She wasn’t sure what happened after her talk with the... thing. She could barely remember her time in the caves, most of it was a blur. Consciousness was a privilege she was no longer welcome to. Snippets of memories were possible, in some places. Enough to give her the idea that there was a vague sensation of wandering, with the whispers mounting and pushing behind her, before reaching a crescendo and causing everything to fade to faint static. Then there were only clips of what happened after. Clearer in her mind, yet shorter.

There was shouting in the background, and a dog barking. There was panicked talking into a phone. There was someone checking her over for wounds. Maybe. She was truly out of it at that point. It was as if all of her exhaustion had been put on hold, and there it all came crashing down. There was only blissful sleep after.

The next time she woke up she was in a hospital room, right next to a window. Looking out she saw a small grass courtyard with a singular oak in the centre, with the leaves turning a shade of red. Keira knew where she was. They visited the hospital in the city a few years ago, when the secondary school put an emphasis on learning first aid. So… she was safe. Keira tried to let out a breath of relief, but it comes out as more of a sigh. She wondered why she wasn’t happier. At the moment it did feel like there was a weight off of her shoulder, but she still felt vaguely detached from everything.

Shifting her eyes around the room, she tried to find something to focus her gaze on, but as true to hospitals in general, it was very blank and sterile. Of the five beds in the room, only hers was occupied, meaning that there wasn’t anyone to talk to. That was fine, she probably wouldn’t be able to talk to them properly anyway. Though someone was thoughtful enough to leave the TV on. Even if it was only the news. It went through the weather segment, some local news and… oh, her. The program ended on a pretty interesting report, however.

“There has been a strange phenomenon over the past few days of large swaths of birds and rodents being found dead in both rural and populated areas. Not only are scientists baffled that such death has occurred on wide scale, but also that these animals were in such large groups. In response the government of Aria has issued a request that if you were to find such a group, please call it in and keep your distance due to risk of biohazards.”

Then the program ended, and an intermission card was played, telling her that the next show would be on in fifteen minutes. Keira groaned and leaned her head back. Her mind still felt sluggish, but she was feeling a little more awake at least. Maybe she should get up and walk around. Just as the thought crossed her mind though, the door opened and defeated that notion pretty quickly.

In walked Seth Lawson, one of the only officers on duty in the village. He oozed tiredness, even more than usual, and his pants and large coat were stained with mud. His walking boots looked like they might flake mud, but he must’ve wiped them down enough before entering the hospital.

“Good to see you up and about.”

“What happened...?” Keira’s voice croaked as she said that. It felt as though she hadn’t spoken in weeks. Seth, seemingly having noticed this, handed Keira a water bottle which seemed to have been hiding in his coat pocket. She took it gratefully and took a sip.

“Well, that’s what we would like to ask you. You were missing for a little over a week with the only trace being your phone. We found you lying in an odd nook about a day ago in between some rocks with that odd symbol carved on your wrist.” She looked at her wrist at that point and noticed that it was wrapped in gauze.

“I-“

“Don’t have to say anything now. We could get a notepad for you if you don’t want to say anything at all, or we could just leave it if you’d rather not relive it.”

“It’s not that I don’t want to say anything. I can’t. I didn’t see the person who did this to me, I don’t even have any idea who would think about something like this.”

“Ah. I’ll forward that on to the investigating officers.”

“You’re not the person investigating?”

“Nope. Higher ups handed it over to a couple of city officers. Apparently, there was a last-minute change when you were found, so we now have two from special cases, whatever that means. One of them is here to talk to right now actually, he’ll be in after we’ve finished. Just a fair warning though, he’s a real piece of work.”

“I’ll… keep that in mind. What did the doctors say about my state?”

“They said that you look decently healthy for someone who was missing for as long as you were. No signs of starvation or dehydration, only exhaustion. After they monitored you for eight hours, they deemed it safe to put you in here. Officer Weil will talk with you in more detail when he comes in.”

“Okay… where are my parents?”

“They both had to go back to work as their bosses threatened to fire them if they missed one more day. I’m sure they’ll negotiate a compromise seeing as you’re up and about now. Extenuating circumstances and all that.”

“Yeah… You mentioned that there was an officer waiting to talk with me?”

“Yup, he’s here to question you in more detail. You want me to stay?”

“…Yes please.” Seth leaned back and yelled at the door.

“You can come in!” There was a brief pause before a man walked in. He was surprisingly youthful, especially for some working in something called the special cases unit. Maybe the mop of blonde hair made him look younger than he actually was, or maybe it was because it looked like he could wear whatever he liked aside from the badge on his chest.

“Ms. Aboret? I’m Maxwell Weil. I apologise for disturbing you rest, but I would like for you to answer some of my questions about your experience. Whilst the situation is still fresh in your mind. Would you mind?”

“Yeah… I mean no- I mean- I can answer some questions.”

“Excellent. So, start from when you left for your run.” So, she did. Detailing up until the point when she felt like she was knocked out. Then she tried to detail what happened after, but her throat clammed up. She tried to push through that but then the mark on her wrist burned. While she no longer heard it, the simple command was clear. ‘No.’ So it could enforce the no speaking rule? And it did happen? Gods. What had she gotten into. The officer was waiting for her to finish, but she couldn’t.

“That’s all I can remember… I’m sorry.” Maxwell looked at her for a minute and then pulled out a little silver bell, with an inscription she recognises.

“You’re from the Church of Alzumah?”

