Mindoir 2170
When next I come to there are voices all around me and I feel myself being held in someone's arms, they're strong and warm. I blink up to the face which even in my stupor I can tell is human, dark skinned with warm eyes. His voice reassures me as we enter a shuttle and take off. He places me gently in a cot where I'm attended to. I'm treated to warm blankets, cooling ointment for my burns, painkillers for my wounds and eventually I fall under again.
I awake to find myself in a bed in an unfamiliar room and light snoring to my right. The man that saved me is asleep in a chair next to my bedside and I recognize the room as a hospital, though a far nicer hospital than anything I've seen on Mindoir. Mindoir, my home, my family, it's all gone. My heart starts pounding and I can hear the beeping of the monitor. A lady rushes in and tries to console me, waking the stranger next to me.
"It's okay child, you're safe here. No one is going to hurt you," The man says, resting his hand reassuringly on my shoulder.
They mistake my heartbeat rising from fear, it isn't. I know I'm safe, I know they won't hurt me. It's racing because the memories of it all come flooding back, the realization that I am alone in the world, and that a part of my heart is missing. The part where my brother used to be. I feel empty. I don't react to them, or acknowledge their empty words. People don't understand, they try to but in the end it doesn't help. What people really need is for them to just listen and be there, no empty consoling words, no faked understanding, no "it'll be okay". Just listen.
I don't know how much time passes by before I realize the nurse is gone and it's quiet again. I blink back to reality and turn to the chair at my bedside where the man still sits reading a data pad.
"Why are you here?" I manage to croak out, my voice rough from the smoke I inhaled and from disuse.
"I'm David Anderson," He answers, a smile lighting his face.
I frown and repeat the question.
"I want to be here," He says.
"Why?" I ask.
"You need someone to be there for you. I'll be frank with you, I have no idea what you went through. What I do know is that if you were strong enough to make it through that, I believe you'll be able to make it through this," He says, leaning forward in the chair.
His answer surprises me and I fumble to find an answer and come up empty, instead I ask about him.
The rest of the day goes by as I'm repeatedly checked on, tested, prodded, fed and coddled. But Anderson remains there even after nightfall, he tells me all about his missions and adventures until my eyes start to droop and he tucks me in whispering a goodnight before turning the light off.