Part 31

"...no fever, coughs, chills or aches?" The discharging nurse was asking me questions from a giant list, and I was paying just enough attention to know if I needed to answer 'yes' or 'no'. My mind was in other places. Today, I was going to be able to figure out what happened inside my little mental excursion. I was ready to get the answers I so desperately needed, but also a little scared about what they would mean for the future.

"Marie?" Hearing my name be called snapped me out of my rabbit hole of thoughts.

"Hmm?"

"Did you hear me?" The nurse a concerned look on her face, with the slightest touch of annoyance.

"Yes, I heard you. And no, I don't have any signs of a cold, fever, or otherwise." I tried to sound as polite as I could, but I was so anxious to get out of here that I'm not really sure how it came out.

The nurse looked back at the clipboard that she was carrying. "Okay. That's all the questions. The doctor says that you should take it easy the next couple of days. You're still a little dehydrated, and your balance isn't perfect, but these aren't things that we can keep you here for. If at any point you start to feel dizzy, stop what you're doing, find the nearest seat, take two deep breaths, and then drink some water. We'll see you back here in 2 weeks, okay?"

I looked up at her. She was standing now, and I was in a wheelchair. I had requested one because I felt so dizzy and so weak this morning, but it was noon now, and I was hungry. I gave her a polite nod to answer her question, and let her roll me out to the waiting room where my parents were waiting.

As soon as I could see my parents, I immediately knew that something was wrong. They both rushed forward, hand in hand. That alone threw me off. My parents hated physical contact. They only touched each other when it was absolutely necessary, and this definitely wasn't it. They also had a slight blur around their edges, almost as if they were constantly surrounded by a soft glow. They quickly spoke with the nurse, signed some forms, and got me out of there. As soon as I felt the early summer air hit my face, I felt like crying. I had missed this sensation so much, as I just spent the last three full days stuck inside.

As I was enjoying my time in the sun, my parents started pushing me towards the parking lot, where I could see our dull green van sitting close to the hospital entrance. My parents opened the sliding car door for me, and helped me into the car. I was still really tired, and in a physically weaker state. But just before they closed the door, I saw my dad's hand in an unusual position. The pointer finger and the thumb were pressed together, the same way that someone would hold a fine thread. Except, I had no idea what he was supposed to be holding. I didn't think about it too much as soon as I was settled, they got in the car and began to go home. I always enjoyed watching the countryside zip by, and that's what I did the whole car ride.

When we got home, my mom helped me out of the car and into the wheelchair. Once we got inside, I heard my mom's voice. "Hey, we need to talk to you. Can we go to your room?"

I was a little surprised that my room was the suggested meeting spot, but I didn't see any harm in them coming to my room, so I agreed. Mom wheeled me to my room, and I opened the door and wheeled myself in. I turned the wheelchair around so that I could hold the door while they came in. After I closed the door, I saw mom's hand reach for the doorknob, hoping to lock it.

"That's not a good idea."

She drew her hand back in surprise. "What do you mean?" Her voice sounded a little strange, almost as if she was speaking in a very specific way. It sounded like my mom's voice, but something wasn't quite right. However, I couldn't put my finger on it, so I decided to ignore it for now.

To answer my mom's previous question, I turned to look at my door, and simply said, "Lock". Almost immediately, I heard the lock click and I knew that the door wouldn't budge until I told it to unlock. I also knew that the room had become soundproof, which was helpful for me cause I liked to play loud music whenever I felt stressed out. But mostly, knowing that my roomed was locked allowed me to feel a little more relaxed than I had been all day. So with that done, I realized that my parents were standing to the side. As I turned to look at them, a soft glow started to emanate from them, and their forms got really fuzzy. When they're forms started stabilizing again, I realized that my parents were no longer in the room. Instead, standing in their places, were Kate and Alex. I looked over to my bed in complete frustration, only to find another surprise.

"Eric."

He looked completely confused, and when I turned back to Alex and Kate, they were both suspicious. "All right," Kate began. "You have some serious explaining to do. And don't say that it's a long story because we've all got time." She and Alex moved to sit on the bed with Eric, one on each side of him. I knew that there was no way out of this, so I took a deep breath and explained my side of things. How I thought Alex had taken me home. How I was almost immediately kidnapped, and brought to the cabin. My weird dreams inside of dreams. The whole two-day adventure with Alex. The crazy sequence of events that led to me waking up. And getting to meet Eric.

"So, yeah. That's my story. I'm still trying to piece together the events that were and weren't real."

Alex, Eric and Kate all looked at each other, almost as if trying to gauge each other's response to an unasked question. Finally, Eric spoke.

"Marie, you've experienced what's known as a full-body awakening. It usually occurs after a situation were you use your abilities to save someone's life, whether it's your own or someone else's. Once a person wakes up from it, they have full access to their abilities. They become much stronger. Much more powerful. But the closer a person is to eighteen when they have their awakening, the longer it takes to gain control over their powers. You're gonna have a rough road ahead of you."

My mind was racing at a 1000 miles per minute. This was way too much to process, and yet I only had one immediate question.

"What do I do now?"

The three of them looked at each other, as if expecting me to ask this question. Alex was the one to answer my question. "We're gonna get you started. Come on, there's a lot for you to learn." Alex stood up and held his hand out to me. I knew that as soon as I took it, my whole life would change, but that seemed to be the way things worked in my life. I also knew that there was no going back for me, no matter how much I wanted it to. So I took the only option truly available to me.

I took his hand.