Episode 11

A slight headache wakes Midori up. She keeps her eyes tightly shut for a little while; it was a new sensation for her. She moved around a little and slowly opened up her eyes, noticing how there was an empty space besides her. She rubbed the sleep off of her eyes and yawned. The light coming from the window was warm, very different from the hospital. She sat up and turned to where Atlas had been. She bit her lip and caressed the sheets with her left hand. It was the first time she slept in the same bed with a guy.

She breathed out a deep sigh and got up from the bed, stretching up her arms, letting out a small moan as she did so. She made her way to the bathroom that was in the room and with both hands she washed her face. Coincidentally, besides the sink were two toothbrushes with toothpaste on the side. One was white and the other was green. She let out a chuckle, taking the green one to start washing her teeth. There were still a few waters drops in the shower, letting her know that is had been used recently. She left the toothbrush in the same place she got it from and exited the room, deciding to look for Atlas.

She went to the kitchen first, it was impeccable. Midori tilted her heard confusion, she remembers that they had left everything in a mess, with the plates still on the table and the oven dirty. But everything was impeccably clean. She sighed again and made her way to the game room that she had discovered the previous day. He wasn't there either. She was starting to feel a little frustrated.

— Why did he go without telling me anything…? — she asked to herself, almost in a whisper—.

She then made her way to her pool, opening up the sliding door and a small breeze made her take a few steps back out of reflex. The sun was dazzling, she could barely see even if she squinted her eyes. She put a hand above her eyes, trying to cover up the sun a bit and stepped into the backyard. She walked all around it but Atlas was nowhere to be found. She went back inside the mansion and to the living room, flopping down on one of the big couches that were in there.

She leaned her head on the back of the couch and closed her eyes. In that moment, memories of the previous day started to invade her mind. It had been really fun, although there were blank spaces in her memories that, as much as she tried, she couldn't remember. Still with her eyes closed, she laughed silly thinking about him and what they had done. They even tasted alcohol for the first time. Midori felt genuinely happy.

But, right then, she woke up in the hospital. She sprung up suddenly, panting harshly. She brough her hands to her head, holding it tight. She was in such pain that her whole body was hurting.

She heard how at her side, things she couldn't identify, were falling to the floor. And a smell that she already recognized, let her know that the nurse was in her room. She heard how she quickly stood up from the seat.

— M-miss Midori… —she said, a little scared—.

��� What are you doing here? —Midori asked almost in a whisper—.

— Miss Midori, you slept for 4 days in a row…

Midori felt how red-hot fury was starting to take over her body. She gritted her teeth, not being able to control all the fury she was feeling, and threw everything that was on the table hovering over her bed. She screamed at the top of her lungs. Desperately tried to take off the bandages that were over her eyes, but they seemed to be stuck to her head. The nurse started to pant n fear.

— CAN YOU TELL ME WHAT IS HAPPENING?! — Midori's voice started to break, almost like she wanted to cry— WHEN CAN I GET OUT OF HERE?! HUH?!

The silence that she was met with only made Midori's blood boil. The nurse didn't say anything. Midori extended her hand and desperately searched for something on the bedside tables that were besides her bed to throw over. She touched a book, took it and threw it to the wall.

— CAN YOU… CAN You… Can you… answer me, please��?

Midori was almost losing her voice at this point. She felt how the words were not able to get past her lips. After a few seconds in silene, she just heard how her door was being slowly closed. Midori was there, on that bed, without any words left, without any feelings left. Every day that went by she felt as if she were living in hell.

— Why can't I stay in that place forever…?

She asked herself. It was the only place she wanted to be. She stayed there a few minutes, unmoving, frozen in place. She didn't have the strength to move a single muscle. She just wanted to sleep and go to the oasis. She wanted to stay there.

— Get out of here…?

In that moment Midori had a crazy idea.

She stood up form the bed and crouched down, trying to get to the seat where the nurse was before. She knew her backpack was still there. When she got it, she opened it up and with her hand she searched inside of it for something that might help her. Surprisingly, her notebooks and a small tape were still there. She clenched her fist in victory and took them out, opening the notebook and ripping out a page from it. She knew her plan could fail, but still she needed to try it.

She extended the tape and with her teeth also ripped of a part of it. With her free hand she tried to walk to the exit until she got to her door. She smiled and put her ear to the door, trying to listen to what was happening outside. By then, she felt like she could listen better than the average person. After confirming that there was no one in the hallway, she turned the doorknob, making sure to not make any sound. Once in the hallway, she took the page she ripped off and stuck it on her door with the tape. That way, she'd at least know where her room was.

— You can do this, Midori. —she encouraged herself, nervously gulping down—.

TO BE CONTINUED.