CHAPTER ONE - Burning Heat

   

I felt paralyzed. I couldn't move i couldn't speak, i couldn't see. And the little beeps of something that sounded like a computer monitor was the only thing my ears could allow me hear.

I felt week with an enormous amount of heat spreading through every bone in my body only for me to try moving my arms, but fail.

Wondering were i was and why it felt like I had been horded with pipes, I heard an unfamiliar voice fill the room along with slow approaching footsteps. "Have you noticed any signs of consciousness? "

"No" Another voice rang from beside me. A little less lively, and broken with a sing-song like twinkle to it but quite familiar.

"If she does so much as, move a finger... "

"I wouldn't hesitate to call you or any other nurse near bye ". There was a brief pause. Just before i heard the door click.

I felt limp every were. My breathing raged, and my eyes heavy. Slowly it came on to me, the smell of antibiotics and blood tonics, the clinical stench that made my stomach twist and my brain register that I was indeed in a hospital.

I felt a soft grip on my left hand .

"Baby you have to wake up okay." I would recognize that voice anywhere "it's been hard. Really hard...you're all i have left. And i can't lose you baby. Please you have to wake up."

"Mom I'm here " I tried saying but all that came out was a puff of air, my lungs felt dried and it only burned to use them.

"Mom- "

"Dian! Oh God my baby! "she screamed "nurse! Nurse! She's awake! "

Next thing i hear is heavy footsteps storming into the room .

"She, she moved her fingers !" My mother yelled causing my nose to crunch up just the tiniest little bit from the major migraine the volume of her voice was causing.

"And you are very certain? " The same feminine voice from earlier spoke.

"Very! ".

There was a few moments of silence except for the constant mumbling of sweet words to me by my mother as she gripped my hand tight, not letting go. God knows i tried my best to call out to her but my voice just stayed stuck on my throat.

Slowly the light started coming up to me as my eyes fluttered open.

It started out blurry, then i slowly adjusted to the light and that's when i saw her.

Golden blonde hair sprawled in waves around her shoulders, round plum cheeks that show evidence to her healthy eating and those eyes. Intense blue green eyes i managed to inherit from her staring down at me with sadness written all over them and dried tears just below her lower lashes.

She looked like she hadn't slept for days and even still she managed to still look beautiful.

"Mom" I chocked out, hoping dearly to God that she heard me. And she did.

"Honey!" Tears that i thought were long dried up began to flow down her face. "sweet heart "she cupped my face in her hands. "thank God. I thought i was going to lose you."

"Mom what happened? "she didn't speak and her expression gave me no answer either. "Mom talk to me, what happened? And how did I end up here? "

Her lips pursed, eyes tin and fists clenched, refusing to meet my gaze she whispered. "You've been out."

"Out?" It was my turn to frown.

"I thought I lost you."

"Mom I don't understand."

Then she looked up at me... Blurring crystals clouding her sight. "Mental induced coma."

***

I groaned in pain as i held my moms arm for support while climbing the stairs to the front door of our house.

Every part of my body hurt from inside out. I felt hot, like there was a burning fire inside of me that refuses to quench. And my arms around mom's shoulders seems to be making it worse even though she was cold. But that was the problem cold. I would retreat, but then i won't be able to support myself.

"Careful dear "she helped me down on the sofa. "I'll be back okay, let me make you a cup of tea" I nodded, basically begging for a cup of steaming inner peace right then.

Apparently. I've been in a coma for about two months now. But it didn't feel anything like it.

All i remember was us girls having a girls night together at Ming's house before her grandma called in from the hospital and then there was this huge black out in the entire town and... The... the... Creature. I'm trying so hard to remember, i don't even know if i saw what it was but I'm certain i heard noises. We both did.

"Here "mom came back in with a steaming cup at hand and i just grabbed it from her not even waiting for it to cool down before gulping it all in.

"Aren't you going... " she was cut off by the empty cup now sitting in front of us. "Are you okay? " She asked eyeing me warily.

