City Lights and Country Memories

come into awareness slowly. My whole body aches, but this seems to be the new common state of my life. Even though my body aches, I know that a worse pain is buried under the surface, deadened by the drugs that are flowing into my body through the tube that goes into my arm. I stare at it dully, feeling no emotion aside from a slight desire to feel angry, hurt, alone, that the world is unfair, anything at all.

The lights in the room have been dimmed to avoid waking me, but the lights of the city outside glimmer brightly in the night. I must have been unconscious most of the day. I try to remember what has brought me here and the reality of it seems so unreal that I begin to wonder if it is only some dream. I could have fallen out of the truck while I slept and been discovered by anyone and brought here.

I wonder for a moment if the clipboard at the foot of the bed has "Jane Doe" penciled in on the slot allotted for the patient's name. I slowly try to roll over, but the IV in my arm makes this too complicated for a variety of reasons. First, the hose pulls taught wiggling the needle enough to induce pain. Second, whatever is being fed to my system causes me to feel so lethargic that anything beyond breathing is far too much work.

I look out the window again, staring at the glittering lights of the city. I wonder what city it is. I wonder where I am. I wonder where William is and if he is okay. As my eyes begin to slip closed again, I hear soft footsteps behind me. I turn my head, wincing as one of my neck muscles lodges a complaint with central processing.

William's silhouette blocks the light from the hall, throwing the room into deeper darkness. I see a flash of white for a moment as he smiles and approaches the bed.

"Glad to see you still have fight left in you. I wonder what it is that I have to offer SD," he says as he approaches the bed.

"You kept your promise," I say, reassuringly, reaching out weary arms for a hug.

"Which promise is that?" William says into my hair as he cradles me close.

"That you would get us out of there."

"Well, I confess I had some help. There are enough lies in the world without us adding to them."

"Oh?" I say.

He points toward the window, and I turn my head to see what surprise awaits me against the backdrop of city lights. I scream as I peer out into the darkness and see two faces gazing back in at me. William gently puts his hand over my mouth as I hear a nurse's soft-soled shoes racing toward us and two dragons' faces slip from the window.

"Sh, Bella, it's okay. It's just me. Shhhh..." William says reassuringly as the nurse enters the room.

"What's going on in here?" A weary woman says harshly, as she brushes a stray lock of golden hair back and glares at William.

"I'm sorry. She just woke up and I startled her," William says.

He gives me a meaningful look throughout this conversation, willing me to stay silent. Despite the pounding of my heart in my ears and the matching squeal from one of the machines monitoring me, I try to calm myself down. I am sure William will explain as soon as the nurse disappears into the hall again.

"I told you that you could look in on her not scare her or rearrange her monitoring equipment," the nurse says, disapprovingly.

"What?...Oh, sorry," William says, releasing me from the hug, "I was just..."

"Yes, I know. You wanted to hold her and make sure she was really there. It happens all the time. Then I always have to explain that some things really don't help the healing process, and I will remove you from the room if I fear you may be hindering that process."

William seems to wilt under her stern gaze as he backs away from the bed a little, "Yes, ma'am."

She gives him one last stern look before turning brusquely and returning to the hallway. I look at William expectantly. In response to my stare, he carefully steps around the bed to open the window. The tainted air of the city rushes into the room, carrying the faint sounds of cars honking and mingled voices of hundreds of people into the room. As the window opens, the two dragon faces appear again.

One is red with large, dark eyes that peer at me mournfully as if the stories of every dragon ever persecuted for his appearance have been written in those eyes. The other appears younger with shimmering green scales and a wide, dragon's grin of sharp teeth. They look at me speculatively for a second and then the green one speaks softly but with great excitement, like he is telling a secret.

"So you're Bella? We've heard a lot about you. I used to be thought one of the youngest, but you definitely beat me on that one. My name is Terredw and this is Dragon Lore."

The red dragon inclines his head to the left in acknowledgment of the introduction as William tries to quench some of Terredw's excitement.

"Now, now, she has had a rough day though it would have been rougher if not for your help."

"Well, we're always pleased to help. If you want to clean up the garbage, you need a little heat, if you know what I mean," Terredw says and winks meaningfully as if he expects me to share in some secret joke.

"You can breathe fire?" I say, fishing for clarification.

"Well, that is one way to look at it, but I was referring to the la..."

"Terredw, she really doesn't need to hear this right now. She needs to rest," William responds rather harshly.

Terredw suddenly looks rather ashamed, "Oh, I thought that..."

"I fear you thought wrong. You know how the Council is about these things."

"Truly boring," Dragon Lore responds, his voice rumbling out into the room though I am sure he is trying to whisper.

"What council?" I reply.

"Bella, you need your rest," William replies.

"No one ever tells me anything..." I begin and then my voice freezes in my throat.

Smoke billows past the two dragons in the window, aimed right toward my face. I hold my breath knowing somehow I should not breathe it in. I can not hold my breath long enough, however, and I feel myself slipping into darkness as William positions himself between me and the window. The two dragons have already whipped their heads around and poured forth flames upon my attacker. William slams the window shut as the first horrible roar reaches my ears and then he is pulling the curtains closed as footsteps enter the room.

The nurse again, "What is going on?"

"She asked me to close the blinds so she could sleep."

"Oh, that's good. She does look tired."

Her gentle eyes peering into mine with maternal concern welcome me into the darkness which would have otherwise been so terrible to face.