WILDly (2 page)

I stared at
Duncan. He looked straight into my eyes and it was clear that he
was in a tremendous amount of pain. In spite of this, he went on,
his voice faltering.

“Wha...are…yo…doi…to…me?” I forced the words out through my numb
mouth.

“You will
understand soon enough… I will contact you as soon as...”

“Teeelllll…meeeee…!” I tried to scream with the last bit of energy
left in my whole body, but it only came out as a whisper.

“Valerie.
Please take care of yourself… You are stronger than I expected.
Don’t be afraid of this…”

He fell to his
knees, but kept his eyes and his fingers locked on mine.

“The second
change that you will notice is your resonance colour…”

He didn’t
continue his sentence; he just looked at me, completely
exhausted.

“Oh no! He is…
here! Has it… been… eight minutes… already?”

He blinked
slowly, dropped his hands and the force holding me disappeared. At
the same moment, I heard someone banging on the door and trying to
open it.

“Valerie? Are
you in there? Are you okay?” a voice shouted.

Duncan’s eyes
were wild.

The last thing
I heard was the door bursting open. Then everything went black.

***

Chapter 2 -
Glow

I awoke to a
loud, irritating, repetitive beep. My head ached like never before
and nausea simmered in my stomach. It took a significant amount of
effort to open my eyes to find the source of the sound. A drip
monitor stood shamelessly next to my bed, beeping its little heart
away.

“Glad to see
you are finally awake!”

Exhausted, I
had to concentrate hard to focus on the person standing next to me.
A nurse named Bridget, according to the badge on her uniform, was
staring back at me. She looked too young to be a nurse.

I closed my
eyes again and when I opened them an eyewink later, she was still
waiting.

“Just your left
arm please, need to take your vitals.” She sounded friendly and
happy and annoying, aggravating my earth-shattering headache. She
didn’t introduce herself and I didn’t feel like talking much, as I
feared that my head might explode.

As I lifted my
arm from under the covers, the movement felt slow and heavier than
usual. A little bell rang softly beneath the thick feeling in my
head but I disregarded it. The blundering feeling I attributed to a
side effect of some or other type of medicine from the drip.

I closed my
eyes again and held my arm out to her. She connected one little
gizmo to my finger and another around my arm for the blood pressure
measurement.

“Are you
feeling any pain or is anything else the matter?” she asked in that
annoyingly friendly tone while she waited for the two machines to
take their readings.

Desperate for
relief, I braved the pain that talking brought. “Yes, I have a
splitting headache. And my hands and feet feel rather numb. Could
it be from the meds?”

“I doubt it,
but we can ask the doctor when he makes his rounds. In the meantime
I’ll bring you something he prescribed for the pain.” This time she
sounded even more cheerful.

I frowned. “Do
you know why I’m in here?”

“Some rare type
of virus, doctor said. Don’t think it’s contagious though, he would
have ordered isolation. You can ask him later.” And with that, she
disappeared.

The bell rang
loud and clear this time. I waited for Bridget’s footsteps to fade
before I raised both my arms. They were definitely feeling heavy
and numb. And then I noticed for the first time how odd my hands
looked.

A very thin
almost transparent layer of what looked like soft-glowing heat
waves spiralled from my fingertips, circled around each finger like
a mini-tornado, then flowed down to my palms. It extended about one
centimetre beyond my skin around my fingers, and became
undetectably narrow around my wrist. Blood rushed underneath the
skin around the fuming areas; it was hot and almost pulsating, but
painless.

Shocked, I
yanked the sheet off me and frantically inspected my feet and legs.
I gasped with relief that they were normal. I peeked underneath the
silly hospital dress. The rest was normal too.

I placed my
hands against each other and the spirals circled around both
fingers. When I touched my arm, it felt normal against the skin but
the spirals dived into my arm, leaving a small red spot.

Panic scared my
poor headache out of its senses. I had no idea what had happened to
me, or what had been done to me, but I didn’t like it one bit. Too
strange. Too weird. No illness or virus could possibly explain
this!

