by Maree, Kay
Mandy must have seen what Eka was looking for and produced a cup with a flexi straw for her. She lowered it down to her mouth to save Eka from moving, and she was thankful for that gesture.
Eka sucked the cool water back. It instantly soothed her throat that felt like it was on fire and being rasped with sandpaper.
Pulling her cracked dry lips away from the straw, Eka ran her tongue over them. The copper taste of blood tickled over her tongue. Her hands moved to them and she could feel the caked blood still covering them.
“How bad is it?” Eka asked Mandy as she placed the cup back on the small cabinet.
“It’s Michael Myers bad.” Her smile was weak. Eka watched as she pushed stray hair behind her ears and looked everywhere but Eka.
The silence was deafening and Eka tried to move in the bed to distract her from the raging thoughts of Wolf.
“He isn’t awake, but he is alone if you want to see him.”
“Thank you,” she whispered.
“I will help you.” Eka nodded to Mandy and with much effort and a lot of pain rippling through her exhausted body, she slipped from her room on unsteady feet to Wolf’s. It was two floors above her on the same side of the hospital. He was still in ICU. She was just in the wing for the broken and beaten.
The room was small and filled with a medicinal stench. A ghostly sound from Wolf’s breathing apparatus echoed around, as well as the constant beep, beep of the machines keeping him alive.
Eka bit her tongue hard to stop a gasp from escaping. His leg was in a cast. Most of his body was covered up with blankets. His arms lay over the top of them, tubes and wires attached. He had wires that run under the blanket onto his bare chest.
He didn’t look frail; he looked…like a wounded warrior from a war battle. She approached the side of his bed, curling her fingers around the metal railing more to hold herself up and anchor her to this side of the floor. She felt like falling far away from the pain of seeing the man that she has only ever truly loved, lay so still. So, broken.
Her tears fell. “Oh, cowboy. Ain’t you a sight for sore eyes.” No response. She brushed her fingertips across the scraped-up knuckles on his hand and studied his unconscious face for the longest time, hoping for a sign of some kind. Nothing came, just Eka’s tears that fell.
She lowered the rail and pulled back the blanket and climbed inside pulling the covers back around them both wrapping them together so they could dream of all the things that made them feel alive.
“Evermore my love. Evermore. Remember that.” Eka whispered into Wolf’s chest as the machine breathing for him pressed his warm chest up and down under her cheek. Eka pulled him into her and hung on.
No one would pull her from him. Not his family, nor hers. She would Edao (stay) and she would Alasdi (fight) for their love and what they could have.
~*~
Wolf wakes suddenly, every thought in high definition.
Though his eyes are open, he can’t seem to think of why. His heart is pounding. His mind empty. It's as if a hypodermic of adrenaline had been emptied into his carotid artery. He strains into the utter darkness of the room. His breathing rate beginning to steady.
Because he can smell her.
He can feel her weight and warmth around him.
His body feels so cold, but she’s so warm.
His arms are heavy as he tries to move them to wrap around his unique wish, his Eka. He can’t move and he panics as he feels the machine pushing air into his body. He tries with all his strength to move, to pull whatever it is that is taped to the side of his face, holding the intrusion of air that is bellowing down through his mouth and into his chest. It hurts, he hurts.
Wolf decides to just lay there quietly, be still mind, be still, he repeats as he allows his heavy lids to fall back down over his cheeks. Matching his breaths to the beeping of the machines that surround the bed, the only indications of his heartbeat, his existence. His legs are numb.
His throat is on fire with this tube inside it. His arms are like cement and Eka is here with him. This must be bad, he thinks as he tries to pull memories of what happened into his mind, but he can’t remember anything.
His body is passed exhausted as he allows the dark to wrap him in its heavy cloak and take him back down to where it doesn’t hurt. To where he and Eka are laying under the ink-black nights-sky making wishes upon the sparkling stars.
~*~
Eka gives herself a moment to shed the sleep from her brain, to allow the visions of the night to give way to the day. To move from that which she creates on a whim to things more fixed and real. In a few minutes she will be able to greet the sunlight, to see the colors as bright as the backlit images of cinema screens. She will adjust. For now, let it come with the subtleness of a gentle dawn that lets her doze underwing. I'll be there soon, I'll wake up, you'll see. She whispers into Wolf’s side. Her arms still holding onto him, so careful as to not move and disturb him.
