Corollary

Aftermath - 2

A metronomic ticking chased after him. He tried to relax but he was dragged down even deeper. His mouth felt dry. He tried to say something, anything. The air inside him cut with sharp overtones. He was dreaming again.

“Oh, hello there, are you awake? how are you feeling?”

A man’s voice. Why was there someone speaking?  He frowned.  His dreams were usually of heavy silence mediated by the tick, tick, tick.

Luc opened his eyes to see a round, brown face, capped with black curly hair, smiling down at him.

“There you are, how are you feeling? Any pain? Hmm?”

Luc scanned the person hovering over him. Scrubs! A nurse! His eyes darted round. He was in a small room. A hospital? His attention returned to the nurse.

“Any pain Mr Austen? Any aches?”

Luc slowly shook his head.

“Hmm, that’s good. Mind if I quickly ask about the wristband you have on. It’s one of ours, usually for our terminally ill patients. Was this for a family member?” the nurse asked gently, a cautious look on his face.

Luc tried to lift the hand with the wristband. He couldn’t but he grunted in reply. It seemed to satisfy the nurse. He shut his eyes. His mind was a maelstrom of thoughts. What had happened to him? Had he been attacked? How had he ended up in a hospital? The worst of it was he couldn’t remember any of it?

“How long,” he croaked out.

“How long have you been here, Mr Austen? Just over a couple of nights now.”

The answer roused him into full wakefulness.

“Is there anyone we can contact on your behalf?”, the nurse asked liltingly.

Luc turned his face away. There was no one coming for him. The hospital was an unneeded unpleasant reminder.

He heard footsteps moving away from him.  He guessed that the nurse thought he’d asked a sensitive question. It was sensitive and painfully pointed.

Once he was sure he was alone in the room, Luc opened his eyes and stared down accusingly at the band on his right hand. The question of why aside, the band had to be the reason he’d been brought to this hospital.  He didn’t need to examine the place to know that he’d been here before. The staff might be different, and he didn’t think he was in the same room, but this was the last place he would have ever chosen to wake up in. Then again, he could have ended up on in a general ward at the Royal Free which was the closest hospital to the flat. Luc shuddered at the thought. A general ward where anyone was free to strike at him. Memories aside, this place at least had the benefit of being secure. It had been one of the reasons he’d chosen it for her in the first place.

He tried to push himself up, but his body wasn’t cooperating. The last thing he remembered was the decision to visit the flat. Had he been jumped on the way there? Where were his clothes. His amulets? He hoped no one had tried removing them. He took a deep breath and then centred himself. Whatever it was, had not permanently injured him, not physically at least. This should not have been possible. No one had laid him out like this. Not since the first time he had challenged his teacher. The person who did this, should have finished the job. He shut his eyes as he imagined what he would do to that person.