Kaila Wynter
My head hurts,
I slowly opened my eyes, squinting against the bright moonlit that streamed through the curtains. There were lit lamps everywhere. Ugh, why was it so bright? I rubbed my eyes, trying to shake off the haze of my sleep.
When my vision finally cleared, a groan escaped my throat, my body felt like it had been put through a wringer. I covered my mouth and yawned, but my hands... they didn't feel like mine.
Where am I?
Looking around, the room is large with thick red curtains drawn apart. I struggled to remember where I was, but my mind was a foggy mess. like trying to grasp a handful of sand - the harder I squeezed, the more it slipped away.
Just when I was freaking out, the door creaked open. And a girl entered, her fingers clasped against the edge of a bowl she held.
The moment she noticed me, her eyes widened with shock, like she'd seen a ghost.
"Hey," I croaked, surprised by how broken and hoarse my voice sounds.
She didn't respond. Instead, she dropped the bowl of water which spilled upon landing and fled, leaving me staring at the closed door.
What's wrong with her? And what's wrong with me? I have no idea, neither could I remember anything. I tried to sit up, but a sharp pain shot through my waist, down to my legs. I collapsed back onto the bed, wincing.
I'm not exactly sure whether I have the courage, but I found myself prying the bed cover slowly, straining my eyes just enough to see under it.
My gaze fell to my twisted, limp legs.
"No, no, no," I whispered, my voice croaking out with panic.
The door creaked again and I forced my gaze away from my legs, looking at the door— there was a man, a person from my distant memories.
"You're awake." He first placed his bag on the table then walked up to my side, his hand moving to feel my forehead.
"Where am I?" my voice shook as I asked, looking at the man who sighed.
"Kaila… you don't remember anything?"
"Who are you? What happened to my leg?" I answered his question, yet, with another question, lifting myself with a struggle to finally sit up on the bed, my heart still very much racing with anxiety.
"I'm peter, the pack doctor, and as for what happened to your leg, you'll soon understand everything, the maid who came to get me had went to inform the people I'm sure you'll recognize."
My brows furrowed, "What pack? What do you mean?" I demanded.
"You need to rest, Kaila," he murmured, his gaze flicking to the door. "But they won't let you rest for long. Not after what happened."
"James… Where is James!?"
I suddenly found myself asking of a strange name weakly, which sounded so familiar, bringing along with it an itch— the need to see him increasing just upon the mention of his name.
He sighed, "You'll see him soon, just focus on recovering now."
I couldn't wrap my head over everything, waking up in a strange place with a blank memory of how I got here, with cripple legs, and instead of being concerned about how I got here I was asking about James…
I'm missing something, but I couldn't quite place it.
I was still mulling on my thoughts when the door opened and sets of people came in, however, unlike when the doctor came in, I felt a sense of restlessness— the need to escape, rather. When I saw the tall figure of the female.
"Please… don't hurt me.. please" I shrunk into the bed, my chest thumping loudly, racing like thousands of horses were having a bloody race within me, my chest heaved as my breath started coming in short, ragged gasp…
"Calm down— look at me, Kaila.. calm down. Take a deep breath." The doctor held my shoulders, trying to shake me out.
"A deep breath. Deep breath." I repeated mechanically as my breath started slowing down a little by little.
"How is she?" The woman asked, walking closer.
He turned his head to look at her, then he straightened, bowing in respect, "She's fair Luna Aurora."
"Fair enough to come to the ceremonial hall?"
"Not quite, by the look of things, she might still need to recuperate for two days or more.."
"We don't have the patience, nor the time, get her up, the maids will tend to her, and I will give orders to the men to get her to the ceremonial hall."
"But…"
"No buts, your job is to treat her to regain consciousness and you've done that, I will take over from here."
The man sighed, he looked at me with sympathy which confused me more, "Alright Luna." He said then he went to the table, gathered his things into the bag and walked out.
After he was gone, her eyes turned to me, she squinted, gawking at me as though she would strangle me the next moment, as much as my mind itch for an answer, my instincts were against me asking any from this woman; I wouldn't get any answers, I have the feeling deep down.
Then just as she had came in she walked back to the door, however she didn't go out without yelling at the maids who flinched,
"Why are you still stalling birdbrains? Get to your job and wash her up quickly."
The maids, including the one who had first came in rushed to my side and started cleaning me up,
"Please, can you tell me how I got here?" I asked restlessly.
One with a tangled hair looked at my face for a moment, then she shifted her attention back to squeezing the water out of the towel.
"Who is James? Where is he?"
"Who is that woman?"
"Where are they taking me?"
No matter what I asked they acted as though they were dumb. Finally giving up on asking any questions knowing they wouldn't say anything, I only watched as they stripped me out of my dress, and goodness, what happened to me? I screamed in my head at the sew wounds on my lap, almost everywhere around my body.
"What happened to me… talk, talk to me! Don't just keep quiet, say something!" I asked tugging one of the maids' dress.
However, she said nothing, which did nothing but add to my frustrations. Pinching the bridge of my nose with my free hand,
I Released her, exhaling to calm myself down. I decided to stop asking any of them questions because It hasn't been any helpful so far.
They soon have everything done, and a few moments later, two men entered, wheeling a wooden wheelchair in.
They got me off the bed, placed me on it and wheeled me out of the room. I had no idea where this was going, but I felt it might give me the answer I sought.
It moved for a while, until it got to a large door, the first man rushed past me to open the door, while I was wheeled in by the second one who was pushing the wheelchair.
The door closed behind me with a gentle click, but the moment I looked at the few people in the room, I shuddered inexplicably and I sweated, my gaze lingered on a lady, and my chest thumped at the sight of her.
"Joana…" I gasped, shooting my eyes back to look at one of the guards, grasping his arms. "please take me back… take me out of here.. please."
Their silence was even more deafening than the one in the room, as only the sound that could be heard was the wheelchair.
I wanted to escape, each of their faces was so sickeningly familiar… and there were other disturbing sounds echoing now in my mind.
"Bastard."
"Betrayal."
The wheelchair was pushed to a halt and the men disappeared quickly after that, leaving me to the eyes that were peering at me. What I know right now is that I wanted out of here. As soon as possible.
However, my breathing slowed and my breath hitched when he entered. His strides were quite powerful, he's tall with broad shoulders, sharp jawline, deep black eyes, my heart sank, and I whimpered. "J…James" the name rolled out of my tongue easily with familiarity, as if I was sure he would get me out of here.
James… James… Luna Aurora… Joana… I muttered staring at their faces, I've felt nothing from the rest, but him— Even though I have no recollection of anything, strangely enough I believe he wouldn't give me the same look as them, however-
-I was wrong, he briefly glanced at me as if I was a bun in a sewer, his stare makes my skin crawl, not the look I was expecting; at least from him.
My eyes burned, and something suddenly snapped inside me as every single memory that was forgotten when I had woken up a while ago came rushing back.