Awakens
802 Words
Ember's pov
I woke to silence.
No birds, no distant hum of a city but a heavy, unfamiliar stillness that pressed against my ears. For a moment, I didn’t know where I was. The ceiling above me was wooden, darkened with age, crossed by thin cracks that looked like veins. The air smelled faintly of herbs and smoke.
My body felt wrong.
Every breath scraped. Every limb was heavy, distant, as if it belonged to someone else. When I tried to move, pain flared sharply through my side, forcing a soft gasp from my throat.
I froze.
Where am I?
My mind was blank. Not remembering anything at all, Just awareness and pain.
I lay there, staring upward, panic slowly curling in my chest. I didn’t remember how I had come here and why my body hurt like it had been broken and put back together carelessly.
Then the door creaked open.
A man stepped inside, carrying a cup of steaming tea. He moved quietly, deliberately, like someone afraid of startling a wounded animal. He was tall, dressed simply, dark hair falling slightly into his eyes. His presence filled the room not loudly, but completely.
“You’re awake,” he said softly.
His voice was calm and steady
I swallowed, my throat dry. “I… am I?”
“In pain?” he asked, setting the cup down on the small table beside the bed. “Yes, alive?” A pause. “Also yes.”
I stared at him, trying to place his face, his voice but nothing came.
“I don’t remember anything,” I admitted.
He nodded, as if he had expected that. “That’s normal for now.”
He stepped closer and placed the back of his fingers against my forehead. His touch was cool, clinical. He then reached for a thermometer and checked my temperature with practiced ease.
“Fever’s gone down,” he murmured, more to himself than to me.
“Who are you?” I asked.
“Juan,” he replied. “And you’re safe.”
Safe?
The word settled over me slowly, unfamiliar but comforting.
He lifted the cup. “Tea, small sips.”
I managed a few. The warmth spread through my chest, easing something tight inside me.
“You saved me,” I said quietly.
Juan met my gaze. His eyes were dark, unreadable. “I found you that’s all.”
“No,” I insisted, gathering strength I didn’t know I had. “You saved my life, thank you.”
For a brief moment, something flickered across his face surprise maybe, Or something else. Then it was gone.
“You should rest,” he said.
He turned to leave, but as he reached the door, something shifted inside me.
A crack.
A memory? no, a feeling sliced through the emptiness.
My chest tightened violently. My breath hitched as images rushed back all at once, brutal and merciless.
Liam.
His calm voice, his steady
the way he looked at me like I was already gone.
I’m not afraid.
The memory slammed into me with such force that tears burned instantly behind my eyes. One escaped, sliding silently down my temple and into my hair.
Juan turned back. His gaze sharpened. “What is it?”
I shook my head quickly.
I wiped the tear away with the back of my hand before it could fall again, I wouldn’t let it as I couldn’t afford to.
“I’m fine,” I whispered.
But I wasn’t fine at all.
I remembered everything now.
The moment he walked away.
My heart ached not loudly, not dramatically but with a deep, hollow pain that felt permanent.
I closed my eyes briefly and spoke to myself inside my head, the way I always had when things fell apart.
Stay strong, Ember.
The name came back with the thought.
You’re alone, you’ve always been alone. An orphan. No parents and no one to run to.
Depending on someone had almost killed me.
I opened my eyes again and forced my voice to stay steady. “I just need to sleep.”
Juan studied me for a long moment, as if he knew I was lying but chose not to call it out. “All right,” he said finally.
He dimmed the lamp and stepped back.
As I lay there, exhaustion seeped into my bones, dragging me under. My pains dulled and my thoughts slowed as i was trying to force my self to be awake but darkness felt thick and inevitable
Just before sleep claimed me, I sensed his presence still there standing near the bed, unmoving.
Sleep took me gently, like the sea had not.
And behind me, in the quiet cabin, Juan watched Ember Voss with eyes that revealed nothing at all, something far more unpredictable.
- Writer
