The Oracle

Chapter 2

Sounds and smells assault me before i have a chance to open my eyes. Facts hit me left, right and centre yet i have no idea how i know all this without having first looked around. The smell of antiseptic and cleaning products assault my nostrils as well as a beep beep coming from my left leads me to guess im in a hospital room. The fragrant aroma of my favourite flower is coming from my right so i know there's a bouquet of Lily's next to me. What scares me most is that i know Mum and Maddie are in the room with me yet its ludicrous as i cannot possibly know that, it's like a part of me senses their essence or something, ugh, think they have me on some freaky f*****g meds. 

Opening my eyes quite quickly to assuage myself as to whether i was correct or not leads me to slam them back shut "Ouch, what the hell, my eyes are on fire" i whine quite pitifully. Giving its only been a few seconds i can feel the intense burning feeling easing off considerably fast, wooo this medication is f*****g awesome.

"Hey hunni, how you feeling?" i hear mum say tenderly to my right, knowing how worried she must have been i brave opening my eyes again.

Surprisingly i feel no burn when i open my eyes, on second thoughts i feel no pain anywhere, nevertheless im seeing like some freaky HD television. Only way i can describe it is like every colour is more defined and distinct, like i wore glasses and only now am i getting contacts for the first time. 

"Kate talk to me sweetie, does it hurt?.. Maddie call the doctor in!" mums voice rises at the end into somewhat of a desperate plea.

Realising i've just been sat in the bed staring around im quick to answer mum as i notice she's beginning to panic. "I'm fine mum, just this medication is making me feel like my head's inside a whisker" i giggle at my own stupid pun... yet looking up at my Mum and Maddie its clear on their faces they're not finding anything about the situation funny. "Seriously it's just making me a little loopy, i feel fine i promise. What happened anyway after...?" my voice cracks at the end and so does my happy mood. I met the new contractors son Tristan Fairfield.. just saying his name in my mind gives me butterflies as well as causes my core temperature to rise, hell even the machine starts beeping faster to match my pulse.

"Well you just about gave your mum a heart attack... there you were all red faced and panting... a second later you turned ghost white and fell to the ground, i swear it reminded me of that movie The Haunting" Maddie elaborated dramatically with a mischievous smile, even whispering the last bit as if someone was listening.

"Maddie" mum scolds gently all the while holding my hand and hers tightly as they both sit in chairs beside my bed. Only just now noticing mum's appearance, her hair was a mess and some bits were sticking up in places as if she'd tried to run her fingers through it yet its still tied back in a bun on the top of her head. Even worse was her skirt had actual wrinkles in it and splatters of blood on one knee.

"Penny the girl is fine , a mild concussion and a scrape on her neck that was superficial the doctor's said." standing up to peck me on the cheek and my mum "Roger is on his way so ill see you girls later. Love you" after dropping that bomb she waves and walks out the door.

"Mum! you called Dad!" i shout at her as soon as the doors close.

"Kate you know i had to, he would have gone berserk if he found out we waited until he got home" she sighs knowing what my reaction was going to be.

I sit back with a snit as i know mums right,  yet it doesn't deflect from the drama that will soon happen because of my dad. 

Don't misunderstand i love my dad, i was a huge daddy's girl growing up. One of my favourite things growing up was to sit on his shoulders while he held mums hand if we went out walking anywhere.  However as i said earlier my dad is six foot four with a physique of a twenty year old rugby player, he can be very intimidating and he knows it, moreover he's covered in tattoos so that doesn't help. Each of Dads tattoos tell a story from his past though, many i don't yet understand but he promised when im old enough he'll explain them to me. My favourite one is of a lioness and her cub over his heart that has mine and mum's name underneath, he calls mum his queen and me his princess. Their kind of relationship is what i hope to have in the future, they met when mum was twenty one and dad was twenty five, fell in love instantly and i came along a year and 3 weeks to the date if you listen to what dad says.

"KATE! PENNY! WHERE THE f**k IS MY WIFE AND DAUGHTER!"

Hearing dads voice echo throughout the hospital makes me slouch lower in bed with embarrassment, his voice has enough power to make the windows rattle in their frames, his volume, well lets just say he puts a stadium megaphone to shame.

"Right, that's my cue to start damage control" laughing softly under her breath she stands up "I'm so happy you're okay, also i forgot to tell you the doctor said you can be discharged tomorrow morning" she said with a soft smile, kisses me on the cheek then starts walking towards the door.

"Mr Dawson you cannot shout within the hospital, please calm down and follow the proper procedures" we both hear the male's voice, slightly out of breath and shaking just before dad bursts through the door with such force i swear it left a dent on the opposite wall.

"f**k PROCEDURE" Dad shouts just before his eyes land on me in the bed then on mum just to his right.

