|
When I wake up, my owner is sitting in a chair in the corner
of the hospital room. She is a reading a book while sipping a mug of some sort
of hot drink.
"Hi, Riona," she pipes, a smile stretching across
her face.
She drops the book onto the white tiled floor,
and sets her mug onto a side table. She then walks over to me, and gives me
a gentle hug.
"How was your sleep?" she asks.
"Okay," I reply.
"Good." She kisses my cheek, and then simply
stares at me. "Now, somebody wants to see you."
She stares towards the hospital room door, and
so do I. It opens, and in comes a Rainbow Aisha. It is Annalyssa.
"Oh Riona!" she yells bolting over to the bed.
"I thought you'd never be found!"
My mind flashes back to the robberies, and then
to leaving her in Mariella's cave. I want to ask her about what happened to
her after that, but not with my owner in the room. I will have to wait until
we are alone.
"I'm happy to see you, too," I simply say, and
then I smile.
She then notices the Darigan Kougra necklace,
and touches the charm. "Is this the necklace you were found in?" she questions.
"Yes," I nod.
"Where'd you get it?"
"I-I don't remember. I mean, I barely remember
anything at all from the last six months."
"Really?"
I nod again, and Annalyssa sighs. "The last
six months have been horrible, and I just hoped that you'd remember them… to
clear up some things."
"Clear up what?"
Annalyssa digs into a purse she has draped over
one shoulder, and soon withdraws a small bottle. It is full of a green liquid.
She sets it on the nightstand next to my bed.
"This is venom, which you can only get from
the bite of a wild Wadjet. When they found me in a strange cave, I had this
injected in my body. I had venom in my body, Riona."
I think of Mariella, and how she had injected
Annalyssa with some sort of shot. But I cannot recall what color the injection
had been. It could've been green, but it also could've been blue.
"I don't know," I simply say. "I don't know
why you had that in you're body."
"Are you sure?"
I nod slowly, although I do not know if I am
truly sure. "Can I hold the bottle?" I ask.
"O-okay. Take it."
I grab the bottle from the nightstand, and start
running my fingers over the glass. It is smeared with the venom, and slightly
chipped on one side. There is a cork on the top.
I do not know why, but suddenly, I pop the cork
out. The venom spills all over the bed sheets, and Annalyssa yelps.
"What are you doing, Riona?" she asks.
"I-I don't know," I stutter. My body is trembling,
and I touch the spilt substance. It is sticky, and has a horrid stench.
"Stop it!" Annalyssa orders.
I do not stop.
"Blimey! You've gone mad!"
My Aisha friend runs out of the room, and she
makes sure to slam to door extra hard behind her.
My owner is panicking. She pulls the sheets
off, so I am in a bare bed. "Darling, are you okay?" Her voice is edgy.
"I-I don't know." Tears are spilling down my
face now, and I am sweating intently. My head spins, and I feel hot.
I suck in one deep breath of air, and then black
out.
****************************
The room is dark when I awake. The curtains are closed, and so is the door.
The only light in the whole place is from the digital clock next to my bed,
which blinks the numbers 8-4-9 in bright red letters.
My head is throbbing, my stomach is churning,
and the rest of my body feels awful, too.
But I am tired of staying in bed, so I slowly
stumble to my feet and weakly walk out of the room.
The corridor outside is brightly lit, and a
large amount of owners and Neopets are walking through it.
An Elephante nurse stops in her tracks when
she sees me standing a few inches from the open door.
"Did the doctor give you permission to come
outside?" she asks.
"No," I reply.
She sighs, and points back inside the hospital
room. "Go back in there and stay in there until he does, okay?" She says this
in a question form, but I know it is an order.
I slowly walk back into the room. "Bye," I say."
"Bye," she responds. Then, she mutters under
her breath, "Kids these days."
She walks away.
I do not want to stay in the room, and after
10 minutes of sitting on my bed doing nothing, I stand up and walk towards the
door again. I turn the knob, and peer outside.
The corridor is still brimming with energy,
and I wonder if I can sneak out with out anybody noticing. I think that maybe
I can, and with no further thoughts, I start to walk casually away from the
hospital room.
Nobody gives me more than one glance at first,
but soon, a Blue Acara stops me. "You're Riona, aren't you!?" she asks. Her
voice is filled with excitement.
"Yes," I reply.
