"Dr. Lewis?" A soft voice call out from the other side of the room. Glancing up I see an old and wrinkled, but strong and familiar hand grabbing at the privacy curtain that have been drawn around me.
"Francine?" I ask, my voice soft with exhaustion. I have to wonder if it truly is the kindly old nurse who has shown me so much since my first days here, or simply a hallucination brought on by blood-loss.
"How did you guess, Dr. Lewis?" She call out, her voice thick with amusement, as the rollers of the curtains traveling along their guide-rail. It takes her only a few seconds to begin tutting, and for half of a second I have to wonder why until I glance down at my bandaged wrist and realize why she is making that sound. I can see her old form walk towards me, her slower walking speed and her appearance the things which betray her age.
If you only hear her voice and know her personality you wouldn't think of her as a day over 40, but really she's pushing her mid-sixties.
"You know better then to fiddle with bandages, Dr. Lewis. Now I have to change it once again," She mutters with a small sigh, and her hand grab my wrist gently, turning to face towards her. "Although the cuts do appear to be healing well."
I can't help but glance up at her, does she not realize what's happened to me and the reason that I passed out? That the "cut" on my wrist is in fact the black lines of a soulmate's mark?
She's one of the few people who knows that I've never borne the mark until today. I rarely tell people, instead preferring to hide my wrist with a watch, I think the rumor I heard last time is that my pattern's so ugly it would scare the patients if anyone saw it. That's certainly better then the one before it, which said my mark, had faded to grey because my soul mate had died and I didn't want the pitying stares of others if they were to see it.
I'd gotten pitying stares when that rumor had been floating around.
Although they'd been for completely the wrong reasons.
"They aren't cut's are they?" I mumble as I glance towards the opposite side of the bay I have taken up residence in for the last several hours.
"I see you already figured that out have you, Dr. Lewis?"
"It's why I peeled the bandage off," I mutter in response as I glance down at my wrist, the black lines of the mark's boarder visible for the world to see as Francis pulls the bandage off the wound, continuing to tut.
"I'll be back in a moment, Dr. Lewis. I just need to retrieve some materials to bandage that wound of yours and then we'll send you on your way. Ms…" I could see Francine pause and turn towards me.
"Tamsin." She responds gruffly from where she has taken up residence once again in the chair on the other side of the room. "My name is Tamsin."
I almost roll my eyes at Tamsin's attitude; of course she would default back to her usual sunny disposition when another person's around.
Francine gave a strange look and said, "No need to be impolite young lady, now if you would come with me so we can get your friend signed out…"
I could hear Tamsin begin to grumble as she stood up from the chair.
Just as they were about to walk out of the area that I'm occupying I finally remember to ask about the woman who's fault it may be that I'm even in this bed to begin with. "What about the woman I was treating- Bo?"
"She was taken care of by Dr. Nelson and discharged, Dr. Lewis. Would you like her chart to fill in while you wait for your friend?" I nod quickly and call out my thanks to Francine before the curtain closes behind them and I allow my head to fall back onto the bed.
Dr. Nelson was the one to sew her up in the end. Well at least it isn't one of the lower year residents, but still I can't help but feel embarrassed at the fact that my attending had to finish up my work.
And who knows how many more people were present when I passed out.
The nurses were going to have fun with me weren't they?
It would be all over the hospital before the end of tomorrow wouldn't it? I sigh and close my eyes as my head falls backwards onto the uncomfortable gurney below me. I could feel a yawn coming and when I move my hand to cover it I can't help the wince that crosses my lips when I tugged the IV catheter again.
"Dr. Lewis?" A soft voice call out, and when I open my eyes again I can see Francine standing at the opening for the Bay, gently pulling the curtains closed.
"Yes?"
"There seems to be a slight complication with your request for the chart."
"What is it Francine?" I ask with my eyebrow raised. She would have only been discharged a few hours ago at most, they usually keep the chart on the floor at least until morning because the night shift is on the lazy side most of the time.
"They appear to have lost her chart."
I allow a groan to escape as my head falls backward onto the gurney.
Of course it wouldn't be that simple.
"Of course," I mutter aloud.
The only response I get is a slight chuckle followed by, "The course of true love never did run smooth, Dr. Lewis. Now let's see to your arm while your friend fills out your discharge paper work shall we?"
