Chapter 10

Waking up

I woke up in a room with lots of sunlight. I sat up and saw a bunch of cards. Picking up one close to me, I opened it.

Dear Cocoa, I hope your Nimble Fire calms down soon. Hopper

Nimble Fire? What's that? I saw that I had wires and tubes coming out of me. The nightdress wasn't mine or made of normal cloth. Where was I? Daddy was sleeping on a couch.

"Daddy, Daddy, wake up. Wake up. Where are we? Daddy." I tossed some teddy bears at him.

"Wha? Cocoa, stop... Cocoa, you woke up!" Daddy woke up and he hugged me. The wires and tubes made it awkward.

"Where are we?" I asked.

"In the hospital. Your Nimble Fire started. It makes sure we don't get burned and you'll get fire powers. Are you hungry?" Daddy looked outside for something.

"How long was I asleep?" I opened more cards to read. I hope you get better, Miss you, Happy Thanksgiving. Happy Thanksgiving? I slept though Thanksgiving.

"It's almost Christmas. Oh, the doctor's here." Daddy let him in. He checked me over and said I needed food. I got the biggest hamburger I ever saw. I couldn't finish it all so Daddy helped me. Uncle Badwolf and Auntie Red came after my breakfast. They brought more cards from the Hoods and Wolves. They all said pretty much the same thing. They wanted to meet me and they were sorry about what Grimm did to me. Cedar made me a little statue of Lucia out of clay.

"I wanna see Lucia." I petted the statue.

"She misses you. I gave her a ratty shirt to sleep with. It had a bunch of holes." Daddy said. I nodded, that was my only shirt for awhile until Grimm decided to give me my other ones.

"She can have it." I told him. Daddy's phone rang. He went in the bathroom.

"Hello? Oh, hi, Jane. You want to see her? Yeah, she woke up. Uh, maybe bring them later. She hasn't met any of you. Yeah, flowers are fine. Mom's coming too? Right now? I, hi, Mom. Yes, Cocoa woke up. No, she's not allergic to anything. Don't bring her cake. You're not bringing an entire cake. It's in the car, that's great. I'm not sassing you. Ok, love you, too. Bye." Daddy came back out.

"Is your sister and mom coming?" Uncle Badwolf asked.

"Yeah. You're going to have to leave soon. Jazz saw Cerise and Cocoa at lunch. She's a junior, too. Jack Junior as well. Besides, Mom doesn't like me hanging out with a villain." Daddy punched his arm.

"Haha. Get better, chocolate bean. You stay out of trouble, Jack. If I have to bail you out again..." He chuckled.

"How was I suppose know the punch was drugged?" Daddy huffed indignantly.

"You watch the others, dumby. They look like they tripping, don't drink it. I swear, you'd be so lost without me." Uncle Badwolf exaggerated a sigh and looked at Auntie Red.

"You thought there were bugs in your clothes and ran around naked. Didn't he try to fight a horse and it ended up taking him back to the police?" She asked her husband.

"Ok, enough. Don't do what Daddy did, ok, Cocoa-bear." He waved his hands in the air like he could get rid of it.

"Ok. Bye-bye, Uncle Badwolf." I waved.

"Right. See you later, Red." He kissed Auntie on the cheek and left. She let me help clean out her basket and I found some Crownie (like their McDonald's) toys. I got to keep them. Daddy picked up my teddy bears. Then my new Grandma and aunt came. Grandma had graying tan hair and dark green eyes like Daddy's. Aunt Jane had bright blond hair and blue sparkly eyes. The cake looked like chocolate.

"Gimme." I grabbed at the cake.

"Someone heard about the cake. Here you go." Grandma gave me the cake and a fork.

"Not too much, Cocoa." Daddy said.

"The kids are back home. If she feels better, I can bring them later. I'm Jane." She waved to me.

"Hi." I said between bites.

"We'll see how she feels. The Fire could still flare up. And we don't know what her powers are yet." Daddy was worrying himself.

"Jack, calm down. She just woke up today. You didn't get to use your powers until you were 7." Grandma told him.

"Mmm, cake." I licked my fork.

"No more, Cocoa." Daddy took away my cake. I whinned. Auntie Red patted my hand.

"Red? I didn't notice you there. How've you been?" Aunt Jane asked Auntie Red.

"I'm good. Cerise wanted me to make you guys some cookies. For Cocoa. Here. I have to get back home." She said, getting up.

"Bye-bye." I waved.

"We'll see you later." Daddy told her and she left.

I talked with Grandma and Aunt Jane. Grandma made quilts and toys. She lived a couple miles from Daddy's house. Aunt Jane lived farther away. She was a maid. They talked with Daddy, too. They didn't get to see him in a while. He stayed here, waiting for me to wake up. We ate lunch then Grandma wanted to go home before rush hour started again. Raven sent me a basket of charms that did different things. I had to spend Christmas in the hospital. Aunt Jane wasn't able to come see me, but she sent a card. Daddy took me for a walk around the hospital and it started snowing. I got to go chase some snowflakes until I got tired. Then we went back to my room and the doctor got mad. In January, I got let out. They would let me graduate next year when I could make up the months I lost because of the Fire. I finished the year alright. The trail was next year after I graduated. I didn't know when I graduated. I was a special case.

When school let out for the summer, Daddy took me to my new home, a two-story cottage. I chose to sleep near his room, across the hall and towards the end of the hall. Daddy's room was in the middle of the hall. My room was nice size and had a good amount of sun. The bed was far from the sky-facing window and close to the door. I had a basic desk and a window seat on the right of my desk. The window seat was big enough for me to sit in, which was good. We found a place for Mr. Dragon and my teddy bears: an old toy box and put it under the normal window. Mr. Dragon and the wagon sat next to it. I had three dressers, one on the left of my desk, one to the right of my bed, and one the left of the sky-facing window. Daddy added a bookshelf to the last empty corner of my room, in the space between my normal window and my window seat. I liked my room.

We watched TV and trained. I was getting stronger because of training. I ran, lifted weights, and did all sorts of exercises. He wanted me to be able to jump over the candlestick or a fire pit if I had to be the next Jack, but he let me eat all the junk food I wanted so I was happy. Sometimes, I napped in Daddy's room after a really hard day. He didn't mind. We had to house train Lucia. We got her a couple litter boxes. She liked to climb on my bed. We also trained her not to tear apart my teddies and got her own toys. Poppa Bear taught her to stay awake during daytime. Daddy had to skunkproof the house and teach her not to bite or chew. I had to keep my room clean or Lucia would take my clothes. It turns out she's two years old. We had a time out bin for her in case she misbehaved and a room for her to stay in when we had to leave. Lucia met Auntie Red and everyone, but I wasn't there. I was at Raven's castle for a sleepover. Daddy said she did good. I still don't know why my candle necklace glowed at the hospital when we visited Uncle Badwolf, but maybe I'll find out soon.

That's it for The writer at Ever After High, but there will be a sequel. Thanks for reading.