The Fifth Element

Part 2 Chapter 16

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AN; *Shrugs* At least it only took me three weeks this time to update.- Sam<3

I woke with a start to darkness and almost complete silence. The only sounds came from water dripping into a puddle and the quiet breaths of people caught in the tendrils of deep sleep. My right arm itched and I reached over absently to scratched it, but I quickly withdrew it when my fingers brushed up against something hard.

Slowly, my eyes grew accustomed to the blackness and I was able to see what was around me. There were people in the beds beside me, the dripping was coming from a clear glass jar on a medal stand that stood to my right. The hard thing I had felt was a tube connected to it, which just happened to be inserted into my arm. It was then I understood. I was in the medical tent.

I sat up slowly , unsure of why I had woken up so suddenly. My hair clung stubbornly to my skin like wavy vines on a stone wall, and I had to do a serval sweep before it was no longer inspiring my vision. Then I remembered why I had woken up so suddenly. Henry. I had had a dream about him. A bad dream. But unfortunately, not all nightmares are just dreams.

My stomach turned with worry and a gripped the edge of the pale blue sheets until they crinkled. I was in a bed I didn't remember anyone putting me in.

Arnold had said that the doctors had found him and he wasn't responding. What if he never responded again? I had a brief image of him slowly wasting away in a bed, never to be really alive again.

Stop it! I commanded myself.
I didn't know anything for sure! I could've interpreted what I heard  wrong or even imaged it. Plus, just look at the messenger! It was that weird Arnold kid. He could've been making it up to get a reaction out of me. I had the feeling that he would be that kind of person that got entertainment out of the misery of others.

"Violet," a voice whispered from the dark. I couldn't tell if it had come from a boy of girl, just that it had said my name.

I peered into the dark "Who's there?" I called out, my voice shaking slightly.

"Violet," a different voice whispered this time. I'm not sure if it was a boy or girl again. The sex was indistinguishable, it just sounded like a different individual.

"Violet," yet another voice whispered and then, "Violet! Violet! Violet!" at least ten different voices joined in at, and all at once my bed was surrounded by pale men. Each man was mutilated in some different way. All their skin was clawed up like they had been attacked by something with sharp claws, something like a griffin. They stared at me with empty eye sockets and began to paw at the sheet that was covering me with their thin pale fingers.

I didn't even scream, I just let out a small gasp, and reached over and ripped out the IV from my arm. It hurt more than I expected it to but I gave the pain very little pause. My need to get out of this bed greatly outweighed it.

I closed my eyes, threw off the covers, and bolted out of the bed. I"The moment by feet hit the ground, I stumbled and my eyes flew open briefly to see that I was not surrounded by ten ghosts anymore, but at least fifty. Even worse, they were standing between me and exit to this tent. To get out, I would have to get through them, a lot of them.

I closed my eyes once again and ran forward. I had the sensation of moving through something that wasn't quiet air, wasn't quite solid, but extremely cold. The flaps of the tents brushed lightly against my skin upon my exit, and I found myself under the protective blanket of the night sky.

A cool breeze brushed past me, and I shivered. I looked down to see that I was wearing nothing but a blue cotton dress. All around me, figures moved in and out of tents, gray-haired women and clusters of people huddled around fires. Their voices and laughter floated through the air and engulfed me with a feeling of warmth and safety. Inside the tent was where the dead lingered. Out here was where the living were.