"So…" I mumble as I stare out the window as we speed along the deserted highway leading back to our apartment building.
The only response I get from Tamsin for a while is silence. I clear my throat in a gesture for her to say something to fill the awkward silence that has begun to creep in between us. We haven't really talked since we got into the car after I was discharged, with strict instructions to rest, and that Larry would cover the rest of my shift.
"This isn't going to turn into another Katherine is it?" Tamsin mutters. Turning my head towards her voice I see the street lights reflecting off of her eyes, giving me the little light that I needed in order to see her expression. I could see depths of worry that were only beginning to be hinted at in her emerald green eyes, the panicked look to them at the though that this might become another incident like my ex.
I sigh as I force back the torrent of emotions and memories that come with the mention of her name, the heartbreak and the sadness. The questions I have begun to ask myself after we'd broken up.
The fact that she had even made me question my self-worth.
My desire to be a doctor after all of the work I had put in, after everything I had done to get myself to the point I had been.
I clenched my teeth, my hand lightly grabbing the fabric of my scrub pants as it turned into a fist. I could feel the anger boiling over, the cover for the sadness that I'd felt for so long after she had left me. I force my hand to loosen its grip on my pants and my jaw to relax before I began to speak again. "No. I'm not… never again Tamsin, it will never happen again."
It will never turn into a repeat of Katherine.
I've learned my lesson.
I sigh as my hand moved up to brush a hand through my hair, only to wince when I feel the tugging sensation of my newly marked wrist, covered in a fresh white gauze pad. I know that underneath that bandage is a bold black mark, suddenly the bare wrist that has defined me, that has separated me from others for so long. It's gone.
It'd been as simple as tracing the pattern of a mark on the wrist of another woman.
"So…" I could hear her trail off awkwardly, more then likely unsure of how exactly to bring up what we would inevitably need to talk about.
How am I supposed to find this woman when they've lost her chart? Which means that all the useful information it contained has been lost as well.
Although given that the triage nurse had forgotten to even take down her first name to begin with, and her last now that I think about it. I felt somewhat dubious about how much use it would have really and truly provided. Actually the only thing I can remember from the chart is her patient number and another number that must have been her OHIP number.
Really?
I try to recall the number but all I can draw is a blank.
So the only thing that I have now is an OHIP number that I can't remember, and a first name that I'm not even sure how it is spelled.
Bo…
Like the man's name.
Or Bo, or possibly even Bow if her parents had a sick enough sense of humour.
They must have if they had named their daughter Bo…
Unless of course that's a nickname in which case the name could literally be anything.
Or an alias.
But no they have her OHIP number…
I let out an audible groan as I allowed my head to fall back against the seat.
Why am I even trying to find this woman, one that I barely knew beyond a few moments of interaction before I passed out when I'm supposed to be treating her.
I could feel my hand grip my scrub pants again as it slowly dawns on me the road that I'm beginning to drift down. The thought and the idea that I might have finally meet my soulmate, it's daunting and something that I never thought would happen to me because I've walked around for the first 29 years of my life without a mark on my wrist.
Now?
I suddenly have a marked wrist; suddenly I'm like the vast majority of people in the world. There would be no more pitying stares if I were to walk around without my watch on my wrist. It's like I had been longing to be when I was younger, the fact that I had ached for my mark to appear and had begged someone, anyone who would listen for it to appear.
Now it has and I have no idea what to do about it.
Because the simple fact is that I have been burned and scared far to deeply by a person who has worn a mark on her wrist so long ago. I have taken the risk and known it could happen, but I had never thought that it is a possibility.
"Oi!" A voice calls out loudly and clearly, snapping me from my spiraling train of thoughts. "I can see your face beginning to darken, Laur. I know that Katherine did a number on you but…"
I sigh as I complete the familiar phrase. "I can't let one bad experience with one person and one mark destroy my chance at happiness. I know Tamsin. But still…"
"It's hard because of how badly she burned you, how deeply she hurt you. I was there Lauren, I remember it all." I could hear her sigh briefly, an expression I couldn't quite recognize crossing her face. It looked almost like sadness, but with a small hint of something else on her face, something that I couldn't quite place.
