She knew this familiar scent that assaulted her nostrils, aside from the steady stream of cold air straight to her lungs. Renata couldn't forget the peculiar corrosive smell coming from the sweet antiseptic, blending with soap and disinfectant. She smelled it once when visiting her dying grandma in a Hong Kong hospital when she was a kid. Perhaps all hospitals smelled the same no matter where they were.
Renata tried to open her heavy eyelids, she was tired of sleeping, even though her body was powerless, fatigued. The first thing she saw was a television on the wall in front of her, a Disney channel was playing in a very low voice. Her pale cold blue room was spacious, there was a brown-green sofa on one side of the room next to the wide window. It was so bright outside, but her bed was so far that the sunlight didn't touch her at all. On top of a tall nightstand (or was it a cabinet) next to her bed was a vase full of colorful flowers and a humidifier. Then she realized thin tubes were attached to her nose and her wrist. What had happened? Didn't she just catch a cold?
Then she saw her father sitting on a chair next to her, he fell asleep while holding her hand. She almost couldn't recognize him, the man looked old and tired with his neck drooping, chin touching his chest. Her father was a dandy man, he paid great attention to how he dressed in a three-piece suit and tie, with cufflinks. But not this man, he wore a dirty shirt, probably didn't shave or showered in two-three days.
It's hurt. It hurt her to see her father like this. Renata caressed his hand that held her with her thumb and his gaze instantly flew to her. He stood and kissed her on her forehead. He closed his eyes, released a big deep breath, relieved. "You scared the heck out of me, Little Bear."
"It was just a cold, why am I in a hospital?" Wasn't this a little too much for just a cold?
Her father chuckled exasperatedly at her. "You had a cold that developed into pneumonia. The doctor ran a blood test, she said you might have contracted some bacteria or fungus in that old stable. Your school called me in the morning, they had already sent you to the nearest hospital. Your mom cried all the time, how could she not, I wanted to cry myself too. When we arrived, you were vomiting, breathless due to your fever, up all the way to 41 degrees Celcius. You were delirious for two days, uttering random things, you opened your eyes several times but you couldn't see us. That was the most horrifying moment in my life, Renata." He lowered his head, as if praying that all of it was just a bad dream.
Renata didn't say anything, couldn't say anything. She was digesting what her father had just said. If she was having delirium, that would explain many of the weird things she remembered. Chased by a wild red rabbit, plunged into a cliff, being kidnapped by a big ugly ogre, it carried her on its back while running, many bugs and worms were shoved into her mouth, the list was endless. She stayed silent for a few minutes, just looking at her father.
"Dad, where is mom? Which hotel are you staying at?"
Her father was confused at first, but then he understood and told her that she was in a Philadelphia hospital, so her mom was at their home, she would come to the hospital later. She would need to stay there for at least another two days and be on total bedrest for two weeks.
"But we will have a midterm next week, Daddy. I have to return to school soon."
"You are not going out of your room for the next two weeks. I'm not even sure if I would ever let you out of my sight ever again, let alone send you back to that school. Don't think any of it, my pouty bear. Your job is to get healthy now." Renata didn't know when her father called the nurses but soon many people rushed into her room, and her father went out after landing a kiss on her forehead again.
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That was almost two weeks ago. And true to his words, her father had never allowed her to go out of her room since being discharged from the hospital last week, preferably lying on the bed. During this time, she got better acquainted with her cozy prison that she thought she knew it well. The wall color was coral, not pink. Her ceiling was not pure white but had a shade of green. She even knew how many golden stars sprinkled across the pretty pink mesh netting over her canopy. 176 stars, they were glowing in the dark too. How magical. With a bunch of stuffed bears around her, of various sizes, she shouldn't be bored. No TV, no computer, no blackberry, basically nothing, she wondered how she could be bored. She might be saved from pneumonia, but she would probably die in her sleep, before she could take her own life.
