I bolt upright in my hospital bed, the IV ripping from my arm in the process. I look around in my adrenaline-induced panic attack and see nothing but the quiet room around me. I then look at myself, at my shaking hands. I clench and unclench them trying to calm myself. I steady my breathing and close my eyes. Everything is fine, I tell myself. Even if I am going insane there are surely workarounds.

Tinkling laughter resounds throughout my thoughts, insane? I’m still here roach!

I freeze, my heart rate increases, and I’m back to shaking.

Does that mean…

I look to my shaking hands again but don’t feel any different. I clench them and imagine myself with unimaginable power; rocks break and rivers part, kingdoms rise and empires fall, all will bend under my will.

I look around for something to grab that would not endanger myself like the glass of water or my bifocals on the bedside table.

Literally nothing. I sigh.

Even if you had found an object to exert your will upon, you wouldn’t have been able to crush, break, or influence it in any way. The power given to you is not so easy to use with a mere imaginative thought! I also limited the amount of power I funnel into you; you must prove yourself worthy of further investment.

“So how do I use the power you so graciously gave to me then?”

*phbbt!* I’m not telling you! Watching you bumble around blindly trying to figure everything out is part of the fun! Besides, every person’s magic is unique to themselves, therefore I could only teach you the basics and the most well-worn paths; everything else would be left up to you to determine. Furthermore, most never reach the pinnacle of power because of the limited primordial energy they have access to. You, however, will have no such problems, further consolidating your path to immortality and dominion over this planet. And, knowing your intelligence and ambition, learning to utilize this power will be trivial to you. I am more interested in seeing how you progress down the road, which side roads you take, and the other pivotal choices you will inevitably be forced to make along it. You and I have much to look forward to; the only warning and piece of advice I will give to you is to not make too big of a splash, the eyes above and below are always watching. With that, I bid you adieu for now. Do be careful will you?

And with that, her presence vanishes from my mind. The connection remains and whispers of her power still linger, but her consciousness transfers elsewhere leaving me to my own thoughts.

There is much to dissect within that last monologue but, with my current mental state, doing such a task seems impossible even with my expert emotional control.

I need to just… get back to a semblance of normal first before I dig deep into the meat of my situation.

First, I need to get out of this godforsaken hospital. I look out the windows and find it is now dark outside; it seems some time has passed since I was last awake. I then recall the events that led to my… falling asleep…

Yeah, the doctors definitely heard my screaming and so it’s likely that the duration of my stay has increased. Unfortunate, that bit*h just had to make a scene didn’t she.

I sigh and press the call button next to my bed hoping to get something to eat to alleviate my growing hunger pangs.

It doesn’t take long before a nurse and what seems to be a doctor arrives in the room.

The doctor looks at me with mild surprise for a moment before turning his attention to the monitors displaying my vitals and other such information. Without saying a thing, he starts writing information down on a clipboard.

The nurse however, looks upon me with a smile and asks, “How are you sir? Are you feeling alright?”

Honestly?

“I feel better than ever truth be told.”

Her mouth turns downward a bit as though she can’t quite believe that and I don’t blame her. Being in a coma twice in the same day probably elicits the impression that one is not long for this world.

Nevertheless, she then asks, “Well, if you are feeling alright, is there anything we can get you?”

“Hmm. Well, there are some questions I’d like answered if thats alright, some food would be great, and would it be too much to ask to leave the hospital within the next, say, 12ish hours?”

“Well sir, I can certainly try and answer whatever questions you may have and if I cannot, I will defer to Dr. Artel. As for food…” she pauses for a moment, opens a drawer on the bedside table, pulls what seems to be a food menu out, and hands it to me. “These are our options for food at the hospital. You can also order from somewhere else outside the hospital if they have a delivery service but that obviously costs a fair bit more money. As for being able to leave soon, well, I honestly can’t say, so, Dr. Artel?”

The doctor looks up from his clipboard for a moment to ponder the nurse’s question.

“Twelve hours is much too soon. With two episodes in the last day, it seems as though it’s only a matter of time before another episode occurs as we have no clue what is causing it or how to stop it from happening. I’m afraid we will need to keep you here for at least the next three days and if you continue having episodes, that timeframe is liable to be extended.”

I sigh. It was worth it to ask at least.

As soon as he’d finished talking, the doctor returned to writing on his clipboard. I turn my gaze upon the nurse as she gives me a sympathetic smile.

