• Chapter Five: Dark Days of Aurum

    Finally reaching the hospital, Tera made her way inside. The person at the front desk asked,

    “Can I help you?”

    “My friend here… He was attacked…” was all she could manage to say.

    The person at the desk called for a stretcher. Two men in white uniforms came out from a pair of double-doors with one. Tera gently placed Koza’s body on it, which was then taken through the double doors again. After which, a red light clicked on above the doors. Tera went and sat down in a chair to wait, staring at the ground. She really hoped he would be all right. How bad could his injuries be? They couldn’t have been too severe… right…?

    Her mind was focused on Koza for the next couple of hours. He was all she could think about. Was he okay? Would they be able to help him? Her mind was so caught up with all of these questions, that she didn’t even notice the red light blip off above the doors. A doctor came out from behind them and walked up to Tera.

    “Excuse me miss. Are you the one that brought that last patient here?” he asked.

    She looked up slowly.

    “Yes. Is he alright?” she asked sadly.

    “Your friend suffered a slight concussion and some bruising, but other than that he’s unhurt, nothing life threatening.” Tera smiled softly.

    “May I… go see him?” she asked.

    “Of course. He’s asleep right now though. Follow me.” The doctor headed for the double doors again. Tera followed close behind. Behind the doors was a hallway, with multiple rooms on both sides. The doctor headed down the hallway and stood in front of one of the doors. Tera peeked in the doorway slowly. Koza was asleep on a bed next to a window, with his head bandaged up. The sight made her cringe. She headed in slowly and sat in a chair next to his bed.

    “Oh Koza…” she said softly as she looked down at her fallen friend. The doctor headed off down the hall, leaving the two alone. Tera watched him sleep, hoping he would get better soon. She hated to see him hurt… Her eyes started to tear up just from looking down at him.

    Night came around, and Tera hadn’t left the spot she was in. She continued to watch Koza sleep. The doctor from before happened to walk by the door and look in to see that Tera hadn’t moved. He walked in and stood next to her.

    “You know… visiting hours are going to end here shortly…” he said.

    Tera didn’t respond.

    “Hm. You are truly worried about your friend there aren’t you?”

    Tera nodded slowly without looking back.

    “Well… I’m not really supposed to do this, but… if it means that much to you, you’re welcome to spend the night.”

    Tera simply nodded again without looking over. She didn’t care what he said; she wouldn’t have left anyway, even if visiting hours had ended. The doctor said goodnight to her, and left the room.

    Koza opened his eyes slowly, not knowing what had happened, where he was, or why his head hurt so much... Struggling to look over, he saw Tera asleep in a chair next to where he was. He tried to sit up, but that sent a wave of pain through his body, preventing even the smallest attempt.

    “Ugh…” he groaned from the pain. That was enough for Tera to hear, as she opened her eyes. Shaking her head to make sure she was awake, she looked over a Koza. When she saw that he was awake, her face lit up. She jumped out of the chair and hugged him.

    “Koza! You’re awake!” she said happily.

    “Ack! Tera! That hurts…”

    “Oh! Sorry!” she said, letting go. She sat back down in the chair.

    “Wh… where.. am I?” he said drowsily. “And… what happened? Where’s that creature we were fighting?”

    “Whoa, slow down there. One question at a time.” Tera said. “Lets see… you want the long version, or the short version?”

    “Uh… short version is fine…”

    “I figured as much. Okay, um.. Long story short, you got knocked into a wall by that thing we were fighting, and now you’re in a hospital room.”

    Koza went silent for a moment as he attempted to look around.
    “Really? Wow… Wait, so then… what happened to that thing?” he asked again, referring to the creature.

    “Oh, that? Yeah… its dead now. Don’t you worry about that,” she said with a smile.

    “Did you…?” he asked.

    She just nodded her head. Koza laughed to himself and stared up at the ceiling.

    “By the way, Tera?”

    “Hm? Yeah?”

    “Did they say when I could leave this place? I never was big on hospitals…”

    Tera laughed to herself. After a moment, she sighed and said,

    “They told me that you might have to stay for a little while. They also told me that you had a slight concussion from the impact of when you hit the wall after that thing attacked you. At the rate you’re going though, you don’t look like you’ll have to stay too long. The doctors aren’t always right with their predictions you know. They may have the medical expertise, but when it comes to figuring out how long it will take for somebody to recover, they’re about as accurate as a weatherman.” she encouraged him.

    Koza laughed softly. He shifted his gaze from her back to the ceiling. After a small moment of silence, he finally said,

    “And Tera…?”

    “Hm?”

    “…Thanks…” was all he could manage to say, before he drifted off to sleep once more. Tera looked at him for a little after he had fallen back asleep.

    “Hehe… don’t mention it…” she said quietly. “You just get some rest. You need it…”




    Next Chapter: Up and At 'em!