I seriously
considered calling Bridget back… but then argued that she must have
noticed my hands. Although she seemed completely unaware of it all:
surely, she would have reacted to something so unfamiliar and
unusual? Maybe she was simply polite. Or scared.

I took a deep
breath to calm myself down. I’ve never been somebody who believed
in fairy tales and magic and I’ve always had a very logical and
analytical approach to life. I urged myself to think clearly, and
concluded that Bridget had not noticed the glowing fumes around my
hands. It appeared that I was seeing something that no one else
was.

I had to test
my theory.

With a firm
hand, I pressed the button to call her. I’d ask her straight out if
she could see something strange with me. She was the ideal
objective person as she seemed friendly and sympathetic, but at the
same time she was completely insignificant in my life.

The bell
sounded somewhere in the hallway and I forced myself to stop
staring at my hands. I heard a pair of rushed footsteps. Bridget
came in with a small tray and a little box of medicine and a glass
of water on it.

“Didn’t forget
about you. Here’s your medication for the pain,” she smiled at me
apologetically. I had forgotten about the meds. It saved me the
embarrassment of asking a semi-stranger an awkward question.

She held out
the little blue pill and a glass of water towards me. She didn’t
leave, and it was clear she was waiting for me to swallow. I didn’t
think anything of it, took the pill and threw it in my mouth.

“That should
help soon,” she half-smiled. “And oh, I forgot to tell you. Your
mother was here all day; she’s very worried about you. She had to
go but said that she would be back tomorrow,” she said, still
staring at me. I was increasingly uncomfortable under her steady
gawk.

Although the
thought of my mother was very comforting, the realization hit me
that Bridget was trying to distract me to get me to swallow the
pill. My heartbeat picked up and my self-defence mechanism kicked
in. To look convincing, I took a big sip from the glass of water,
then held the tablet under my tongue as I swallowed.

“You can press
the little button if you need something else,” she said with a
smirk as she walked out.

I waited for
her footsteps to fade away. As soon as I was alone, I took the pill
out of my mouth with my still-fuming hands. I looked around for a
place to discard it where she wouldn’t find it and decided on the
window.

I sat up
slowly, weakened by a growing sensation of hunger and thirst. I
kept my neck and pounding head as still as possible. Pressing
heavily on the drip stand, I moved my weight to my legs as I got up
from the bed. My limbs were so heavy that I broke out in a sweat.
My muscles tensed beyond their capability in an attempt to move my
legs and I fell to one knee.

After a few
moments, I gathered enough energy to stand. Even more slowly than
before, I moved forward, one small step at a time. By the time I
reached the window, my hospital gown was soaking wet.

I pulled up the
window and threw the pill into the bushes way below. The fresh air
felt good. It cooled my face down, and my tidal waves of nerves
reduced to a few ripples as I convinced myself that Bridget wasn’t
actually harmful.

The breeze
tousled my hair and I closed my eyes to the peacefulness that
surrounded me. I was relaxed and free, and raised my heavy arms so
that I could feel the wind against my skin. My breathing slowed as
I inhaled deeper and deeper. Time stood still.

I don’t know
how long I stood there with my hospital gown pressing against my
body, enjoying the outside. Raindrops against my face broke my
trance. I opened my eyes and looked out on dark menacing
clouds.

I was baffled –
I had just looked at a peaceful sunny day moments ago, with the
leaves rustling and the afternoon sunlight dappling the trees
nearby. Now the whole world had turned into a forceful storm, and
the sudden thunder strikes were so violent and close that they made
me take a step back. Maybe I had stood there longer than I had
realized. I looked up at the sky again, not able to believe the
sudden change.

Aware again,
drowsiness set in. I started the never-ending mile back to bed.
Only moments after I reached my bed, Bridget came in. She saw the
open window and rushed to close it.

“I’ll just
close this for you. I didn’t see it was open. Looks like a big
storm is on its way very suddenly, isn’t it?” she said in an
uneven, high-pitched voice, and then turned to me. “Why don’t you
rest for a while; I see you are almost asleep.”

