I was lying on a white hospital bed, an I.V. with painkillers on my left arm.
My black hair that was once straight was all tangled and matted, spread out all over the place on the pillow.
I saw the skin on my hands: I was very pale.
What have I gotten myself into….? I thought.
"Cassia?"
I saw Erhard peek into the room, his face flustered and sweaty.
"Cassia, I...I'm so glad you're okay…"
I smile at him weakly as he strokes my head with his hand. His hand is as smooth and soft as a feather.
"Are you feeling alright?" He asked me.
I didn't feel bad, but I do look bad, I want to tell him.
"I feel close enough to alright." I tell him instead.
"I love you, Cassia." He said into my right ear.
It feels like time has stopped when he said that.
I knew he did, but...hearing it was so unexpected, like I never thought he loved me.
I pause a bit and stare at his red eyes.
"I know you do." I tell him, and give him the best smile I could possibly give him.
"I have to leave the hospital now….my shift's over. I'll see you tomorrow. Stay alive, okay?"
He smiled at me, but his eyes were tearing up.
"No...no...Don't cry…" I tell him.
"I can't stop…" He starts sniffling and embraces me, squeezing me and not letting me go.
His love for me is genuine…. I thought. I don't deserve him. I'll hurt him one day….he doesn't deserve that.
"I have to...go…" He says, and kisses my cheek.
He leaves the room, and leaves me feeling droopy and depressed for him.
I don't ever want to hurt him. I want him to be happy and never be sad. But I can't make him happy.
I'll...I'll only make it worse.
I stare at the ceiling light, a sharp unattractive white.
Cassia
"Huh?" I say.
"Who said that?"
Cassia
I start to tremble in fear.
"Who are you?" I say.
Stand up. Get off the bed.
Whoever's in my head must have a lot of power, so I obey and disconnect everything that was connected to me.
I feel a sharp pain go through me as I disconnect the painkiller I.V.
Run
"Who are you?!" I yell.
I am only going to repeat this once: Run.
I run into the halls and avoid the nurses who will probably try to force me into my fucking hospital room again.
My arm bleeds from the hole that the I.V. left in it.
"Where to?" I say.
Out
I run to the lobby and into the field that is outside Resurgam hospital.
Erhard was still in his red car, and he spots me in the parking lot.
"What the f….Cassia?!"
I start to run away from him and I feel like screaming.
Behind you
I turn around and look behind me, but it is too late.
I have blacked out from trauma to my head.
…
I awake in the arms of a man with a black and orange jacket.
"No...No…" I keep saying in a whispery tone.
"Cassia, it's been long. Shhh….My baby…."
The man rocks me back and forth in his arms, cooing to me like I'm a toddler.
"Fuck off!" I yell and slap him.
I regain my freedom to walk for a second.
I spread out my wings, the wings that I have hidden from everyone and never used before.
"You've made me into a freak, you son of a bitch!" I yell at him.
The Delphi worker just smiled an evil smile, and held a needle in his hand.
"Cassia, don't make this harder for you…"
"Damn you!" I yell at him, backing away from him as he came closer and closer to grabbing me.
He makes me run into a wall.
"There's no escaping what you've done for yourself, baby." He said, grinning and showing me his putrid yellow teeth.
He grabs me, and no matter how much I try to fight him by biting him and slapping him with my wings and trying to fly away, he doesn't lift a finger from me.
He injects the needle into me, the liquid in the needle red and...almost fiery-looking.
"You have all the necessities of death...except one. You have everything in your body now, my baby. You'll die a wonderful, honorable death."
"No!" I scream, but I become weaker and weaker and fall asleep from pain in his arms.
…
I awake in the home of Erhard Muller.
I'm in his red and white bed, but it's only him surrounding me.
Nobody else but him.
"What happened…?"
"You suddenly ran amok the hospital and got knocked out by Maria. She had to hit you to keep you calm and still."
My head hurts so much….It must be from the trauma that Maria had inflicted upon me.
"I...I'm sorry…"
"Don't be sorry, Cass...It's not your fault."
"What...What happened to the Delphi worker?!"
"Delphi Worker? Ah...You must have had a bad dream…."
No...I had a vision of my past….I thought.
I get off the bed and find I'm dressed in a gray Pink Floyd T-Shirt and black sweatpants that are a size too big for me.
"Did you dress me?" I asked him.
"Ah...Y-Yes….Your old clothes were covered in blood from a scratch you got from a fall...So I changed you."
I suddenly feel very self-conscious about my body and shudder a bit, but he doesn't notice.
He smiles at me.
"Want breakfast?"
"Sure."
I walk over to his kitchen with him, limping in the gray slippers he gave me.
TO BE CONTINUED...