Have to give the nurse kudos for chasing my dad because as of right now he looks like a raging bull in addition to the feral look in his eyes. I know dad loves mum and me with every atom inside his body so i have nothing to fear from him but if i didn't know him id totally run in the opposite direction screaming. I giggle with that thought and i catch dad's eye again as he prowls towards mum, wrapping her up in his arms and breathing in her scent he calms down instantly.

"Mr Dawson, please will you come and fill in the visitation paperwork" we all look at the nurse standing red faced, half bent over with exertion within the confines of a door i swear dad broke.

"Visitation... you have got to be kidding me.. get out!" dad didn't shout but with each pause he took his voice got deeper and more sharper ending in a deadly snarl. We all see the nurse visibly get paler with each word until i fear he may need the bed im hoping to get out of soon.

"Roger stop it" mum reprimands dad yet we all know she's holding the chuckles back as her eyes are shining merrily. She extracts herself from dads arms with a kiss and ushers the nurse out of the room saying over her shoulder "I'll be back soon, both of you behave."

"Hey Daddy" i say sweetly.

"Hey Princess" dad walks over, pulling up the chair mum vacated earlier to beside the bed. With the tone of his voice i know he's still angry. "What happened? who hurt you? Where the f**k do they live?" he ends his questions with an angry snarl in addition to the deathly glow of his eyes i know he'd actually hurt someone for me at any rate i knew this from when i was six and i got into an unfortunate accident. 

"First i passed out and got a small concussion, second nobody hurt me unless you're going to break the already broken cup that cut me when i hit the ground, last but not least it shall have its final resting place in the bin at the bakery." i say the last bit in a sombre tone which gets ruined by the giggles.

"I see.." he smiles at me yet i know he has more questions by the look in his eyes. "Why did you pass out? Your mum said something about you staring at a boy?" he uses the tone all dad's use when they want answers.

"I...." i blink back tears as the memory of Tristan glaring at me comes rushing back. "I'm not ready to talk about it." i blurt out, hell i don't even understand my reaction, how am i supposed to explain it to the one person in the world that would do anything to protect me at all costs. 

"We will talk about it, however only when your ready. You'll always be my princess no matter what and ill do anything in my power to protect you" he says while leaning to place a kiss on my forehead. "You remember when you were little and i'd slay all the demons, dragons and wolves in the stories id tell you before bed, no matter how old you get i'll always be that lion in those stories." he says gruffly.

"Daddy it was just a fainting spell" i laugh to try and break the heavy atmosphere surrounding us.

"I know i was just making sure you remember" he sits back and nods as if he did a good job.

I do remember all those stories, many kids avoided bed time to stay up longer, not me, i was the child that would run to my room waiting for my dad to come tell me one of his magical stories full of mystery, intrigue, supernatural creatures, lastly i was always the one starring in the lead role. Dad is a partner in a company called Prideful Products, he travels all over the UK distributing multiple types of care products. Sometimes having to go abroad for the weekend once a month because his silent partner prefers to stay anonymous or something along those lines, i think it's just some rich lazy asshole that leaves all the work to dad. Even while doing that he always makes it home by five in the afternoon no matter what to spend time with mum and me, so those stories were the pinnacle of my day.

Growing up i never really got ill or had accidents, not until today that is, however their was one accident when i was six that made me realise just how bad my dad reacts to me getting hurt. It was a typical sunny day having just finished school for the day mum decided to take me to the park with my two best friends. In the middle of a sand pit was a tall metal spider web structure that being six and so small always seemed so big and dangerous, so we'd take it in turns climbing to the top and beating our chests like King Kong. I had done it multiple times before in the past so mum didn't see any danger in us doing it again, my friends both went before me so when it came to my turn i was too impatient so as a result i wasn't as careful as usual. Just as i was about to place my foot on the bar to be at the top i swear to this day i heard a wolf howl in the distance, turning my head quickly in the direction of the wolf i heard behind me, i hadn't realised that my whole body turned with me until i felt the bar disappear beneath my feet. Too late to grab anything to hold onto, i was already falling.

People may assume falling onto sand would be good right?... Wrong that s**t was layered as thin as that crap they call toilet paper in public bathrooms. The sound of my arm breaking could have been heard all over town and if you missed the memo my bloodcurdling scream would have clued you in. Mum was the first to reach me, skidding to her knees in the sand she tried to manoeuvre me into a sitting position but i kept crying and screaming every time she touched me. Time goes by in a blur after that, i remember a crowd forming and then the ambulance pulled up with two EMT's running towards me. 

