K: The Awakening (The Shadow Chronicles Book 1)

by K. R. Fajardo

  Dirik stood in the doorway watching her. “Citera, please come get something to eat, at the very least go rest for a while. I’ll watch your dad, I promise.” There was desperation in his voice as he continued to plead with her, “He would be so angry with you if he woke up and saw the condition you are in, and you know it. Besides, you’re not doing him any good by sitting there starving yourself.”

  “I’m not hungry,” she grumbled, not even bothering to look in his direction.

  “What if I go to the inn and get Maya’s mom to cook you something, anything you want, and bring it back?”

  She knew he wasn’t going to give up, he hadn’t for days; every morning he returned to the doorway and resumed his pleading with her to rest and eat. So she decided to succumb, at the very least it would get rid of him for a little while. “Fine, bring me whatever soup she has today,” she said, turning to him. “And get something to eat for yourself, you don’t look so great either.”

  He smiled, happy to have any answer other than her usual no. “All right, soup it is.” He began to leave, but hesitated and looked back. “Are you going to be okay here, alone?”

  “I’ll be fine, just go. Besides, everyone else here is unconscious.”

  “I won’t be gone long, half an hour tops,” Dirik said, turning and running down the hallway. She was glad to be left alone for a few minutes, not that she didn’t appreciate all that he was doing for her, but she needed some time alone and welcomed the silence that began to slowly envelope the clinic.

  The blue-eyed girl and the young Full-blood were all that remained of what had once been her father’s bustling clinic. With her father near death and her in an almost catatonic state, Dirik and Rigar had been forced to take over the daily up keep of the clinic and the care of the boy down the hall, not that either of them would complain. Numbingly she still managed to care for her father, but after nearly a week of no progress it had become more like a series of habitual movements than actual deliberate care. Yet none of them had been back in the other room, not since they cleaned her father’s blood up off the floor. She wasn’t sure if the girl was still unconscious or not, but Rigar was trying hard to find somewhere to get rid of her, to lock her up like how they had found her. However, it had turned out to be more difficult than they had expected, especially since the number of patrols had increased two fold to prevent an uprising until a suitable replacement could be found for the executed chief.

  Sighing, she reached out and took ahold of her father’s hand. “Dad, can you hear me? If you can, I need you to come back. Please, don’t leave me here alone. If nothing else, just give me a sign of some kind, anything that will let me know you are still here with me.” She paused, waiting for a response, but yet again he left her wanting.

  Tears filled her eyes and fell to the floor below. Days of crying had left them so badly swollen and red that when she did catch a glimpse of herself in the bathroom mirror, she hardly recognized her own face. Resting her head on her father’s hand, exhaustion began to overwhelm her. Eventually she gave up the battle and allowed herself to slip off to sleep.

  A sudden knock on the front door startled her awake. Unsure of how long she had been asleep, Citera called for Dirik. After a few minutes of waiting, she groaned; realizing he had yet to return from the inn, she then crawled to her feet and headed down the hall. He must have forgotten his key, she thought, rubbing her weary eyes. No one else would have got past Marta, who they had given the duty of telling people the clinic was closed. Citera had thought she looked a little too happy with the newfound gossip and power, but no matter, it saved the three of them from having to keep answering the door and seeing the disappointed faces of the patients when they had to turn them away.

  When she arrived at the door her heart sank; it was the boy’s family again. They came by every day to check on him, but Rigar had given her and Dirik strict instructions not to let them in. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust them, but he was afraid that somehow the patrols would get wind of her father’s condition and would use the opportunity to secure the clinic for themselves; leaving the three of them homeless.

  But she couldn’t just ignore them. Cracking the door just enough to peak through, she addressed the couple, “Mr. and Mrs. Hurder, good afternoon. I know you are here to check on your son, and I assure you he is doing just fine, but I still can’t let you come inside the clinic, nothing has changed.”

