The Elusive Prince

Chapter 25: A Teacher's Duty

Eamon's Point of View (aka Sir Hexford)

If you had to describe the atmosphere of the infirmary right now it would most definitely be tense. The whole room was silent as they take in the sleeping figure of their classmate and friend shivering in the bed. The girls that were near Merideth's room were in here, looking at her figure with worried glances.

Currently I was on the phone, talking to the King and Queen of Wiyelt and the parents of Merideth, as I relay to them what happened to their daughter. They seemed frantic and worried, which was to be expected. I told them that Merideth was still sleeping and had shown no signs of waking up. They then told me they will rush here as soon as possible. I just told them that I will take care of Merideth in the mean time and they hanged up, clearly getting ready to head here.

Sighing, I enter the room again, only to be greeted by weeping Hailey stationed faithfully by Merideth's side. She was clutching her hands as she chant "please wake up Your Higness." all over again like a prayer. I couldn't really blame her though for I know everybody was feeling the same.

The school nurse came back to check on Merideth's temperature which turned out to be high which means she has a fever. The school nurse then proceeded to take a bowl and filled it with warm water and a towel. She was supposed to scrub it on the sleeping Merideth but before she can however, Hailey stopped her and offered to do it instead, as she was after all, Merideth's aide. The nurse nodded and handed her the towel before looking our direction.

"Umm, I know you all are worried for Her HIghness, but I can't really allow all of you to stay in here." she said hesitantly before going back to her desk where she arranged some of the scattered files. Her statement however triggered some protests to ring out but she was right, they can't stay here. So I stood up and cleared my throat to get their attention.

"Okay what she said makes sense. Now I want all of you to go back to your rooms and sleep okay?" I said which made them protest even more but upon noticing Merideth tense in her sleep suddenly, all the noise died down. Tsk, I know they don't listen to me often but they really should listen to me now. Thankfully, like always, Amity stepped in.

"Okay, I know everyone of us is worried but just staying in here won't help with Mori's condition. It is best that we go back to bed and come back later in the morning where we already had sleep okay?" she said to her classmates that only nodded slowly before filtering out the room.

I gave Amity a little nod in which she replied with a quite whisper of "Please take care of Mori while we're away." before bowing slightly and closing the door gently.  I sighed and looked at Hailey who was trembling slightly as she scrubs Merideth. She was biting her lower lip hard enough to draw blood. I stood up and stopped her hands from doing anymore. She was clearly distracted, enough for her to keep scrubbing the same place all over again.

"Go breathe some fresh air outside." I said gently which was out of character for me but I knew I needed to do it to calm her down. She was about to refute but I shook my head at her.

"You're clearly not in the right state right now to take care of Merideth. Look, you've been scrubbing the same thing for a while now that it has gone red." and then she glanced on Merideth's arm that was already starting to go red from the scrubbing. She yelped slightly and stepped away, seemingly scared that she harmed Merideth. I sighed and pried the towel off from her clutch.

"Look the nurse can do it okay? It's best if you clear your mind for a bit. I'm sure Merideth won't be glad to see you like this when she wakes up..." I said and she just exhaled shakily before nodding at me and excused herself out. I sighed as the school nurse took the towel from me and told me to head outside for a while as she changes Merideth's clothes. I just nodded before going out of the room and decided to go to one of the veradanda's near here. 

Looking at the night sky had me thinking about Merideth's situation a little. I know I shouldn't feel like this but it feels like it was partly my fault why this happened. Seeing one of my calm students experience something like this makes me feel like I failed in both my duties and oath as a teacher. I know I couldn't have seen any of this coming but I could've protected them at least. Damn it, I couldn't think like this. I need to be strong for them. If I crumble too, then the rest of them will follow. They look up to me as an adult and as their teacher and the least I can do is assure them that everything will be fine, for now.

I sighed a little before heading back to the infirmary. I knocked to let my presence known and the nurse let me in. Merideth still wasn't awake but thankfully she looks calm and was not scowling. When Amity barged into my room at the dead of the night panicking about Merideth thrashing, I felt my soul leave my body for a bit. Merideth had it the worst in this situation seeing as she was separated from the rest of her classmates and who knows what happened to her during her time with those terrrorists. I might need to talk to Yander and Ilana for her statement so I know how to approach this topic.

