CHAPTER EIGHT: ROOM OF WHITE

The world spiralled around Calin. There were voices out in the distance, but whose it was, he couldn’t guess. All he worried about at that moment was making the pain go away.

His back felt like liquid rearranging itself over the surface, an agonizing ice cold liquid.

Through it all, there was this force pressing down on his chest in small rhythms and a gush of breath filled his lungs, as if to remind him to breathe.

Calin finally gasped for air and coughed heavily, but still slightly out of it, the only thing he could make out was an anxious female voice splitting into his thundering head. “He is alive! Thank… … he … breathes… we have to… hospital.”

The rest just faded away into a blurred mess.

Just then a great howl broke the silence, piercing through the night far away in the distant woods. It was wolves! I have to tell Jerry he was right all along…I have to tell Jerry... I have to ... the thought faded into black.

***

Intense feelings swirled through Calin’s befuddled mind and body, robbing him of any sense of time and place. Finally something settled in him and he opened his eyes to see a white ceiling. A frown split his forehead. Where am I?

Before he could really try and ponder that question, hundreds of aches assaulted his body.

He grimaced and rolled over on his side, thoroughly aware of the heavy throbbing in his shoulder. There was nothing to suggest what had happened.

While he tried to figure out what had caused the discomfort, a voice spoke next to him.

“You’re awake, finally! You freaked me out, again, you know.”

Turning to the familiar voice of Jerry, Calin tried to croak out a reply, but his throat was too dry. He finally managed to say, “Water.”

The boy seemed to jump at the task and just a bare moment later, Jerry brought water to his dry lips.

Drinking heartily, he listened as his friend said, “After your episode with the mill two days back I’ll keep a frikken barrel next to my bed for in case.”

Calin’s eyes shot wide open at that.

“Two days?! You can’t be serious. What happened?”

Jerry shrugged next to him. “I don’t have a clue mate, though I only know that after you pulled crazy on me with the windmill, you stormed away and then this great blue lightning struck you out of the clear skies,

‘I swear there wasn’t a cloud anywhere. I thought it killed you! Even I was thrown back like five meters. It was intense! Then Ashley, of all people, came storming out of nowhere like a girl possessed and gave you CPR. The rest…well I think you’ll figure it out…”

Wow… That’s so outlandish. And Ashley giving him CPR…? Calin couldn’t begin wrapping his mind around that one. His cheeks warmed up. Yet something confused him about Jerry’s body languge, so he placed the glass of water on the bedside counter and glanced at the boy. Jerry had a ‘Hiding something face’

“Don’t you dare leave anything out,” Calin demanded in an even tone. “Or I’ll wrangle it out of you when I get my strength back.”

But Jerry only shrugged at him before smiling wryly and said, “Well, well, you look like your getting your old self back. Though before I tell you anything, can you please for heaven’s sake explain to me why you went all demented and almost got yourself killed?”

Taking a deep breath Calin said, “You’ll think I’m crazy if I tell you.”

The boy glared at him. “I already think you’re crazy!” Jerry threw up his hands in exasperation. “So out with it.”

Not understanding half of it himself, Calin tried to make sense of what happened that night. But the more he thought about it the more he couldn’t believe that it actually happened, but Jerry was there.

After a minute he blew out his breath and started his tale of the heat and the vision.

Jerry gaped in disbelief half the time, it was disconcerting, but he kept on telling. After he told the last part, before he got struck, Jerry just slumped back in his chair and said,

“Calin, I’ve known you for seven years and I know you’re not insane, but tell this story to anyone else and they’ll throw you in the coo-coo house.”

Nodding half heartedly, Calin stayed silent as Jerry continued, “If I didn’t see the water steam off of your body myself, I would’ve thought you nuts mate, don’t blame me.”

“I don’t,” Calin said as he shook his head.

He took a big gulp of water, trying to drown out the unwelcome thoughts that were bubbling up, but Jerry lured his attention away as he said, “Calin seriously if half what you’re saying is true this is sounding more like some mad stuff straight from a movie, I don’t know what the heck is going on.”