The midterm would have finished by then, she wondered if she could ask for make-up exams from the teachers. Renata groaned in frustration out loud, which startled TungTung, he cocked his head and gazed at her with his big brown eyes, wondering if his little master had lost her damn mind. His body was like a second blanket to her, lazily lying beside her stomach while occasionally waving his tail. "You have no worries at all, don't chu TungTung? Hmm? Aren't chu bored too, TungTung? Should we play outside? Or would chu like to swim?" Renata cupped his face and he wagged his tail.
Before she could do anything, someone knocked at her door. " Miss, Dr. Collins is here." Aunty popo opened the door and Dr. Collins entered her room.
"Helen, what a pleasant surprise, how are you? It's been a long time since you checked me, like three days ago, I think. Are you here to prolong my suffering?"Helen smirked at her, Renata had been extra salty today.
"Just the usual, check your vitals, and probably another shot to keep you alive, unfortunately. You know the drill, Renata. " Renata was groaning when Helen winked and grinned at her.
She let Helen do her job or her father would do the job, which consisted of constant nagging, they were unpleasant choices either way. "How is Meredith?" Helen's younger sister, Meredith, met Renata last year during a charity gala. From her, Renata got to know the Collins family, and ever since then, both her family and hers had become a little too close, in Renata's opinion.
"She is in Paris now, pursuing her dream of becoming a pâtissier. Can you believe that? Mother was displeased at first but eventually relented. She told me to give you a good hug from her." With that, Helen hugged her before giving her a shot, as if saying to brace herself. And Renata did brace herself, the shot was painful, and she couldn't stop wincing even after it was over.
Renata told Helen that she missed Meredith and would love to visit sometime in the future while Helen was packing. "Am I all healed now? Can I go play outside?"
"Your body has just recovered, so I would suggest no. Maybe wait for another 3 days?"
"You said the same thing 3 days ago..." Renata stared at Helen with her dead-fish eyes.
"Honestly, you have recovered mostly, I would say 90%-ish. It's faster than I predicted. All thanks to the healthy foods you consume and how you stay indoors all the time. However, your cough and fatigue will stay for some time, maybe for another 2-4 weeks. If you go out, there's a chance it will take longer."
"Can you not say that to my dad? He will lock me up forever and toss the key, you know how he is. I want to go back to my school at some point, which I hope is in just a few days. I have missed my midterm exam and bazillion assignments, I don't want to fall further behind than I already am. Please, dad listen to you more than me."
Helen sighed and smiled. "Let's see what I can do, Little Minx." Helen left after messing with her hair.
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After she took a solemn vow of staying away from trouble, especially a trouble named Lyle, Renata's father finally agreed to let her go back to the boarding school, Arfæstnes School. Her father apparently knew the whole story, but he wouldn't tell her how he knew.
She had been back for three days. So far, everything had returned to normal, except for the many stares she had received all the time from her classmates and other kids. The teachers also surprisingly not gave her any hard time when she told them about the make-up exam, aside from the mountains of assignments she needed to submit the next week.
Millie recounted everything that had occurred since the night she went missing. How Wilson was the one who carried her on his back to the health center, how the Dean was scared shitless of her father ( apparently, her father had visited the school with his lawyer and two police officers), who demanded the school's responsibility or he would sue and sell the story to the newspaper. The Dean didn't want to expel the three girls but Wilson's words to the Dean sent the girls out of the school in the end. On Millie's quote, " With all due respect, Sir. Our school's name means virtue. We couldn't hold onto our virtue by grooming criminals. If Renata wasn't the first, she certainly won't be the last."
Her head was full of question marks, she was not supposed to, especially when she was sitting at the library, drowning in books and homework. But her mind kept floating away at the thought of Wilson helping her. And defended her.
Why?
Why would he do that?
Didn't he hate her?
As her thoughts were swimming in theories of Wilson, a voice startled her. "Are you going to use that book or just stare at it?" She found the owner of the voice was the object of her curiosity, Wilson, standing right in front of her.