//------------------------------// // Hospital Room // Story: My Little Life: The Beginning // by Kind_Of_A_Rarity //------------------------------// I opened my eyes, only to see the grassy plains that had been in my mind before, when I met her. I looked down at my feet. I wore a pair of jeans and a simple t-shirt underneath an unbuttoned over-shirt--my usual attire. I turned around once, only to be greeted by seemingly miles of open fields full of golden blades of grass that were waving about in the wind, like an ocean current. Despite any effort I made, I could never see anything other than the plains of grass. I looked towards the sky, and saw nothing but black, spotted with white along with the gray sphere that lit up the night sky ever-so delicately. A feeling of calmness washed over me, and I looked back towards the fields. This time, there was a new sight; one that I was unsure of how to feel about. There was a woman standing near me. She wasn’t much shorter than I was, possibly about five-and-a-half feet tall or so. She wore a deep blue dress, though it was slightly unsaturated in color and trimmed in a richer navy blue, with a white crescent moon on one side at about her hip. Her hair was the most notable thing about her. It was a deep, beautiful blue, outlined by a lighter shade of blue with white dots throughout. It, no... she reminded me of the night sky. “Hello again, Sky,” Her voice was soothing, and familiar. It was soft, yet firm, and I wanted nothing more than to listen to her speak once more. “Again?” I blurted out in a far less appealing tone. “Who are you?” “Oh, perhaps I am mistaken. Do you not remember me from your previous nightmare?” She tilted her head to one side and raised an eyebrow at me. I felt my body tense, and found myself standing straight. “Nightmare? No, I don’t remember any nightmare...” I looked down, but quickly brought my attention back to the figure. “But how would you know about any of my dreams?” The woman straightened herself and smiled. “That is because I am your dream guide, Sky. My name is Princess Luna. We’ve met before, I can assure you.” I paused. Wait... “I’m dreaming?” I looked around at my surroundings, as if I hadn’t already surveyed them. Luna spoke as I turned around. “In a sense, yes,” She paused, allowing me to bring her back into my sight. “You are wounded, Sky, in the waking world,” My eyes widened as I remembered, and my hands instantly reached for my side, only to find my flesh still intact and without injury. I slowly brought my gaze back towards Luna. “What’s happening now, then?” She spoke softly, almost without emotion. “You are being taken to the hospital. I do not know any more than that,” I supposed that made sense. If she really was my dream conscience, then how would she have known more than I did? I stood quietly for a moment before asking her, “Why am I here? Couldn’t I have just been left to dream whatever I wanted, or nothing at all?” Luna smiled. “That is what I am going to show you,” As she spoke, my surroundings began to fade into nothing, and I soon found myself in a world of black. It wasn’t long before I found myself to be back at the school, just around that familiar corner. I looked around, before being distracted by shouting just outside of my field of vision. I stepped around to see myself being threatened by Henry, just before he threw me to the ground. I heard a quick step, and turned just in time to see Pinkie jump to my aid. “Stop!” I suddenly felt a presence beside me, and listened as it spoke. “She stood up for you, Sky,” I didn’t have to look to know who it was, and even still, Luna continued. “She could have left you, seeing as you hurt her the way you did, but she did not. Why do you think that is?” I watched as Henry kicked me back to the ground. “I don’t know.” “Surely you must, Sky.” I became quiet, but only for a moment. “She’s still my friend, isn’t she?” I turned to Luna with wide eyes. She smiled and let out a small chuckle. “That is for you to decide, is it not?” I only stood quietly, watching on as I was beaten, then threatened with death. “Do you want her to be your friend, Sky?” I said nothing, instead watching the grapple for the gun. Finally, I decided on an answer. “I do,” The gun fired, and all returned to black. Another scene was revealed to me by my guide. This time I was standing in a hallway, speaking with a girl. It was Jenna. We stood there, simply talking as the people around us pushed by and stepped around. “This is...” “This is where you made the decision that would lead to your suffering,” I turned towards Luna, my eyes filling with emotion, and mouth only slightly agape. I watched on as the other me began to strike the deal with Jenna, which, for all I knew, could have turned out to be fatal. “If I...” I trailed off. “If you knew,” Luna picked up my thought, which came as more of a surprise than it should have, “would you still have agreed?” I looked back towards her. What kind of a question was that? Twilight, a girl I had never known only a couple of weeks prior, was being picked on, and I would have had to get shot in order to stop it. Why should I have risked my life for something like that? “I...” I sighed, and