Chapter 7: Realization

Tears continued to stream down her face. Her breath hitched in her throat as soon as she heard Aro speak. Her nose ran like a fountain and she tried to wipe it away using her hand, but it was no use. Her nose blocked itself and she soon found herself unable to breathe through her nose.

"Mia cara, how was your trip back home? Uninteresting, I presume," Aro said, his voice sounding thrilled by Maia calling him presumably.

Maia smiled softly at that. She sniffed, trying to get air in her lungs, and instead took a deep breath as she tried to choke out a response. She didn't realize that her voice was higher pitched than it normally was until after she spoke.

"The plane ride was… fine."

"Is there something wrong? You sound like you're crying."

Maia let out a small laugh which sounded more like a sob than anything. Her breaths were still coming out uneven as she tried to compose herself enough to talk . Of course, the one thing that she was going to say scared her more, and sounded like she was overreacting. Hey, I think my mom might want to do something that would harm me. I don't think I'm safe.

"Yeah, something happened that probably made me overreact, but I think I'm fine." Maia tried to explain vaguely, hoping that she wouldn't scare them or make them come to Colorado with their guards or something. That was the last thing she really wanted.

"What happened?"

"It's nothing. I'm probably overreacting, but I should have known that I'd be in trouble as soon as I stepped off the plane. Look, granted it's probably my fault that I never exactly told my mom ahead of time, but I wasn't expecting to go to Italy at all."

"Did she do anything to you that harmed you in any way?"

"She slapped me. Now, I feel like this was worse than it originally was. I feel like I'm not safe anymore…" Maia explained breathlessly.

"Are you serious?! Her parents are abusing our mate!" She heard someone say which sounded a lot like Caius.

Maia hurriedly explained, "I'm not being abused. It's fine. It was just a misunderstanding and besides, my mom does it to me everytime I do something wrong."

There was a brief pause before Aro explained,

"That's called being abused. Tesoro, just because you're not getting physically abused, but parents making you feel unwanted, calling you names and making you seem 'less' than what you're worth is considered emotional abuse. I've seen it all through your memories on how your parents have always done that to you."

"Oh."

Maia thought back all the times that her parents were never really there for her. Her parents normally left her alone when she was having issues at school. It was always strange that her parents always yelled at her for asking questions or simply even for breathing too loud. Her parents never made sure that she was truly okay, and they always criticised and belittled her for making even a simple mistake. Their words had always made her upset.

She must not have responded quickly before Aro asked,

"Are you okay?"

Without thinking, Maia quickly answered the one thing that was on her mind.

"I have to go."

Maia hung up the phone call, before Aro could say one more word. She put her phone down next to her as she stared at the wall, comprehending what was just said. It made sense that her family was different from other parents. Sure, her parents had always supported what she wanted to do and was always there when she wanted to do something. Realistically, her family didn't like emotions nor did they like anything that had to deal with imperfection.

It was just odd, but maybe-they were just overreacting to it. She wasn't being abused, was she?

…

The days passed without anything exciting happening. Maia's phone kept blowing up with texts, calls and voicemails which she happily ignored. It made her question at times, every time she saw their names on screen as she just swiped getting rid of the notifications. It wasn't the fact that she was mad at them, it was just the fact that she had no idea what to say.

She needed time to think and luckily school brought a distraction. She soon found her workload increased than it was before break. Of course, it didn't help on the fact that she was going to be missing a couple of days of school if not more, and she wanted to get her schoolwork done before that.

Currently, Maia found herself in the cafeteria surrounded by a bunch of seniors and juniors who had this period as off. Papers were sprawled next to her as she looked through the ones for College Algebra and her work in getting the correct answer. The sound of a backpack hitting the hardwood floor made her pause and look up. Her brown eyes looked up and saw the familiar dark green jacket that was probably a size or two bigger and she instantly knew who it was.

Kya.

"Hey," She said, returning her attention back to her school work at hand. "How was your break?"

"It was fine," Kya responded. Maia saw movement from her peripheral vision coming from the front pocket of Kya's jacket and she saw her remove a black case that was shaped like a phone out of her pocket. She instantly knew what Kya was doing.

