The Forgotten Land of Myria

ROY

I had a few dreams while I was unconscious from the accident but other than that, blackness. Blurs, voices, colors. That’s all I remembered seeing. My eyes opened a few times but I couldn’t make anything out that was going on and I would fall back out. Sirens. Blaring sirens coming and going, and distant voices, familiar voices, calling my name. I was out for what seemed like forever until I finally came to my senses for real.

I looked around. I was in a green painted room, laying on a bed that felt as hard as stone and creaked more the Ms. Bournehaut’s rocking chair. My eyes were still a little slow. I tried to pull my upper body up, but found myself dizzy, my head spinning as I fell back on the pillow in the bed, pressing the palm of my hand against my forehead in pain.

‘’Easy,’’ a voice said.

A woman, about twenty-five-years-old, was perched on a small chair next to the bed reading a magazine. She leaned towards me, looking straight into my eyes, speaking in a soothing voice. Next to my pillow was a stand holding a pouch of water with tube that ran down into my forearm. A serum.

I grunted.

‘’You’re in Mater Private Hospital,’’ she said. ‘’Don’t worry. We’ve contacted your legal guardian and she’ll be here soon.’’

I felt heavier than ever and I realized my muscles were sore. I was a little frightened by everything that was going on.

‘’What am I doing here?’’ I asked nervously. ‘’H--how did I get here?’’

The lady smiled, gently taking a plastic container from a microwave oven by the wall. She plucked a spoon out and opened the container.

‘’Here,’’ she said. ‘’It’s hot soup. Eat some.’’

She helped me sit up, adjusting my pillows as I sipped the soup through a pair of dry lips. It was delicious, but somewhat sweet, not like regular soup. My eyes brightened.

‘’ Slow down,’’ she said. ‘’Don’t eat too fast. You’re still recovering.’’

I paused and took a deep breath. I looked down at myself and realized I was shirtless and drenched in sweat. My right arm was completely covered in adhesive tape with gauze and cotton under it. Only now did I realize how much it hurt. I felt a stinging pain and I flinched nearly dropping my soup. The lady quickly set the bowl on the table and came to my aid with a small needle. She applied it near my wrist.

‘’This will numb the pain.’’

It felt like ants were crawling under my skin and after a while I could barely feel anything in my arm. My whole right-hand side was rigid, so I had to focus hard on the soup bowl to continue eating.

‘’You’ve been out for about four hours,’’ she said. ‘’You were a victim of the biggest natural disaster ever to have hit Brisbane. An international research team still hasn’t been able to detect exactly what it was, but it seems like some type of whirlpool.’’

She pointed towards a small TV screen in the hospital room broadcasting the events. It came back to me. The huge wave, the mysterious creature. Ben. I’d seen him disappear under the wave. What about Ben?

“A rescue team found you near the shore,’’ she continued, “You were covered in blood, hemorrhaging, and unconscious. If they hadn’t found you in time you probably wouldn’t have made it out alive.’’

I was petrified. I don’t think the lady realized that such heavy information isn’t really recommended for someone who’s just woken up from a freak accident. And what about Ben?

‘’Excuse me,’’ I began. ‘’What else do you know about the attack? Was there anyone else? My friend Ben...’’

She looked down, but before she could say anything, Ms. Bournehaut barged in. She tried to remain calm, but she wasn’t doing such a good job. However, like always, she looked more disappointed, as if the whole thing was a heavy burden on her, than actually worried. She heartlessly walked up to me, lips pursed and mustache twitching (even the nurse noticed it).

‘’That was the last straw. I want you out of the foster home as soon as you’re up... and ready to continue being a foolish delinquent.’’

She turned, with her fat hands behind her back and gazed around the room. The nurse and I exchanged looks, but I shrugged as if to tell her I was used to it. Nowadays, the only thing that really bothered me about the Boarhound was her mustache. Honestly, someone needed to tell her about that thing.

‘’I brought Alfie along, too,’’ she said. ‘’He’s going to spend the night with you.’’

Alfie Black crept in, sticking his black-haired head through the hospital door with his usual warm smile.