Nurses had come in and out most of the night and into the early hours. She had pretended to be sleeping. Not wanting them to move her. Lucy had come in at around 11p.m. and sat with them. She hummed away from the chair beside the window. A scent of fresh flowers filled the room, taking away the disgusting smell of hospital bleach.
Eka didn’t know if she was still there or not. She didn’t care to open her eyes. Everything hurt and as soon as she woke, she knew she would have to face the day and how much that would hurt. Wolf’s mother along with hers would be back in as soon as the sun rose high enough. They would not be happy walking in to Eka in Wolf’s bed, but she wouldn’t leave him, not now, not ever.
Eka heard the door open and the gasp that followed it. Then another gasp. The door fell shut behind them as they stepped into the room. Their eyes scanning over Eka and Wolf in the hospital bed. Wolf still lay dead still, the same way he was when they left. The only difference was the woman with raven black hair laying wrapped around his beaten and bruised body. The woman they had seen get pummeled into the floor by the white man she chose over eight moons ago.
Eka’s mother had sat with her daughter after she was moved from the floor of that waiting room and into a bed semi cleaned and check over. She had held her daughter's hand and had sent a prayer up to the great spirit for her daughter to find herself inside the darkness.
Wolf’s mother wasn’t ready at all to see the raven-haired woman who was shunned inside her son’s bed laying on his body.
She held her breath, waiting for the screaming and disapproval to come. When it didn’t, she let out the breath but refused to open her eyes. It was going to be smoother for all if she just pretends to be asleep.
Eka felt an arm move as fingers reached for hers over his chest. Her body still as her breath caught in her lungs. He was moving. He was reaching out for her. He was here.
‘It will be ok, my Eka, my galvadi itsosv (heaven), My agasgv (rain) on a hot day. They can’t do anything’
‘They can.’
“No, my gvgeyui. (love) Not while I’m with you, they can’t.’
‘They will send me away again.’ Eka’s words broke inside her mind as she shared them with the man whom stole her from five years old. He has always been her Asiyvwi (person)
‘Yeli nigesvna (impossible) they can’t take away what isn’t theirs. You’re aquatseli (mine). I’d love to see them try.
Wolf stirred under the covers, trying to pull Eka into him so she could feel all that he held in his soul for her. The strength she needed to fight for them both right now. He would go to war for Eka, and if that meant displeasing his mother and the elders, then so be it. No more. Eka would return home with him to his ranch.
His heartbeat faster as their bare skin touched, he could feel all the good inside her but taste the bad on his tongue. She was hurting, he could feel it.
‘They are so uhnalvhi (mad) though, Wolf. I can feel it radiating from them. They can’t forgive my unilidastanv (mistakes).’
Eka breathed out, her fingers tracing over the bandage across Wolf’s abdomen.
‘My sweet Eka unelagiadaelisedi (forgiveness) isn’t their’s to give you. You don’t need them to forgive, you need them to gvgeyui (love) you, golisdi understand why you chose the usdi ganvnu (path) you did and what lessons you got from the uyotsvhi (damage) that reckless decision cost you. He fooled you with a crazy gvgeyui (love) Eka. Now we alasdi (fight) to repair that uyotsvhi (damage) with our uwoduhi (beautiful) dinidadisdodi (memories).’
Eka pushed herself deeper into him, his words floating inside her mind. He always strips everything bare and pieces it back together, more beautiful than it was before. How was she so lucky at having a second chance to love this man?
‘I can feel their eyes burning into me, Wolf. It hurts. My whole body hurts.’
‘Mine too, my love. Like I was run over by a bull.’
Eka could feel the smile in his voice as she kissed his ribs.
‘You were, cowboy.’
‘Eka, remember what we have and that no matter what, I will alasdi (fight) for you until my last breath.’
Eka nodded into him, tears falling from her eyes onto his skin.
‘No tears my beautiful.’
