An Awakening

Emma~

Beeping. What is with all of this beeping?

How is anyone meant to get any sleep around here with this insistent beeping filling the silence? The perfect silence, perfect for sleeping. Oh, I wish I was sleeping. Sleep is good, and whatever this is, it isn’t nice.

It hurts. It hurts all over, and I can’t pinpoint where the pain starts and where it ends. What’s happened to me?

Finding the parts I need to open my eyes, I cringe at the bright lights staring down at me and wish whoever invented them is rotting in hell right now. Who thought that those lights would ever be a good idea?

Darkness is what I need right now, and I wonder if I said that part out loud because it’s what I get. The horrifying light is gone, and the soothing darkness fills the space around me. Yes, this is better.

“Emma.” A velvety voice calls to me, it’s smooth like honey, and I can practically taste it on my tongue. “Emma, can you hear me?” It speaks again, and I sigh. Let it keep speaking, I like it.

The voice laughs at my sigh, it seems strained but familiar, and I wonder who it could be. Memories start filling my mind like grains of sand through a time glass, and it actually hurts to feel them all register at once.

I was in the woods. There was a bright light like the one just now and so much pain. After that, it’s all a bit fuzzy, and I honestly don’t know where I am right now. Has someone found me?

Oh, please let this be a hospital and not where I think I am.

I groan. Is it from pain or disappointment? I couldn’t tell you when remembering where I was heading back to. At least if he’s here and I’m with him, he’ll not be tempted to murder my family for information on my whereabouts. Silver linings and all that.

“Are you in pain, Princess?” The velvet voice sickens me now, it’s his.

Trying once more, I open my eyes to see through the blissful darkness. At least he was nice enough to turn out the light for me, I’ll give him that.

“You found me,” I say, defeated. My jaw is sore when I talk, and I’ve possibly got a tooth missing, but my tone confirms nothing about how I feel.

“I’d find you anywhere, Emma. You’re a fool to run from me.”

Of course, that’s the first thing he has to bring up. Never mind the fact that I was on the way back anyway.

“What happened?” I need to know how I got here and what happened with all that light.

Orion takes a deep breath before shifting in place. He’s uncomfortable, and that makes the two of us, only mine stems from all of the injuries and his cause is currently unknown.

“I followed your trail, nice plan by the way... and then I saw you. I got there just in time and managed to get some help before you—before you were gone.” His voice actually cracks at the last bit, and I look at him with curiosity.

I didn’t expect him to be so worked up about my near-death experience. I mean, I met the man yesterday, or whenever it was depending on how long I’ve been asleep.

The only time we’ve ever gotten close to bonding was when I forced it out of him in order to get something, and surely it would take more than that to care for someone? Yes, we’re technically engaged, but that only goes so far.

“Are you... okay?” I ask because, well, it seems like the right thing to say, and apparently he saved my life. I could afford him some pleasantries with that in mind. I suppose, I’m not completely unreasonable.

He laughs. “You almost die from trying to run away from me, wake up in pain, and ask me if I’m okay?” I mean, when he puts it like that, I probably could have said something else.

I pause, trying to consider what that something else might be, but in all honesty, my head hurts, and I can’t find anything. “I’ll do better tomorrow.”

I close my eyes again, signaling my need to sleep, but he’s never been very good at reading my signs. Instead, I feel his hands go under my back and knees, making me inhale sharply from the pain somewhere near my neck and shoulder, and he curses under his breath.

All of this was to move me what feels like a few inches to the left, and I want to complain as the sheets here are all cold. But before I can speak, I feel the bed dip and him crawling in beside me.

No. No, no, no. I might owe him a few niceties for saving me, but not this again, not right now.

“But I don’t like you.” I lack the tact to put it any differently and am very likely on a range of drugs right now, but he laughs. Good thing too, as it’s not what you’re meant to say to someone who just saved your life, no matter how true it may be.

“Thank fuck, I thought you had brain damage for a second there.” He wraps an arm around my waist and pulls me closer to him.

Is it just me, or do his words not match his actions here?

“What are you doing?” I mumble against his chest, thankful to be resting on my good side. The other is throbbing with the pain of being lifted but fading faster when compared with what it was like before.

“Some say another person’s touch can be healing. Let me try and take away the pain, then I’ll give you some space?” He actually asks me that, which I find strange, but rather than reply, I only nod and let myself drift off to sleep.