Suddenly the car began to accelerate once again and the meager light that the street lamp has provided fades casting the interior of the car into darkness once more. But despite it all I could feel something shift in the air of the car, a sort of tension beginning to seep in where it has not been in a long time.
I could sense the direction that this conversation is heading and it's territory that I would very much like to remain in the past.
What could I say to try and divert her attention away from Katherine and away from her anger towards my ex-girlfriend.
Wait!
Earlier today, that trauma that had come in.
I'd had to use the defibrillator for the first time in a while.
She loved it when I used the defibrillator!
"I used the defibrillator today." I could hear the small intake of breath and couldn't help the smirk that blossomed on my face. She really doe love it when I use the defibrillator and tell her about it.
"Are you trying to change the subject on me?" I can hear the seriousness in her tone and when I glanced over at her face I can see the streetlights just highlighting the look in her eyes, in particular the annoyance that seems to blossom in them. I should have known that she would pick up on my admittedly sad attempt to change the subject.
"I just don't want to go down that path again Tamsin, it's…" I glance over at the clock on the dash to see 3:45 blinking back up at me. "Apparently almost 4 o'clock in the morning. I don't feel like dragging up Katherine right now."
I could hear a small huff escapes from Tamsin before I saw her turn towards me for a brief second as we slowed down again, the small blinker on the dash alerting me that we must have been turning into the parking garage for our apartment.
"Do you have your key thing?" I sigh before I reach for the lanyard hidden underneath my scrub top and pull out the device that Tamsin needed in order to unlock the door to the parking garage.
Thankfully it's still the middle of the night so I somehow doubt that we have to worry about a line up forming behind us as Tamsin fumbles in an attempt to find the garage key.
Again.
I could feel her eyes on me for a moment before I realized that I've forgotten to hand it to her. Hastily I pull the lanyard over my head and hand the thing to her before she can begin to tease me about my memory. I can see her flash me a small smile before she roles down the window and leans over to press the black device to the equally black keypad, a few moments later the beige garage door begins to roll backward and Tamsin slowly inches her car down the steep incline.
"You mentioned earlier that you used the defibrillator earlier today?"
"You're bringing that up now?" I ask as I fumble with the keys to open the door to our apartment.
"Yeah I am." I can't help the small amount of laughter that escapes from me as I fumble with the doorknob.
Stupid, stubborn thing. Was it twist then lift or lift then twist?
"You have to lift and twist Tamsin." A smug voice say in a mocking mimic of my own.
Glancing back at Tamsin I sigh and role my eyes before I proceed to lift and twist the doorknob, finally opening the dark brown door to our apartment. Reaching over I flicked on the light in the entrance way, stepping aside in order to pull of my running shoes.
I could hear Tamsin's light footfalls as she followed me into the apartment that we have shared since fourth-year university. I allowed a yawn to escape as I'm suddenly overcome with a wave of exhaustion.
Reaching up to rub my eyes lightly I quickly made my way towards my bedroom. I can hear Tamsin shuffling off towards the kitchen and begin to rummage around in the cupboards, probably looking for her vodka.
I look over at my bed with a feeling of sweet longing. The beige duvet covering the warm blue sheets of my warm and soft bed, so comfortable. So warm… I could feel another yawn escape, my eyes closing as my hand moved to cover my mouth in an automatic reflex.
It would be so easy to just collapse into bed right now; I'm so tempted to do just that.
But at the same time I also needed to shower I think as I shudder at the feeling of the grime that's covering my skin, especially after I had taken my fall onto the incredibly dirty floor of the ER.
Normally I would have taken one in the locker room at work before I left to head back here, but because of my delightful collapse I hadn't been able to…
I let out a groan when I realize that I must have forgotten my bag in my locker. The odds…
"Looking for something?" A smug voice call out, I turn around to see Tamsin looking at me as she leaned against the doorway to my room a small smirk on her face as she dangled a familiar black backpack in front of me.
"Thank-you." I mumble as I walk over to grab my bag.
I could see the look on her face soften ever so slightly as she reached out and handed me my bag lightly, smiling in appreciation as I walk over and place my bag on the hook against the wall, the one that had been its place for as long as I have lived here.
"Thank-you Tamsin." I say again as I glance back over at her. "For everything. I know waking up in the middle of the night to come and get me is probably not your idea of fun, especially after you've had to work all day."
