The first thing Aliya felt was pain.

And the second.

And the third.

Then she opened her eyes. The face hanging over her gave little cause for optimism. She doesn't look like a nurse. Aliya closed her eyes. She remembered the car flipping, the sound of her neck snapping. I ought to be in the hospital, she thought, knowing it would take at least a year of rehab to get back on her feet.

That means putting off my residency. She had been looking forward to it, especially since they had promised her a rotation in trauma. I'm probably in the trauma department now—as a patient.

She opened her eyes again. Why is there a dusty pink rag hanging over my head? And who is the lady with no teeth who keeps bending down over me? Is she asking me something?

"Has My Lady come around?"

The woman's breath was so vile that Aliya groaned and lost consciousness again.

♦

She felt a little better the second time she opened her eyes. She still hurt all over, but the pain was less. Aliya couldn't understand why her pelvis ached so badly after the car accident. She remembered hitting her head but nothing that would have caused injury to her lower half. But who knows? Maybe I have a fractured pelvis. It hurts, for sure.

The dirty pink rag was back above her head. The room stank of smoke and feces, but she didn't feel like fainting again...yet.

Aliya looked around the room, and what she saw made her doubt she was in her right mind. She must have hit her head so hard that she was hallucinating.

She lay on an enormous bed in the center of a large room that had to be at least as big as her parent's entire apartment. On one side of the room, a window showed her the forest beyond. On the other side, stood a massive set of wooden wardrobes, and in front of her bed, she saw a magnificent gilded door. Everything was pink. The walls were covered with fabric in a sickly pink color with huge gold flowers the size of cabbages. The curtains were a happy shade of piglet. The wardrobes had been clumsily painted the same shade of pink with gold accents. The room was furnished with a writing table the color of a robin's breast with roses painted up the legs, as well as several armchairs, upholstered in the same fabric that was on the walls, and a couple of large vases full of live roses. Topping it all off—literally—was a dusty pink canopy, complete with gold bows hanging over the bed.

It's the perfect room for an unhinged Barbie doll. Aliya saw pink circles swimming in front of her eyes, but fainting wouldn't be so easy this time.

"My Lady!" The same face appeared again.

Aliya pulled together what strength she had left and breathed out a question. "Where am I?"

The words came out like "E... a... I?" It was a terrible attempt, but it was all she could manage.

Apparently, the nurse's aide (Who else could she be?) took that as permission to speak, and burst out, "My Lady, how glad I am that you've come around! You've been lying here three days. The healer came and said not to touch you. She said that your body would fight off death if it could. Otherwise, it would be your fate to follow your little one. Childbed fever has taken many women. We were afraid that the malady would get you, but we prayed hourly. With the Lord's help, you'll be back on your feet in no time. Would you like a sip of water?"

A giant cup made of a yellowish metal appeared under her nose. Could it be gold? Red stones glittered around the edge of the cup.

Aliya felt like a malfunctioning computer. Without thinking, she put her lips to the cold metal and took a sip. The water was delicious, and it was cold. Tasty, clean water without a hint of chlorine. It seemed to have been mixed with something like a cheap, boxed wine.

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