Dagger

Chapter 4

Forest began to panic. There was white, white, white and more white. All sterile white. Although Forest  woke up groggy, panic set in quickly. He made no move to get up. He could hear his accelerated heartbeat as he took in the sight of the room.

        He was lying in a bed with white sheets. There was medical equipment to his left, an unoccupied chair by the door and a large window to his right. The room seemed to be slightly larger than his own room back at the warehouse, certainly with more white.

        The lights were off and the view from the window told him it was around night or really early morning. The window gave enough light for him to see the silhouettes of the objects in the room. Then he realized that the medical monitor was on.

        The door before the end of the bed opened and light spilled in from the hallway. A tall figure stood in the doorway. From what he could see, it was a woman wearing more white.

        She paused in the doorway holding a clipboard. "Oh, your awake!" She flipped on the lights causing him to close his eyes by the sudden change of lighting.  When he reopened his eyes he could see the girl was already fidgeting with the machine. "Your heartbeat was quite fast, so I came to check up on you," She stopped messing with the monitor and turned to face him. "But it looks like everything is just fine." She smiled very sweetly at him, but he had no idea what was going on and in his mind everything was not fine.

    The lady started humming as she started writing on her clipboard. His voice came out hoarse and as a whisper over her humming."No." She looked up from her clipboard and up at him.

    She smiled at him again. "Pardon?"

    Forest swallowed, hoping it would help with his voice. "I said no, everything's not fine!" He began to feel hot and sat up and pushed the comforter off him. "I don't know where I am, what's happening, who you are-"

    "You had hypothermia," She interrupted, her voice now sounding more serious. Realization settled on his face as he remembered what happened. His mouth hung open a little. The woman looked sympathetic as she began to answer his questions. "You are at Proelia's medical division and my name is Reselda, I'm a nurse." Forest was about to speak, but she held up her hand and continued talking. She began to  answer questions he didn't even ask. It was like she could read his mind.  
   "Proelia is a fine institution that trains young people, such as yourself, to become a Guardian. Guardians protect the city of Ferrum from criminal groups.  A girl brought you here a few hours ago and I revived you. You almost froze to death," She paused for a moment to let it all sink in before continuing. "Anyways, I'm glad you're awake because Mr. Marcus will be here in a few minutes to talk to you about what happens next," She turned to leave, but paused and turned back toward him. "Oh, my bad," She said looking down at her clipboard. "I almost forgot to get your name and age."

    Forest shifted, uncomfortable at the sudden change of mood. "Oh, um my name is Forest, age sixteen."

    Reselda scribbled something down on her clipboard, then looked up and smiled at him. "Perfect! Thank you!"

    "Wait."

    She turned back toward him again, a patient smile on her face. "Yes?"

    "How'd you know what I was going to ask?" His eyebrows twitched with confusion, although it was a quick movement.

    Reselda seemed to relax at the question. "Oh please, I've been a nurse for years now and it's always the same." She walked out of the room, but instead of closing the door she held it open as another person walked in. This time a middle aged man walked in.