  Several days ago, when they had showed up the first time, Rigar had given them a story about her father being ill with some kind of contagious virus that had caused them to quarantine the clinic. They seemed to have bought it the first few days, but lately they had started growing more impatient and were getting harder to turn away.

  “No, Citera, I am not leaving until I speak with your father or you let me inside. It’s been a week since the inspection, and we still haven’t seen our boy, nor have we seen your father. If the two of you are trying to hide something from us you had better tell me now,” Mr. Hurder demanded. “Otherwise get out of my way because I’m taking my son home.”

  Citera barricaded herself against the door, knowing she was no match for the angry Full-blood. “Take him home, you mean out of the clinic?”

  “Yes, I will not leave him here and be denied the right to see him any longer,” he snapped angrily. Placing one hand against the door, he pushed against it in one swift movement. The force of the impact sent Citera flying backwards, landing on her tailbone a few feet away.

  “Jace!” his wife yelled at him. “What are you doing, after everything Mikel has done for our son, you attack his daughter?” She bent down, offering a hand to Citera, and helped her back to her feet. “I am so sorry about that my dear. Are you okay?” she asked, giving her a once over. Citera lowered her head, trying to avoid making eye contact, but Mrs. Hurder wasn’t having it. Taking ahold of her chin, she raised her gaze to meet with hers, “Have you been crying?” Frowning, she then paused, and glanced around the empty clinic. “Citera, where is your father?”

  “I’m all right, Mrs. Hurder, I’ll take you to see your son.” She answered, purposefully avoiding her questions.

  When they arrived at the boy’s room, Mr. Hurder dropped to his knees beside his son’s bed and took his hand into his own. However, Mrs. Hurder wasn’t giving up on her questioning that easy. Taking notice of the other physical changes in her appearance, she asked her again, “Citera, where is your father?”

  Citera struggled to come up with some sort of an explanation, but exhaustion and grief had left her mind numb and blank. Unable to formulate a legitimate excuse for her father’s absence, she stared blankly into the concerned faces of the Hurders. Once again she was overwhelmed with mixed emotions and burst into tears.

  Seeing her reaction to his wife’s question, Mr. Hurder joined his wife’s side. “Citera, we know about Janil, but we were told your father was still here. Where is he?”

  Citera couldn’t bring herself to answer, so instead she led them down the hall to her father’s room. As they entered she could hear Mrs. Hurder gasp behind her, while Mr. Hurder stayed back in the doorway taking in the scene. “What happened to him?”

  “We don’t know. When we came home the day after the inspection we found him on the floor with a large gash in his head and blood everywhere. He hasn’t awakened since.”

  They continued to ask a few more questions about her father’s condition, which she answered the best she could while attempting to regain control of herself. Once finished, the pair took her and wrapped their arms around her.

  “We are so sorry, but why didn’t you tell us this sooner? Are you here all alone?” Mrs. Hurder asked, genuinely concerned.

  “No, ma’am. Dirik is usually here with me, and Rigar comes by before and after his shift to check on us. Most of the time he stays the night here too.”

  “Good, you need someone here to watch over the two of you, you are both still children,” Mr. Hurder said, walking toward the bed to get a better look
at Mikel. “Who did all of this to him?”

  “Me and Rigar. I started the IV and Rigar did the stitching,” Citera answered, staring at the floor. “I just couldn’t bring myself to do it.”

  Mrs. Hurder squeezed her shoulders and held her away so she could look her in the eyes. “Your father would be so proud of you, you have done a wonderful job caring for both him and our son. I just don’t understand, why you didn’t tell us sooner? We could have taken care of our boy and alleviated some of the stress.”

  “I’m sorry, Mrs. Hurder, but Rigar was worried that word would get out about my dad and the patrols would show up. Without him here there is no telling what they would do.”

  “He thought we would tell? I thought he knew us better than that.” It was clear the implication had offended her.

