The Reawakened Mage

Chapter 5: The eleventh hour

Helen sat on the chair close to her daughter’s bed. She took out her left hand and caressed her daughter’s long dark hair and gave out a heavy sigh. She just sold all her expensive robes to hire a medicine man but after weeks, his medicines didn’t make any progress with Fiona’s health.

Maybe this was how it was meant to be. Maybe this was the end. She thought as she sniffed her nose with her right hand, hot tears rolling down her cheeks leaving her white pale skin, red and swollen.

Fiona Bell has been sick for almost two years now. It started off as a cold,then it escalated to being in a coma for months. Helen and her husband Pete had sought the help of all the medicine men and women in the world but to no avail.

They gave up everything they owned just to treat their daughter but she had refused to wake up from her coma. With passing time, they are beginning to accept their fate that maybe their daughter was not supposed to have long life.

“Helen, you are still awake?’’ A familiar voice from behind spoke and Helen felt her shoulders being squeezed by her husband. She sobbed even harder and more tears rolled down her cheeks.

“Pete, how can i go to sleep? My only daughter has not seen daylight for almost two years and you expect me to just sleep?” Her voice was more coarse now as she had stopped crying but her head is still bowed down and her left hand is still on her daughter’s head.

“But…darling, you know we have tried everything humanly possible to help her. We have called on all the medicine men,women and even medicine children around the world to save her.” His voice was very timid as he didn’t want to match his wife’s heavy tone.

“I think it’s time we say goodnight to Fiona and just move on.”

“Never!” She blurted out angrily and stood up and faced her husband. She pointed a finger at him and exclaimed.

“She is still alive. Her chest is still moving up and down. She is still breathing. I would not give up on my own daughter, never! I know that one day she would wake up and be the healthy little girl she has always been.”

With those words she sprang out of the room angrily and called on the maid nearby to go and give her daughter a bed bath.

The night passed on quietly. The only sounds that were audible were the faraway chirping of birds and owls of the night. Fiona and her husband,Pete were on the same bed, at opposite ends facing the opposite walls without a word to each other. The tension in the air was so high it could be cut with a knife. No one wanted to start the conversation and with that…the night faded and a new day dawned.

******

“Ma’am…ma’am!” Helen was woken up by heavy knocks coming from her metal bedroom door and her maid screaming for her. She opened her eyes with a squint as the rays of the morning sun struck her face.

“Ma’am! Fiona is gasping for air!” As if on auto response, Helen jumped out of the bed and grabbed robe that laid on the side rack and opened the door

“Good mor-“

“What happened!” Her bad morning breath erupted into the room and with her shaky voice, she glared into her maid’s face. Before she could get a reply, she ran into the room where Fiona lay.

Fiona was gasping heavily as if she was being strangled. She was not moving any other part of her body;just her chest moving up and down.

“I came in to clean her this morning and after i was done, she started hyperventilating.” The maid’s voice from bedside Helen was very low, calm,slow and soothing.

“Where is Pete?” Helen scoffed at her and trailed her brown amber eyes round the purple themed room.

Fiona Belle loved purple. She never knew why she loved the color so much but she did. Every single thing she owned had a shade of purple in it. She even dyed parts of her dark hair purple and she believes her first word was purple.

“He went to attend to a visitor…” the maid replied calmly.

“Visitor! He left his daughter…for a visitor!? Who in the hell is this visitor?” Helen’s voice was very high at this point. Her voice echoed in the room and her rage grew instantly. She stormed out of the room and her rageful thuds were interrupted by two people.

The first, was her husband who was still in her night wears but had a robe loosely having on him,covering some parts of his night wear.

The second person was an elderly lady.

She looked like she was in her late 50s. She looked alte with jewelry all around her body, she could pass to be an earthy jeweler. Her hair was in dreadlocks with lots of cowries in it. She was caramel skin toned, dark eyes and very slim. She wore a brown sweater and matching brown sweatpants.

“Who is this?” Helen spat as she eyed the woman from head to tore consecutively.

“Hi Helen, i am Nyx. I came to heal your daughter,Fiona.”

Helen’s eyes widened with hope. She burst out laughing.

“You are probably one of those medicine women who heard about our daughter and wants to decieve us into thinking you can treat her only to collect money from us.”

“I need no money. Just let me see your daughter and heal her.” This woman’s voice surely didn’t match her face. She sounded manly. Her voice was deep and authoritative.

Helen looked at the woman and shot a glance at her husband, who nodded yes. She turned around and pointed to the direction of her room where her daughter lay.

“She has been gasping since morning and i think she is about to die, so if there is anything you can do…do it fast.” Helen’s voice was breaking as she spoke,she was about to cry.

Her husband drew closer to her and hugged her tightly while squeezing her shoulders as they watched Nyx enter their daughter’s room.

******

“Mom…” Fiona’s voice was faint but audible enough to be heard by her parents.

“What happened?”