“Neither do I, Jerry. Neither do I.” Calin admitted passionately. “But for now I’m going to assume it was a lot of things that happened at the same time, it was pure coincidental.”

Jerry nodded weakly at the words, but it was all they could do. The next moment Jerry caught him by surprise with a question.

“So how did it feel being struck by lightning? It looked incredible to witness mate.”

He gaped at Jerry, but shook his head in disbelief as he said,

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“Jerry you are a freak, I got struck by it and you got flung five metres away... incredible to witness, are you kidding me? Haha! What am I ever going to do about you?”

“Um, let me think… Yeah, tell me how it felt, that’s something you can do for me,” Jerry said with a smirk.

Calin started to laugh, but his back went through a sudden spasm and he fell on his side. He tried to reach the awkward place, but failed. He fidgeted with the bandages and finally just gave up.

He slumped heavily back onto the bed gasping the words, “What’s… wrong with my… back?”

Jerry looked at him dumbly for a few seconds and then jerked like realizing something and said, “Umm… your shoulder mate… I’m not going to lie to you, it’s a mess. Sorry.”

So that was what he was hiding, Calin groaned as another spasm went through his shoulder blade. “How bad is it?”

Jerry looked helpless. “I don’t really know how to describe it. I’ve never seen anything like it, but yeah it looks like there is glass melted into your shoulder. The docs don’t know how it happened either, they’ve not seen many people hit by lightning you know.”

“Anything they can do about it?” Calin asked hopefully.

Jerry shook his head gravely and said, “Sorry mate.”

Calin nodded with a sense of helplessness before looking to the ceiling again, trying to come to terms with what had happened to him. It felt like it happened to someone else. He thought, but the pain in his body spoke otherwise.

Before he could find words the door slammed open, admitting the sure form of an upset Marigold Talsen. Her face red with what he could only guess as anger.

“Calin! Why on earth were you out in the open through a storm?”

He raised an eyebrow at that and glanced at Jerry, who only shrugged his shoulders with the notion. Calin sat up, aching all over as he said, “Misses T, there was not a cloud in the sky! I couldn’t have known lightning would strike out of nowhere.”

The woman regarded him levelly before she asked, “Are you sure?”

Without a second to spare he pointed at Jerry. The boy shifted uneasily at being brought into the situation, but regardless of it, Calin said, “Ask Jerry, he witnessed the whole thing, I just, well, remember hitting the ground.”

Jerry nodded the whole time… like an idiot, hahaha… Calin thought, but said nothing as Misses Talsen settled for the answer.

She sat down heavily next to him in the only other chair in the room, rearranging her curled hair that was hanging over her shoulders. He didn’t know what to expect from the woman, it was a bit uncharted waters for him. Misses Talsen was always serious about most things, but it was partly due to losing her husband a couple of years ago.

The woman took in a deep breath and said, “I was afraid young man. I thought you were gone for a moment last night, but thanks for sticking around. Lord alone knows what the house would’ve been like with you gone and Jerry without reigns.”

Calin wanted to smile as Jerry sat up to protest, but he subtly pushed out his hand to calm the boy before he said, “You know I would hate to leave you Misses T, but I guess Jerry would’ve shown some responsibility if the need ever arose.”

A smile tugged at Calin as he watched Jerry’s chest puff up slightly. It was always fun to pet Jerry’s false bravado. The boy wouldn’t know how to handle the other kids on his own. They were like little green aliens to him. He would probably seek help from Evany or Ashley within a week.

Before continuing his line of thought, Calin turned his head back to Misses Talsen and asked, “Misses T, do you know how long I will be in here?”

She was fidgeting with her hair next to him, then stopped as she said, “They said they wanted to do some small tests, taking you are their first lightning struck victim to survive. They’ll check on you till tomorrow and let you out if you stay stable. But how are you feeling my boy?”

“Sore,” Calin groaned as he shifted his weight again. “But happy for the chance to be going home tomorrow, I hate hospitals.”