"Greg… Are you awake?" She heard Kya say.

She tried to tune out what Kya was saying, but it was impossible. Her friend was right there, sitting next to her while speaking loudly. As much as she wanted to tell her that Kya was being a little too inconsiderate right now. Instead, she simply put away the papers and mentally made a note to do it later, if she remembered it.

She looked over at Greg and Kya who looked like they were in deep conversation. She felt the urge to ask Kya a question, but it looked like she wasn't going to notice her anytime soon. Kya never noticed anything unless she wasn't occupied by something or well, a certain someone.

"I'll be right back," Maia murmured as she grabbed her bag and went out of the cafeteria. She looked back behind her shoulder, hoping that maybe Kya would have noticed her absence, but Kya was too focused on Greg to even pay attention.

This was just like her too. Sometimes, she wondered how even her and Kya were still even friends. Their relationship wasn't what it used to be, and now that they were both older and more mature, perhaps their relationship was more strained. SInce Maia had entered her freshman year, Kya just wasn't the same. She was really focused on her boyfriend which turned out to be Chris which was a little awkward at times.

Now it seemed that Kya was more focused on her boyfriend instead of on their friendship. Maia sighed in frustration as she walked through the empty, quiet hallways that belonged to her school. She passed a couple of other students, and passed the principal without question as she found the bench that was next to the staircase. Why it was like that made no sense, but she wasn't complaining.

She sat down and pulled out her phone and noticed a few notifications from them.

Darling, call us Marcus texted. She rolled her eyes and looked through several other text messages from them. Right now she just wanted space and sending her multiple calls, voice mails, messages saying loving things, and asking her to get back to them, just wasn't it.

It was just a little too much.

Instead, she pulled up the text messages from Marcus and wrote one simple thing.

Look I'm not upset with you three. It's just right now, I need some space and time to think.

Marcus immediately texted her back.

I understand.

…

Wednesday quickly arrived and Maia found herself playing with a random paperclip she found, trying to ease her nerves. Her fingers twisted the metal paperclip as thought about the fact that this was already the second time doing this and just relationship problems.

She should be happy that after months of waiting, and months of agonizing pain-she was finally getting them out. She could still remember when she noticed something was off when her cheek was sending stabbing pain while she was typing something on her computer. There were some days where she had to stop because the pain was just a little too much for her to bear.

Of course, there were also days where she had a lot of pain from her wisdom teeth. They prevented her from opening her jaw and chewing just caused her so much pain. She hated those days as all she was practically stuck with eating applesauce-something that she could just swallow.

Time was ticking nearer and nearer when it was time to leave her house and head to the hospital. In order to distract herself, Maia checked her phone which was sitting on her bed innocently, hoping there were messages, phone calls or even voicemails, but there was nothing. She expected maybe one text from them, but it was like they took her words so literally that they would no longer talk to her.

She didn't had time to dwell further as her mom interrupted her thoughts,

"Maia!" Her mother yelled.

"Coming!"

Maia quickly put on her windbreaker and tennis shoes which were right by the door. She took a second to glance at her phone, debating whether or not to grab it but decided against it. She ran through the hallway, into the kitchen and then out the front door and got into the car. Her mom was already waiting, and the engine was already on.

Once she put on her seatbelt, they left the house and headed to the hospital.

The long didn't seem that long. It was probably thirty minutes tops as traffic on the highway was nonexistent. The sun was shining briefly before clouds started covering the blue sky. It briefly poured rain while they were in the middle of downtown, getting stuck at various red lights, but they eventually arrived at the hospital.

There were no parking spots in front of the hospital, so they parked in the garage-almost on the very top floor. They walked down the parking garage and got closer to the front doors of the hospital where Maia noticed that there was no one coming in or out of the hospital. Her brown eyes widened a little bit as she realized where she was at, and that there was no turning back now.

They walk through the practically empty hospital, with the only people there were just the reception people. No one was sitting in the uncomfortable, black chairs. They quickly saw the reception desk, and approached it.