I could see her shrug, her shoulders barely moving, before she smirked at me. "Consider it pay back for all the times you hauled my drunk ass out of bars when we were younger."
"Will do." I say shaking my head at the memories of all the times I'd had to haul Tamsin's incredibly drunk self out of bars.
"And about the defibrillator. Did you seriously use it today? Because it was Tuesday when you went to work. I thought Tuesday was Broken Bones Day."
"Really!" I can't help the laughter that escapes me as I respond to her question. I am never going to understand that women's obsession with a defibrillator. "It normally is."
Tuesday for as long as I've worked at the hospital has always been the day that we see the most broken bones, usually broken ankles and wrists. I don't know why, but according to Francis, who has worked at the hospital for easily thirty years, it has been going on for that long.
Apparently people like to work with ladders on Tuesday's for some reason.
All I know is that it usually means a long boring day of stitches and x-rays.
The orthopedics people are usually happy though because it means some surgery for them.
I have to shake my head at the thought but that is quickly shut down when I feel something being shoved in my mouth followed by a glass of water being pressed to my lips.
Without even thinking I begin to swallow so that I don't choke on the infernal thing that Tamsin shoved into my mouth. Quickly I take a few gulps of water in order to make sure that whatever she shoved into my mouth goes down. I could see her looking at me, a small smirk on her face.
"What the hell Tamsin!" I shout out at my best friend as I begin to cough after I finally swallow whatever it is that she shoved into my mouth.
"Antibiotics." Was the only response I got.
I stretch out my hand expecting Tamsin to hand me the bottle that contained my antibiotics without any further fights. Sher hesitates for a few moments before she sighs, green eyes flickering down towards the floor before she walks over to my bag and opens one of the smaller zipper pouches on the side.
She pulls out the familiar orange plastic of a prescription bottle. Without saying anything I saw her walk back towards me, a hand offering the bottle in some sort of peace offering.
Quickly snatching it out of her hand I only need to scan the label to realize that they've given me a broad-spectrum antibiotic.
"How long was I on the ground for?" I ask sighing as I look up at Tamsin, walking over to place the bottle on my nightstand after I scan the instructions again.
Take once every 6 hours without food, which meant I couldn't eat for an hour before or two hours afterward.
Yeah.
How long was I on the ground for to give me prophylactic antibiotics?
"They said you were laying on the ground for a good ten minutes before they could get you off of it and onto a stretcher." I can't help the groan that escapes me in embarrassment at my actions.
I must have looked so incredibly stupid in front of Bo!
Oh god.
I let out another groan and walk over to my bed, burying my face in my palms. I'd embarrassed myself in front of my colleagues and my patient, although I couldn't really help my reaction to the pain, but still…
"If it makes you feel any better they seemed more worried about you than laughing at you."
"You don't know Jackie and Francine, they're gossip mongers. It'll have spread all over the hospital before the end of tomorrow."
"Oh."
"Yeah."
"And I passed out in front of Bo."
"You're worried because you also passed out in front of a patient?"
"She's the woman who's wrist I was tracing."
"Oh."
"Yeah."
"We seem to be saying that a lot this morning."
"Go away Tamsin," I mumble as I reach over to grab one of the pillows from my bed to throw at her.
The only response I got is laughter as she dodges the pillow without even a second thought. I couldn't help but glance up at her and smile despite myself, what else should I have expected from a trained police officer?
And with that thought I also began to laugh at the sheer absurdity of all of this, at the entire series of events that've transpired in the last six hours. It felt good to laugh right now, especially after the air that had haunted us earlier in the car.
For a while we just stayed like that, Tamsin standing in the middle of my room laughing at me for my horrible attempts to throw pillows at her, and me laughing because I simply needed the release.
Slowly we began to calm down, I could feel the bed shifting as Tamsin sat down next to me, panting in an attempt to get air back into her lungs. I could feel her slump against me a few moments later, and I leaned back into her in return.
It felt nice to be like this again, it had been a long time since we had just sat down and laughed. A very long time ago, probably since before Katherine, and most certainly before everything had gone south in our relationship.