Alfie was the kind of guy that always wore masks. You could never tell how he really felt since he always seemed to keep his calm in every possible situation. In fact, I don’t remember a single time where he lost it, or got angry, frustrated, or scared about anything. He always managed to look okay.

He came to meet me, patting my shoulder which was still a little sore.

‘’Told you I’d be the first to know,’’ he said, as he plopped on the nurse’s chair next to me, which she didn’t like one bit.

When he still lived in the foster home, Alfie would sometimes spend the entire weekend on the couch, eating junk food and watching TV. Whenever I made fun of him for being lazy or overweight, and questioned him for watching too much TV, he would respond playfully, saying, ‘’If anything ever happens to you, I’ll be the first to know.’’

So here he was, smiling a treacherous smile, as he asked me tons of questions about the accident. Ms. Bournehaut paced the room, listening to my story and scoffing every now and then in disbelief. A few minutes later the door opened again and this time my cheeks flushed in relief. In through the door walked Jenna, shyly behind her, was Ben. He knew exactly what I was going to ask him –before I could say anything he raised his eyebrows the way he usually does when he wants me to be quiet about something.

‘’Hey, Turd,’’ Jenna said, completely unaware. ‘’Got beat up too bad this time?’’

My lips curled and I tried not to laugh at the series of jokes Jenna made, because laughing made me wince in pain. I heard the door close behind me and realized Ms. Bournehaut and the nurse had left the room, which meant it was safe to be myself now. Ben leaned over me with a stern face, examining my wounds.

‘’You’re lucky you survived,’’ he said casually.

‘’Are you kidding me? Look who’s talking!’’ I said. ‘’I mean--I saw you getting taken by the wave... and why is everyone saying I’m the only survivor in the crash? What about you?’’

‘’Me?’’ he said. ‘’What about me? I wasn’t there, remember?’’

He winked, and Jenna and Alfie chuckled, nodding in unison. I couldn’t help but smile. Ben never liked getting any attention so this made sense.

Alfie had already positioned himself in the nurse’s chair, so Jenna and Ben unloaded on the small couch near my bed as we talked and I told them some details about what I remembered. They told me that they didn’t bring Alice to spare her, because they thought it would be too much for her to handle. I agreed, even though, at the moment, she would have been the best person for me to be with.

Every now and then a nurse would walk in to run some diagnostics, check my blood pressure give me some medicine or feed me some more sweet soup. Throughout the day, I received visits from friends and neighbors. After about two hours, a man walked in the room who I figured must be the doctor assigned to me. He was carrying a clipboard with some paperwork.

‘’Good morning,’’ he said. ‘’I’m Dr. Lee.’’ He looked at Ben and Jenna, a bit confused. ‘’ May I speak to the legal guardian?’’

They both looked at each other and back at the doctor, who nodded his head, understanding that the Boarhound wouldn’t want anything to do with this.

He then began to explain what had happened, what caused me to pass out, concussion, and whatnot, and a bunch of other scientific names that made my head hurt. He explained the shock of forces when I had leapt out of the waves into the water had pulled a muscle in my arm and fractured my elbow joint. I guess I didn’t feel it from the adrenaline but according to the doctor, the wave was around 50-feet tall, and jumping from the tip of the wave into the water should’ve caused much more severe damage.

After giving us some brief details and conclusions, Dr. Lee then invited Ben and Jenna to step outside, realizing that Alfie’s full attention was focused on the small TV screen hanging from the ceiling. I guess there was something he needed to tell them that I couldn’t know. This made me angry. I hated not knowing things or not being part of things.

I tried to make out what they were saying through a window next to the door. Dr. Lee formed a strict almost unreadable expression but I could tell he was giving out serious information. Every now and the then Jenna would gasp or cover her mouth while Ben pursed his lips and lowered his head.

After about five to ten minutes, they walked back in. They tried to hide their dismay, but I already knew that something really bad was being kept from me. I decided not to touch the subject yet, as a, million other question drowned that one out.

