Moonlit Awakening

Alice

Alice tosses and turns, trapped in a relentless nightmare. In her mind, the accident replays with horrifying clarity, the screeching tires, the shattering glass, the deafening impact. She jolts awake, gasping for air, her body drenched in sweat. She trembles, clutching her heart, haunted by the memories that refused to let her go. “Where am I?” she wonders. She looks around the room until her eyes land on a young woman wearing a lab coat.

“Hello,” she says, “I’m Dr. Carsen.” Alice tries to speak, but can’t. Dr. Carsen pours her a glass of water before carefully helping her sit up. “Drink and then talk.”

Alice takes a small sip of water. “W…where am I?” she stutters out, “H…how’d I g…get h…here?”

Dr. Carsen hesitates. “You’re at White Petal Hospital. As for how you got here, I don’t think that’s something we should discuss right now. You just woke up after all.”

“What h…happened? P…please, t…tell me.”

She bites her lip nervously. “Well if you insist…”

“P…please….”

She sighs. “You were in a car accident…with your family.”

Alice’s eyes widen. “My family? W….where are t…they? Are t…they okay?”

Dr. Carsen looks away. “I…I’m sorry,” she whispers, “by the time paramedics got to the site of the crash, they were already…”

“N…no! Y…you’re lying!”

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.”

Tears begin to fall from Alice’s eyes. “N…no! T…they c…can’t be!” She tries to stand up.

“Please…” Dr. Carsen gently pushes her back down. “...you’ll hurt yourself, please don’t try to get up.”

“What am I s…supposed to do? T…they’re all I had.”

“Live on for them. Experience what they couldn’t.” They’re watching you, don’t ever forget that.”

“W…when can I leave the hospital?”

“That I can’t answer yet. I would like you to be able to move around on your own before I sign your release papers.”

“O…oh…”

“If I let you leave too early, you may end up right back here with worse injuries.”

Alice sighs. “O…okay, t…thank you. I’d like to be alone now.” Dr. Carsen looks at her kindly. “Alright, just hit that button…” She points at a button near the hospital bed. “...if you need anything.”

Alice nods, watching quietly as the doctor leaves the room. Once the doctor has left the room and Alice is by herself, she begins to cry softly into her pillow, grief over the loss of her family consuming her. Eventually, her breathing softens, indicating that she’d fallen asleep as she cried.

Julia

A little while later, Dr. Carsen comes back into the room to check on her patient. She looks at Alice’s vitals, and sees that they’re stable. “Good,” she thinks, “she’s doing much better now. I wish I could help her more with her loss, but all I can do is offer counseling and treat her injuries.”

Alice

When Alice wakes up again, Dr. Carsen isn’t in the room. She sighs and struggles to sit up by herself, pain shooting up every inch of her body. Her memory of the accident still has not returned, which may be for the best.

The next two weeks fly by fast. In those weeks, Dr. Carsen attends to Alice’s injuries. Eventually, Alice is introduced to a physical therapist. “Hello,” the therapist says, “my name is Anne. I’m here to help you get back on your feet.”

“H…hello,” Alice answers. Anne moves closer to her and begins to gently stretch her legs out.

“Let me know if anything I do hurts too much.” Alice nods and watches as Anne continues to work on her legs. After about an hour, Anne stops stating, “That’s enough for today. It’s good to try and move your muscles around, but don’t try and force yourself to do it if it’s too painful. I’ll see you next time.” She stands up and leaves the room.

Dr. Carsen comes back into the room shortly after Anne leaves. “How’d it go?” she asks.

“O…okay, Anne is nice, I guess.”

“Yes, she is. She’s very good at her job too. She’ll have you up and moving soon.”

“I h…hope so. I want to g…go home.”

“Of course, I’ll try and get you home as soon as I can.” She leaves the room, letting Alice’s mind wander to a dark place.

“Why’d I survive?” she wonders, “Why couldn’t I have died with my family?” The longer she thinks about this the guiltier she feels about being the only survivor.

As the weeks pass her physical injuries begin to heal, but her heart and her psychological state of mind stays broken and hollow. Eventually, the day comes when she’s released from the hospital. She takes a taxi to her family’s house. It’s quiet, too quiet for Alice’s liking. Her heart aches as the feeling of loneliness creeps into her mind.

A few hours after returning home, she wanders outside the quietness of the house becoming too much for her to bear. She roams into the woods at the back of her house. Fifteen minutes of wandering later, she runs into another person. “Hello,” he says, “What are you doing in the woods by yourself?” She nearly falls over, startled by his voice. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you.”

She looks up at him. His burgundy hair falls into his eyes, his light brown eyes looking at her with concern. “I…it’s okay,” she whispers, “I…um…I just needed to think about some things. I’ll leave now.” She backs away from him and runs back in the direction of her family home.

Liam

Liam is in the woods, patrolling his pack’s territory when the scent of lavender hits him. “Mate!” his wolf Cedar shouts. He follows the scent until he comes across a human woman. ““Hello,” he says, “What are you doing in the woods by yourself?” The woman nearly falls over, he reaches out and catches her before she fully falls. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you.”

She stares at him, wide eyed for a few seconds before softly answering, “I…it’s okay, I…uh…I just needed time to think about some things. I’ll leave now.”

Before he can answer, she runs off. He watches quietly as her figure eventually disappears. “Go after mate!” Cedar states. He ignores his wolf and returns to his family’s house, where his mother is waiting for him.

“Liam,” she says, “how’d patrol go?”

“Fine,” he answers, “nothing to report.”

“That’s good to hear. Your father wanted to speak to you about something.”

“Alright, I’ll go speak to him now.” He leaves the room and goes to his father’s office.

He knocks, and his father answers, “Come in.”

“Father, it’s Liam. You wanted to speak to me?”

“Yes, you know The Night Walker Pack nearby?”

“Yeah, what about them?”

“They’ve offered an alliance to us.”

“What’s the catch?”

“You’ll have to marry the alpha’s daughter.”

“No.”

“Liam.”

“I won’t marry anyone who isn’t my mate! If you force me, I’ll leave the pack!” He storms out of the room. He runs into his mother again on his way out of the house.

“Liam, where are you going?” she asks.

“Away from my father,” he answers.

“What did he do this time?”

“He wants me to marry some alpha’s daughter. I told him I won’t marry anyone that isn’t my mate. I’ll leave the pack before I marry anyone else.”

His mother sighs. “I’ll talk to him. No one is going to be forced into a marriage they don’t want.”

“Good luck trying to get that through his thick skull.” He leaves the house, still furious at his father for even entertaining the idea of him marrying someone that isn’t his mate.