I don't really know how long we simply sat there leaning against one and another, just enjoying the silence between us for as long as I could. I can feel my eyes getting heavier as my body's desire for sleep began to overwhelm me, but I tried to fight against it for a while longer, to simply enjoy the time I have with my friend. So we just sat there, and eventually I feel backwards onto the mattress below me as I slowly began to lose the fight with my exhaustion.
"Is it one of your school days tomorrow?" Tamsin murmurs as the weight on the mattress shifts again. I could feel hands come to rest on my lower legs for a few seconds before I felt Tamsin lift them upwards and shift me so that I'm lying across the bed.
"No…" I mutter before another yawn escapes from me and I allow my eyes to drift shut as sleep began to overtake me. "You know how learning works after call duty."
"Yeah. Yeah. I'll be quiet when I have to get up again in… an hour." Tamsin sighs before she sits back down on the bed. "Scoot, Scrubs."
"Why?" I mumble sleepily.
"Because my bed is to far away. And it contains a certain someone who will be extremely grumpy if awoken at this time of night."
A certain…
No…
I blinked open my eyes as a sleepy grin slipped onto my face. "So Ciara spent the night again eh?"
"Are you just going to ask her to move in?" I continue with laughter in my voice. "She's over pretty much every night anyways, even contributes to the bills."
I could hear a small amount of sputtering followed by a small huffing sound and a knee being pressed into by back.
Tamsin really did not like it when I brought up her and Ciara, despite the fact that they have been together for several years, she practically lives with us, and is one of precisely three people who could tolerate Tamsin on a daily basis, the stubborn woman still refuses to do anything about it.
But then again so did Ciara.
I don't think I'm ever going to really understand that relationship.
"Shut up and move over, Hank."
I laugh at the mention of that old nickname.
"Was it the corpse who was named Hank or the guy?" I mumble as I roll over onto the other side of the bed.
"I still don't know and right now I doubt you remember. Now shut up and let me sleep, You're not the one who has to get up in 56 minutes."
I mutter more as I shift over slightly more to give Tamsin the room she needs to get into bed properly.
"We really need to stop hopping in bed with each other." I murmur as I turn onto my side and curl up. I still needed to take a shower I noted when I felt my scrubs against my skin, but it could wait until I got a some more sleep.
"You make it sound like we sleep together every night."
"We do, or we did before I started working at the hospital."
"It was before Katherine actually, before you started dating her was the last time that we did this." Tamsin murmurs.
I'm about to open my mouth and respond that it couldn't have been that long, but just as I'm about to speak I realize that it has been. It really has been that long since she had come into my life during my third year of medical school, since we had started dated during my final year, since she had run off on me without even having the decency to end it properly during my second year of residency.
"I'm sorry."
"Laur,"Tamsin mumbles, her voice thick with drowsiness. "Stop apologizing. It was a long time ago and it isn't your fault."
"But what if it happens again?" I mumble as I glance down at the white gauze pad and the white tape that held it in place over my wrist. "What if this all ends up backfiring on me? What if she isn't the one and I get left again when she does find the person?"
"Then we help you pick up the pieces again. You know we're here for you whenever you need us." Tamsin says with conviction as I feel an arm cross over my waist, holding me lightly. "But seriously you have a mark burned into your wrist, what do you think is going to happen?"
"I find her and then… I don't know?" I shrug, waking up more then I would like. "I guess we try and see if things work? For all I know this could be a completely asexual bond."
"Did she seem ace to you?"
"No."
"Then stop worrying about it. Stop planning scenarios in your head, Scrubs. We need to find her before we can do anything about her, or am I wrong about that?"
I grumble as I shift back into Tamsin more enjoying the feeling of a warm body next to mine for a while. I can feel the arm around my waist squeeze it one more time before the weight is withdrawn and I felt the bed next to me shift as Tamsin turned over. I could feel her back come to press against mine, a content murmur escaping from her mouth.
I couldn't help the yawn that escaped from me in turn. Allowing my eyes to close I reached behind me and pulled a pillow from further up the bed and turned onto my stomach.
I couldn't help but wonder what it would be like if instead of Tamsin next to me it's Bo. If the weight on the other side of the bed and the warmth of the other person belonged to her, the woman I've only met once in passing, as opposed to my best friend.
It's strange to even be thinking that way, for me to be longing for a person I only just met.
But maybe this is that strange pull that everyone always talked about?
The one that tells you that you have met your soulmate.