Next thing i remember clearly is an EMT trying to support my arm for transport but the pain was too much for me so i let out another scream, when another noise rose above mine and it was similar to a roar cross with a snarl. All the hairs along my arms rose, somewhere deep inside me i knew it was my dad. Looking to my left i saw him prowling towards us and his face was scary, like seriously werewolf in London scary for a few seconds, i saw a mane around his head and fangs where his teeth should be. He crouched down beside mum and me while grasping my uninjured hand that was already in mum's, all the grown ups were talking above me yet i couldn't pull my eyes away from the claws that had replaced my dads fingernails. Again i screamed when the EMT had tried to wrap my arm and quick as a flash dad grasped his wrist and snapped it in anger for having hurt me. Things escalated quickly after that, we eventually got to hospital and found out my arm had only been fractured besides it was already mending which i was even more shocked by as i'd felt and heard it snap. Dad also had to go court over injuring an EMT while he was on duty but the charges got dropped after a few weeks. A whole year i would ask innocuous question after question about that day until mum warned if i asked anymore she'd stop dad from telling me stories as she said it was a result of me being in pain and having my head full of supernatural images was why i saw everything i did that day.

I never forgot that day no matter what but seeing it through adult eyes makes it seem so stupid, but i knew to still fear getting hurt though due to how dad reacts too it.

Hearing a knock on the door drew me out of my musings of past memories. Dad was still watching me with that look that speaks a thousand words yet no words have been spoken, i know he wont let this boy mystery go for long i just have to hope i know what i'm going to say that will make sense before i open my mouth.

Obviously whoever was on the other side didn't need to wait for an invite as just then i heard that poor broken door get swung inwards with such force it made a pathetically sad whine and a little bang on the already damaged opposing wall.

"Look who i found harassing the handsome Doctor's outside" i heard mum say happily from the doorway yet couldn't see her as Annabelle and Sam were blocking her from view. One was holding a huge teddy bear the other another beautiful bouquet of Lily's. 

Annabelle Sutherland and Sam Wright are my two best friends and have been with me through everything growing up. I met them on my nursery school induction day as a result we've been stuck to the hip since our first introduction. They were also there when i got hurt when i was six yet stick to their same damn story that everything was supernatural free. 

Annabelle is a 5"3 gorgeous blonde bombshell with a heart of gold yet she had a shitty upbringing with parents that were too busy drinking and going to party's to care about what their young daughter was doing, even going so far as to hire a nanny just so they didn't have to deal with all the drama. Consequently she doesn't let people see the real her only the narcissistic mask she wears for all outsiders. Yet i see the girl underneath that has room in her heart for so many people and i have seen her multiple times give to the poor and with her parents money she's a trustee to two charities that she dedicates all her spare time too.

Sam is 6" harry styles lookalike, no joke we've been in the mall before and random girls have gone crazy over him at first glance yet walk away with despair upon noticing he's just a look alike with a swimmers build, who is also camp as men can come but we love him all the more for it. Funnily Sam grew up with very Catholic parents yet once he outed himself at fourteen they've never treated him differently regardless of his s****l orientation, only loved him more and helped him embrace who he is, hell they dress up with the Pride colours every chance they get.

"Hey girl!" i hear from them both simultaneously, as they barge in the room and dad quickly vacates the chair he was sitting in for the double trouble tornado that has now stormed my hospital room.

"I'll leave you girls to it and ill see you tomorrow to take you home, take it easy and don't push yourself" he bends down and gives me a tight yet comforting bear hug while whispering in my ear for only me to hear "I know that boy has something to do with this Kate, i want to know the details tomorrow" he kisses me on the fore head while everyone else in the room is oblivious to what he said. "Goodnight Princess, love you" he says while ushering mum into the corner of the room.

"Sooo what the hell happened today?" Annabelle asks while trying to scoot the chair impossibly closer.

"Yeah.. from what Maddie said you saw a hot guy and passed out like an i***t" Sam says while stifling his laugh.

"Looks like everyone has been gossiping today and not for the good of mankind" i try to influx as much irritation in my voice as i can while staring them down.

Clearing his throat Sam looks at me solemnly "We're sorry hun, but we were seriously worried until Maddie told us the doctor's results so we thought it'd be fun to tease you" they both look at me with pouts and lowered lashes.

I know for a fact they don't feel remorseful at all, i decide to cut them slack and tease them back. " Well he did look a lot like Bad Pitt i just couldn't help but pass out from over s****l stimulation" i say with such a straight face their jaws drop comically.

"Kitty Kat i know you lying out of your asshole.." she never got to finish her sentence due to the almighty bang from the door that was most definitely hanging off its hinges right now, may it rest in peace.

Everyone in the room but me looks sharply to the dark silhouette stood in the doorway, i looked down and pulled the covers up further towards my chin in a sign of comfort as i smelt his green earthy smell before i heard him yet i thought it was figment of my imagination.

Tall, Dark and mysterious himself stood there with the anger radiating off him in waves, was the one and only Tristan Fairfield himself.