The Return Home

Flen forcefully sent Scarlet home through the portal since he felt she would be safer in her own world. When she exited out of the portal, she fell into the pool water, almost drowning. Luckily, she was in an area with many people, and they were able to help her. Upon slipping due to the wet areas, she injured herself and was taken to the hospital.

Scarlet’s eyes opened to see bright lights shining directly in her face, causing her to immediately shut them. Once she opened her eyes again, her vision became clearer, and she was able to see a couple of faces staring at her. Their faces were filled with joy when they saw her wake up. They were wearing light blue scrubs. She could see several people who appeared to be nurses with clipboards pacing the room. She moved her fingers and felt the side rails on the bed. On her back, there was a noisy thin film cover that crinkled with her every movement. There was an IV bag right next to her. It was injected into her left arm.

Beep Beep Beep Beep

She could also hear the heart monitor machine beeping.

She realized that she was in the hospital. She looked over to her right, there was another patient resting in their bed. All around her, the walls, ceiling, and floors were all white.

There were rushed footsteps toward her.
She could see her aunt and her cousin standing and hovering over her.

"I can't believe you had the nerve to run off." Her aunt shouted in dismay. She had her hands on her hips, and her face expressing frustration as her eyebrows arched downwards.

Her cousin was too distracted looking at her cellphone to react. She was having trouble with the internet connection and left the room to find a better hot spot.

“It’s not working again.” She huffed and walked away. She was walking while looking at her phone carelessly without paying attention to what was in front of her. She bumped into a couple of walls. She rubbed her head and continued her way.

"Come back here!" Her aunt yelled at her cousin.

The nurse came over to tell the aunt to lower her voice.

“Please ma’am, this patient has just awoken. Please do talk in your softest voice, this is a hospital, or I would need make you leave this room.”

The aunt reluctantly complied and sat on one of the visitor chairs.

The room was set at a cool temperature. Scarlet shivered from the cold; she was wearing a thin hospital gown around her. She also felt some soreness in her body. She rubbed her hands a little to keep warm. The commotion around her caused her to have a slight headache.

Why am I here? Did I get hurt somehow?

She tried to remember.

I don't know how I got here. What happened to me?

She thought it was a normal school day for her, nothing out of the ordinary. Flashes of certain scenes occupied her mind. It displayed events with people she could not recall.

There was an image of a boy with spiky silver hair and blue eyes sitting next to her and talking to her on the rooftop while she was eating from her bento. Their pinky fingers locked.

“There, you promised.”

It was the same boy again, but in another scene, making potions enthusiastically with her and entrusting her with a pill.

“Use this to disguise yourself.”

Static Static Hi Scarlet Static Are you there?

Then the scenes transitioned into her falling on top of different boy with messy brown hair with yellow eyes. He was then gripping a wooden sword and fencing with her. She fell on her bottom.

He mentioned, “I can show you some tricks if you’d like.”

He pulled her up to stand.

“You’re improving.” He smiled at her. As the sun shined over the both of them.

Who are those guys? It seemed like we were close..”

She tried to remember, but a sharp pain inflicted upon her every time she tried.

Owwww Augggg

She placed her hand over her forehead to apply pressure on the pained area.

The nurse who was checking up on a patient next area, came over to Scarlet.

“Hi dear, how are you feeling? Any pain right now?”

Scarlet responded, “I’m a little sore, but nothing too noticeable now.” The nurse examined her arms and legs for signs of pain. She pressed gently on some areas of her body.

“Okay, I’ll ask you a few questions now,” said the nurse.

“Do you know where you are at?”

“Yes, I’m at a hospital.”

“Good, do you know who these people are?” She pointed toward her aunt and cousin. Her aunt was sitting quietly while her cousin was fumbling with her cellphone.

“Yes, she’s my aunt and that’s my cousin.”

“Great, now I want you to follow my finger.”

The nurse moved her finger up and down to see if she could follow them.

To the nurse, it was normal protocol to ask a patient who had been knocked out to answer those questions. Scarlet seemed exhausted from the experience.

The nurse turned over to the aunt and said, “It looks like she will be alright. We can discharge her today if that works for you.”

When Scarlet was released, she stumbled out of the hospital bed. It was as if she had not been walking for several days.

They placed her in a wheelchair temporarily to roll her out to her aunt’s car.

When they arrived home, her aunt did not force her to do chores.

“You should rest, if you’re hungry, there are leftover chicken and rice in the fridge you can eat.”

She then turned to her cousin, “Now, you need to finish cleaning.”

It was amusing to watch her aunt demanding her cousin to work on chores. For as long as she could remember, she was the only one who had to do anything. Her aunt was always so critical, and her feedback was harsh.

Her cousin scoffed at the aunt; they began to argue with each other.

“Don’t you speak with that tone with me, young lady?”

“Why are you making me do this, you know I’m terrible at this? Why don’t you make Scarlet do it?”

“She’s unwell! She just left the hospital!” Her aunt was furious.

Scarlet was listening in on their entertaining argument. In that small moment, it seemed that her aunt cared about her. The back and forth yelling eventually subsided especially after the aunt ran after the cousin with a broom. The cousin stopped omplaining and worked on her chores quietly.

Scarlet returned to her room to rest. She felt as if she had been away from home for quite some time, but she could not remember where she went or what she did. Her room was still the same, she fell on top of the bed. She pulled all of her soft pillows close to her body.

While she laid in bed, she stared up at the ceiling. She noticed the surface of that paint was cracked and flaked off.

She recalled an X shaped portal emerging in the openness, pulling her in and the wind was quite strong. She tried to resist, but the strength of the force was too strong.

She remembered that she was with someone at the time. There was a silhouette of the person, but it was all dark in her mind.

A face she did not remember.

She tossed and turned on her bed to find the best comfortable spot. She noticed there was a small key attached to a necklace around her neck.

This necklace looks odd; it looks homemade with a rope as the string. I’m not sure when I received this.

The key twirled in a circular motion as she held the necklace up to her eyes.

What is this key for?

Why can’t I remember anything at all? She was frustrated that she could not understand the scenes that were playing in her head.

She then pulled her blanket over herself and closed her eyes to sleep.

I hope I can remember more tomorrow.