I rubbed my face a little and sat down on one of the couches here. I was texting Yander about the details of their investigation and the statements of the students when I felt the door slide open to reveal Hailey, who was looking worse for the wear but significantly better than earlier. She was carrying two cups of what I assume is coffee before handing one to me. I took it gratefully and just sipped it as we observe Merideth for a bit.

The nurse checked on her temperature again and we were glad that it has gone down a little now, enough for her to stop shivering. Hailey stood up a little and approached her bed and pulled the covers over Merideth and tucking her in before standing there for a few minutes, unmoving, before returning to the seat beside me and sunk on it. She looks detached from this world, just looking at the wall like there was something there even when its empty. I think she's thinking about this whole situation like I did earlier.

I feel like I should talk to her about this whole situation. If I was feeling guilty about this whole thing then I'm sure she was feeling ten times worse. She was after all Merideth's aide and it was supposed to be her job to keep her safe and she couldn't do that this time.

"You do know that it was not your fault right?" I opened the conversation up. At my statement, she looked at me surprised, not expecting me to talk. I didn't give her a glance but instead continued to text Yander and Ilana who agreed to meeting with me when their schedule allowed them to.

"I know what you're thinking Hailey. You're probably blaming yourself for this whole thing and as much as I want to tell you not to, I know the feeling." she was just looking a me, confused as to where this conversation is going. "I too am blaming myself about this whole thing." I added which made her jolt in surprise and she looked at me with widening eyes. Baring myself to a student like this can seem weird but I know what she needs right now is someone who can relate to her. I know just telling her straight up that she shouldn't worry is utter bulls**t because if someone said that to me I will definitely punch them.

"I feel like as your adviser, I could've done more. I could've stopped this whole thing by forbidding you from doing this whole trip. I could've protected you guys even more, but I didn't do my best." I sighed and finally looked at her. She was still in the state of shock.

"But Sir, you already did your best. You couldn't have possibly predicted this would happen." she said seriously before looking at Merideth with pain in her eyes.

"Yes I know, and neither can you." I can feel her tense up beside me. I decided to continue. "You couldn't have predicted that telling Merideth to wait for you outside would amount to this. You couldn't have known that this will trigger her nightmare. You might be her aide but you're also human, not to mention a teen just like her. You don't have to act like you're okay because I know you're not. She's not the only that suffered Hailey. I know you did too. So it's okay to cry, it okay to feel pain but just remember that you couldn't have done anything to change this. It already happened, there's no turning back from here."

"I know you're blaming yourself but dwelling on that will break you and I know it will break Merideth too. I'm not telling you not to feel anything and just forget about this because I know that's bulls**t. This memory will stay with you forever, maybe even haunt you but just know that even though you can't change the past you can control what happens next. You can direct this feeling into strengthening yourself. Use this experience to strengthen yourself, enough that you won't let this happen again." I said before standing up and grabbing the cup from earlier. She was still in her seat and I was going to get another cup of coffee when she finally said something.

"I-I'm...thank you Sir." she sobbed and it was the first time I saw her crying over her own feelings and not Merideth's. Hailey was a strong willed girl but that's only because she was told to be one. As an aide to the Princess, she needs to be strong to be able to protect the Princess and comfort her, but people seem to forgot that she was just a teen like Merideth. She feels the same pains as her and feels the same emotions, although she pretends not to for the sake of her duty.  So it was nice to see her act like a normal teen like the rest of them. It just shows that she's growing like them.

"No problem kid. Just remember that if you want to talk to anyone about this, I will listen okay? I know I may seem like I don't care but that's a big lie." I didn't explain anymore and went outside for a fresh pot of coffee. Since I couldn't change anything about this anymore like I told Hailey, I will do my best instead to try and guide them in this new journey, their journey to recovery. After all, it was my duty and promise that I made when I accepted this job. This is a Teacher's duty and I'll be damned if I didn't do it splendidly.