Before Eka could speak to his mind, he woke with a jolt. His body heaved up from the bed, his mind frantic with the intrusion of the breathing tube down his throat. He gasped and fought to free his hands to reach for the tube, wanting to free his airway and allow air into his body himself.
Eka tried with all she had to calm him. Her eyes met his frantic ones. Anger washed through them; she knew it was because of her face. All the fresh bruises and swelling, the angry purple fingerprints on her neck from evil hands.
Lucy jumped from the chair in the corner and smashed her palm hard over the call button on the wall once, twice, three times before anyone entered the room in a rush of white coats and purple nurse’s uniforms.
Eka was pulled from the bed. Burning pain ripped through her as Wolf reached for her hand, trying to pull her back into him, not wanting the loss of her warmth and her comfort inside the chaos. He could hear his mother weeping and Eka’s cursing Eka as she fell to the floor, tears falling from her cheeks. Wolf’s head spun to Lucy, and she read his mind. She scurried to Eka’s side, picked her up and helped her over to the chair next to him. When she placed her down her head fell to the bed as Wolf’s hand rested on top of it. Finally, he was calming, her sobs quiet but deafening to him. So many things that he wanted to know, and this tube was making it extremely difficult to do either.
A doctor shone a light into his eyes, blinding him, which caused him to slam his lids shut. As water pooled behind them Wolf had to blink it away. A nurse spoke in a sweet, quiet voice as she placed her cool hands on his arm.
“Mr. Eula, my name is Sue and I will remove that tube for you if you could just lay really still for me. Then Doctor Wilson will explain to you exactly what happened.
Wolf looked into her kind eyes, “And Eka.” He tried to speak around the tube. “My Eka. What did he do to her?” Tears fell freely from his eyes as Sue hushed him and began untaping the tube from his skin. Wolf winced at the feeling of her slight pulling, then it came to the part that had him gagging and retching. She pulled the long tube from the inside of his throat out through his mouth. It burned coming up dry and tasted far too sterile, leaving the smell of the hospital to sit in the back of his mouth. His eyes watered as his body instinctively reached up and over. Wolf spewed over the side of the bed onto the floor. It splashed up and over Eka’s bare feet. Her toes were painted a neon pink and Wolf smiled slightly, lifting his hand to wipe the back of it over his mouth. Eka’s soft hand found his cheek, cupping it so her warmth centered him. Slowly, she lowered her head to his. He pulled his up to meet her forehead. They rested there for a few moments just breathing each other in and reliving all of their love, for god knew what was about to come next.
She is his sun, and he is her moon. If nothing else, they will flee to the sky and chase each other around like lovers do.
The Doctor stepped to the bedside with a folder in his hand as the nurse raised the head of Wolf’s bed slightly, passing him a glass of water with a straw, placing it to his dry lips. Wolf gulped down the cool liquid, thankful for it coating his sore throat. It felt like he had swallowed sandpaper. He lifted Eka’s head with his hand under her chin. His heart shattered at the marks over her face, the swelling and blood still stuck to her lips. “Iuma uwoduhi Eka gado usdi uha nasgi asgaya asquadvhi inv nihi.” (my beautiful Eka, what has he done to you.) Wolf traced his fingers over her bruised features as tears pooled inside her beautiful green eyes. It hurt his heart to see her beaten. His free hand fisted into a clenched fist as he bit down hard on his jaw.
“It’s nothing.” Eka looked away, pulling from his touch, ashamed. Wolf’s eyes moved from Eka’s to his mother’s they could never hide anything from her son and he could see the brutal attack inside them. His mother had watched as Cody kicked and sexually assaulted Eka on the dirty floor of a hospital waiting room. Chaos erupted, rodeo riders stormed in and police, doctors and nurses tended to his love as she violently shook, curled up in a bloodied ball on the floor.
“Well, Mr. Eula.” The doctor broke out his voice in a forced rush. “The bull landed on your leg and broke the femur in your left thigh. A bone fragment caused a rupture in your femoral artery. Profoundly serious injuries. Really, you’re lucky to be alive and still have a leg. Your ribs are all broken, bar two, on the left-hand side. You have a twelve centimeter gash from the bull's horn that slipped up under your vest and tore you open, puncturing your lung and making mince-meat of your flesh. Your skull took a massive knock, and you had a small hemorrhage and some nasty bruising to your brain. We repaired the leg. Your side had twenty-seven stitches, both internal and external. The hemorrhage is stopped and the bruising will heal in time. Your leg will require physio and you will be lucky to ever compete again. You were lucky, Mr. Eula. It could have been fatal if the medics at the fairground didn’t act as fast as they did.”
