CHAPTER ONE
Karen's eyelids felt very heavy to open and all she could do was listen to the voices that were speaking close to her. The voices were that of a female and a male. The voice of the male appealed to her and had this soothing effect it offered her injured body but most importantly, it sounded WORRIED!
She decided to listen to the on going conversation and see if she could get a tip on what was going on.
"She should be awake soon. We just need to exercise patience" the feminine voice spoke.
"It has been solid four days Kate and there is still no sign from her" the soothing masculine voice said.
Karen remembered being so excited to see the sunlight and feel its warmth on her skin after being deprived of it for three whole years. Then, she arrived in a valley and there was no single soul around, till a ferocious looking beast of a car rounded the bend and hit her . It sent her flying some yards away and just before she was sucked into the void of darkness that was closing in on her eyes, she saw a man come out of the car and run towards her. As he crouched by her side, she blanked out.
"Her vitals are stable and she should be…oh, her fingers just twitched" the voice assumed to be 'Kate' said.
Karen felt Kate by her side and immediately her eyes flew open and she widened them challengingly.
"Not one finger on me" she said with emphasis.
"I see you have been awake for a while. I just need to do some basic check ups and you should be good to go. What is…?"
As Dr Kate was yet speaking, Karen jerked up to a sitting position and she felt her head twirl and the room suddenly become brighter. She began to cough and she placed a hand on her chest to calm herself down but the bouts of cough only increased.
"Easy there little one" she heard the soothing voice say by the other side of my bed.
How did he get there?
He handed her an opened bottle of water and she chugged it down greedily.
Some drops of water flowed from the sides of her mouth as she drank the water but she could feel her parched throat receiving life. She sighed in relief and turned to her side as she heard a chuckle.
It was the mystery man!
She turned to face him and his facial appearance was as appealing as his voice.
His black shiny hair was packed to the back of his head in a slick fashion and a strand was out of place and fell over his eye. His eyebrows were dark and thick and the left brow had a clean slash almost at the middle.
Karen's eyes travelled to his piercing and captivating eyes that had her fixed in a spot.
He was looking at her and it was like he wanted to search the depths of her sad soul. Her eyes journeyed to his Roman nose and he tilted his head as if to give her a perfect view of his jaw that sported a Balbo beard. The advantage of the Balbo beard was that it gave him a well trimmed moustache.
She looked from the moustache to his thin lips that were set in a straight line and when a smile grazed his lips, she was released from whatever trance she was in.
"Like what you see little one?" he asked or more of teased and his voice fully brought her out of her reverie.
"Hi, I'm Ralph, Ralph Hernandez. Nice to meet you!" he said and stretched out a hand to her.
She dropped the empty bottle on the sheet that covered her and shook him. Her hand felt so small in his as he shook her firmly.
"Hi, I'm Karen Zayn" she said and withdrew her fingers from his hold as he continued to have her hand in his.
"Karen" he breathed, barely above a whisper and his eyes dimmed.
"Sir, I think I should properly check how she is now" interrupted Dr Kate.
"Alright, I would get going now. I have some things I should handle in the pa…" Ralph began but stopped like he was trying to correct his statement as he gave Dr Kate 'the corner eye'.
"...in the parish. See you later Karen"
"Yeah Ralph" Karen replied and watched as the black coat he had on, swayed behind him before the door was shut and she was left with the Doctor.
The room was now in silence.
"So you are Karen, right?" Dr Kate asked.
With a nod she answered in the affirmative.
"You don't seem to have a concussion and you can remember your name but can you remember what you were doing in Brooks Valley?"
"Brooks Valley? That is where I am? So the tunnel from my pack led to Brooks Valley, the valley between werewolves and humans" thought Karen
"I am in Brooks Valley?" Karen asked.
"Yes you are. That means you don't know how you got here?" Dr Kate asked.
"I remember being hit by a monster size car and my body in the air for about five seconds before slamming the asphalt floor" Karen said trying to rack her brain to ascertain if it was truly through the tunnel that she arrived in Brooks Valley that was about three hundred miles away from Grey Woods Pack, her Pack.
"That would be all for now. In two days, you should be fit to leave the hospital. I would send up the meal Al… I mean Sir Ralph, has prepared for you"
"Sir Ralph prepared a meal for me?" Karen asked in disbelief.
"Yes he did. I'll be on my way now" Dr Kate said.
As Karen was left alone, she took the opportunity to look around where she found herself. She knew this was a hospital as Dr Kate had mentioned earlier but the room looked too luxurious to be in a hospital. For starters, the sheets that covered her were super fluffy, there was a large television on the wall that faced her and the painting on the walls didn't look like some rough paint that could be easily purchased down the street.
There was a mini table by her side that held a telephone, the remote for the television and a white bedside lamp.
She looked to the left of the room and she saw a door, that likely leads to the bathroom.
As if on cue, she felt like taking a leak. She peeled the sheets off her and swung a leg downwards to the cold time. Her other leg joined the other and she straightened up.
She took a step and then another and then another before her knees wobbled beneath her and she dropped to the floor.
Her legs were still weak after all!
"Stupid human body! So freaking weak!" Karen cursed.
She remained that way for a while before she began to use her elbow to crawl and drag herself towards the bathroom as she cursed her cousin, Luke Zeref for being responsible for the situation she was in. With every drag and pull on the cold tile, she began to remember it all.
The killing of her parents, her imprisonment, how he made her lose her wolf, how he is responsible for making her run away from her Pack and making her get hit by a vehicle that led to her being in this detestable situation.
"I swear by the death of my parents that Luke Zeref was going to pay someday" Karen said again as tears gathered at the run of her eyes.
She dragged, crawled and pulled herself till she was close to the bathroom door. She stared at the knob of the door and tried pulling herself up to turn it but the lower part of her body still felt weak and she was in pains.