Time Goes On

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Her eyes just stared at the ceiling. She looked at no one. She spoke to no one. She just sat there, staring at the ceiling. Many of the nurses thought that the shock had been so great that she had lost her mind. But Dr. Johnson knew better.

She was angry. At what, or at whom, he didn't know. But her eyes spoke fathoms of it. Yes, there was pain. Yes, there was sorrow. But her anger topped both emotions.

It wasn't the first time she had lost someone. To be deprived of both her parents, to not have been able to say good-bye, it wasn't a fair thing for a 16 year old to have already dealt with. Her father had died in the war miles away, and Miranda was too late to say anything to her mother.

With great reluctance, he looked into her records and finances. He had to sell most of their belongings to help Miranda's finances to stay in the hospital. Only the things that she needed or that she put her foot down about certain things. Her records said that she had no family over on this side, and Dr. Johnson wouldn't move her now at any point.

Thankfully, Mr. and Mrs. Pevensie had agreed to take her in when she recovered. Unfortunately, that was not happening. Since the tragedy of her mother's death, Miranda had gone into relapses of her heart attacks. Worse still, she was not eating well, and would not recieve visitors.

Finally, Dr. Johnson put his foot down.

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Edmund was the first at the door, and for once, Peter was glad that he wasn't in that position. From what Dr. Johnson had informed them, this was not going to end up pretty.

After all the Pevensies lined up at the door, Edmund gave the doorknob a twist and slowly opened the door.

Miranda didn't seem to notice that they were there. She just stared at the ceiling. Not blinking, not stirring, just looking up at the ceiling.

Peter's eyes glanced around. The room was just like any ordinary hospital room, but Peter noticed the Bible by her bed. It was unopened.

"I thought that I said no visitors," Miranda said, finally acknowledging that they were there. Her voice was empty of all emotion.

"We know that Miranda," Mother began," But..."

"Then why are you here?" she asked, a hard edge coming into her voice. Peter was surprised. It was not like Miranda to be so.... well, he wasn't sure what it was.

"We came because Dr. Johnson said that you were, well, not doing alright," Mother continued, a little slowly.

"I said 'no visitors'," Miranda repeated, this time, her voice sounding a great deal like a growl.

"But Miranda...."

"Get out."

"Miranda," Susan started.

"I said get out," Miranda repeated.

"We're not leaving..."

"GET OUT!!!"

This time, Miranda shouted, and a look of fury crossed her face that Peter had never seen before.

"GET OUT!!!"

Peter's eyes glanced at her monitor. It was pacing very fast.

"Come on!" Peter said to the others urgently.

"But," Mother argued.

"No buts right now Mom. Trust me, please."

The family shuffled out of the room and quickly closed the door.

"I'm sorry," Peter began. "Her monitor was going way too fast though. I didn't want her to get an attack right there."

"Well, what do we do then?" Susan asked. "We have to be back at the house soon."

Peter raised his eyebrows. Normally, Susan would not have waited a second to go back in and sooth her. That she would even ask was... odd. And that she wasn't planning to go back was even stranger.

"I think that only a few of us should go in," Edmund whispered to him. Peter glanced at him, and Edmund's eyes darted towards Lucy. Peter got the message.

"Edmund, Lucy, and I will go in," Peter stated, and he opened the door and walked into the room before anyone else could argue.

Miranda was now lying on her side, her shoulders shaking. Without hesitation, Lucy went forward and sat on the bed beside her, laying her hand on Miranda's shoulder. Miranda started and looked to them. Tears were racing down her cheeks.

"I thought that I said..."

"We're not visitors," said Edmund. "We are your rulers at this point, and you are our subject. To order us out of the room would not be the wisest thing to do."

Miranda gave a short bark of laughter, a small smile coming on her face. But it swiftly vanished.

"Why did you all come back?" Miranda asked. Peter could hear the anguish in her voice.

"To find out what is really going on?" Edmund replied.

"What are you talking about?"

"I saw the anger on your face. I hear the anger in your voice. You feel more angry now than I have ever known you to be before."

Miranda remained silent.

"So, what is wrong?"

Peter saw the answer spring up on her lips, but she quickly suppressed it.

"Nothing."

