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 Posted: Tue Dec 29, 2009 5:21 am
A gun, some monsters that enjoyed ripping things that where human apart, an eventual stabbing.
All of these experiences had been wiped away, though not without leaving residual damage. The flesh right under the mosquito bites that did not deserve to be called 'breasts' and around where her left arm met her shoulder were ringed with discoloration; the scar around the arm had worse coloring, being freshly healed. Both could have used some stitches; however, they seemed to be doing well, healing by themselves.
A stab wound was found around her right shoulder. It could have killed her, but it was off by only a few millimeters.
And now, even though this girl could sense the monstrous beings, the slaves to those that had started whatever happened, she would find that she can no longer handle pistols very well, even the cheapo squirt gun sort. Although she couldn't have lived without the magical intervention of Zodiac power (it had moved her stab wound just so to where being a human was narrowly possible), she would have to wait to figure out some of what happened to her physically.
Today, her olive eyes popped open out of surprise. Esen was on at least a bit of sedative (the stab wound did need stitches, and so did half of her body; the state that she was found in, practically with the stuffing exposed, required a bit of pain-blocking), but she had an ominous feeling hidden somewhere in the back of her head. The feeling faded away quickly, but whatever she first glanced to, it was filled with one heck of a white light. Her body felt numb in parts, but Esen could move; it would feel like she was running in slow motion.
Her right arm moved instinctively to block the light, and a small tug was felt when she got the hand up about a foot away from her face. Something was connected to the back of her hand.
'It's probably just hospital stuff.
...HOSPITAL STUFF?!'
If Esen's eyes were surprised earlier, they were rather shocked now. Sure enough, there was a hard-to-see line connected to her arm; both were in shadow, and were visible contrasted to the white light. But beyond that, it was still a mystery.
"Hello?" a throaty Esen called, pushing herself up as best she could using the other arm, which probably felt heavier than lead itself, what with all the sedative.
Esen couldn't control when she awoke, but her mother, Rica Saylor (technically, Frederica and Esen were both 'Ms. Saylor,' so they preferred being called by their respective names), had left the room a few minutes before, a muscled woman with the same neon-green hair and skin tone. Dressed in a peasant top and leggings, her head was bowed down as she walked towards the direction of the entrance.
Her daughter, now awake, was too surprised in her surroundings to notice what sat in the hard visitor's chair: a pair of glasses, black with miniature green rhinestones, and a note written on a blue notepad advertising "Smooth Moves Dance Boutique:"
To anyone working with Esen: please call me at this number if you find that she awakens; I have also left her glasses here. I hope this is not too much trouble.
- Ms. Rica Saylor
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Posted: Tue Dec 29, 2009 10:59 am
Third visit. This time, Alessa was allowed to visit a girl, Esen Saylor, if she was even awake; she was warned that it might not be the case, and she assumed her injuries must have been more severe than Remi’s or Azzo’s if she had to be warned about it.
The brunette and a woman who was going out of her room right before she arrived there passed each other(her mother, maybe?); she became uncertain as to whether the patient was even in shape to meet her or not, as she looked like she had gotten bad news, or a lack of news altogether. Her fingers scratched her chin, in a bit of embarrassment. She didn’t want to run after her and ask if the patient was conscious.
What was she supposed to do? Knock and ask all the same? There was a full minute of hesitation before a voice was heard from the inside. “Hello?”
Great, she had an answer. She knocked on the door, and said with a clear voice: “Miss Saylor? I’m Alessa David, and I’m a volunteer. May I come in?”
A second thought. Apologetically, she added: “Err… you don’t have to let me come in if you don't want to.”
Better be safe than sorry.
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Posted: Tue Dec 29, 2009 1:15 pm
Alessa was right: her injuries weren't doing her any favors when dealing with the hospital. However, her mind was intact (unlike some of the other patients that had came here), just not fully coherent. It was a side effect of the sedatives, but she had heard something through all of it:
"...Saylor... David...volunteer...in?"
