“Hello…”
I could hear someone’s voice close to where I was and I also a felt fresh breeze of air and a shimmer of light on my eyelids.
“Hello, would you open your god damn eyes already?”
So I did and what I saw was somewhat surprising - a familiar face looking at me from my right hand side surrounded by a halo of light. Even his voice was familiar. As my vision progressively cleared I could make out it was Mr Grogan leaning towards me in my bedroom.
“There you go little fellow! I told you he’d be fine”
It was Mr Grogan speaking, but to whom? Just a few steps back from where he was standing, a man in a white coat stood up and headed to my side.
“How are you feeling,” he asked me.
That very instant I started feeling a pain in my head and also the same suffocating feeling I had felt, well, in my coffin. I pulled my hand out from beneath a pile of heavy blankets that had been layered on top of me and felt for my head. Well it was there all right, but it hurt like hell and as I also discovered – covered in bandaging.
“What happened?”
“Ha-ha…Well I asked the very same question right when I had returned from Ferns, being greeted by two hysterical maids. But I think that Loretta can tell… or maybe not. She didn’t handle it that well.”
I was puzzled enough to mix up everything at that point. Had I done something to Loretta or not, had I been in a coffin? I had no idea, whatsoever. I started saying something, but My Grogan continued abruptly.
“She told me you were looking sick in the morning and while she was cleaning your room you decided it’d be best to fall over and assault some furniture with your head.”
Well, wasn’t he the funny one today? I noticed he was pointing towards a wooden spike in the corner of my bed where a figurine had been standing before. Just Like the one that was still present in the other corner.
“Don’t worry, I know an excellent craftsman who can take care of that.”
So maybe I hadn’t done anything to Loretta after all. Cornelius was quite chatty and didn’t seem at all concerned. But then the doctor spoke.
“You know, you have lost much blood. It is best you lay down and try not to move your head to much.”
His voice sounded spiteful to me, yet his face was completely emotionless. At least he was old - grey hair - I couldn’t really trust too young of a doctor usually.
“I also think we should remove some of these blankets. They said you were shivering but that is ridiculous overcompensation. I guess that is why you started screaming in the first place.”
“Yes,” was the only thing I managed to tell him and they proceeded to lift some of that weight away. As far as my reasoning was concerned, I had done everything I remembered doing and, after losing consciousness, I had dreamed of being buried while I was in my bed in reality.
“Alright,” said the doctor in his spiteful voice, “now get some rest.”
He and Cornelius then left the room and I was finally alone. I let my eyes wander the room while my mind started chewing through what I had heard. I looked at the balcony and noticed the sky was red of colour - the sun was setting. That means I had missed not more than half a day.
I closed my eyes and when I opened them again it was dark outside. Loretta had just entered the room with a silver waiter and a candle. I looked at her in an ambiguous manner as she stepped lightly towards my bedside and placed the waiter on the table.
“How are you feeling now?”
I noticed she didn’t follow it up with a “, Mr” that time. That rolling r sound was still there, however. Loretta was looking genuinely concerned of me and I managed to reply.
“I’ve been better.”
The back of my head was still hurting but it had been much worse before. My throat was dried up and my back hurt as well from all that lying.
“Do you want something to drink?”
She knows everything, does she not? I tried to nod but discovered it would be much less painful to say “Yes.”
She managed to pour water into my mouth slowly and I didn’t have to move as much as a muscle - I felt better instantly. Loretta put down the glass and kept on looking at me. I kept on looking back yet couldn’t help but start blinking furiously. That dim candlelight wasn’t helping matters.
Loretta’s hair was undone - I didn’t notice it before but, there she was, sitting on my bed in a light dress, with her hair flowing down from her shoulders, glistening in the candlelight.
She was beautiful…
To be continued…
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