Tomb Raider: The Legacy

Chapter 26: Monster

There was nothing between the moment she lost consciousness and the moment she regained it. Nothing. No visions, no dreams, prophetic or not, neither flashbacks. The most absolute blackness.

And when she came back to herself, she still couldn't see anything. Everything was dark. Her head hurt so much. Her throat burned, like full of liquid fire. She didn't know where she was. She didn't know what was wrong with her.

"H... help." She groaned. Her voice was hoarse, broken, as if she'd been screaming for hours. "Help. H-h... help. Please. Please."

A rough, warm hand caressed her. Anna began to sob. She thought having her eyes open, but she didn't see anything. She felt the tears fall, burning.

"Hush, Anna. Calm down. I'm here."

"Mom." She sobbed with relief, with joy. "Mom, you're here."

"Yes, it's me. I'm here - and here means at the hospital."

She gripped her hand tightly. Yes, it was her. Her hands, rough from climbing rocks, operating mechanisms and firing firearms. Dear hands.

"Mom, I... I can't see anything. I see nothing. I'm blind!"

"No, honey, you're not. It's a side effect of... something that happened to you. But it will go away. You'll recover your sight."

"What... what happened to me...?" And then she stirred. She remembered. Oh my God. No no no no.

"Calm down, Anna." The hand gripped her harder, warm, comforting. She noticed her stroking her hair. "You need to relax."

She trembled, remembering. "Is she...?

"She's alive, Anna. She didn't die. Maggie Hartman is alive."

She began to cry when hearing, of pure relief. She was alive. She hadn't killed her. She hadn't killed her! "Mom." Anna sobbed. "Mom, please, don't tell Dad what I've done... don't tell him..."

Her mother's hands caressed her, rough, comforting. "Sorry Anna. He had to know, he's your father. Besides, I... I needed his experience... to know that you were going to get well... that you weren't blind forever."

Humiliated, embarrassed, guilty, Anna went on crying with her weak forces. "I'm sorry... forgive me... I didn't want to... I... didn't want to kill her...forgive me...tell her... tell her I didn't want to kill her..."

"Hush, that's enough. Rest, Anna. You must rest."

What a shame, she thought. What will Dad say about this. And they... saw it all. What will Kat think of me now. Oh my God. Die. I want to die.

(...)

How she hated hospitals. Dear Lord, how she hated them.

Lara went out into the hall after Anna got another dose of sedatives. She leaned against the wall with both hands and took a deep breath. "Annus horribilis." She muttered. "Give me strength to endure this."

"Amen." Said a warm, kind, affectionate voice. Beside her, patiently sitting on the sofa, Father Dunstan, a friendly shadow, a perpetual companion in difficulties, closed the Bible and smiled. "Who could expect, after so many years, you would invoke the Father again."

"I don't know whom I was invoking." Lara rubbed her eyes. "Life was easier before. Tombs and trips and artefacts, only. No daughters or husbands or families in danger."

Dunstan laughed softly. "Having loved ones implies responsibility - and suffering for them, yes." The priest rose slowly. "This is love, with all that enlightens us, it also drags us through the darkness. No untrue love carries that sweet burden." He smiled. "So, how's our little Anna?"