“I suppose that’s fine. As for food…” I rake a disinterested glare over the mundane food items on the menu the nurse gave to me, “I think I will order from outside, I could really go for a good steak right now.”

The nurse retrieves the menu from my hand and, while placing it back inside the bedside drawer, remarks, “when placing your order, please make sure to give the restaurant or delivery service your room number which is 407B.”

“Great thank you. Now, if you’ll allow me to ask, how long has it been since I first lost consciousness?”

The nurse glances at the clock on the wall which reads 10:39 and then at the sheet of paper the doctor still writes on and, after doing a bit of mental math, says, “Roughly 29 hours.”

Hmm, a bit longer than I originally thought but no matter, “Has anyone visited while I was unconscious? If so then who?”

“A man named Todd Stilte accompanied you to the hospital and stayed for about 30 minutes in the waiting room before leaving. Your brother arrived at around 10 AM today and stayed for around 2 hours before leaving. Shortly after he left you had a second attack. A woman named Ineri Astanae visited you around 3 hours after your attack, claiming to be a friend. After finding your condition unchanged, she left. Other than them, the doctors, and I, no one else has visited you.”

Ineri huh? I haven’t spoken with her in a fair bit, what reason could she have for visiting me? I was under the impression she thought me insane.

Haha, what a fucking joke.

Well, whatever her reasoning for coming to see me, I would be glad to oblige her if only to rub my success in her face.

“Will there be anything else Mr. Faelen?” The nurse asked. The doctor looked up from his clipboard and looked at me as though he’d come to a revelation.

Curious as to the doctor’s gaze, I ask, “Something the matter Doctor?”

“Ah- ahhh, nothing in particular. Will that be all Mr. Faelen?”

I sigh in resignation, not willing to push further, “Yes, that will be all for now. Thank you both for your help.”

Let it never be said I was a dick to people who may have had a hand in preserving my life.

As the doctor and nurse left the room, I sat up further in bed and pondered how I should spend the rest of my three days in this veritable prison.

Thinking back to the events over the past couple of days I cannot help but bring my hands to my face and exclaim, “God what a fucking mess.”

Gathering myself again I pick up my phone and glasses from the bedside table.

“Okay, first things first, I need to call Todd.”

He picks up almost immediately.

“Tetal?” He seems relieved.

“Hey Todd, it’s me. I wanted to call so we can get things sorted out regarding the presentation I was sup-“

“Nevermind that! Are you okay? It’s nothing serious is it?” Exasperated and worried.

“Ahh… About that, no one here is really sure, least of all myself, what happened. They are going to keep me here a few more days to monitor my situation, but I personally feel like whatever happened is over for good…” I pause for a few moments and the silence on the other end of the line indicates that Todd is either thinking over what I said or is waiting for me to say something else. “Listen, there’s something I’m not telling you but, I need some time to gather my thoughts and figure things out because right now, I’m feeling a bit overwhelmed. I’d like to say I don’t remember anything but, I felt every moment of it. The pain was… Indescribable, my mind suffers even trying to think about it, I… I need some time okay? Is everything taken care of at work?”

Some time passes before Todd responds, “Well, some of the Cs, Ps, and directors are questioning your ability to perform especially given the news of your impending promotion. John (president of operations) has been the most vocal in your denouncement. However, these are all temporary matters. This incident did not leak so nobody outside of the meeting room knows what happened, I made sure of that. NDAs and all that.”

“Ahh, good. Am I still good for my presentation then? If so, when?”

“Don’t worry about that for right now, just focus on getting yourself back together. When you are truly ready, and aren’t just saying you are, then we’ll talk about the presentation. What you’ve proposed is the engine that will dictate our future endeavors. We need you in the best of shape to ensure the presentation is as close to flawless as possible. And… As a friend, please take your time. Relax a little bit; you’ve been overworking yourself to the extreme lately and I can only see it leading to another burnout.”

“I understand Todd. Perhaps this whole event arose from an over worked mind and everything I saw… Never-mind. I’ll take what you’ve said into consideration.” I say sincerely.

“You know, I’ve given you that same spiel near a million times it seems like and only now does it seem like you’ve taken what I’ve said into account.” He pauses for a moment and I consider his words. “Anyway, get some rest, recuperate, do whatever else you think you might need to do, and I’ll talk to you tomorrow okay?”

“Yeah, sounds good man. I’ll talk to you later.”

I press the hang up button on my phone and set it on the bedside table once again, lost in thought.