Esen could find a bit of a different toned rectangle amongst all the white and the gray in the room. Must be where that noise was coming from: behind that rectangle. It was a door, right?
"In?" Her voice was pretty dry, and she could use a bit of water. "Volunteer... I guess you're okay, since you're here on the hospital's behalf?" She couldn't recognize the voice as belonging to mother, and father... he was in town, right? Esen couldn't remember fully, but her father's wasn't a clear voice; he had an accent about him.
Esen was able to sit up a little, but it wasn't a full 'sitting' position. She simply had tried to scoot herself up the incline of the bed.
"Please call me Esen; I know another who could be referred to as Saylor." This David (with a girl's voice? Wonder...) had passed by the 'another' of the two on her way in.
However, the girl who David would meet was thinner and shorter. Her hair was long, but the characteristic style that usually made people notice Esen was not apparent. Of course, there was no rhyme or reason for needing her hair up in a place like this either.
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Posted: Tue Dec 29, 2009 1:47 pm
Whoa whoa whoa. The poor girl didn’t sound that awake after all. But she couldn’t leave her alone now; it was even the worst thing she could probably do. Alessa pushed the door slowly; for some reason, avoiding doing too much noise seemed like a good idea. Even though the door was quite silent. “Alright… so, huh, are you… alright?”
Silliest question ever. She should know by now that if the question needs be asked, the answer can only be NO.
“Do you need something? Do you want me to call a nurse? Water? Anything?” Hearing Esen’s dry voice, she wondered if she had woken up even once prior to her visit. That would massively suck if she were the first person the green-haired girl had spoken to since she was found. Giving her last cookies now seemed like a very bad idea.
Also, she was too preoccupied with Esen’s state to think about looking around the room for… you know… notes. Or stuff.
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Posted: Tue Dec 29, 2009 2:14 pm
It was very wise on David's part not to give her any cookies. Any attempt at Alessa trying to build a rapport would have then been killed in a hit-and-run, considering Esen couldn't really eat a lot even outside of a hospital setting.
Alright? Good question. A smile did not show up, but Esen gave the best nod she could for moving in slow motion. When Alessa came into her field of vision, she could see a brown mass with a bit of puff atop a pale oval with unclear facial features, and a bit of reflection coming the other's face. Hospital lights were, to state the obvious, bright.
Esen's hearing was finally catching up to her thought processes, which at this time, were slow. She could manage having a conversation, however.
"Um... water would be good... and a pair of glasses, if there's any I can wear... why am I here, David?"
Esen did not hear Alessa fully introducing herself before allowing her to come in. The person (female-sounding voice, but a name of David. Shouldn't assume here!) was a blurry shape she struggled to focus on right now, but damn it, whatever happened to put her here is not going to kill her. As a result, Esen tried to keep her eyes open.
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Posted: Tue Dec 29, 2009 2:42 pm
The brunette tended to fare a lot better when she was given directions. But the way Esen called her confused her a lot. The only occurrences where her first and last names were inverted only happened through written medium, when there was no picture or voice to help. It took her a few second to process that she hadn’t used the word Miss.
“Err… David?”
She blinked.
“Oh! Please, just call me Alessa.”
One problem taken care of. The most urging ones left. The problems related very clearly to the fact she was, as feared, the first person she’d seen. “I think you’ve already realized you were at the hospital, Esen”, said Alessa the most calmly she could while looking around for water or… glasses, there.
She took them and admired them for a few seconds; she liked them. Then, she saw and read the note.
Oh, s**t, even more responsibilities.
“There, I just found your glasses. Can you put them on your own?” asked the volunteer, holding the pair in front of the patient. “I’m gonna fetch water in an instant, don’t worry.”
