Underland Chronicles: 2 - The Reaper's Gate (A Gregor the Overlander FanFic)

Chapter 23

~ PANDORA

Pandora slowly slipped back to consciousness. She was in a bed with a blanket up to her chest. Not able to feel much pain, or anything really, Pandora groaned anyway. She just didn't feel right. She couldn't quite put her finger on it.

"Rose?" she called.

"She stirs," said someone in an excited whisper.

A hand gently touched her shoulder. "Pandora, can you hear me?"

Turning towards the sound, Pandora slowly stretched out her back muscles. "Howard, why are you in my room?"

"Open your eyes, Pandora," he said calmly. "You are not at home. Remember, you? What happened?"

"Yeah," she grumbled. She blinked a few times before looking around the room. Howard, Luxa, and Gregor stood around the cot she was laying in. Pandora instantly recognized the plain white walls. She was in the hospital. "I was a human shish kebab."

"Ke-bab?" Luxa asked.

"It's what we call food if you put it on a stick and then cook it," Gregor clarified.

"How fare you?" Howard asked.

"Grouchy... but on the bright side, I don't feel the hole in my chest. That's good, I guess. How did my surgery go?"

"It was long," Howard started with a professional tone. As he got further into the details, his voice became tight and his eyes got glassy with tears. "There were a few complications, but everything seems to be headed in the right direction. It pierced your lung, and you lost a lot of blood."

"Point being," Gregor interjected. "You got through it like a champ. The doctors have kept you asleep for a few days to make sure your body got the rest and healing it needed."

"Okay," Pandora said slowly. "So now I just lay here and do what the doctors say until I can get up and get out of here?"

"I would not say it is that simple," Howard warned.

"I think I've had as much of that topic as I can stomach for now," Pandora said. "You three are here with me. Let's make the most of it. Am I allowed to eat?"

"Something small," Howard nodded, raising his eyebrows as if to say, "I'm a doctor, so listen to what I have to say."

"Anything," she begged. "My mouth is so dry. It's like sawdust."

"Oh, here," Gregor offered her a glass of water that was on the small table beside her bed. Howard left the room to retrieve her snack.

Pandora took a few gulps. She liked how the water cooled her dry, cracked lips.

Gregor offered the seat on Pandora's left to Luxa. When she refused, he sat down. "You know what sounds great right now?" He asked. Pandora shook her head. "A can of root beer," he said with a dreamy look on his face, as if imagining hearing the "pop!" of the ice cold can and feeling the bubbles on his lips as he took a swig.

Pandora tried to take in a deep breath to sigh, but her chest was constricted. Most of it had to be the bandage that covered her upper torso, but perhaps some resistance came from her healing lung. She couldn't tell. She must've been on some strong pain medication.

"Yeah. That would be amazing right now."

"I remember how that tasted," Luxa said, staring off into the distance as if lost in thought. "I'm not as fond of sweet things. It was sweeter than cake."