Warm Velvet

Anna awoke after temporarily fading.

She could hear the siren. It was getting closer and closer.

“Anna,” Clara called softly. “Stay with me.” She shook Anna’s shoulder. “You have gone cold. Please stay with me,” she begged.

Brakes screeched. Doors opened. Feet started running.

“Is she still breathing? Is she still responding to you?” dispatch asked through a speaker phone.

“A-Anna?!” Clara looked up as Stylus and Dilara rushed over.

She looked down at Anna and then to the twin kneeling beside her, doing a double take.

EMS kneeled beside Anna. They started their trauma checklist.

“She is ashen and has gone cold!” Clara exclaimed. “Do something!”

“We need to free her,” Dilara directed, moving to put both hands around the tree trunk. Stylus waved his utensil, writing in the air. The trunk lifted and drifted away before settling back down.

The piano was lifted and set aside.

Anna fought to stay conscious but it seemed like she was fading back and forth between realities.

“Can we warm her?” Clara asked.

“I can do better.” Dilara stepped close, reaching for her broach. Her eyes considered the weapon Stylus held.

Stylus looked at Dilara.

Each stared.

“Do what you will, Jordan,” Dilara replied at last, loosening her broach.

Dilara removed the pall from her shoulders, laying it over Anna. Clara tucked it in close.

EMS placed a blanket over Anna, tucking it around her.

The duchess ignored the weapon as she leaned in to retrieve the wounded gauze hand. She stroked it lovingly, cradling it close as she closed her eyes, waiting for the stab.

Jordan looked down at the utensil in his hand. “I could end you.”

“You can.”

Neither said anything as the decision hung.

“We need to get Anna home,” Clara said softly, breaking the long silence.

Jordan summoned a stretcher.

EMS slid a backboard under Anna.

Everyone lifted.

Anna could feel herself carried the short distance to the waiting ambulance.

Jordan and Dilara gently loaded Anna into the carriage.

EMS loaded Anna into the ambulance.

“There’s not enough room,” many voices said at once.

“I will stay! Go go go!” Clara said, waving her hand.

The carriage started rolling. The ambulance started moving.

Anna felt warm under the blanket. She stared at the ceiling of the carriage… of the ambulance. It was hard to tell what was what.

EMS worked around her, their faces fading away to that of Dilara and Jordan leaning over her.

The ambulance siren wailed. It bounced on the rough road. The carriage bounced across the uneven cobbles as it approached the front of the cathedral.

The ambulance doors opened. The carriage door opened.

Anna was rushed through a hallway. EMS said lots of indistinct words.

Dilara and Jordan rushed Anna down the center aisle of the cathedral, past rows of encrusted pews, indistinctly shouting at each other as they did.

Anna was brought into a trauma bay. A bright light glared, blinding her.

Dilara and Jordan set Anna atop the white granite altar. A beam of sunlight from a hole in the ceiling blinded her.

“What now?” Jordan asked.

“We cover her face.”

Both looked down at Anna.

Anna smiled up weakly.

“Wait.” Jordan lifted the stylus from his joey pocket. “She should go home with this.”

Dilara clenched her eyes and looked away to hide her emotion.

“Stick,” Anna murmured softly as she saw it lifted into view.

“Style-lus,” Jordan corrected gently.

He tucked it behind Anna’s right ear.

“I feel light headed,” Anna whispered.

“Pall. Now,” Dilara said.

Four hands took hold of the pall’s edge, lifting it up, draping it over Anna’s eyes.

Everything went black.

The velvet pall felt warm and comforting.

. . .

A heart monitor’s steady beeping slowly brought her to.

Anna’s eyes fluttered.

The lights of the hospital room were dimmed.

Anna looked at the clock on the wall across from the foot of her bed. July 19. One minute before midnight.

Above the clock a muted television was on. The Hobbit was playing.

Her mouth was so dry. She needed water.

Anna winced as she slowly pushed herself up in bed.

“Woah there,” a nurse said as she zipped into the room. “What do you need? I’ll get it for you.”

“W-water,” Anna coughed softly.

“Ice chips,” the nurse answered gently.

She held up a small plastic cup of slivered ice, allowing Anna to get one or two in her mouth before setting the cup aside on a nearby overbed table. It was cold and wet.

Bliss.

“I’m Claire,” the nurse said. “You had a very nasty accident with a piano.”

“Clara?”

“No, Claire,” she repeated softly.

“W-was it a dream?”

“What dream?”

“The catacombs. The bog. The trial.”

“You’ve had quite the trial indeed.” Claire turned to check the vitals monitor, then eyed the various hanging IV bags.

“Dilara.”

“Dilaudid? Yes, you’re on that. You were critically injured and heavily medicated. Delirium and hallucinations are not unusual after that.”

Anna stared at the television.

Claire looked over her shoulder and smiled. “It’s a favorite of mine. I hope you don’t mind. I can change the channel if you like.”

Anna shook her head.

She started to cry.

“What’s wrong,” Claire asked sympathetically.

“It-it was so real.”

“Was it a good dream?”

“No,” Anna replied through tears. “It was r-really hard.”

“Then why are you crying?”

“B-because it mattered.”

Claire smiled sweetly. “The most challenging things in life are often the most worthwhile.” She pulled several tissues from a nearby box and dabbed Anna’s tears away.

“Why don’t you tell your friend about your dream when he gets back. It’s after visiting hours but he’s been with you all day. So it’s our little secret.” Claire smiled and winked.

A middle aged man appeared at the doorway. He wore a black long sleeved shirt and black dress slacks. He desperately needed a haircut.

“She’s awake now,” Claire said to him.

“Thank you,” he replied.

Claire zipped out.

Standing there, motionless, the man looked at Anna.

“Do I know you?”

He went over to a chair set beside the bed. On the seat of the chair was a plain paper bag.

“I’m sorry. The gift shop didn’t have much.” He reached in and pulled out a plush horse. One of the forelegs was in a white plush cast. “It was this or the bear with stitches down its chest.”

He approached and sheepishly set the horse on the bed beside Anna. He looked down at the floor, cheeks red with embarrassment. “I’m really glad you are okay.”

Anna slowly reached to pick up the plush. She turned it around to examine it more closely. “Does it have a name?”

The man looked up and smiled weakly, a tear running down his face. “Arashi Astra.”

Anna burst into tears of joy.