as the doctor pulled the privacy curtain shut, metallic rings rattling overhead. Then he sat down in a chair I hadn't even noticed beside the bed. He hadn't done any of this before. Tests. He'd said they'd drawn blood. Maybe there was something seriously wrong with me?