dropped my head. “Probably not...” Luna spoke softly once more. “Does that make you a bad person, Sky?” I felt like it did. But, logically, “No, I guess not...” I watched as Luna turned towards me out of the corner of my eye, and I looked towards her. “Why, then, do you suppose you agreed to this meeting? You could not have had any sort of idea of what would occur, yet you still chose to go, if it meant helping a girl who you simply share a class with.” She was right. I could have walked right past Jenna, went on with my day, and not be in the condition I was in. “Because... she needed me, and she had no one else to turn to,” I stopped myself, as my mouth caught up with my mind. I had been in a similar position numerous times, more than I could count. I related to her, and I felt sorrow for her. I understood Twilight. Luna smiled, and I looked up to find myself immersed in the void I had quickly become familiar with. I glanced away for a brief moment, and when I returned my sight to where she had been standing, I was met with more darkness. I began to search in the nothingness that surrounded me, only to find just that. Suddenly, I heard a voice, deep and strange, echoing off the non-existent walls. “Sky! Sky, wake up!” I looked up. There was nothing. “Sky! Sky!” The voice grew louder, almost deafening. “Sky!” I was forced to cover my head to shield my ears from the piercing onslaught of sound waves. I forced my eyes shut, trying to hide from the voice as best as I could. --------------- My eyes opened again, slowly this time, as the light that met them was painful to look at, even though there was a man standing over me, blocking out much of light’s painful rays. I blinked once, then again before the man spoke. “Good, you’re awake. That’s a relief.” I didn’t recognize this person, though his white coat told me who he was. His head was round, and his hair fading quickly. He wore a pair of glasses that I was certain would fall from his face at any given moment. I heard a moan come from somewhere in the room, and I felt as if I could fall asleep and never awaken. I tried to turn my body, but quickly felt a hand on my chest as the doctor persuaded me, “Please don’t move. Your body is still very weak from blood-loss.” I silently obeyed, convinced that any movement would result in even more pain. But I couldn’t resist asking, “W-what happened?” “You were shot. That’s all I know, not that I need to know more,” The man chuckled as he began to insert a needle into my arm. “I’m here to fix people, not get involved in their personal lives.” Nearly forgetting the man’s previous warning, I reached my free arm towards the covers and pulled them back, revealing a section of my body that was wrapped in, what seemed to be, multiple layers of bandages. Even still, a bit of crimson liquid could be seen staining the outer layer of wrapping. The man simply glanced in my direction before continuing his task, which consisted merely of tapping keys on a computer. “A-am I going to be okay?” I stammered. The doctor took a moment from typing, and his expression turned sour. “That’s hard to say,” he mumbled. “From the looks of things, the bullet passed through completely without damaging any major organs in the process,” He paused a moment, recollecting his thoughts. “With that said, however, it still did a lot of damage to the surrounding muscle tissue, and we won’t be able to tell the lasting effects of the damage until it begins to heal. If all goes smoothly, you’ll be up and moving like normal within a couple of weeks, maybe a month or so. If not...” He sighed. “You might be facing a permanent physical ailment.” He stayed quiet a moment, but quickly resumed his work, noting, “But that’s only if things don’t go like we plan. You shouldn’t worry about it too much, Sky,” He continued typing as I lay there, lightly pressing my hand onto the area where I found the blood, as if it would make everything better. After a brief moment, I heard the doctor press a final key with much more force than he had been using, and rise to his feet. “Well, that’s all I’m here for. Now, you have a couple of visitors waiting outside while I performed my little tests. Would you like to see them?” I nodded, thinking it would be rude to turn them away after waiting all that time, even though I wasn’t sure how much time had actually passed. “Alright,” The doctor began towards the door. “I’ll let them know you’re still tired, though. Just so they don’t get over-excited,” I thought that they would likely get excited, regardless of what he told them. I then realized that I didn’t even know who was outside, but quickly concluded that it didn’t matter. Any visitors were appreciated. The door opened moments later, and a Stetson-wearing girl slowly made her way in, followed by a pink-haired girl that practically refused to look in my direction. It was then that I realized I had been laying down the whole time, and attempted to right myself, much to Applejack’s dismay. “Sky, don’t strain yourself,” she said, while raising a hand towards me. “Don’t worry,” I gritted, just before a jolt of pain surged through my body, forcing me to wince and fall back against the bed. I barely managed to sit