If only someone else could also tell her not to worry. She didn’t want to be the one to tell her “I’m sorry, but you and several other teenagers were found a few days ago after going missing for a year, and it seems that you had actually been kidnapped for your organs”. She didn’t want to tell her mother “I’m sorry you weren’t there when she woke up while I, a complete stranger, was”. She didn’t want to tell the nurses “I’m sorry, nobody told me she hadn’t regained consciousness since, I didn't know I had to call you”. She didn’t to apologize to people for things she had even less control over than usual.
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Posted: Tue Dec 29, 2009 3:15 pm
"Thanks, I can." Esen took the black-and-clear object from Alessa (that made a bit more sense, judging from the voice!) without much expression or comment beyond being polite. Since the young age she had to start wearing them, the teenager could definitely feel her way around them.
Her hands were clumsy in opening up the hinges because of how well they were working, but Esen did manage to get them on, and could definitely tell the difference! The lights were still bright, but she could definitely see the speckled white tiles on the floor, the not-very-inviting-for-obvious-reasons walls, Alessa's curly hair and gentle-seeming round face... and yes, Esen realized, she was on intravenous treatment, the hand that she tried to protect her eyes with attached to a tube from the back.
The brown-haired girl was intently reading a notepad, which Esen thought to be a bit small to be a medical log... and did medical logs come in a baby-blue shade?
She couldn't see the other side of the pad, and therefore couldn't see the watermark-like Smooth Moves logo on the paper that her mother wrote a note on. Then again, the notepads were recent developments in promoting mom's store, and Esen, to say the least, was not aware of 'recent developments,' involving her family, her lack of friends, going to school...
...huh. School. Where did she go to school? She had remembered being tutored sometime in there, but Esen didn't remember anything about being in school beyond that.
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Posted: Wed Dec 30, 2009 5:34 am
The note was reread twice, thrice, as if it would provide the proper words to use. She put it back on the chair. “Your mother has dropped a line to call her when you’d be awake”, explained briefly the volunteer before heading to the bathroom to fetch a cup. “As soon as you’ve gotten something to drink, I’ll call her, and the nurses.”
Alessa filled it with cold tap water, seeing no mineral water around, and walked back to Esen. “Here you are. By the way… I like your glasses!” she said, her light comment hiding the dread of the moment she will be asked to tell more than “chill out, you’re at the hospital, everything will be alright”. Plus, besides what she heard on TV, she didn’t even have much of a story to tell her.
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Posted: Wed Dec 30, 2009 6:51 am
That explained why Alessa had been focused on the blue notepad like she was, and likely why there was a pair of glasses right on hand...
...because her mother had been here already. 'Joy to the ******** goddamned world,' Esen thought bitterly, face twisted in response to that thought. When a cup of water was offered to her, Esen's only response was to take the cup and bring it up to her lips, practically as pale as her skin.
The water had a distinct taste of no-taste, but the liquid, which wasn't as chilled as what she usually liked, was still welcomed by her throat. Granted, the gulps did not completely flood the area, but it made her next words quite a bit clearer:
"Thanks. I don't see why anyone would like mine, though you don't see distinct square lenses every day either."
In Esen's mind, it was supposed to be a compliment. There was no pleasant expression to confirm the words, however, so who knew how Alessa would react.
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Posted: Fri Jan 01, 2010 4:25 am
Alessa wasn’t sure how to take Esen’s remark. Her policy in case of doubt was to react as if it were a compliment, and let the comment keep turning over in her mind. “Huh, thanks.”
She pulled her mobile phone, a red one with a few colourful beads attached to it, out of her bag and dialled the indicated phone number. On one hand, part of her hoped she could get in touch with the woman once and for all and be over with the awkward situation. On the other hand, she didn’t really want to speak with her and attempt to find the appropriate words. Please, don’t let it be that the woman she saw earlier was the very same she was calling now (Rica Saylor, that’s it?), please make it that she didn’t notice her, or else, it would make her the stupid girl who stole that mother’s place by a few minutes only. She was pretty insignificant, after all, and there was a good chance she wouldn’t remember her.
