And we are back again with more weird happenings, more pathetic attempts at humour, and more dangerous events. Not much else to say. Oh! If you want to send this story to others who you think may enjoy it, go right ahead! And don't forget to vote on the poll in my profile!
More events, yes. But I am not so sure about dangerous, unless you count my anger as dangerous. But funny is definitely there! :)
Let's get on with the story!
Brenna paced the room worriedly, nibbling her bottom lip as her high heeled feet clapped on the stone. Athos sat back in a chair against a wall watching her travel from one end of the room to the other before finally speaking.
"Will you please sit down?! Pacing is not going to help her." Brenna gave him a dark look before responding.
"Is that an order?" Athos gave a sharp nod and she perched herself at the end of the bed and looked to her seemingly comatose friend, the lump on her temple covered with a simple poultice. She looked back to the musketeers with a questioning look.
"May I ask a question?" They either made a small noise or looked in her general direction to let her know she had their attention. She swiped her tongue over her dry lips, quickly pondering how to form her question, before nodding to herself and saying it.
"Which of you do I take orders from anyway? I mean, I share Athos's name as only a nickname but a name anyway but D'Artagnan is Captain of the musketeers… So I'm a little confused…" They both gave her a grave look and she went quiet, staring at them in return.
"Both." They muttered simultaneously and she sighed but accepted it with a small nod. Shawnee shifted silently and Brenna watched her, looking for any possible sign of her awakening but when nothing else happened, she looked away.
She heard the sound of falling dice and looked to her right to see Chris, Jordan, and Porthos playing some sort of game. She spotted the pile of money in front of Jordan and realized that they were busy gambling to pass the time and felt a weak smile cross her fretful face. She stood and walked over to stand behind Chris and peered down over his shoulder to watch them play. Jordan held his hand over the opening of the cup, shook it and threw the dice on to the table. All four of them stared at the dice intently as they rolled to a stop in front of Chris who then gave a big smile.
Jordan groaned, pressing his face into his hands and reluctantly shoved his pile of coins towards Chris who scooped it up gleefully, pulling it close to him. Porthos watched him approvingly and took a gulp of wine from his cup.
"At this rate lad, you'll take all of our money." Chris looked at him happily.
"You think so? That'd be so cool!" Porthos gave a booming laugh at Chris's exuberance and Jordan watched with a dark look.
"I might win it back you know…" Jordan muttered, pushing his glasses up his nose and scooping up the dice cup once more for another throw. Aramis glanced up from his reading to see him make his throw which was a cause of celebration for Jordan and pain for Chris and Porthos as they were forced to shell out more money back to Jordan once more. Aramis smiled and turned back to his book with a smirk.
"Looks like Jordan is better than you thought Porthos." Porthos sent him a frown and picked up the dice cup and prepared to make a throw when he looked up and just noticed Brenna watching intently.
"Do you want to give it a try Brenna? Whoever gets the highest roll wins." Brenna shook her head in a negative response and turned to settle herself on the edge of the bed once more. She rocked back and forth for a bit before choosing to study her hands, hoping to appease her boredom. She looked around the spacious room to see Athos and D'Artagnan conversing quietly in a corner, Aramis engrossed in his book, and Porthos, Chris, and Jordan well occupied with their dice game. She turned to look at her seemingly comatose friend and sighed, closing her eyes in pain.
A slight groan cut the air and caused everyone to freeze. Everyone turned to stare at the bed, waiting with bated breath. Shawnee shifted again and slowly pushed herself up, leaning heavily on her hands to keep her upright. She looked up, face pale, glasses askew and very confused, but awake at last. Brenna couldn't stop the huge smile from blooming on her face and she grabbed Shawnee in a choking hug.
Shawnee gasped and stiffened instinctively, staring at her with wide, fearful eyes. Brenna just hugged her tighter and spoke. "Thank God you're alright!"
She heard Shawnee cough and looked up to see a strange look on her face, a cross between anger and confusion. They stared at each other for a few minutes before either spoke.
"Two things: First off, let go of me." Brenna pulled away as if she'd been electrocuted. "And secondly, who the hell are you anyway?" Everyone went silent and no moved, simply choosing to stare at the bedridden girl. She shifted uncomfortably under their scrutinizing gazes and pulled the covers up to her chin, trying to hide her head underneath it. Brenna's face was one of complete shock but as she recovered her dignity, her look became blank but her eyes revealed her pain.
"You…You don't remember me? Or… Or any us for that matter?" Shawnee peeked out from the under the covers, peering at Brenna nervously. She slowly lowered the covers and watched her warily, waiting for something to happen. Brenna patted the spot beside her and Shawnee moved from the covers and sat at head of the bed with her legs crossed.
Athos moved a bit closer and stood behind Brenna, watching silently as the two girls tried to stare each other down, unable to find words. Chris and Jordan leaned on their table and watched with bored expressions, waiting to see some sort of action.