myself up, even if I wasn’t in a very comfortable position. “See? I’m fine...” I didn’t believe myself, and I was certain they didn’t. Applejack glanced back towards Pinkie, who barely made eye contact with her, and led the way towards a pair of chairs set aside for visitors, where each of the girls took a seat. We merely sat that way, each of us unsure of what to say. Finally, I decided to break the tension. “How long have you been waiting?” Applejack responded, “Oh, it hasn’t been too long. Only a couple of hours,” She made an attempt to smile. I glanced quickly around the room, finding a clock that read 11:26 pm. “I guess I’ll have to miss those chores now, huh?” I smiled, unsure of what else to do. Applejack chuckled. “Don’t you worry yourself about any of that, Sky. We can take care of the farm.” I looked towards Pinkie, who had hardly moved at all since sitting down. She looked to be staring at the ground, unwilling to look in any other direction. Applejack caught my gaze and turned to the girl beside her, but said nothing. There was no more avoiding the elephant in the room, and I made note of it. “So, what happened after I blacked out?” Pinkie darted her eyes up at me, but quickly looked away as soon as we made contact. “Well,” I turned to Applejack just as she began speaking, “I rushed outside as soon as I heard the ambulance. I hardly had any time to figure out what was going on before Pinkie, here, found me, trying to tell me what all had happened,” She paused, but quickly picked up again. “She told me everything that she could about what happened with...” She stopped again, this time looking up at me. “You know... “Anyway, we got in my car and followed the ambulance to the hospital. We had to wait for an hour or two so they could” -she motioned towards my bandages- “fix you up, then they let us see you after they made sure you were in stable condition,” Silence blanketed us once again, but Applejack broke it this time. “What did the doctor say about it?” “He-” I caught Pinkie’s gaze out of the corner of my eye, but she didn’t look away as I turned towards her. This time I looked away. “He said that the bullet did a lot of damage,” I turned back towards Pinkie, despite my mind’s will to look anywhere else. “But I should be fine.” “That’s good to hear,” Applejack said quietly. After a few more moments of silence, I decided I didn’t want to be surrounded by the awkward attention any longer. “You know, it’s getting pretty late, and you shouldn’t really be driving while you’re tired, Applejack.” She darted her eyes towards me, but nodded. “Yeah, I guess we should be getting home to let everyone know you’re okay. Everybody back on the farm was real worried about you.” “Y-yeah,” was all that left my mouth. The girls stood to leave, Applejack being the first to walk towards the door. “Well, I guess we’ll be seeing you later, Sky,” She opened the door and stepped out into the hallway, Pinkie following behind. But Pinkie suddenly stopped, and turned in my direction. “Sky,” she began, forcing her eyes to meet mine, “I’m glad you’re alright,” I was shocked at first. Those were the first words she had actually spoken to me since the day I threatened Henry. But I nodded, and with that she smiled and followed behind Applejack, gently closing the door behind her. It wasn’t a very long visit, but one I was happy I accepted. It was good they left when they did, though, because as soon as the pair left I realized how exhausted I was, and began the task of adjusting my body to a more comfortable position. Passing out was not the same thing as sleeping, and I quickly came to understand that fact as I slowly dozed off. --------------- I awoke after what seemed to be only a couple of hours to find that I had slept until nearly ten o’clock in the morning. I looked down at my body, unsurprised to find it still in the same position I was in the night before, lying directly on my back. I groaned. What else was I supposed to do? My question was soon answered as I felt the pressure of my bladder become a bit overwhelming, and glanced around the room. There was another door, besides the one that led to and from my room, and I guessed that it must have led to the bathroom. Another search of the room revealed a small, metallic pan just beside my bed. I refused to even think about using a bed-pan, and instead tried to force myself to sit-up. It was still painful, but it was more of an aching pain than a sharp one as it had been the night before. My hand found its way towards my side before I winced in pain. But still, I continued to rise. Eventually, I sat straight up, though my body was practically begging me to lay against the bed once more. Turning to place my feet on the floor was easier, but just as painful as sitting up. My feet were planted on the ground quickly, and most of the pain stopped, leaving only a throbbing pain that reminded me of my previous efforts. The tiled flooring was cold, but unwilling to stop, I began the labor of standing. Although just as painful as everything else I had done, it was becoming easier and easier to perform these feats, which came as a bit of a surprise to me. My sheet fell from my body and to the floor as soon as