Her frown
changed to what a smile, a smiled that looked like her first
genuine smile. She was pleased about something. Maybe that blue
pill was meant to make me sleep after all.

There was a
thought in the back of my head that I just couldn’t retrieve. My
body was aching, heavy and exhausted, and my consciousness was
slipping away. The last thing I saw was Bridget standing next to my
bed with that smile on her face…

I was walking
in a wood; somehow I knew I had never been here before. Everything
was calm and peaceful. The carpet of leaves that covered the ground
turned my footsteps into soft rhythmic rustles. It was a beautiful
day. The blue sky peeked through the leaves of the trees overhead
and the green of the forest wrapped around me. My soul resonated
with awareness and my heart pounded in appreciation of the sight
that greeted me.

As I walked
through the trees, something shiny caught my attention. It was an
illuminated flower! It shone as if it had its own personal little
sun shining in it. It stood out from everything else and I couldn’t
help but move towards it. When I reached the spot, I bent over for
a better look at the remarkable soft grey flower. The forest
blurred and the flower turned into a pair of striking eyes in front
of me. Then the face around the eyes gradually took form.

It was
Duncan!

He smiled at
me and I was lost in his eyes again. We didn’t talk, only stared at
each other as emotion welled up inside me. Then, all of a sudden,
the weather changed and grew dark and overcast. His expression
changed too, to one of vigilance. He kept looking over my shoulder
and I turned around to see what was bothering him but couldn’t see
anything that would make me fret. I turned back to him just as he
grabbed my arm.

“
Run!”
Duncan shouted. He pulled me in his direction with a strong jerk. I
followed him blindly and unthinkingly, running wildly through the
forest.

“
It’s his
shadow!” he screamed, obviously frightened.

Something
big and strong was chasing us, and it was gaining on us. Too afraid
to look back, I kept on moving. Duncan’s breathing was loud next to
mine. Adrenaline pumped through my
system and my heart raced
at full speed. The fear inside me grew bigger and bigger with every
step. I grabbed Duncan’s hand, but it disappeared in mine and when
I looked across at him, he was gone. Far away in the woods, I heard
an earth-shattering scream. I had a terrible omen that
he
was being hurt and I truly feared for him. Leaves and twigs cracked
behind me and a scream ripped through me.

I woke up with
a jerk, my hand over my mouth, tears streaming down my face.
Surprised by my own emotions and reaction, I realized that I had an
unexplainable connection with Duncan.

It was a scary
thought.

All of a
sudden, I had an urge to know if he was real or not. Determined, I
got up from my bed, drip and all. I ignored the heavy feeling that
somehow didn’t feel so heavy anymore, and picked up my file from
the tray at the foot of the bed.

I flipped
through the pages of daily blood pressure charts. Then a
pathological report. I didn’t understand half of the stuff written
there, only the phrase:’
Meningitis: negative
’. I flipped to
the next page and it was another report. Turning it over, I
discovered that there were several pages of reports. It was clear
that I had been in hospital for at least six days and that still no
confirmed diagnosis had been made. It did not feel like six days; I
could only recall a few very brief moments.

My hands were
still glowing. That was all it took to convince me that Duncan was
real. I was thrilled. Suddenly his words came back to me: “
There
are people who know about this gift and will do anything to take it
away from you ….You cannot trust anyone... be extremely careful and
suspicious... no matter who they are.
”

Goosebumps
popped out all over my skin. I was in danger. And the immediate
threat was Bridget, who had probably been drugging me.

My mind went
into overdrive, a million thoughts spinning around like comets:
escape routes; clothes; food; money; transport; a hiding place;
people to trust.

I was still
considering my options when the beep of the drip monitor sounded.
Without thinking, I ripped the drip from my arm, grabbed my coat
from the coat hanger and headed for the window. It was dark outside
and the sound of a soft drizzle was barely audible from inside the
noisy hospital. Not even the fact that I was on the second floor of
the building stopped me.