Chapter Two:
Where Are We?
The smell of grass filled her nostrils as she struggled to regain consciousness, and the rays of the sun warmed the skin on her arms and legs that had been previously chilled from the cool air that seemed to constantly blow from the air conditioning ducts throughout the orphanage in which she lived.
That sunlight feels good on cold skin…Wait a minute! Sunlight!? It was raining just a minute ago. What the heck is going on? Where's Mark?
She moved to get up, but found herself planted firmly on the ground by something heavy lying atop her legs and part of her lower body. Anna craned her neck around to see what had hindered her from achieving her goal of getting up off the ground and almost let loose a scream when she saw it was Mark.
"Oh my god! Mark! Mark, wake up!" She yelled this in earnestness praying to whatever gods there were to let him wake up. She began to struggle to get him off of her, yet her mission was futile. She could not reach around to push him off, and the dead weight was just too much to shake off. Great, now I'm gonna be stuck here until someone just so happens to mosey along and rescue me.
It was not long after she thought this that a creature, which she recognized as a bite bug, swooped down upon her trying to cause her some harm. This time she did let loose a scream and to her surprise, the creature fell to the ground dead. What the hell? There is no way I could have possibly killed that bite bug. Something's not right here...Oh, shit!
Her thoughts became muddled when she looked beyond the dead creature, which looked uglier close up than on the screen at home, and saw what, or rather who, had killed it. It can't be! I must be dreaming! There is just no way in Hell that this can be real! And with those thoughts, she fainted.
The next time she woke, the smell of grass and the gracious warmth of sunlight did not greet her. Instead, the all too clean smell of antiseptics, the comfort of a bed and warmth of a blanket were the first things she noticed. Slowly, her mind began to catch up with her waking body, and she sat bolt upright in the bed she had been occupying as her eyes darted open, and a sharp gasp escaped from her mouth.
Her eyes drank in the things around her. The white walls, the bed she currently sat in, the machines that surrounded the curtain "walls" that kept track of vital signs. She was in some kind of hospital, that much she knew, but where?
"Oh, you're awake. Good. Now, I'll discharge you after you answer a few questions for me," said the woman in a white coat, whom Anna took to be the doctor.
"Now, how many fingers am I holding up?"
"Three," Anna said. Why does she look so familiar to me?
"Good, now, what is your name? First, middle, and last, please."
"Anna Nicole McKenzie."
"Alright, then, only one more then you can go see the Headmaster."
"O.K., ask away."
"What on earth were you doing outside the Garden walls without a weapon?"
"Huh?!" Anna was confused. Garden? Then that must mean that this is Dr. Kadowaki and that means that I'm...I'm...Oh hell no!! It's not possible! "Doctor, where am I?"
"I asked her the same question," a voice said to the left of the doctor.
"Mark! You're okay!"
"Yeah, what would make you think I wasn't?"
Anna jumped out of the bed and ran toward him. She grabbed hold of him and hugged him as if she would never let him go again.
"Umm...Anna...I can't...breathe," he choked out.
She blushed crimson, "Oh, yeah...hehe...sorry."
"It's okay. Look, Dr. Kadowaki. I've already been to see Headmaster Cid and he says there is no need for Anna to have to come too. I've already explained everything to him."
"Very well, Mr. Latham, but I don't ever want to have to see you two in here again for going off without weapons. It was a stupid thing to do. Hmpf!" She said as she stalked off to her office. "Oh and ,Miss McKenzie, you're free to go."
"Thank you, doctor, for your care." Anna then turned to Mark, "Where are we?"
"I'm surprised you haven't figured it out yet. We're in Balamb Garden."
"That's impossible, Mark. We were only just sitting in the living room playing Final Fantasy VIII. How in the hell can we be at Balamb Garden?"
"Well apparently Zell Dincht spotted us lying on the ground and when he saw the bite bug hovering over us and heard you scream, he killed it and he and Quistis brought us back to Garden."
Holy crap! So it was Zell I saw! I must be dreaming! She pinched herself, and pain shot through the place she had inflicted the pain on. Nope, not dreaming. Damn that hurt.
"Umm...Mark?"
"Hmm?"
"How did we get here?"
Mark thought for a moment before replying, "I honestly don't know."
Oh, great. We don't know how we got here, so how do we figure out how to get back?