I was on my feet. Ignoring the fabric, I took a step towards the bathroom, holding onto the bed as I did so. I realized how easily I had it before, without the hole in my torso. A couple of steps later, I was forced to release my grip of the bed, and found walking to be a much easier task than I thought. Balancing was a bit tricky, and even a bit painful, but it was nothing compared to getting to that point. I found my way to the door in a few more steps, and grasped the handle, twisting it down with more force than I had intended. It easily pushed open, the automatic lights flickered to life, and I surveyed the white room before me. Everything was white. I had expected it of the toilet and possibly the sink, but not the entire room. The walls and flooring seemed to be made up of the same white tiling, and the counter-top looked almost as if it were made of pearls swirled together. I forced myself to stop examining the blank room, and planted a hand firmly onto the counter-top. The way to the toilet was fairly easy to navigate, and I was even able to balance myself on the counter as I “did my business.” The way back to my bed was much easier than the path from it, as moving about was becoming easier the more I did it. I flopped back onto my bed, and fell back against the mattress before painfully fixing my sheets over my body. I groaned as I felt my body release all of the tension that it held, along with much of the pain, then found myself sighing. What now? I found myself asking. I looked around the room a third time, my eyes coming to a stop on the night-stand to my right. There was a plastic pitcher on a tray with a small cup next to it, and a handful of straws were tossed about next to the pitcher. I sat up, forgetting about the condition I was in for just long enough to make it to that position, but ultimately forcing a jolt of pain through my abdomen. I winced, but it wasn’t as difficult to overcome as I had expected it to be. After the pain had subsided, I reached towards the cup. I picked it up, only to find it empty. The pitcher, however, was far from empty, and I somehow managed to pour myself a cup of water despite my awkward position. The drink washed down my dry throat, which I hadn’t very well noticed until it was back to normal, with relative ease. After replacing the small cup on the tray, I noticed a remote controller on the stand next to the tray. Looking towards the opposite wall, I found the television, which was hardly big enough to see clearly. I grabbed the remote and clicked the TV on. What appeared on screen was nothing more than the news station, and they seemed to be reporting something about a shooting, from what I could tell. I was about to click the remote again, until I heard a familiar name come through the speaker. “We now turn to our corespondent, Dan Welder, who is live on the scene at Pelion High School,” How did they already find out? I thought. The picture quickly changed to a live shot in front of my school, which looked to be taking place in the middle of a class change. I looked towards the clock, and discovered that it was time to change classes. “Thanks, Jane,” I turned back towards the TV. “I’m here live at Pelion High School, where a shooting took place just yesterday. Now, I’ve spoken with the principal of the school, Travis Barry, and he’s assured me that he has made certain the students’ parents are aware of the issue. Students and faculty that were on the school grounds at the time feared for their lives and hid after the first, and only, gunshot until police officials arrived on the scene after an unknown caller dialed 911,” An unknown caller? “Here is what we have regarding the call,” After a moment, a recording of the 911 call was played, and I easily recognized the voice of the caller. “Help! We need help! Somebody was shot!” Jenna was shouting over the phone. “Ma’am, could you please calm down? Where are you?” The responder sounded calm, but with a sense of urgency. “W-we’re at Pelion High School! Please hurry!” “We’ll send someone right away. Can you stay on the line, please?” There was a click immediately following this statement, and the woman on the phone was repeatedly asking if anyone was still there. The video then cut back to the reporter, who quickly began requesting that anyone who had any information on the shooting to call the police, and that any information would have been helpful. “Although we have no knowledge regarding any injuries or fatalities involved in the shooting, we will continue to report on this situation as we receive more information,” The normal news anchors were shown once again, and they began discussing the next story as if nothing had changed. I was stunned. Of course, I already knew about it. After all, I was the one who was directly involved in the shooting; I was the one who got shot. But seeing it on the news made the whole event seem that much more real, almost like it never happened before I saw it on TV. There was little time to think about it, as a knock on the door quickly jarred me from my thoughts. I clicked the remote to turn down the volume on the TV a couple of notches before the door swung open, allowing Jenna to step into the room.