iv. 𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐀𝐑𝐄 𝐘𝐎𝐔?

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𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘦?
𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘪𝘴 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘯?
𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘣𝘦𝘨𝘶𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮
— 🌿🌾

HER vision was blurred, covered in something white.  She breathed in and out quickly, afraid.  All she saw was white.  Was this what dying felt like?

Caoimhe heard beeping from beside her.  The last thing she remembered was something heavy falling onto her face.  Her head throbbed.  How long had it been since the large speaker had fallen on her face?  More importantly, where was she?

Caoimhe forcefully thrust her hand up, only to end up hitting her face with her arm.  She expected her leather restraints to be there, to hold her back.  Wherever she was, it certainly wasn't her bed.  The matress her back was laid on had a hard texture, like that of a pool cover's.  The blanket draped across her body felt like a hotel comforter.  Caoimhe felt her surroundings and ran her hands against a sideboard.  From these few observations, she concluded that she was at a hospital.  She wondered how much damage was inflicted and if her father and Janet were alright.

"You're awake!" a masculine voice she didn't recognize exclaimed.  He had to be a doctor.  "I'm Doctor Albert.  I've met you, but you haven't met me."

Awkward silence followed.  She didn't know what to say to him.  If he met her and she didn't, then that must mean that she had been in comatose for at least a couple days, if not a couple weeks.

"That's right, I'm sorry miss Kayohme," he said, totally mispronouncing her name.  "You can't see me."

"It's Queeva," she corrected, her voice emotionless and muffled from the bandages wrapped around her head.

"Sorry, Caoimhe," Doctor Albert responded, struggling to pronounce her name.  He brushed it off and shifted a bit.  "I bet you have some questions for me.  Ask away."  She heard him sit back.

"C-could I take off the bandages?" Caoimhe asked timidly.  She wanted to be able to see again, however, she was slightly afraid; what if she saw things she never wanted to see again?

"Of course, ma'am."  With that, she heard him get up, the wheels in his swiveling chair move backward from getting up so abruptly.  She heard his loafers against the tiled floor come closer to her.  "Do you mind sitting up?"

Slowly, she pulled herself up by using the railings.  It felt so strange to sit up.  Caoimhe felt Doctor Albert's hand against the back of her head.  Soon, the bandages were removed from her face, little by little.  When the top layer was removed, she was able to see more light.  The last time she saw light was hours before the explosion of the particle accelerator, which was... how many months ago?

Once the bandages were completely removed from her face, she blinked a couple times, hoping to adjust to the light.  Caoimhe opened and closed her mouth for a long time and looked around.  She, indeed, was in a hospital.  There was a window beside the bed, where she could see the world outside.  The sky was a beautiful blue, fading into orange, the large sun setting over the horizon.  It was beautiful.  Caoimhe hadn't seen a sunset since the death of her mother; her window back at home didn't face the sky whatsoever.  She gawked at it, fascinated by the colors.  For a second, she felt normal and forgot she was at a hospital.

Caoimhe remembered she was at a hosptial when she heard pen against paper.  She quickly turned her head back at the doctor.  "Sorry about that," she mumbled.

"It's quite alright.  Seven months of sleep can do that to a person.  Sometimes we forget the things we took for granted in our lives before our incidents," he responded, not looking up from his clipboard.

"Hold on— did you say twelve months?" Caoimhe asked, imbibing what he had just said.  If she had been asleep for twelve months, then the world around her must have changed.  She wanted to know if her father and Janet were alright after losing her for twelve months.

"Yes, seven months, Miss Young," he nodded.  Suddenly, a glum expression appeared on his face.  "You should be glad you weren't awake... Central City's changed since that darn explosion."

Caoimhe's heart sunk.  That meant something terrible had happened.  She yearned to learn more.  She didn't care if the information would be terrifying; Caoimhe was determined to find out.  "What do you mean?"

"Suddenly, after this explosion, people with powers have been showing up.  This hospital's been more busy since then.  They're messing things up," he explained sadly.  "These twelve months have been tough.  People have died.  Police have been on their feet.  This explosion has put many in comas.  In fact, a young man was at this very hospital a couple months ago after he was struck by lighting.  The two of you came in at the same time.  He went into critical condition, though.  Star Labs took him, so we don't know his status."

Caoimhe's fist clenched.  Why would this hospital let the very reason the man was in a coma take him?  A better question would be this: Why didn't they take Caoimhe, as well?  She was also in a coma for months on end.  Surely, they could have spared time to save her, as well!   She felt anger the way she had never felt it.

"Where's my father?  And Janet?" Caoimhe asked, letting that anger go slightly.  The anger was still bubbling inside of her; it just hadn't risen— at least not yet.

"He's serving time.  They found out that he had drugs and that he had indirectly caused all this to happen.  I mean, he strapped you onto your bed.  He's not a good man.  You should have left; I mean, you're twenty-four.  Perfectly capable of taking care of yourself," Doctor Albert replied, nodding his head here and there.

The anger flooding inside her bubbled and soon exploded.  An angry expression replaced her prior nearly-calm one.  Caoimhe's eyes rolled back, white replacing them.  They began to glow.  Her head rolled back, and suddenly, Caoimhe and Doctor Albert was in another hospital.  She wasn't in the bed this time, but at a doorway.  Albert looked around, confused and went to the bedside.  He began to cry.  Caoimhe was confused: what was happening?

"Where are we?" Caoimhe shouted.  Doctor Albert barely turned around, nothing but sniffs audible.  He didn't answer her.

She walked over to him to see what the commotion was, and saw a woman, the line on the screen slowly coming to a stop.  That must have either been his wife or a family member.

"This is my wife.  How in the world did we get here?" he asked, angrily.  Doctor Albert stood up and turned to Caoimhe.  His face twisted into a fearful expression.  When he looked at her, a bright light hit his wrinkled skin.  "What are you?"

Caoimhe looked at her hands and shook her head.  She looked at a nearby wall mirror and looked at her eyes which weren't their monotonous brown eyes; they were all white and glowing.  What was she?

word count: 1178march 14, 2020

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word count: 1178
march 14, 2020

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⏰ Last updated: Mar 16, 2020 ⏰

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