I can't help but snort in amusement at my own thoughts. The sheer absurdity of the idea was staggering. I sounded like the message that Katherine had left me printed on a piece of the notepaper we had used to leave each other messages. I guess I should consider myself lucky at least she'd had the decency to leave me a handwritten note instead of an e-mail.
Sighing I force myself to burrow further into my pillow and expel Katherine from my thoughts.
There was little point in ruminating over her, and what had happened between us so long ago.
Reaching over I'm about to turn the beside lamp off when I hesitate for a moment as I catch sight of the darkening bandage that's covering my wrist.
Is this the start of a new life or simply the beginning of a painful and fruitless search? Shaking my head I reach over and turn the lights off, plunging my room into darkness.
I yawn as I curl back up with my pillow, allowing the warmth from Tamsin's body and the comfort that my bed provides me to let me drift off to sleep.
That same little ball of light appears in front of me again.
I could see it bouncing up and down before it quickly zooms over and began to circle me again. I smile as I allow it to continue to move excitedly around me.
That's something at least.
"Hi," I whisper as I reach out and try to catch it, almost as if I'm afraid that I'll startle the little ball of light.
I can see it stop in front of my eyes for a few seconds before it zooms out and away from me a little ways quickly coming back and bopping me on the nose again, and once again I smack myself on the forehead in turn. "Is this your way of saying hello or your way of saying you want me to play with you?"
Once again the little ball comes forward and smacks me this time between the eyes before it zooms away a little ways, shaking once again as if it's laughing at me again. This is all a repeat of what had happened to me hours earlier, the first time this little ball of light had come to visit me.
"Are you trying to get me to play tag with you?" I could see the little ball of light move side to side, almost as if it's mimicking the head shake that symbolizes "no". "What do you want then?"
I can see it move up and down again before it takes off into the darkness that surrounds me.
Without even thinking I began to take of after it, running at the highest speed I can manage, my body weak and aching from the painful appearance of my mark. But each time I got closer, each time I thought I would catch up to that funny little ball it zooms further away and escapes my reach again and again. Earlier I had found this funny because it had seemed as if it was trying to play tag with me.
But now it seems as if it's trying to lead me somewhere.
But the only question is where's it going?
I continue to run after it, the only light in all of the darkness that surrounds me. But the only thing I can do s continue to follow it, something pushing me to follow the light. I could feel something beginning to burn, that same sensation that I had felt just before I had collapsed in the hospital.
I'm dreading what could happen next, the burning turning into the cutting, those thousand tiny knives coming to visit me once again. And a few moments later I'm proven right when that incredible pain began to spread through my body.
I can feel my legs collapse out from under me as the pain began to rebound through my body, taking the breath from me when I hit the ground. I could feel the world around me spinning, the darkness all blurring together into a swirling mass. I could feel the knives once again at work, splitting my skin open, forcing it open, and exposing it to the stagnant air of this place.
I move my good hand to try and grip my wrist, to offer some kind of pressure, to try and stop my skin from splitting open once again.
But I could only scream when my hand came into contact with my marked wrist.
Forcing my eyes open for a brief moment I curse as a wave of dizziness and nausea overcame me.
For the briefest of moments before my eyes close I could have sworn that I caught sight of that mischievous and mysterious little ball of light. But I can only close my eyes in an attempt to fight the dizziness and the spinning world that surrounds me.
"Lauren…" A voice whispers, one that is simultaneously familiar and unfamiliar to me.
"Tamsin?" I try to choke out but then it hits me that it couldn't possibly have been Tamsin, this voice has a different timbre, it's lighter yet it's deeper at the same time.
I could feel that same warmth touch on my shoulder, and that same touch that is paradoxically painful and warm in a way that did not exacerbate the pain.
"Bo…" I choke out.
"Dennis," She replies in a low soothing tone.
"Whaa..?" I let out a mumble as I force myself to open my eyes, I could see a blurry shape, a blob of brown that I could only vaguely recognize.
"Bo Dennis." A complete the name. I could almost here the smile in her voice as a hand came to rest on my back. I wince and try to curl up and away from it for the pain that it causes me to be touched.
"Lauren!" A voice calls me, far away and distant, and as much as I would like to respond, as hard as I try to, the only thing I can do is curl further into myself as the pain once again overwhelms me.