"Brenna, I think she's broken." Chris said half heartedly. Brenna broke the staring contest and spun around to look Chris in the eye, who then cringed at the glare he was receiving. She stood up and it looked as if she was trying to burn a hole through the stone wall with the expression on her face.
"I need to take a walk. I'll be right back." Her voice was cold and emotionless and she calmly walked out the chamber door and into the hall. Aramis, being closest to the door, strained his ears to hear what she was doing outside the door. All was silent for a few seconds before all of them jumped almost a foot in the air as a loud crash came from the hall just beyond the door. Brenna gave a furious scream and threw something breakable against the door which shattered instantly.
Aramis shifted away from the door and stood by Porthos at the table, watching the door along with everyone. It creaked open ominously and Brenna stepped through with an air of complete calm and small grin on her face. She returned to her perch on the edge of the bed causing Shawnee to crawl backwards in a fit of panic. But she crawled too far and toppled over the opposite side, choosing to lie on the floor with her legs still hooked on to the bed edge as the shock of falling off set in.
Brenna crawled on her hands and knees over to the edge and stared down at her. Shawnee looked up at her from the floor, blinking owlishly from behind her glasses. Brenna rolled her eyes, reached out a hand to help her up, and began to laugh.
This started a strange reaction that often occurs in tense moments. Once she started to laugh, Chris and Jordan began to join in, not knowing what was so funny but laughter is often infectious among close friends. The musketeers watched the four of them worriedly, wondering what on Earth had they gotten themselves into by agreeing to help them in the first place.
Brenna helped get Shawnee onto her feet, which she couldn't stay on alone with her head sending throbbing spasms of pain through her body with every movement, and got her resettled beside her on the bed. She looked at her strangely before asking the question that was on everyone's mind.
"How much do you remember?" Shawnee paused, pressing the tips of her forefingers together and holding them to her lips in what was thought of as her thinking pose. She tipped her head to the side in a puppy like fashion as she thought long and hard, trying to reach the part of her mind that still seemed like a mess of pure white fog. She gave a sigh of defeat after a few minutes.
"I can't remember a thing about any of this. I remember up to sometime when I was young… Maybe thirteen or fourteen but beyond that, everything's foggy… I'm sorry." She looked at Brenna warily.
"You probably hate me right now…" Brenna shook her head in a negative sign.
"I can't hate you for something you can't control. But I will help you remember. Let's start with some names and go from there. See if you they spark anything in that 'fog' as you called it." Shawnee smiled and nodded, crossing her legs and leaning forward slightly so as not to miss a word.
Brenna began to list off their names resulting in a blank look and another puppy impression. She moved on to the names of the musketeers which got a frown of anger because it still drew a blank in her mind and in a desperate last attempt, she even tried naming her worst enemy and all she got was a shrug. Jordan burst out laughing.
"She's gone completely crazy!" At this Chris joined in the laughing and they just kept going. Brenna only took three long steps towards them and whacked each of them upside the head.
"She is not crazy! It's called amnesia you know and we have to try and help her get her memory back. She's the one who knows the most about this time other than the musketeers themselves!" Shawnee watched all this with a bemused expression.
"Are you sure I'm not just some random crazy psycho who could wake up in the middle of the night and just kill you all in your sleep?" Brenna sighed dramatically.
"Well at least her imagination is intact." Aramis moved towards Shawnee and pushed back her hair to check on the poultice and began to peel it away slowly. She winced with every movement but made no sound. He checked the spot again to make sure the bleeding had stopped and saw that it had crusted over with dried blood.
"She should be fine. It's not bleeding anymore but she may be a bit unsteady on her feet for a bit." Brenna wrapped her arm around Shawnee's shoulder reassuringly.
"Don't worry. If we all work together on this, I'm sure we can get her back together again." Shawnee gave her an affronted look.
"I thought you said I wasn't broken!" Brenna flushed with embarrassment as she remembered that she had said just that and was left with the sound of everyone else's laughter in her ears at her slip.
And that's the end of this chapter! And yes, I know it's kind of lame/extremely dramatic but bare with me and we'll get back to the more interesting stuff soon. I promise! Also, this chapter is dedicated to the following people: IgnotusAngelus, Reader, Lady of the Deep, and jackiez32. Your reviews are much appreciated and are the main reason this story has lasted as long as it has!
Great Chapter! Except I would never scream when I'm angry nor would I throw anything that would break. But this chapter was funny. Now I just have to help Shawnee get her memory back. Anyway, don't forget to vote!!
Also, a really quick question for you all! If you were in Brenna's shoes (having your best friend lose their memory,) what would you do to try and help them remember? Send us your responses through a review and then I'll try and get Brenna to say what she thinks about them!