  “Of course not, it was nothing like that,” Citera added quickly, “we just didn’t want to involve more people than we have to. You know, in case it all does go bad.”

  While she was talking with Mrs. Hurder, Citera noticed Mr. Hurder wandering toward the door as if he was searching for something. He headed into the hallway and walked directly to the room which held the girl. Quietly Citera and his wife followed. “Who is that?” he asked.

  “Just a girl, she was brought in right before the Enforcer came.” She hated lying, but she was scared if she told them the truth she would be putting them in danger. Mr. Hurder reached for the door knob, and instinctively she grabbed his hand. “No, don’t go in there.”

  Mrs. Hurder came up from behind. “Why, what is wrong with her?” The two of them were both waiting for an answer, but she was at a complete loss of words. Instead she stood there in silence, glancing back and forth between the two of them, struggling not to cry again.

  Mr. Hurder looked back at the room. “There something, a feeling that I can’t explain, that draws me to this room. It’s like I should know who she is, but I couldn’t.”

  Citera followed his gaze to the girl still lying motionless, tied to the bed. “I know, I think it’s a Full-blood thing, because Rigar feels it too,” she said, wiping her face. “I think that’s why he told me to stay out and not let anyone else in. Something about her scares him, and that scares me.”

  “Well if Rigar wants everyone to stay out, then we will respect that.” Mrs. Hurder narrowed her gaze at her husband. “Right, Jace?”

  Mr. Hurder looked at his wife then back at the door before finally answering, “Yeah, I think we have wasted enough of Citera’s time, let us get our son and go home.”

  Shocked, Citera began to protest the removal of the young patient to whom they had all become so attached. “You’re going to take him? I thought once you saw that he was okay you would let him stay. Who will care for him while you are at work during the night?”

  Mrs. Hurder smiled gently. “You sweet girl, don’t worry about us. I put in a request to work the day shift soon after our son was injured, and the approval finally went through a few days ago. Now one of us can be home with him all the time and there is no longer a need for us to continue to leave him here for you to care for, especially now. Besides, with us taking him home you can focus all your energy on your father and getting him well again.”

  Although she knew this was the best thing for the boy, Citera couldn’t help but feel that in a way she had failed him and his family. “I’m so sorry. I really did try my best, I promise. But with the Enforcer and my father—”

  This time it was Mr. Hurder who cut her off; he knelt on his knee in front of her and held her face in his hand. “Citera, us taking our son, it’s not because we don’t trust you with him. It’s like my wife said, this is something we have wanted to do from the beginning. You and your father have done so much for our boy and for us, and there is no way we will ever be able to thank the two of you enough. But the truth of the matter is we don’t know if he will ever wake up, and we can’t leave him here indefinitely, so it’s time we take him home where he belongs and he can be around his family.” Tears filled his eyes as he continued, “We should be the ones caring for him, and if the time comes that we need to make a difficult decision, then we will be in a better place to do it.”

  Citera stared into his saddened gaze, trying to imagine how she would feel if her own father was being cared for by other people. Then wiping the tears from her eyes, she placed a hand gently on his shoulder. “At least let me give you some supplies to take home with you, it’s what my father would have wanted me to do.”

  He nodded, wiping his face on his shirt as he rose to his feet. “I’m going to go get my son. Come with me, my wife?”

  She smiled sweetly back at him and together they walked hand in hand down the hall. When they disappeared into their son’s room, Citera made her way to the supply closet, where she filled up a bag with enough supplies of IV fluids and blue formula to last them for a while. She then took the bag and headed down the hallway to meet up with the Hurders, who with their son in the arms of his father, were heading for the front door. Outside Mr. Hurder gently placed his son in a bed of blankets already prepared in the back of a cart.

  “There is enough supplies in there to last you at least this month, but if you need anything else, don’t hesitate to come back,” Citera offered as she handed him the bag. Mr. Hurder nodded, and gently placed it in the back by the boy.