The racket that the person, or perhaps people calling my name is causing, and the headache it was giving me is far to much when combined with the pain from my wrist. I could feel the burning once again, the fire trying to burn its way out through my skin.
Why am I in so much pain again?
I've never heard of this happening, of anything like this happening before. I could feel the thing that's resting on my back moving up and down,all I can do in response is scream. Every nerve in my body is on fire, everything hurt in a way that should be impossible.
The knives were back once again, carving away at my skin, slowly opening the wounds deeper and deeper.
Had the entire pattern not filled in when I had gone through this torturous experience the first time around?
With a shock of pain and burning and an internalized sense of horror I realize that it hadn't, that only the black bars that represent the boarder had filled in.
I force myself to try and take a breathe and calm down. I need to breathe because if I don't I'll pass out here, in whatever this place is.
But when I try to breathe the only thing that can escape is a cough.
"Lauren!" The voice call out again, louder this time, and somehow through the haze of pain I force myself to turn in the direction the sound came from. It's strange, I feel like I'm being tugged in two different directions. One telling me to stay here and to stay in this world, and the other pulling me backward
"Lauren," A firm voice call my name again as another surge of pain overcomes me, causing me to clench my eyes shut and for another scream to escape, or at least I think another one escaped from my lips before I succumb to a deeper darkness.
I can feel a strong grip on my wrist and hear a vague shout in the distance, well perhaps up close but I could not make out the words that were being spoken. I want to tell the person who's holding my wrist to let go of it, that they were only causing the pain to become worse.
But when I try to open my eyes or to move my lips the only thing that escapes is a scream as another wave of pain overcame me, as the burning fire trying to escape from me continue unabated. The only thing I can feel is the pressure around my wrist increase as the pressure from within my wrist also increases.
"The gauze you asked for, darling. How is she?" A warm, soft, lightly accented voice murmurs as my hearing began to return slowly.
"I don't know. I can't… can you go get some ice? We need to find a way to stop this bleeding."
"Will applying ice to the wound truly help?"
"Who knows? I'm not Lauren, I'm not a doctor, and it's been awhile since first-aide training."
Were they seriously considering applying ice to my presumably bleeding wrist? I could feel the pain spike again, causing me to clench my teeth and my muscles to tense up.
But it subsides only a few moments later, the heat failing to follow it this time, and I can't help but smile in relief at the feeling of the pain having vanished once again.
Slowly I try to move, trying to turn, only to feel an arm come and wrap around my waist, holding me in place.
"Is she awake?"
"I doubt it. She was shifting earlier, she does this all the time while she's out of it. She can never stay in place for long periods of time."
"You would know would you not?"
"Ciara…"
"I know."
I almost groan. I've heard this argument before between them, Ciara well and truly can be jealous, scarily so, when she wants to be.
Slowly I try to move again, kicking my leg lightly. I can feel it move a little and felt a surge of joy in response.
Slowly I blink open my eyes, or at least try, as I have to close them again a few moments later because of the bright light that is coming from the lamp nearby.
"You awake, Lauren?" Tamsin asks me slowly. I nod my head weakly before I blink open my eyes again.
An exhausted pair of green eyes staring back into my own, worry and nervousness reflecting clearly within them.
"Bo Dennis." I whisper, my voice barely above a croak as my eyes slid closed once again.
"What?"
"Her name is Bo Dennis." I could hear a small chuckle before I felt Tamsin's hand manipulating my wrist.
"I'm going to remove the pressure for a second and I want you to open your eyes okay?"
I nod in response and force my eyes open for a brief second, catching a glimpse of the final mark.
It's still red, raw and bleeding in most places but the patterns were unmistakable.
It looks like Bo's, and although only a computer scan would be able to tell us if we were well and truly the bearers of the other half of the person's mark this is a strong indicator that she's indeed my soulmate because the marks had long ago gotten far too complex for the human eye to distinguish.
And at least I have another piece of information on her.
A last name.
Dennis…
It's a start at least.
A/N: Thank-you so much for taking the time to read this as well as the reviews that everyone has left, they are always welcome and appreciated as well as constructive criticism and ways by which to improve. Thank-you as well for the favourites and the follows. Special thank-you to Echo Galen for Betaing this.