The couple is sitting on my bed. One of them on each side, and they are staring at me. Like prison guards. Damn. Tyler Moore was prescient. I really wanted to escape from the hospital, but I couldn't make it. Not that I didn't want to, but unfortunately I am weak, like the flies in autumn. Simply having a shower exhausted me. Despite all the help, Erica gave me. My muscles are trembling from exertion. I am also trembling inside. This is the worse feeling, but familiar. But now I can't be sick! It's just a scar, it shouldn't stop me from hiding!"
"How are you?" Andrew asks.
I don't really like him, because of his name, but he is very friendly after all.
"Confused."
Silence. None of us speaking. This silence is not comfortable. I feel, that they are waiting for me to do or say something, but I have no idea, what.
"As I see, you will fit in perfectly with the mountain people." Erica smiles to me. "You're just such a magpie, like them."
"I am sorry."
"Why are you feeling confused?" The doc asks.
"Something is shaking me." Now I recognized the side effects of the medicine, that dad gave me in the summer.
"Aren't you the one who is shaking?" smiles Erica.
"I don't know."
Andrew watch me thoroughly.
"You had a nervous breakdown." He told me finally.
"Again?" I ask, and the woman on my bed looks surprised.
"Again." He nods. I am surprised, that he knows. "I had a talk with your previous doctor."
"Which one?" I suddenly sit up in the bed, and I feel, I am ready to run. This quick movement frightens them a bit. Both of them reach out to me in an instant.
"Pascal Hillard." He answers, and push me back to the bed.
Easily. So easily, that makes me wonder, if I am drugged, with stronger medicine, than previously.
"There is a bag of tea from yellow flowers in my sportsbag." I start to explain. "I think, I need that."
"Not now." Andrew shakes his head. "You are full of medicines. Your need some time to get out them from your body."
"Dad...Dr. Hillard said, that the tea will help me to discard the medicines, I got in the summer. I don't want to take those pills again!"
"Sorry, but that tea is forbidden to mix with the medicines you got in the last two days."
"Understood." I say, and shaking further. I close my eyes, but the feeling is almost unbearable. I don't want to be shaken! "I feel sick..." My stomach is turning, and I want to get out of bed…
I am not successful, but fortunately the other two' reflexes are perfect: Andrew hold the hospital gown to my mouth, and Erica is helping me to sit, while vomiting. I got another gown, and a doctor is examining me. I tell him about the shaking, and he gives me a shot.
"Don't worry, it is just the after effect of the anesthesia of the surgery." Andrew consoles me.
"Yeah." I say, and noticing, that the shaking is suppressed by the chemicals. "Thanks. For the shot too."
"It is just a weak tranquilizer. What are you so scared of?" He asks.
Both of them is worrying, I see on them. But I am unable to answer. The reason is so shameful.
"How much did Tyler say about me?"
"He doesn't know almost anything about you either." Erica answers. "He said so much about you, that you ran away from home because you want to be an MMA fighter."
"I suppose your parents aren't happy with your decision." says Andrew.
"You underestimate their anger very much."
"Couldn't you be the one, who rather overestimate it? Parents usually love their children, so they don't want to make them any harm. They are just fear for you!"
"They are just fear for their money, and social status, not me. They look at me like a convenient tool to reach their goals, nothing much. They easily could force me to do what they say. That's why I had to run away from them."
The couple is looking at each other. I see, that the wheels in their brains are moving rapidly.
"Are you sure, that this is the right decision?" Andrew asks.
"Yes. I have to hide from them. They are dangerous."
"Come on! What could they do? At most, they won't talk to you for a while. The first grandchild will turn them to better insight."
"What could they do? Hey, what can't they do? They are rich. Beyond rich, so they could do anything. Using private detective or an official one. There are drugs, which making you to obey them, but inside you feel everything, just you can't go against their orders. They could make you a human rag doll. Death is better than that, don't you understand?"
"Well, you are right." Erica says.
"That's why it is dangerous for me to be in hospital."
"Tyler asked the doctors, so you can come home in Friday." Andrew tries to reassure me.
"That's two more days!"
"Only one." Andrew is smiling on me. "It is Thursday. You overslept the full Wednesday."
"Overslept?"
"Not by yourself, because of the effects of medicines. So far, no one has inquired about you at the hospital. You are in a safe place now. Could you relax a bit? Your recovery will slow down, if you are worrying too much."
"Moreover we are here." Erica smiles to me too. "Look at us as your bodyguards. No one can force you to leave this hospital against your wish."
"Don't look at us with teary eyes! A thank you would be enough." Andrew grunts out.
"Thank you!" I say, and try to sound not so touched.
"Now, that's settled." Erica nods satisfied. "How much did Tyler tell you about us?"
"Basically nothing. He said, that there would be no meaning, I would see by myself. Only things didn't turn out the way we expected."
"Then it's time to get to know each other!" Erica says cheerfully. "We are a team of martial arts teachers."
"All of you?"
"All of us. On various fields. We also have other qualifications, but we are managing martial arts training camps during weekends and holidays for children and adults."
"Also MMA?" I ask, with high hopes.
"Sorry, but we don't." Andrew says. " There is no such a camp. But you could learn everything from us, to be successful in MMA."
"The camps are over in about two months..."
"Why?" I cut into Erica's words. I am frustrated.
"Because the night frosts come and the snow falls. In winter, we are sometimes locked in the house for days. We can't move either in or out. It is not practical to hold camps during wintertime. It is perfect for skiing… Why are you cry again?"
"I am not crying!"
"… and that's sweat, which is flowing on your face. Come on! Who do you want to fool? So tell us!… Spit it! Now!" She orders.
"I can't learn anything in mere two weeks." I cry, and let the tears flow free. The couple is looking at each other again.
"What do you mean on two weeks?"Erica asks.
I stutter them the agreement between Tyler and me.
"We don't go anywhere. Te Anchorage is also our home. So you could learn after your recovery."
"Moreover your training will start with physiotherapy anyway."
"Is it necessary because of the operation?" I ask, and suck on my nose. Erica push a handkerchief to my hand, and waits for me to finish blowing.
"It is necessary for your spine." To my puzzled look she asks. "Didn't you know?"
I shake my head.
"Nobody told me ever, that I have a problem with my spine."
"You have a scoliosis."
"Are you sure in the scoliosis?" Andrew also intervenes in our discussion. Erica nods.
"I saw it, when I helped her to take a shower. And what's happened with your left hand?"
"It was broken. I wore plaster during the holiday."
"Has it been healed properly? Andrew switches to doctor mode, and examines my arm.
"I suppose. It was plastered for six weeks, so it could."
"But when the plaster was taken down, your arm was seen by a doctor, wasn't it?"
Silence. I don't know, whether Dad examined my arm, after taking the plaster off, and I don't really want to call him, to ask.
"It could be said, that it was seen..."
"How did you take the plaster off?" He asks suspiciously.
"In my father's garage, with a flex."
Andrew suddenly sits down, and staring at me, like he would questioning my sanity. So does Erica.
"Okay, I ask for an X-ray picture from your spine and from your left arm too."
I don't protest, but my belly in turn protests against being empty. It is grumbling so much that I think they heard it two rooms away.
"And I bring you something to eat. What would you like?"
"It is up to me. I eat almost everything. I don't really like chili."
"You can't eat it now anyway. Do you like gummy bears?"
I nod.
"You are a crazy one, do you know?" asks Erica cheerfully, when Andrew has already left the room. "I really like you!"