“How long?… I have to talk to her” Rapid Quill paced back and forth uneasily outside Soul Mare’s room. 2138… a number neither of them would forget.
“Go ahead in, but be warned she is in bad condition” Said the doctor slowly, in a tone as if to say ‘You don’t want to go in there’. Rapid Quill snorted softly and went in anyway. He almost gagged, looking away when he saw her. She was hooked up to at least three different tubes, covered in bloody red bandages, and her arms and legs were chained to the bed. Quill could hear her sobbing quietly to herself. He slowly looked back up to her. She had stopped sobbing and was staring at him.
“You… came back..” she mumbled, her gaze still set on him. She was different somehow, her mane had been cleaned and cut and her eyes were no longer bloodshot, but she looked even worse than she had before. The expression on her face was that of panic. She was scared. Immediately he ran up to her and held her. “Make them untie me… it hurts.” Her voice was almost inaudible.
He unlocked the restraints himself, and as soon as he did she leapt up, ripping off the tubes connected to her and most of the bandages, and running out the door.
“You let her go? She was restrained for a reason, you fool!” the doctor ran past Rapid Quill as he stood dumbfounded in the doorway. Was that really his Soul Mare?
Her heart pounded, her hooves clicking against the tiles of the hospital floors. Where was the exit? She couldn’t stay there any longer. The voices screamed at her in that horrid place. The dead yelled at her, begged her for mercy. Then it happened: A small black pony came around the other corner and stopped in front of her. Follow me. I know the way out. Soul hesitated, not knowing where the foal had come from. Come with me… come with me… the small colt bled as he spoke, his mouth dribbled and bubbled with the thick red liquid and he grinned a Cheshire grin of pointed teeth. Soul stepped back a few hooves and gasped as she bumped into someone. “Please… no please stop. Leave me be!” two guards grabbed hold of her arms and pulled her back. The small black pony followed her. Follow me. Come with me. Why aren’t you listening? Why?! His voice got louder until he was screaming in her ears, reaching out and grabbing her ankles as he followed her down the hallway back to her room. She was chained to the bed again, and this time her mouth covered so as to keep her quiet.
Rapid Quill stayed with her… and so did the black colt. For two weeks the small dark horse stayed there… sitting.. Watching her. She could hear him breathing, and the gurgling of the blood from his mouth constantly. Nothing was ever quiet. Her cheeks became red and sore from crying, and her voice hoarse from yelling for them to let her out. To unchain her. Rapid Quill cried quietly as she screamed, night after night, knowing he couldn’t do a thing to help.
At the end of the second week she was deemed well enough for Rapid Quill to take Soul home. She stayed in her room, like she had before; sitting alone on her bed, reading books and singing quietly to herself. Rapid Quill stayed out of her way mostly, but brought her lunch and dinner every day without fail.
Sometimes Soul Mare would still have nights that all she did was scream, and those nights Rapid Quill sat with her. He didn’t know what was bothering her so much other than when she said “Make him stop staring… he’s watching me. I can’t sleep while he watches me.”
Quill would walk around the room, look in every corner, in the closet, out the window, and under the bed, and never found anyone, but Soul could see him. The small black pony with red eyes, who sat in the corner and bled on the floor. The blood stains were even there in the morning, but Rapid Quill never seemed to see them.
Rapid Quill slipped into Soul’s bedroom. It was earlier than he usually woke her up, but he had had a long night at the bookstore and he needed to see her face, maybe even make her smile. He hadn’t seen her smile in a long long time, and remembered to the first smile he ever saw out of her.
Soul raised her head as soon as he opened the door and he noticed her clean white sheets smeared red in spots.
“Soul, what happened?” he muttered, and he noticed she was sobbing. “Mara…”
She turned all the way to him and he saw the source of the blood. She had scratched at her ear all night until it had been worn down to a bloody nub. Bits of flesh were still hanging off of it, but the blood was mostly dried and matted in her fur.
“He wouldn’t stop… yelling at me…”