The Broken Warrior's Daughter

The doctor comes over to me. He begins checking my vitals, flashing his light in my eyes, looking over the machines as he talks. “Cara, I’m Dr. Harris. How are you feeling?”

“Terrible.” | reply.

He nods. “Can you be more specific. Do you feel burning? Aching? Sharp pains?” “Burning, yes. Aching, yes. No sharp pain, just a general, all over pain.”

“| don’t know if your father has had a chance to tell you, but I’ll give you a quick overview of your health. Your body was flooded with the venom of your kidnapper. Your body and Artemis are rejecting the venom making it act like a poison. Artemis is fighting the venom’s spread in your body, so don’t be alarmed if you can’t hear her.”

I nod, “I can feel her, but | can’t hear her.”

“That’s good, and to be expected. You are healing faster than | anticipated.” He smiles, “Or maybe | should have expected it since you are a Guardian.”

“The pain you feel should lessen as time goes on. I'd like for you to continue to try to drink fluids in addition to what we are putting into your system. I’d also like for you to try to get some sleep and when you wake again, try to eat something. Do you think you can do that?”

| nod, already feeling exhausted by this interaction. My eyes start to close but before | fall asleep | hear my father telling me he'll be right here when | wake up.

The next time | wake up, | feel better, stronger. It must be the middle of the night because Lacey is asleep in one chair and Jason is asleep in the other. My dad isn’t in the room and | smile because he'll be pissed that he wasn’t here when | woke after he told me he would be.

| must make a noise because Jason’s eyes open and then he jolts up from his chair. “Cara.” He loudly whispers trying not to wake Lacey.

He stands beside me. “I'll go get the doc and I'll mind link your dad, he’s gonna be pissed that you woke up. It took him hours to finally agree to leave to go get a shower and some food.”

“What time is it?” | ask, my throat scratchy again.

He checks his watch, “About 2am. Here.” He puts the straw against my lips and 1 drink the entire glass. Lacey stirs and sees me awake.

“Hey! There she is.” She gets up and Jason leaves to go get the doctor. “Are you feeling better?” She asks while refilling my glass.

“Yes. Not great, but definitely better than before.” She starts to put the straw up to my mouth, but | reach out my hand and take the glass, holding it for myself.

Jason returns with Dr. Harris. “Hey doc.” | say as he walks in. “Hey! How's my favorite patient?” | arch an eyebrow at him. “Am | your only patient?” | ask.

“Well, shifters aren’t exactly known for spending long periods of time in a hospital room, shifter healing and all, so yes, you are currently my only patient.”

He begins going through the list of doctor questions and is about done when my dad breezes into the room. “Cara. | knew | shouldn't have left.”

“It's fine dad, you need to eat, sleep and shower too.” He wheels himself over and looks at me. “Your eyes seem brighter. How are you feeling?”

“Better than before. | still can’t hear Artemis, but even she feels stronger than she did the last time | was awake.”

“That’s great news honey.”

Anurse comes in with a tray of food. She puts it on a stand with wheels and pushes it up to me across the bed.This text is property of Nô/velD/rama.Org.

Dr. Harris looks at me, “I know you may not feel much like eating, but | want you to try.”

| look at the food, all bland, boring hospital food. “I'll try. Whatever it takes to get stronger and get out of here.”

“After that, you all will let her get back to sleep. No keeping her up talking.” He’s focusing his attention on Jason and Lacey. They both nod in agreement and Dr. Harris and the nurse leave us in peace.

| eat as much as | can. Lacey and Jason tell me some stories about what | missed at school, but it isn’t long before fatigue takes me and I’m falling asleep again.