They nodded thoughtfully at his statement and the woman stood up. She squeezed his hand before she shooed Jerry out of the room. Before she left, she said, “Just scream if you need anything, I won’t be far.”

Waving her off, he lied back on the bed. Without really thinking about it, his mind wandered around the relatively bare room and he smiled at the white Orchids that stood in its vase on the small table.

It brought his attention to the glass screen that looked into the busy but small little hospital, where the nurses and doctors were rushing about. I hate hospitals, the sooner I get out, the better. He thought with a feeling of being trapped creeping up in his stomach. Calin pondered to get up and try to sneak out. And like Jerry, he had the ability for it, but he wasn’t one for sneaking around a hospital in a robe that left his back side open for all to see.

Ultimately, he decided that an extra day won’t kill him. So he settled deeper into the bedding.

His shoulder was scraping against the sheets even under the bandages.

Rubbing it deeper, Calin was surprised that his shoulder muscles still behaved normally, but there was clearly a different texture to it. He was going to have a scar and he couldn’t help but groan in submission.

As he let his breath out, he looked back to the window. There was a black haired young man, not much older than him walking to the counter asking a question.

It was almost surely a Japanese man, which was slightly odd, but not overly strange because of their town’s scientific foundations. All sorts of people visited the place to come study the many mysteries.

But then a moment later, the man looked at him. A shiver ran up Calin’s spine as the man’s intense amber eyes met his, a feeling like falling again enveloped him, a cliff disappearing from under his feet, a boy with shining amber eyes grabbing at him—

“Calin um? Do you have a last name young mister?”

Calin jumped at the sudden voice at the door, he turned abruptly to the intruder only to see a small brunette nurse with a profile board in her hand.

There hadn’t even been a noise announcing the door being opened. But he pushed aside the fact with a shake of his head. “I don’t have one ma’am, I’m an orphan, but I live over at Misses Marigold Talsen’s house.”

The nurse nodded at him and scribbled something on her sheet of paper and said, “No need to call me ma’am, my name is Christie. I’ll be doing some tests with you today…”

She kept on speaking, but Calin glanced back to where the stranger had stood.

There was no one there.

Must’ve been a trick of my mind; He turned his attention back to the nurse just as she was finishing. “…so are you alright with us doing some tests and asking some questions? It’s only for future reference.”

Calin nodded distractedly, but said, “Sure, nothing else to do for me until tomorrow, guess this will at least keep me busy.”

The woman beamed a smile at him and said, “Great! Let’s get started then, please turn on your stomach. Oh don’t worry I won’t hurt you.”

Rolling over, Calin flinched at her cold hands on his bare lower back as she peeled away the bandages to expose his shoulder. It was then that he looked at the mounted mirror on the wall.

When she was done, she said, “I’ll be right back.” As she turned to leave, Calin called back, “Hey, Christie? Can you get me a second mirror please; I want to see what happened to my shoulder.” The small nurse’s smile faded and he was sure there was sympathy in her eyes. With a nod, she disappeared through the door.

He tried to quench the sudden anxiety that threatened to flare up inside him. But his breath came in quicker as the nurse returned. She quickly left the mirror at his side and retreated out of the room as she said, “I’ll give you a minute.”

Calin inclined his head, his throat tightening as he picked up the mirror. He stood up, and with a shaking hand angled it so he could see his shoulder blade. The moment he laid eyes on what happened on it, he gasped and it was utterly certain it would be part of him for the rest of his life.

It was as if someone poured molten glass onto his skin and muscles; in an attempt to try and create a tattoo out of it as it ate into his flesh, but wasn’t happy with it so destroyed it with more glass into his skin. Calin groaned and sat down with a slightly defeated sigh. He didn’t know what to think. And when Christie showed up tentatively, he was glad he wouldn’t be left alone with his thoughts. He motioned to her that he was ready for the tests and laid down.

She hurried to him and shifted him into position, he tried to settle in more comfortably, but she kept tugging him into different positions each time before he could.

There was a distinct feeling to him that it was going to be a very long afternoon. Yet he soon found his mind drifting to the mysterious figure of the man with the amber eyes. Or at least he tried to.