Dr. Lee advised me to spend the night at the hospital, for observation. Alfie practically volunteered to keep me company--god knows why, considering Sundays are his special ‘’marshmallow fluffy days’’ where he spends the whole day perched in his beanbag watching movies with the curtains closed eating jar after jar. Jenna and Ben stayed a little longer before saying goodbye. Ben smiled as he shook my good hand.

‘’I’m afraid I’m not going to see you for another month. I’m going on another trip--just some things I need to straighten out.’’

I didn’t contest--I was too tired to say anything anyway. As he made his way to the door, Jenna leaned in and planted a soft kiss on my cheek.

‘’I love you,’’ she whispered. All of us, even Alfie, froze. Her eyes widened, realizing what she had said, and I noticed her cheeks getting red. I touched my hand to her shoulder and nodded as if to say the same, though I wasn’t quite sure of that. Embarrassed, she got up, pulled her black bandana out of her pocket, and as she fixed her golden hair, said “Don’t do anything else stupid. Please.’’ She then smiled and marched out the door that Ben was holding wide open--he flicked his eyebrows and grinned before disappearing as well.

My body still felt sore and I was completely drained from so much activity, that it didn’t take me five minutes to fall asleep. A blink of an eye and I was out.

That night I had the strangest dream.

I was standing at the top of a mountain, gazing over the ocean horizon when blood red clouds began to cover the city. Heavy winds raised waves that crashed into the rocks. The weird thing was I looked far younger, about seven or eight.

I then saw light shining through the clouds as creatures I had never seen before swooped over waves. A pale man stood behind me. He had a torn brown cloak and strappy sandals. Long white blond hair with grey highlights ran to his shoulders He had a shallow wiry, grey beard, not too long. Coal black eyes showed an expression of determination. He seemed old—like about 40. He approached me patting my shoulder and smiling gently.

‘’Your time has come, child,’’ he said. ‘’Keep your eyes wide open.’’

‘’What do you mean?’’ I questioned.

‘’Just hang on,’’ he responded. ‘’Try to stay alive. We’ll be coming.’’

The ground began to shake. ‘’Hey wait!’’ I called out as the mountain I stood on crumbled.

I woke up drenched in cold sweat, panting like an animal. I grabbed my phone to check the time. 3:43 a.m. My right arm throbbed violently and I felt a stinging pain, although I refused to call for help. Alfie snored loudly in the bed next to me, breathing into a puddle of drool.

I flopped back down on the still unyielding bed. I couldn’t stop thinking about what my dream meant. It was so vivid. Chills kept sticking me, numbing my skull, and Alfie’s snoring really wasn’t helping. I lay there tossing and turning until the sun came up.

As it turned out, the doctors suggested that I stay in the hospital until the end of the week. The next morning, I was greeted by the delightful presence of--the Boarhound. She walked in chewing her lower lip, making me shudder in disgust. However, to my dismay, a man followed behind her, carrying a large box.

‘’Just set it right there, thank you,’’ she told him.

‘’What’s this?’’ I asked.

‘’Your belongings,’’ she responded glumly.

‘’Excuse me?’’

‘’I warned you yesterday that you would be leaving the foster home,’’ she said, folding her hands behind her back and pacing.

‘’Yeah, well you didn’t exactly say I’d be going straight from the hospital! What about Alice?’’

She stopped pacing and hesitated. Her hands shook behind her back as she cleared her throat.

‘’Alice...is doing perfectly well. She will be given extra care from now on.’’

‘’Okay, well can I at least see her?’’ I asked. ‘’I haven’t even talked to her since the accident.’’

‘’I’m sure you’ll get the chance to do so soon,’’ she snapped. I stared at the small dusty box with everything I owned, and felt pure hatred. Alfie, who was slouched so low in his chair, that his legs were folded on the floor, looked at me apprehensively.

‘’Do you have anything else you wish to say before I leave?’’ Mr. Bournehaut asked, flickering her encrusted eyelashes innocently. I could almost see a grin forming under that pile of flab in her face.

‘’Yes,’’ I said menacingly, ‘’please do the world a favor and shave that squirrel off your face.’’