"Oooh! You've been famous lately, didya know
that??" she continues on before I can answer. "Can you give me an autograph…
just to show my friends and all."
"I guess…"
She squeals, and thrusts a piece of lined paper
and a pen into my paws. I sign my name in squiggly writing, and then with a
smile stretched across her face, the Acara scampers off.
I continue down the hallways.
I only manage to walk a few more feet when a
doctor stops me. He is a big Electric Eyrie, and has a clipboard in his paws.
"Where are you going?" he asks in a demanding
demeanor. "I do not believe that I have given you authorization to venture out
of your room, Riona."
"I-I got bored of being stuffed up in there,"
I stammer.
"Well, it isn't safe for you to be out. You
are not stable, my dear."
"Stable on what?"
"Stable overall. You fainted a few hours back,
and you're not in the best general shape. But that very well could be the consequence
of being out in who-knows-where for six months."
"Oh." I look down at the dirty white floor,
knowing that he will soon escort me back to the room.
"But I suppose that maybe it would be best for
you to be somewhere more well, homely. Perhaps I'll put you in a room with other
Neopets, or maybe if your family is willing, you can heal at home."
I perk up. "Really?"
He sighs, but then nods. "It might be overall
better, but of course, your owner has to agree to any of it before I even think
of sending you home or a more populated area. For now though -"
"Doctor Yaree, we need you in Room 130." A young
Kau nurse taps him on the shoulder as she swiftly walks by.
"Okay, so now go back to your room and stay
there 'till one of the hospital staff tell you that you may leave. I have to
go now." He literally runs after the nurse.
I am left alone.
I really want to obey the doctor, but there's this little feeling bubbling
up deep inside of me that says that I should ignore his request. And I do.
I continue down the corridor, and soon I reach
a swinging door. I push it open, and am now in a waiting room.
My heart sinks when I see my owner sitting on
a folding chair in the corner. She is flipping through a magazine about new
happenings in Neopia. I do not know if I can sneak by her, and before I can
decide, she looks up and surveys the room. She sees me.
"Riona?" she asks, raising her eyebrow. "What
are you doing, darling?" "I-I do not know what you are talking about. I am not
Riona. I'm R-Rishana." I try to talk in a voice that is not my own.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I-I just have a Gelert who looks
like you and she even has the same necklace and…" She stops in mid-sentence,
and when she starts again, her voice in angry. "Riona, do you think I'm really
that dumb!?"
"I told you, I have no clue what you're talking
about." I know it is pointless to continue on, but I still do anyway.
"Riona!" She leaps to her feet, storms over
to me, and grabs my front left paw. I think she does not remember that there
are other people in the room, because she hollers, "Something about you has
changed in the last six months! You were playing with venom, have some bizarre
necklace and now you're lying to me! What happened, Riona!? What aren't you
telling me?"
Her eyes swell up with tears, and she bolts
from the waiting room.
The only thing that is left to remind me of
her is the glass door, which is swinging intently.
The room is silent for a moment, but then a
teenage girl with long brown hair stands up. "What in the name of Neopia was
that?" she asks nobody in particular.
Murmurs of different responses come from across
the room, and everybody then stares at me. I know they want me to answer, but
I do not know the answer myself.
After a few more moments of silent, Dr. Yaree
enters the room.
"Riona," he says, "I thought I told you to go
back to your room. Did you disobey me?"
I turn around to look at him. "Yes," I whisper.
"Why did you, Riona?"
"I don't know."
"Where's your owner?"
"She left."
Dr. Yaree heaves a sigh. "This is a first-class
mess. You're missing for six months, and then you wake up with no recollection
of what happens. And now your owner just leaves."
I do not know what to say in a reply, so I simply
stare guiltily at the floor. My heart is pounding wildly, and my forehead sweats.
"What are we going to do with you, Riona?" Dr.
Yaree asks.
"I don't know," I gulp.
"For now, just come back with me. Okay?" He
slowly heads back into the hospital corridor. I follow.
***************************
Dr. Yaree leads me halfway through the corridor, and then stops at a closed
door. He pushes it open and steps inside.
"Come," he orders.
For once, I actually obey, and I step into the
area as well. As soon as I'm in, the Eyrie closes the door.
To be continued...
A/N: Thanks for reading this part, too! Thanks for anybody who gave me
positive feedback!
| 