"You're a sorry liar Miranda," Peter said. "Just as I could never lie to you, you can never lie to me. Now, what is wrong?"

Miranda turned away from him, and Peter was afraid that she wouldn't answer, when she said;

"Why?"

For a moment, no one understood. Then she began again.

"Why did he take them away from me? What have I done to deserve this suffering? I did what he asked me to do. I became the Warrior of Narnia. I served with all that I had. I gave my life for Narnia, for its people, for its rulers. I have accepted his name in two worlds. What have I done that he would take both of my parents away from me?"

She cried during the entire time she spoke, tears steadily pouring down both her cheeks.

So that was it. That was the reason for her anger. For a moment, no one spoke. No one could.

"I don't know why you lost both of your parents," Edmund finally said slowly, "But what I do know is that they both believed and accepted. I also know that Aslan's timing is perfect, and when he calls someone home, they have to come home."

Miranda didn't reply, but kept on crying. Lucy wrapped her arms around Miranda and cried with her. Edmund and Peter soon followed. Crying and praying for strength, they stayed that way a long time. Only when they could cry no more did the Pevensies leave, with promises of coming back the next weekend. And after that weekend, the summer holidays.

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The next month was not an easy month for Miranda. Her anger still needed to be tamed, and eventually, it was. It was getting back to health that wasn't so simple. Her appetite still wasn't the best, and her heart kept skipping beats. But finally, after a solid month, they said that she was healthy enough to get out for awhile.

It was two weeks before she went in again. In those two weeks, she began to notice a change in Susan. She wasn't a part of their Narnian conversations anymore, and she seemed to be wearing a lot more make-up lately. She stopped talking about Narnia altogether, and her gentleness started ebbing away.

Again, two weeks later, she was put back in the hospital. It really wasn't anyones fault but her own. She had decided that she would try out a game of cricket, and had started up her heart rate again. She only spent three days in the hospital that time.

And it was a good thing too. That week, Mr. Pevensie, Mrs. Pevensie, and Susan were off to America.

"Write us soon," Mrs. Pevensie told her with a hug.

Unfortunately, they were not all to stay together. Edmund and Lucy were to go over to their cousin Eustace's house, and Peter and Miranda were taken to Professor Kirke's house for Peter to study and for Miranda to catch up on lost schooling.

"We really have the better end of it," Peter told Miranda, "Eustace is an absolute pin-head."

Within two weeks of their separation, Miranda and Peter recieved a phone call from Edmund and Lucy, telling them that they had been back to Narnia! And Eustace as well. For 4 hours straight, Edmund and Lucy told them about their adventures, about how well Narnia seemed to be with Caspian on the throne, about Caspian and Ramandu's daughter, and about brave Reepicheep.

"Good for Reepicheep," Miranda exclaimed as they told her about his last moments with them. "I knew that the life of a Warrior of Narnia wasn't for him."

"Speaking of which," Edmund said, "Caspian said to tell you that Glenstorm is doing a fine job as the second Warrior. Not as good a job as you did," he said laughing, "but that he has taken the role very seriously."

"What doesn't a centaur take seriously?" Miranda asked. They all laughed.

Miranda went back to the hospital twice more to make sure all was well. It seemed to Dr. Johnson that Miranda would get completely healed after all.

However, one month until school started again, Miranda had an attack. It came suddenly without warning, and the professor and Peter had to rush her over to the hospital. It was then that the condition became so bad that she was bedridden.

But after the schock of the attack left, it seemed like it was just a bad after effect. Dr. Johnson wanted to run a few more tests on her before releasing her again.

It was one week after the attack that Peter recieved a call in the early evening.

"Hello?"

"Yes, may I speak to Peter Pevensie?"

"This is he."

"Hello Peter. This is Dr. Johnson."

"Hello doctor. Is everything alright? Is Miranda ok?"

"Everything seems to be fine Peter, but Miranda just told me that she really needs to talk to you in person. It sounded like she wanted to speak to Edmund and Lucy as well. Is that possible?"

"I'll give them a call and ask them to come right away."

"Thank you Peter. Good-Bye."

"Good-Bye."

As Peter hung up the phone, he wondered what Miranda could want to talk to him about.

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Sorry it's a little short. I'll try to make it up in the next chapters.

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