The Doctor rubbed Wolf’s shoulder. “I’m quite surprised to see you awake so soon.” The doctor said, shinning the light inside his eyes one more time before taking Wolf’s hand in his to take his pulse.
“Rest and rehab are going to be your best friends,” he said as he placed Wolf’s hand down and scribbled some notes down inside the folder. “I will be back in later this afternoon if you have any questions, we will talk then.” Wolf nodded, still trying to take in all that the doctor had said. He may never be able to ride again. That statement there scared the hell out of Wolf. Rodeo was all he knew and loved, save Eka. That was an entirely different story.
‘O great spirit whose voice I hear in the winds, and whose breath gives life to all the world, hear me. I am small and weak; I need your strength and wisdom. Let me walk in beauty, and make my eyes ever behold the red and purple sunset.’
Cherokee Prayer
~ Eka Peno
Wolf’s mother moved around the room, placing things down. Walking toward the bed, she was cold to Eka, her smile a sharp line over her lips.
Eka’s mother had her eyes locked on her daughter’s body that was still sitting on the edge of Wolf’s bed, her eyes turned to the window, watching the clouds dance around the sky. Lucy had moved back to her chair in the corner and was tapping her foot on the over polished, squeaky hospital floor. The nurses finished checking Wolf and the monitors, replacing empty fluid bags with fresh ones. Small uncomfortable smiles were shared through them to all in the room. You could feel the walls breathing with tension and the heartbeats of each person loud and sharp. Tongues being held in check by the company of the nurses but as soon as they walked from the room the room all let out a deep breath and combustion happened.
“Eka, leave!” Wolfs mother shouted at Eka, making her jump.
“No!” Wolf shot back as Eka shook some more.
“Eka
, you have no place here near my son,” his mother bit out again, her tongue thick.
“Unitsi,” (mother) Wolf barked, his voice hoarse and sore. He rubbed his throat as Eka’s mother moved from her one sided staring competition with a broken Eka to Wolf and passed him the cup of water. “Here, child, drink,” she spoke in a whisper, her voice neutral. But you could hear the slight edge that said she was screaming on the inside.
Wolf drank the water in long slow sips through the straw, thinking over what he was to say next to his mother whose glare was burning into him. Her tongue was sharper than a knife and he knew all too well how much words hurt Eka. More than the punches she received at the hands of Cody Smith. Bruises faded words stayed with you, re-playing inside your mind. Clouding your perspective of yourself, breaking your soul one tiny fragment at a time.
‘Eka, don’t listen to them, only me. Fall back into my love, for I will shelter you from all the pain. I will heal your scars and mend your heart. Let us join as one soul and make more memories.’ Wolf spoke to Eka through their minds, a private and secret conversation for only them. They have always had the ability to communicate and experience what the other was. It was a great spirit connection that only a few get to ever experience and share. Wolf was thankful for it at this moment.
‘They hate me.’
‘No, Eka. They hate that they allowed this to happen.’
Eka turned in the bed, her body twisting toward Wolf. His hand reached for hers, pulling her into him. She moved down the bed and rested her body next to his head.
‘I’d rather lose it all than to have never felt this at all,’ Eka spoke.
‘I’d rather have loved and lost than not loved at all.’ She looked around the room.
‘I’m sorry I was wrong, but I have to try. I had to see what if there was more out there for me? What if I needed this lesson from the spirits to find my way back, broken but healed.’ Wolf squeezed his love's hand. He was in awe of her and her strength.
“We all have different journeys and this one was Eka’s. Yes, it was wrong and wayward, but I found her again. She found me and she will be back,” Wolf said more to his mother than anything and Eka’s mother looked relived she missed her daughter and knew that it would take Wolf Thunder-Horse to bring her daughter home.