"Hilda! Hilda! What's wrong with you? Why are your clothes torn?" Screamed Henry, running to her.
"Mom, she's hot. Let's reduce her temperature." Henry added.
He ran to get a wet towel and placed it on her forehead.
A few moments later, Hilda starts shaking violently and muttering something no one could understand.
They were all scared.
"Let's take her to the hospital," said Nathan, rushing to get the car keys.
He carries Hilda and puts her in the car. He soon arrives at the hospital, Grimville hospital. He's about to pull over when his wife cut in;
"Why are we here? No one goes there anymore" said Mrs. Jameson, confused.
"I know. There's something I need to find out." Mr. Jameson replied.
"I don't understand a thing you're saying. Let's get Hilda to a proper hospital, no one goes there anymore. Can't you remember what happened here?" said Samantha, trying to figure out what the hell is going on.
"I won't let you endanger this girl's life because you just want to find something." Said Samantha, shrugging in disgust.
"Can't you see she's not ordinary! There's something about her and I need to find out." Nathan yelled.
While they were arguing, Hilda regains consciousness and starts screaming, so loud that it could cause her windpipe to burst. They both fled from the car and fell to the ground. The noise was so loud and piercing that they almost bled from their ears.
It's almost like she expended all her energy crying and then she fainted.
Samantha is scared to her bone marrow and couldn't move from where she was.
Nathan runs to the car, lifts her, and takes her inside the hospital.
"Hello! Hello! Is anyone there?" shouted Nathan as he made his way inside the building.
The whole place is quiet and empty, the light is dimly lit and the wall is stained with blood.
Nathan goes from one room to the other, looking for anyone that could attend to him.
Hilda opens her eyes but is still unconscious. She starts shaking again, her eyes turning red, her body becoming so cold than Nathan dropped her on a bed in a room and went to look for someone.
Nathan finally finds a man he perceives to be a doctor. He's dressed in a scrub with bloodstains all over his hands like he just finished surgery. He washes his hands before attending to Nathan.
Nathan brings him to the room where he kept Hilda. She wasn't getting any better. She was still unconscious but in tears.
"Oh my God! You have to get her out of here." Said the doctor, terrified.
"What do you mean?" said Nathan.
"She can't be here at this time. You both need to leave" said the doctor, walking out.
Mr. Jameson ran after him, trying to stop him from leaving.
"At least, tell me what she is. I know she's not human." Said, Nathan.
"Exactly. She's a complicated creature. I wonder why she hasn't turned yet." Said the doctor
"What do you think she is? I can't settle for complicated." Said, Nathan.
"She's a banshee for sure, I heard her wails earlier. But that's not all she is.
"How are you connected to her?" Asked the doctor.
Nathan ignores the question.
"Okay okay. I'll come back later for answers. Just make her recover, she's in a pretty bad shape." Said Nathan.
The doctor goes to the room and gives her a sedative and her body relaxes, her temperature goes back to normal.
"She'll be fine when she wakes up." Said the doctor.
Nathan carries her out of the hospital and into the car. Samantha was seated in the car, trying to process what her husband said.
"Is she not ordinary? What could she be then? Why did my husband keep this from me all this while." Samantha said to herself.
"What have you done?!" said the furious voice of a person lurking in the dark.
"I.. I just told him a fraction, it's not the whole truth." Said the doctor.
" You just endangered my daughter's life. What do you hope to achieve from this? You know how humans are, they ask a lot of questions and can never stick to their own business.
", This is Grimville, after all where everyone is welcome to stay. I don't care how you do this, just fix it." Said the voice.
The doctor couldn't see his face but was quite aware of who he was speaking with. He had an intimidating aura and a dominant voice.
He couldn't afford to cross the owner of the voice and so fled before Nathan would come back, seeking answers.
They arrived home, Nathan keeps Hilda in her room to recover like the doctor said she would and locked her in the room.
"She'll be fine. The doctor said she needs to rest," said Mr. Jameson to Henry and Riley who kept asking how Hilda's feeling.
"But dad, why did you lock her in the room?" asked Henry.
"I do not want her to be disturbed." Nathan answered, leaving to his room.
Nathan gets to his room and sees his wife pacing back and forth, visibly worried and the moment she noticed his presence in the room, she starts querying him.
"What did the doctor say? What do you mean she's not ordinary? What are you hiding from me?" Samantha bombarded him with these questions
"Take a deep breath, my love. I'll tell you everything when the time is right. For now, we need to wait for Hilda to wake up." Said, Mr. Nathan.
"I won't take that! You brought a stranger into our home saying that you found her in the woods, we took her in and I accepted her. I even treat her like my child. At least, I deserve an explanation of what's going on." Yelled Samantha almost moved to tears.
"Okay, I'll tell you. I hope you don't freak out." Said, Nathan.
Hilda wakes up, utterly rid of her strength. She tries to get up but falls back on the bed.
She starts recalling what happened.
In her sleep, she saw a man in the same cage that the others were in her previous dream. He begs for forgiveness and asks to be set free.
She had no idea what he needed forgiveness for. She goes to the cage, unbolts it, and leaves the cage but the man couldn't leave with her.
They were both confused as to why he couldn't leave.
"Give me your hands, I'll try to pull you out." Said, Hilda.
He tries to but his hands couldn't leave the cage and then she realized it wasn't ordinary.
While she was trying to pull him out by other means, a young lady comes out of nowhere and starts chanting a spell.
Hilda's temperature rose drastically as she was yielding to the spells.
"I'm sorry I had to drag you into this, Hilda. I had no choice." Said the man.
"What do you mean? What have you done?" said Hilda, choking.
"That's not important right now. You can resist it. Try to fight it!" the man said to Hilda.
Hilda tries to block out the magic from getting a hold of her and she starts shaking violently, she felt something sharp slice its a way through her fingers, her eyes turned red, her hair color changed to scarlet and she screamed so loud that it took the lady off balance for a while.
Hilda couldn't recognize herself anymore. She didn't know what was happening to her and had no idea what was going on.
All she knew was that she had to stop this witch from taking control of her soul.
Hilda's strength increased. Feeling charged, she moves towards the witch in rage as though wanting to snap her head off her neck.
"We're not finished yet." Said the witch before disappearing into thin air.
As soon as she leaves, Hilda falls, and her body turns cold. She was unable to move or utter any word. She just kept looking at the man she called her father who just betrayed her.
She soon feels a prick on her skin, calming her nerves and returning her to her default form.
Her father disappears and she finds herself on her bed, sleeping.
She cries in pain and curses herself for being so unfortunate. If her own father would try to kill her, who wouldn't?
"She's a banshee and I think she's in transition. The doctor I met earlier said that there's something more to her identity, I'll find out tomorrow," said Nathan , watching his wife closely
"Good gracious! We have a beast in our house!!" Gasped Samantha consumed by fear.
"But she doesn't look it. Look at her hair.. I didn't see any mark. Not even a scar." Said Samantha.
"I need you to calm down. We know Hilda, she's not gonna hurt us. She's going through psychological distress and needs us more than ever."Nathan said.
"When did you grow so soft? Have you forgotten that you used to be a monster hunter?" queried Samantha.
"I can't have a beast near my children. She has to leave!" she added.
Nathan understands how she feels but he doesn't think it's right to send Hilda away. She doesn't have a family to go to or anyone to talk to. They are all she has.
Hilda gets up from the bed, she's starving and craving Samantha's bread and cheese, which was the first proper meal she had when she woke up in the house.
She goes to have her bath and changes into fresh clothes. She heads to the door, attempting to leave, and realizes that it's locked.