The receptionist was a white woman with her brown hair in a bun, with her fingers posed on the keyboard-ready to start typing.

"Patient name?" The receptionist asked.

"Maia Harris," Her mom responded.

"Birthday?"

"December 7th, 1988," Maia responded.

They finished checking in with the receptionist. The receptionist gave Maia two matching, white bracelets-one on each wrist, that revealed who she was and that she was a patient at the hospital. The receptionist told them to go up to the second floor and the second door on the left.

Maia and her family passed through the empty hallways of the hospital. Their footsteps echoing on the hardwood floor as they tried to find the elevator to go up to the second floor.

They eventually got up the second floor and walked across the hallway trying to find the door that the receptionist mentioned. Her dad was the first one to notice the door that was open. The waiting room was also empty save for the receptionist who was busy typing on the computer. They entered the room, and checked in with the other receptionist who told them to sit in a chair while she told them that they were there.

There was no noise whatsoever in the waiting room besides the typing of the computer, the continuous clicking of a mouse and the noise of the printer printing out paperwork. No one was checking and no one was coming out save for a nurse wheeling a girl in the wheelchair, with a jaw strap that was stuffed with ice, down the hallway.

They didn't bother to talk as they sat in the waiting room for what seemed to be hours, which was only about forty-five minutes before a nurse finally called them inside or well specifically, Maia. The nurse pointed her to the scale and she got the hint. She was also asked when she last ate and drank (last night), how tall she was and all that before she was guided into the pre-op room.

"Remove your clothes, save for your panties, and put on the gown. Make sure to put them in the bag along with your shoes. I'll close the curtain so you could have privacy and once you're done, I'll bring your parents in," The nurse explained.

Maia nodded. She quickly stripped off her clothes and put on the blue gown that was probably a size or two bigger on her. The sleeves went to her wrists and the end of the gown didn't stop until the middle of her shinbone.

She quickly got into the bed and covered herself up with the warm, brown blanket. After a couple of minutes, the nurse came back and asked if she was good.

"Yes," she responded back.

The nurse swung back the curtain and brought in her parents while the nurse went back out before coming back in.

She started asking questions about her health, if she had any allergies. Once she was done with that, she came over to Maia on her left side and asked her what side she wanted the IV on.

"Left."

The nurse looked at her arm, looking at her veins. There was the crook of the elbow that was simple or the hand which because her veins in her hands were popping out, probably made it simple.

"Do you want it in your hand or the crook of the elbow?" The nurse asked.

"Elbow."

The nurse didn't respond. Instead, she pulled out the tourniquet and tied it around her arm, cutting off the blood flow.

"Alright. I'm going to put in your IV. You'll feel a little pinch at first as this is just numbing stuff then I'll put the cartherator in."

True to her word, Maia felt a small pinch in the base of her arm. She looked away, tasting a metallic taste in her mouth that wasn't there before. She didn't even notice that the nurse already put in the cannula until she was already taping it in place.

"Call me if you need anything."

The nurse left. Her parents were half distracted by their phones as she just watched nurses go by at times. There really wasn't anything to do until the surgeon and the anesthesiologist did their pre-op rounds and introduced themselves to Maia and her parents.

"Now for the longest part," Maia murmured to herself.

It wasn't really that long as only a couple of minutes had passed before the surgeon showed up. He was dressed in a blue surgical gown along with a scrub cap and a matching mask.

"Back again for round two," he joked, taking a look at his clipboard.

Maia cracked a smile at the lame joke and in a way, it was. It wasn't her fault that it was like that. It was merely her teeth and the dentist that did it. At the time, her bottom teeth had come in and were horizontal with one of them pushing on her second molar. Her tops hadn't come in yet nor did they look like they were, until months later.

"We couldn't just remove the top ones at the same time, we did your bottoms," the surgeon sighed.

"Blame the dentist," she quipped.

He simply ignored what she said and got straight to the point. The medications were practically the same as last time, save for the heavy meds which were replaced by something other than the opioids they prescribed her the first time. The procedure was only going to take twenty minutes which was shorter than what she was expecting.