“Yes.” Maxwell smiled slightly. “It’s a beautiful thing, isn’t it?” He gave it a little ring as if to punctuate his point. It made an elegant chiming noise and for a moment Keira felt herself be drawn into it, the musical side of her admiring the sound. Then the mark burned again and Keira pushed her hand down on it to stop the pain from being so sharp. Was it telling her to stay focused? When Keira looked up again at Maxwell, he was just finishing writing things on his noted pad. “So, I’ve just finished making some notes about your condition. Allow me to ask again, are you sure you can’t remember anything?”

“I’m sure. Is it that hard to believe?”

“Quite frankly, yes. Because you seemed to be in good shape when we picked you up, your abductor must’ve taken care of you for the duration of your capture. Even if you didn’t see them, comments on the type of food and drink could go a long way.”

“I can’t remember. My time there feels like a complete blur that my mind had blacked out. I’m sorry I can’t help more.” Maxwell sighed and made some more notes, these ones took a little more time for him to write down.

“Don’t be. It just makes it harder to help you and to get a dangerous criminal off of the street.”

“Watch it.” Seth growled. He had looked pretty content to sit on the side of the conversation, but now he was openly glaring daggers at Weil. Keira decided to step in before it escalated.

“Is that all?”

“No, I would like to have a look at your wrist as well.” This was when Seth stood up and took over the conversation.

“No. Doctors asked to keep it on to stop risk of infection.” Maxwell stopped at this and glared at Seth. And he continued to do so until Seth made it very clear on how little he cared, probably helped along but his generally bedraggled state. Keira really loved him.

“Fine. Send the photos over to me as soon as possible.”

“Sure, will buddy. Take it easy now.” He began to push lightly on Officer Weil’s back and after a moment Maxwell caved and began to walk out of the door. Before stopping a moment and turning back to Keira.

“My partner should have finished moving into the local police office by now. Feel free to drop by if you have any more information regarding your case.” Then he walked out. Seth turned back to Keira and gave her a tired smile.

“Real piece of work, eh?” Then he frowned. “He’s not going to move into my office, is he?” Then with a mild look of panic he rushed off also.

Keira was once again left all alone in the hospital room. While she hadn’t appreciated the visit from officer Weil it had certainly done a lot to distract her. The program timer on the television was still ticking down. It hadn’t even been thirty seconds alone before she decided to get up and explore. She was in one of the hospital gowns so hopefully that would allow for her to blend in better with the surrounding hospital staff, and even if they did stop her she could make up some excuse about needing the toilet. They had pretty much said she was fine after all so there really shouldn’t be any problem with her wandering around.

She unsuspiciously poked her head out of the door, just long enough to see Maxwell round a corner, turning away from the stairs which lead to the exit. He seemed to be on the phone which made Keira wonder what he was talking about. Since he only just finished talking to her, she was most likely to be the subject. Curiosity seemed to spike at that point and she eyed the mark on her wrist and a shiver went down her spine. Even though it was covered by the gauze it seemed like it was watching her. There was no pain though, so it looked like she had the supernatural seal of approval.

Slipping out she powerwalked the route that Maxwell took, trying to look as inconspicuous as possible. It didn’t seem too difficult. Most of the doctors around seemed like they were in too much of a rush to notice the stray patient weaving between them. She also noticed that she was walking pretty easy for someone who had been missing for a week. It didn’t take long to get to the point where Maxwell turned off to the side. And she did that also. It was another corridor, there were also a couple people here so she carried on walking. Then as she was passing a door there was a sharp pain in her wrist. With a quick glance around she noticed that the remaining people were clearing out until the corridor was all but abandoned. Keira gave the symbol a look, but it had stopped trying to send a message, or maybe it was just satisfied with itself. Either way she decided not to dwell too much on how much she was listening to the entity that was now bound to her and pushed her ear to the door. Despite the fact that the conversation on the other side of the door was muffled, it was still clear to her what was being said.

“Yes- I am sure… Look, I’ve already called it in as special cases, I’m just waiting for Marshall to also make the judg- Yes. I’m getting photos of the mark soon. I’ll send the files to you too when I get them. Do you really think that you’ll be able to identify it? …I am aware of that, but it’s been a while- I know. Yes. I do still have it… Of course I’ll keep it safe. Yes… I know what I’ll have to do. Good speaking to you too. Bye.” Keira was hit with a very sneaking suspicion that she wasn’t supposed to have heard that. Well of course she wasn’t supposed to have heard that, the man chose an empty out of the way room to talk in and shut the door behind him. Even so, it was an extra strong feeling that she shouldn’t have heard that.

There was a brief pulse of pain, originating from the mark on her wrist. Keira felt like it was telling her to go before she was found out, and she found that idea acceptable. This brought another question to her mind though. Could it hear what she could? That was disturbing. She should really do that ritual as soon as possible.

The way back to her room was as uneventful as her way out of it. Her closest call was almost running into a doctor who looked like he was in a rush, but a quick apology placated him. She settled back into the bed just in time for more scheduled programming to start. ‘The Wanderer’s Flame’ read the title card. Subconsciously she thought that it might be a good idea to pay attention, as it was a film adaptation of one of the works she had to write an essay on for her literature exams, but she didn’t really have the energy to be on top of her studying right now. Gods she really was out of it.

Maybe it was the best course of action though, because not half an hour later her parents came rushing into her room with a spare change of clothes and plenty of hugs. Until finally they both briefly pulled away and her father spoke.

“Keira. You know when you were initially going to set off and I was pretending to fuss over you?”

“Yes?”

“Know that from now on, whenever I do that, I am not joking.”

Keira smiled slightly at that and hugged them back. It was time she truly went home.