  She gave them both a farewell hug, which Mrs. Hurder held on to just a little long, then bent over and kissed Citera on the forehead. “If you need anything, no matter what, you let us know. Just because we aren’t here doesn’t mean we are going to forget you and your father, the two of you will always be a part of our lives.” Citera watched as she climbed into the back of the cart before turning back to face her with a serious expression, “I mean it, if you need anything, we are here.”

  Citera thanked her, ascended back to the top of the stairs, and watched as the cart drove away. From her perch on the stoop she spotted a familiar face coming back in the distance; it was Dirik, returning with the food. He turned and watched as the cart with the boy and his parents drove by, then with a confused expression, continued making his way back to the clinic.

  “Was that who I think it was?” Dirik asked, coming up the stairs. “Did they really come and take him?”

  “Yeah, they said they wanted him at home with them. Mrs. Hurder is on the day shift now, so one of them will be able to stay with him at all times.”

  “Well that’s good, I guess. It’s just going to be weird not having him here. I kind of enjoyed taking care of him. I would always talk to him when I was with him, and I think he could hear me.” They stood together and watched as the cart disappeared into the distance, then Dirik turned to Citera. “Let’s go inside and get you to eat something.”

  Inside the clinic they sat down at the table in the waiting area and Dirik began to divide the contents of the bag. Pulling out a large steaming cup, he handed it to Citera along with a spoon, before doing the same for himself. “She had potato soup today,” he stated as he opened the lid to his cup. Hot steam flowed out and filled the air around them with enticing aromas.

  The smell jolted Citera’s empty stomach awake and sent a wave of pain rolling through her abdomen; reminding her just how long it had been since she had eaten. Following Dirik’s lead, she removed the lid from her own cup as well. The soup looked as good as it smelled, with little pieces of chives and cheese garnishing the top. As she stirred the contents, Citera couldn’t help but ponder how a Full-blood like Maya’s mom could cook so well when she couldn’t even eat the food that she cooked. Deciding better than to question the talents of such a nice lady, Citera took a big bite, relaxing as the warm liquid traveled down her throat into her empty stomach.

  They were nearly finished with their meal when the front door opened and in stepped Rigar. Seeing the two of them sitting and eating together he smiled. “Nice to see you out of that room for a change.”

  “Thank Dirik, he went and bought me something to eat.”

  Ri
gar gave Dirik a wink. “Good job, young man, glad to see you know how to treat a lady.”

  This caused Dirik to turn several shades of red while he hurriedly finished off his dinner and gathered up the trash. “I … I was hungry, so I figured I would get her something to eat, too.”

  Citera, deciding to ignore these last comments, continued talking to Rigar, “Rigar, why don’t you go home and spend some time with Mirna and Sara? We are fine here.” She rose from her seat and joined Dirik in cleaning up their mess. “Besides, the only one we have to care for now is Dad. The Hurders came a while ago and picked up their son and took him home.”

  In all honesty she really wanted Rigar to stay, but he had spent nearly every night in the clinic with them since the day they found her father. Mirna had to be getting tired of being alone, and Sara was probably wondering if she still had a dad.

  “No, it all right, I have already went home and talked with both of them. Neither of them wants me to leave you alone in here anymore than I do.” Then as an afterthought he added, “Did I hear you say the Hurders picked up their boy and took him home?”

  “Yes, and I gave them a bunch of supplies to take home with them. They said he might not ever wake up so there was no point to leaving him here forever.”

  “I suppose it is for the best. They are right though; without the red formula he might not recover. Anyway, how is your father, any changes?” Rigar was already heading down the hall while he was talking to her, so she followed. “No, he’s still the same.”

  He continued until he came to the girl’s room and halted. “How about her, have you seen any movement in there?”

  “No, but I really haven’t been watching. Although Mr. Hurder did seem interested in her while he was here. He even tried to go inside the room.”