Olivia was numb from keep herself a float in the lake. After she fell backwards she swam under the dock, she grabbed onto a post and waited. She wasn't sure how long she was in the water for but one thing was for certain her body was becoming weak. Once she thought it was safe to come out, she made her way to the shore line. With great difficulty she pulled herself out of the water, turned over and laid on her back, trying to catch her breath as she gazed up to the sky.
She figured she lost quite a bit of blood but hoped that the cold water would have slowed down her heart rate and significantly decrease blood loss. She sat up and slowly pulled her blazer's lapel up to look at her wound. A rubber bullet was lodged into her breast and acted like a plug, minimizing the blood that was escaping from the wound. "F*cking rubber bullet almost killed me!" she said to herself as she gingerly touched the area.
She was glad that she caught on to Edmond's act and played along at the very end but now she was alone. She tried to get up but stumbled a few times before she could find her balance and started moving forward.
She dragged her numbing body along the lake and headed into the woods. She refused to let her body rest even for a second as it would seem fatal. It took the rest of the night but she was finally able to see the main road. By day break her vision was starting to blur more but she urged her self to keep up her pace. With every wobbling step she took she huffed heavily trying to catch her wheezing breath.
Once she made it onto the main road she tried her hardest to focus and look along the horizon to catch a glimpse of a car. The sun was rising higher into the sky and there was still no sight of anyone driving along the road. As she was about o give up all hope, a produce truck was making it's way towards her. She waved her one arm frantically as the other held her good leg. She watched the truck come to a sudden halt beside her.
She looked at the driver an older male and watched his face turn pale from complete horror. She couldn't hold her head up anymore and dropped her gaze. She could hear a door slam and some muffled words but she couldn't make sense of anything anymore. With the last bit of energy she had left she whispered "Help." and watch a pair of hands appear before her as she blacked out.
.....
The smell of disinfectant assaulted her nose as she started to stir from her slumber. She rubbed her eyes and winced from pain. "Hey, hey, hey now young lady you need to take things slowly." an older male voice soothingly said to her.
"Where am I" she groaned as she tried to sit up. "In my clinic. Here little one let me help you sit up since it looks like you won't listen to me." the male voice said. Olivia was now sitting up right but her vision was still badly blurred. "I can't see very well." she told the male voice.
She felt a soft, leathery hand on her chin "Open your eyes wide honey and follow the light." the male voice said and Olivia opened her eyes. She could see the light shinning in and she slowly followed the light in every direction it went.
The male voice sighed "It looks like you lost your vision is due to massive blood loss but don't worry it will come back with time." Olivia sighed with relief, she felt a hand lay on top of hers and felt great warmth from the touch. "Little one do you want to tell me what happened... there was a bullet stuck in your chest and it took a great deal of effort to try and keep you from taking a trip across the River of Styx." he said softly.
Olivia scrunched up her face, then shook her head no "I don't... I... I am not sure what happened." she said remorsefully. A hand gent;y tapped hers before it was pulled away. "Ok little one. I think for now I will ask you to sleep." he gently told her as he helped her lay back down.
"Who are you?" she asked with a yawn. "I am Dr. Bernard and my wife is Clementina, she will also be looking after you." he said soothingly as he gently brushed the hair from her face. "Mmmh Ber... Bernard and Clem... Clementina... thank you." she mumbled before she fell asleep.
....
Olivia was finally out of the clinic's cot and stretching her body under the warm sun. She was happy her vision came back but upset that she slept for 4 days straight. "I swear I turn my back for a second are you go off and do this!" a surly old lady said as she marched her way towards Olivia.
Olivia instantly froze in the middle of her stretching and slightly turned her head. She caught the old lady in her sight and quickly dropped her arms and turned her body to face her. She gave her the biggest grin she could muster "Clementina! Fancy seeing you here!" she awkwardly greeted back.
"Fancy my foot!" Clementina spat at her and she waved a slightly wrinkled finger in her face. "Young lady you have only been awake for a measly 24 hours and you think you can get up and run around like a monkey in a mountain!" she started yelling.
Olivia shut one eye and turned her head slightly to avoid some of the shouting. "But Clementina I feel great! I think your cooking has brought back so much of my life!" she happily said back as she peeked at the old woman's face. Noticing that her words had some affect on her as her checks were now glowing a beautiful shade of pink and she wasn't as angry looking as she was before.
"Come back inside this instant! Honestly, how can the youth of today not properly recuperate after such an accident! You don't even know who you are or what happened but you know how to escape like an agile cat!" she kept shouting as she grabbed Olivia's hand and dragged her back into the clinic.
Olivia just awkwardly laughed as she let Clementina take her back to the cot. Dr. Bernard walked in as his wife was just tucking her back into the cot. He looked at his wife's angry face and figured out what happened instantly and started to laugh. "Little one I swear you remind me of a boy I once knew." he said happily.
Clementina turned to her husband and gave him a dirty look "Bernard you must be going blind with your old age! How could this young lady make you think of a boy!" she yelled at him. "Clementina, I'm not that old! I'm 71 years young! Besides look at how healthy she has gotten in a day! She has the vitality of a warrior, so how could I not see her as 'him'?" he asked innocently.
Clementina hissed and spat onto the ground. "Don't you dare think of 'him'!" she yelled and stormed out of the room with her chest puffed up. Dr. Bernard shook his head "Little one don't mind my wife. She will go blow off some steam and probably bring back a tasty treat for you." he said with a big smile. Olivia looked at him strangely, so he coughed and continued "She bakes when she stressed, angry, upset and sad."
Olivia giggled and looked up at the doctor "So she bakes a lot?" Bernard looked at her with twinkling eyes and stood proudly before her. "Of course! How do you think I got my perfect girlish figure!" he said teasingly. Olivia eyes went wide and she couldn't help but laugh hysterically.
As she started to wipe her tears away, Bernard looked at her pitifully "Little one do you really not remember your own name?" Olivia froze and gulped, she looked at Bernard with a great amount of fear, not knowing what to say. Bernard sighed as he looked at her "You will tell us one day... won't you?" he whispered softly to her as he patted her hand.
Olivia's body began to trembled. She didn't want them to know her name or what happened to her that night. Bernard took a small step back, took his round framed glasses off and started to clean them. "Your wounds showed you were attacked. It's unclear if they had the intention to kill you or not but you are welcome to stay with us as long as you like but I will need to call you something my dear." he said nonchalantly as he placed the glasses back on his face.
Olivia stopped trembling and contemplated his words. She looked at him with unsure eyes "I like little one... can I really stay?" Bernard laughed and extended his hand out. "Little one is not a real name and of course! But I think we should move you upstairs into the spare bedroom." he said happily as Olivia placed her hand into his.
"You know Clementina has already prepared it. She wanted to adopt you the moment you opened your eyes." he whispered to her as he lead her out the room.