"Any questions?" He asked.

"No," Her mom answered for her. She was curious about one thing about when she could play her flute again, but it wasn't really an important question.

The surgeon then left the room. Maia turned her attention on her hangnails on her fingers. She was picking at them which were causing them to sting as she tried to rip them. She stopped once one started to bleed a little.

She looked up, trying to think of something else to do in the meantime of waiting. Instead, she saw the anesthesiologist standing in the doorway, smiling.

He came inside the pre-op room and went to her dad side first saying,

"Hi, I'm Dr. Willberry, I'll be the anaesthetist and you are?"

Her dad shook his hand and answered, "Walt."

He than went to her mom's side and repeated the question to her. Her mom replied back to her name and approached Maia with the same question. He extended his hand and she reluctantly shook it.

"It's nice to meet you all. Like I said, I'm the anaesthetist and I'll be taking care of Maia during her procedure," he said, "How do you react well with anesthesia?"

"I was awake."

Seeing the confused look on the anaesthetist, she quickly explained, "I was put under, but afterwards when I woke up I was aware and alert."

He simply nodded in response before he continued on, "The thing with teenagers is that they often take a while to wake up," he explained. "Do you have any questions?"

Maia shook her head no.

"Great! I'll see you in a little bit."

The anatheslogist left the room, leaving Maia and her parents in the same position as they were before pre-op meetings. There was silence in the air before her dad broke the silence.

"That was quick," her dad commented. He looked up at the board that had all of Maia's information on who the surgeon, the anesthesiologist and what time her surgery was. "Huh, the time is wrong."

"Sure is," Her mom said, looking at it.

Maia looked at it, but didn't say anything.

Time passed slowly as she tried to make conversation, just to pass the time. She sort of regretted not bringing her phone as there was no source of entertainment, but she dealt with it for a good fifteen minutes before the nurse came in.

"Alright. It's to head in. Pit anything you have on you to your parents before you leave," the nurse said on her left side, moving the IV and unbreaking the wheels on the hospital bed. "Time to say bye to your parents for right now. We'll come and get you once she is awake," the nurse replied over her shoulder.

It was quiet as the nurse wheeled her to the OR. There were a lot of twists and turns that reminded her of the castle back in Italy until they got to a set of doors.

"Alright, it's going to be chilly. Let me know if you want a blanket here."

"Okay."

The air was drastically different here than it was in the hallway. It was a lot chiller and almost felt like the AC was cranked up a little too much. It slightly reminded her how cold the skin of Aro's was and what it felt like in Forks.

"Do you want a blanket?" The nurse asked, stopping briefly, right beside the sterilized blankets.

"I'm good."

"Okay."

The nurse pushed the bed and Maia soon found herself in the OR. It was white, with machines everywhere along with nurses, the surgeon and the anaesthetist.

The bed stopped right next to the surgerical bed and Maia scooted herself right over. She scooted herself upwards to where the pillow was and stared up at the ceiling.

While the nurses were busy attaching the heart monitors all over her arms, torso and collarbone area, the anaesthetist was asking her questions, trying to make her relax.

"What do you like to do?" Dr. Willberry asked.

Maia thought about it and replied,

"Mmm, play my flute."

"How long have you been playing it?"

Maia thought back to when she started first playing it back in fifth grade and now she was a junior.

"Like six or seven years," she responded.

Willberry than placed anaesthesia mask, placing it tightly on her nose and mouth. It almost felt like her nose was going to brrak by the amount of pressure there was. It smelled like a new beach ball which was sort of pleasant.

In and out, she told herself. It was going to be okay.

She took several breaths through the mask before the anaesthetist said,

"Alright, here comes the good stuff. Just keep breathing in."

Maia breathed through the mask. She found herself on cloud nine for a couple of seconds while she blinked. On the fourth blink, her eyelids became heavy and closed her eyes for just one second.

And she knew no more.

I'm pretty sure we know by now that by weeks turned into month. I'm back in school, but I have a little more time on my hands so I should be able to write more. Either next chapter or the one after that is when we'll see the kings again. Drop a review and let me know what you think!