Story 1: Recovery

Recovery

Everything was distant and unfocused. The large blur of the sun mocked everything with its unending heat.  High unrelenting peaks lifted to the sky like tall menacing spikes. The clouds glowed like white soft snow that was too far to get to and the air was tirelessly still and blistering. Orin’s skin crawled as if millions of angry insects were scurrying inside his body. Every muscle in his body shook uncontrollably, his heart felt like it was going to burst out of his chest, and a sickening hole filled his stomach.

It had been what felt like days after he got out of the camp. The road he was on appeared to go on forever and no one was anywhere to be seen. Orin didn’t stop once, he kept going. Serena was out there, somewhere. He had to find her and see if she was alive. Orin had no other reasoning, he had to keep going. It had been so long since he had full control over his actions that he forgot how to think by himself. He would give anything to be told what to do. He lifted his heavy head to the mountains that were in front of him. They stood like terrifying giants, no, like powerful gods! Orin stopped and looked higher breathing hard as his body tried to stay standing.

“Oh, great ones!” He yelled with agony. “I beg you! Show me what to do! I’m your servant, slave. Tell me what to do!” He held out his arms and closed his eyes. “Fill me with your will!” He shouted at the top of his lungs. Suddenly a feeling of pure fear erupted over his body. Everything turned dark and the mountains began to laugh ominously, like they knew something no one else did. Orin’s eyes widened and he yelled with fright. He then started to laugh and began to run at the sniggering evil gods. His legs burned and his heart beat was so fast it felt like it was standing still. Orin had his arms in the air still and yelled with all his might as he charged the fear completely taking over his form. Tears fell from his red blood-shot eyes, his body was burning to stop. The sky became fire that scorched his flesh and the ground turned to scalding water. The gods laughed and mocked him with their black eyes always watching, freezing and sizzling him as he ran to them. With one last belt of a fearful scream Orin jumped into the fire filled sky and felt himself fly into the inferno. He chuckled with pure terror before suddenly hitting the ground hard and hitting his head on a fallen branch in the road he was travelling on. Orin was instantly knocked out.

The voice came to Orin as he slept unconscious on the dirt road. It spoke of him needing to be brave, he had a chance to find Serena. He had friends, and he can atone for his past. Orin moaned and opened his eyes only once to find a shadow standing over him before he passed out again.

The next thing he could discern was the sound of soft moving waves, the feel of warm liquid on his hands and face, and the sound of someone talking. He remembered looking up from where he was resting to find a man with brown hair and eyes gazing kindly at him. The nice looking man said something to him but Orin passed out once again.

After seeing the man, Orin slipped in and out of consciousness for what felt like an eternity. All he knew was he was in a place that was comfortable and calming. The sound of a woman chanting and talking moved over his mind many times. As well as noises that sounded like young children. The same voice of the man appeared often, the voices all seemed either concerned or intrigued about how he was feeling and if he was going to live. Orin also remembered feeling deep pain, vivid flashes of dark memories when he was a fallen werewolf. He saw so many of his horrible deeds and they hurt him like sharp knives. The faces of his friends and family would come to him as well. They hurt too, they also made him feel better somehow. It wasn’t until Orin felt pure unequaled pain deep inside his chest did he open his eyes and get a good image of where he was and who were with him. A woman and man were holding him down on a bed as two young children stood in the doorway watching them with fear and concern on their faces. Orin yelled in pure pain as his chest felt like it was going to explode.

“No! No! No!” He screamed.

“Hold him down!” The woman told the man. “This is the last phase, if he lives through this, he will survive!” She shouted over Orin’s wailing. He pushed back on them as he begged for it to all end. The man and woman held him down very tightly as he tried to thrash around. “Hold him!” The woman shouted once more. Orin’s whole body poured with sweat in his fevered frenzy. The woman’s hands slipped and let Orin’s right arm lose. This gave him enough to sit up and push the man away from him. “Get him!” The woman yelled running at him trying to grab him. Orin screamed and swatted at her. The woman’s face made contact with his flailing hands making her hit the ground hard. The man suddenly appeared and punched Orin hard in the face. Orin fell on the bed and blacked out once again.

This time things felt different. He could hear shouting, yelling. He saw a shadowy figure over him and then felt his body being dragged on a hard surface. More shouting and yelling followed, then he heard crying. After that a short rest in stimuli occurred followed by voices of kind and loving people. The voice of the woman speaking kindly to him, the feeling of soft food gently being put in his mouth, the sound of children asking him questions, more soft liquid like food moving down his throat, the sound of the man who at first broadcasted as threatening but after a while started announcing more friendly and then cheerful. After hearing the voices for a while they all sounded like they were talking to a friend. The man would talk about his day, the woman would express her concerns and then apologies for loading her stress on him, and the children would talk about random things and what they thought about stuff. All the time as Orin listened to the voice he felt himself get stronger. His body no longer hurt as it did, he felt alive again, and he felt happy for what seemed like the first time ever.

It wasn’t long after that when Orin felt himself awake. He felt weak but more alive than he did before. His breathing quickened slightly and his eyes began to flutter open. One of the children was talking. They seemed to be mostly talking to themselves, but something about what the kid was saying made Orin want to wake up. He slowly opened his eyes and saw a bright brown wall overhead. The brightness from the ceiling hurt his eyes causing him to raise his arm over his face and moan slightly. The child’s talking stopped as Orin groaned once more and forced himself to move by slightly propping himself up with his right elbow. Orin’s gaze turned to what appeared to be a young girl with a blue dress and black hair looking back at him.

“Ser, Serena?” Orin asked with confusion.

“Mom!” The little girl yelled before quickly jumping off the chair she was sitting on and running out of the room they were in. The girl yelled for her mother all through the house until her voice grew loud again and she appeared around the corner of the door with a woman in brown work clothes holding her hand.

“Good Great One!” The woman exclaimed as she gazed at Orin. She looked at the young girl with a smile. “Get daddy.” She told her letting the girl go running back through the home this time yelling dad. Orin heard a doors slam close and the girl’s voice vanished.

“Where, where am I?” Orin asked with weakness.

“Do you know who you are?” The woman asked with shock in her voice.

“I’m,” Orin winced at a pain he felt on his right side.

“Sorry about that?” The woman said hurrying over to him. “You were hurt when my,” she stopped and looked nervous. She shook her head like she wanted to forget what she was going to say and moved closer to Orin putting her hand on his chest and easing him back to lay down. Orin did so without complaint. The woman sat on the chair near the bed and gazed at him with fascination. “I’m sorry for interrupting you.” She apologized. “You were about to tell me if you know who you are. We have been calling you Toby, but that was my son’s idea.” She laughed. “He wants a dog.” She explained shrugging.

Orin felt like that was funny, but he just laid there trying to remember if he did know who he was. “I’m,” Orin stopped, thinking once more about what he was going to say. “My name is Orin, Orin Wolfhart.” He finally said weakly.

The woman grinned and nodded. “Nice to meet you Orin.” She said just as the sound of a door opening came to them. The woman looked over to the open room they were in just as a man with two children behind him came running into the bedroom. “Gabes,” the woman said looking over at her husband. “This is Orin Wolfhart.” She introduced.

Orin and the man both made eye contact, everything was still for a second. Gabes narrowed his eyes on him. “So,” he said his voice sounding slightly tens. “Not a Toby,” he expressed looking at his wife.

The woman laughed slightly and nodded slowly. She looked back over at Orin and smiled gladly. “Welcome to our home.” She said happily.

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