“Calling her now...”
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Posted: Fri Jan 01, 2010 6:21 am
The response Alessa had gave to Esen, while not remarkable by any means, could have been 'going down the patient's throat.' For that, Esen said "You're welcome... your name's Al-"
Huh. There were a few beeps. Esen realized, after Alessa said "Calling her now...", that Alessa was trying to get a hold of her mother. Esen was fine with that, judging by a lack of response.
Obviously, there was another lack of response on what seemed to be the wrong number on the other end:
"Thank you for calling Smooth Moves Dance Boutique. Our business hours are 10 AM to 6 PM Monday through Friday..."
No, it was not necessarily the wrong number. However, the instructions assumed you knew things... say, how to get a hold of the actual store, or the manager, or - in this case - the owner, who had the automated phone system set up by someone who did a crappy job at making it easy to navigate. To get there, it would be a push of 3, then you pushed 0 for the general store. The manager and owner were 1 and 2, but the system said 'to contact the store' before 'if you would like to speak to whomever'.
So, while Alessa did not have the issue of talking to the patient's mother of whom her thought was correct, she did have to figure out how to leave a message, should she choose to.
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Posted: Tue Jan 05, 2010 4:24 am
Here she was, the worst scenario she hadn’t even imagined happened: this was not a private number, and she was stuck with an answering machine with a confusing system. Shocked, she hung up. Calm down, it’s just a phone. It can’t bite you. Esen can’t bite you. Her mother won’t bite you, either.
A long breath. “This is the number of a Dance Boutique”, said the brunette, turning to the greenette, embarrassed to have for more information to her barely awoken patient. “Is it where your mother works?... Do you know if she’s a manager? The owner?”
She pondered calling only the nurses, and nothing more. However, if Esen’s mother had left a note, she did it for a purpose. Maybe the hospital could call her, then? But the first person to see the girl awakening had the explicit responsibility to contact her themselves. Would she be angry?
Damn, such dilemmas weren’t something she was used to deal with.
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Posted: Tue Jan 05, 2010 9:21 am
A somewhat brisk nod came from Esen, her expression that of embarrassment. "Owner... I wish she could actually use our home phone if they ask specifically for one," she explained as she shoved herself up the incline gently. "If I remember correctly, we live above the store... anyway, I do have a number that does not require redirecting, but give it to the nurse. Thank you for helping me, Alessa, but your entire day shouldn't be spent here."
The words were intended to be kind; how old was this girl? If she were a college student, Esen would be rather surprised, but she looked to be around her age. Esen's tone was as unreadable as ever, but the fact her face wasn't showing negative [removed](it was in poker-face mode; her embarrassed expression faded) was a plus.
"You look like you should be at home, or at least, not here volunteering."
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Posted: Tue Jan 05, 2010 12:20 pm
Here she was, panicking in a patient’s room while she is trying to reassure her. How could she get any more pathetic? Truth be told, it was the third day in a row.
Alessa put the cell back inside her bag. “You must be right… you’re the third person I’m seeing in three days, after all. I… huh… I’ll ask the nurses to call your mother, yeah.”
Somehow, she felt like she was conveniently running away from her responsibility. She shrugged off the guilt extremely quickly though, and felt comfort in becoming again the anonymous helper she’d always been.
“You look like you need more rest as well… please take care, and good luck.” Actually, it was very fortunate she had the occasion to leave her room so fast, as it also took away her responsibility of having to explain how and why she ended up in a hospital. Yep. The nurses would have the honour of breaking Esen the news. (Times like these, Alessa wasn’t so eager anymore to be a nurse.)
When she left the room, the brunette had completely forgotten she had cookies that she was supposed to give to Esen. She should be thankful for today’s stressing surprise; had she done as much as showing the biscuit, she would have been much, much more distraught at that moment.
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