Welcome to Gaia! ::

Diana Jones was having a surreal night. Everything had been perfectly normal until she'd sent her son out to the store. Instead of coming home, she got a phone call from the police saying there'd been some kind of monster attack and her son had collapsed. Worse still, there was nothing obviously wrong with him, but he wouldn't wake up or respond in any way. She rushed right over to the hospital, and had been lead to a room to wait. He wasn't in there yet, so she opted to wait outside for him to be brought in. She stared down the hall waiting, earnestly waiting for a sign of him, wondering numbly what could have happened.

But before he was brought to her, someone came up and spoke to her. Diana didn't think the young woman looked like hospital staff, but she was too dazed to question her presence much. "No, he's not here yet," she answered. "The nurse said they're still running some tests. Have you heard any news?" she asked, a bit desperately. With so little information, she would grasp at any straw that presented itself.

Diana sagged slightly against the wall as her faint hope was lost. "Oh..." she said quietly, turning over the young woman's words. There was no news in it, not really. But maybe this woman knew something that could give her an idea of what was happening.

"You...saw what happened?" she asked. "Can you tell me what you saw, please? Even if it doesn't make any sense, it's more information than I have now. They said nothing seems to be wrong with him, but he won't wake up." Her voice turned pleading at the end. She wanted her baby boy to be well again, but anything that helped her make sense of the situation would be appreciated.

Diana listened, her brow furrowed as she tried to figure out what had happened. The monster, though strange to think about, was actually believable. There had been various reports of such things for a while now. But the bit with the strangely-dressed man was harder to understand. What could he have done that could cause her son to fall unconscious without leaving any trace?

"Thank you. I'll try," she started to answer, but froze when she heard the clatter of a gurney rolling down the hallway. She spun around to see, and found two nurses where pushing the bed down the hall. Between the distance and the oxygen mask, it was hard to make out the face of the bed's occupant, but her son's bright orange hair was unmistakable.

She rushed towards them, desperately asking for information, and was told quietly that they'd explain what they'd found once he was settled. As they turned into the room, one of the nurses glanced at Shelley, then back at Diana. "Is she a relative?" the nurse asked, and was met with a shake of the head. To Shelley the nurse said, "You'll have to go now. Only immediate family is allowed for the moment. You can check with the receptionist later to find if we allow visitors for this patient." Then they all entered the room and closed the door.

During the past few days, there had been a lot of activity in Sean's room, but very little change. Family and friends visited frequently, spending long hours sitting and talking with him, hoping to see some sign of life from him. His little foster sister left her favorite plush cat with him, hoping that would help him get better. Doctors came in and out and, at his mother's insistence, wheeled him all over the hospital to try every test imaginable. They were not surprised when everything they tried showed nothing wrong. There were an increasing number of cases like this, where someone collapsed for no apparent reason and died soon after. It was very rare for such patients to recover, and they were trying to gently break it to Mrs. Jones that if there was no change soon, her son may not wake up.

When Shelley returned, Sean happened to be alone in his room. He lay pale and motionless on his bed, numerous wires and tubes hooking him up to various life support machines. Only the faint, unsteady rise and fall of his chest showed he was still alive, and only barely. His vital signs were steadily dropping, and if it weren't for the machines he would have surely been gone already.

The empty shell that had housed Sean Jones did not think, dream, perceive anything around him or react to any stimulus. It could only wait, without even the capacity to hope that what had been stolen would be returned. Even with the missing starseed so close, there was nothing the body could do to recover it.

Once Sean's starseed was back where it belonged, she showed a small but immediate improvement. His breathing eased, his heartbeat steadied, and his face began to take on a bit more color. He was still pale and would be unconscious for a little while yet, but by the time his mother came to visit him a couple hours later, his fingers actually twitched when she put her hand on his.

The doctors were baffled by the boy's recovery. They had no idea what had caused the coma, and therefore had less idea what caused him to recover. By the time he woke up the following day, they'd pretty much decided it was a mystery and left it at that. They did want him to remain in the hospital for a day or two more though, just to observe him and make sure he was truly recovered. When none of his family was around, one of the nurses quietly confided to him that it was frankly a miracle he'd woken up, then refused to say more.

Sean was happy to stay in the hospital as long as the doctors thought was necessary. He was sure they knew best. Also he was still feeling weak and dizzy, though both conditions were beginning to abate. So he remained in bed, quietly reading the books his mom brought him, watching TV or chatting with any friends or family who'd come to visit.

Sean was flipping channels on the TV when he heard his door open. He looked over, fully expecting it to be either a nurse or his mom, who still stopped by several times a day. He was surprised to see it wasn't anyone he knew, but he smiled at her anyway.

"Hi Shelley," he responded. "I'm Sean. I'm not sure if you knew that already.And...attacked?" He looked puzzled at that. The events just prior to his collapse were a but rushed an chaotic, but he didn't remember being attacked. "That's actually news to me. Did the monster get me?" His face scrunched in thought as he tried to remember. "I don't remember it getting near me though, just trying to run, then sudden pain, and then I guess I passed out." He supposed the pain might have been from some kind of attack, but wouldn't the doctors have seen some sign of it? He shook his head and looked back up at her. "But I'll answer any questions I can."

Sean blinked owlishly at Shelley's question a few times.The question made little sense; he hadn't been anywhere strange, so he didn't understand the apparent urgency of the question. The heart monitor he was still hooked up to began to beep slightly faster, reflecting how startled he felt.

"Why was I there? It was a grocery store. I was shopping. My mom had asked me to pick up a couple things," he answered.

Then he turned her last few sentences over in his head again. A man in weird getup? His brow furrowed as that thought triggered a memory. "But now that you mention it, there was someone in a strange outfit. It looked like some kind of uniform, so I thought he might be some form of military officer. But maybe not?" He looked at her quizzically for confirmation. "He started to lead me away from the monster, down one of the isles. And then there was pain, and then nothing."