Shadow: The Origin Of A Legend

Chapter 8

Ugh... my head... hurts...

Where am I? ...It smells nice here...

Hmm? Someone's... someone's... getting my face wet? OW! THAT STINGS! What the-?!

My eyes fly open onto white bandages. Confused, alarmed, I move to pull them off and pain shoots through my back. I gasp aloud, unused to this, and flop back down like a useless fish. My brain's starting to come back to me now, and I realize that something's very wrong.

Sensations flood me suddenly. I feel like I've just woken up for the first time, and I can feel...Oh, what I can feel! It's marvelous... I can feel the crisp sheets on my fur, and there's wind! Wind, moving my hairs ever so softly, I can feel each one moving! What is this? I wish I could see... maybe if I- I attempt to lift my arms again, and fierce pain lances through me-OWW!!! OK, no, not going to do that.

What happened to me? I take a sniff-it appears that the bandages don't cover my nose-and I smell aloe, and burn ointment, as well as... Is that lavender? It...it smells so familiar, but why can't I recall what it's from?

On that note, where am I? How did I get here? My thoughts feel all scrambled and I can hardly remember anything. I scowl, feeling the bandages move. Hang on... When I woke up, wasn't someone putting something on my face? Where did they go?

I open my mouth to speak, and realize that there's bandages there too. A sour taste fills my mouth-Eww, burn ointment!-and I try valiantly to spit it back out.

Suddenly, a door opens. "O-Oh!" They seem to sense immediately that I'm awake. Bare footsteps sound hollowly-Second or third floor (perhaps they have a basement), hardwood floors. Relatively new, I'll bet-as whomever it is shuffles over to me quickly. "Hold still." It's a female, by the voice, and she begins to unwrap the bandages rapidly. Light pours in, and I shut my eyes reflexively. It's not a harsh light, but I seem to be more sensitive than before. She takes a cloth out of a bucket (I can hear the sloshing noise) and begins to wipe the residue off my face. I find myself flinching occasionally-there's something wrong with the skin on my face and the rough washcloth feels like it hurts.

"There. All done," the lady says with a satisfied sigh. "You look much better than when I found you." Her voice is eerily familiar.

I dare to open my eyes a crack, and then I can't help but open them fully. The woman who rescued me...

Is Rouge.

"Hey, there, Shadz." She says with a grin. "Long time no see. You grew up well..." Again with the flirting and the looking me up and down! I scowl, feeling my face grow a little warmer. The year has been kind to her-she looks good at fourteen. She's wearing a deep, royal purple butterfly-winged shirt with a large red heart inside of a larger white heart on it. The right sleeve is lower than the left sleeve (the neck is so huge, both her head and her shoulder fit in it!), and it cuts off right at her bellybutton. She's wearing small jean shorts too that stop only a little bit after the pocket, and freshly-cleaned rain boots. Her ivory white fur is a little longer than it used to be, the hair coming down a bit past her shoulders. Even her eyes seem different-they're more blue now. They look like the ocean... And it's their depth that lets me know that it's her.

"Rouge..." I try to sit up, and again the pain shoots through me..

"Hey, whoa! Down, boy." She gently pushes me back down into the bed with surprising strength. Maybe I'm just feeble and wounded, but I think she's a lot stronger than she looks. "You were pretty badly hurt even before you fell, Spaceman."

"Spaceman...?" I cough. My throat is really dry.

Rouge picks up a cup of water. "Yep. Something happened to your spine. You'll be okay, but," she presses the container to my lips, "you better take it easy for a month or so." I take a few gulps, then she removes the cup and stares at me for a moment.