"I'm fine " actually I was not. My head was spinning and everything else was burning. Hot, i felt hot and i hated it, but my body seemed to like it, seeing as i quickly retracted from the feel of my mom's cold hands that were pressed on my forehead before she even got to balance herself.

"Your temperature is burning up" she winced "you're too hot. I don't understand this isn't supposed to be like this" she picked up her phone "I'm calling doctor Brewer to know why you are running a temperature."

Doctor Brewer was our family doctor for twenty years. My mom had me in his hospital and every other thing else that has to do with medical health has always been through him.

"Dian!" She called and i jerked my attention up to her " I already called the girls. They should be here in a few" she said just before disappearing into the kitchen.

I took the time to examine the house to occupy the boredom. There was not much to inspect though. It was just the way i left it. But...fresher.

The pale white walls looked a bit newer. the couches had a bit of glow to them and although the frames in the walls were all the same they looked out of place. More descriptively rearranged. I can't say I was surprised though, mom naturally has a habit of fixing things when she's trying not to think too much.

I'm guessing she's been doing a lot of thinking all these while.... And something tells me they weren't good thoughts.

"It may be her body adjusting to the familiarity of the weather Amila. It happens, you just have to give her a little bit of time and she'll be back on two feet again."

I know that voice, even from the constant cracking and shaking i can recognize it still. It was Dr Brewer's. Okay that is kind of weird. I can't possibly hear his discussion with my mother on the phone all the way from the kitchen to the living room, even though the distance isn't that long. She's not even on speaker phone.

"Are you sure? It is like she's a cooking stove that's been used all day without rest. I don't think this is normal "her voice slightly going high against her will.

"Yes Amila if she goes like this for the next three days without any signs of reduction, call me" okay now I'm certain i can hear him just fine.

"Okay, okay, Fine." She sighed not feeling too convinced. Just then a low knock was heard at the front door.

"I'll get it "i said standing up, feeling the need to move.

"You should rest dear."

"Really, I'm fine mum." She was going to do it her self but luckily i beat her to it. Not without a few almost trips though, that i tried to cover up and pretend it's nothing.

"Dian! "Ming screamed and immediately lunched at me the moment i opened the door.

"Ouch! easy girl " I winced from the pressure but chuckled, i miss her.

"Sorry." She mumbled but made no attempt to pull away.

She was cold and it hurt my skin but i wasn't going to let her go, I'll endure it because i missed it. Although it didn't feel long since we last met, in fact it felt like yesterday. But now holding her like this felt like it had been months since we last shared a hug.

"You're burning "she suddenly pulled away. "Shit girl, it's like you're on fire "she had a crease in between her brows.

Just then i turned my gaze to meet Faye standing there and staring me down with heavy eyes. She looked like she hadn't been sleeping fine and she'd been crying a lot, that I could tell from the bangs hanging down below her eye leads, just looking at me all the heaviness in her eyes began to pure out into hot liquid.

Without thinking about how much it would hurt if i were to touch her. I lunched my self at her in a tight embrace.

"I thought you were never going to wake up" She subbed on my shoulders.

"But i did" I slowly pulled away and we just stared at each other for a while and the next thing you know we burst into a fit of giggles. I don't know why we were laughing but we were. And it felt good.

"Come on in girls. You shouldn't stand outside for too long." With that we all strolled in heading up to my bedroom with Faye and Ming holding on to both my arms to help me steady myself as we climbed up the stairs.

Something that had been bugging me since i left the hospital, a presence I've been craving Stared me off. I'd been wondering, and when mom said the girls were coming. I thought for sure he would be here too.

"What about Damon?" I asked wanting to see him so bad. I miss him.

"He's still in school... "

School?

Oh that's right!

"He was in the middle of a class when i called to let him know you had woken up."

Oh! Okay.

"What about you guys. Don't you have school?" Ming heaved a sigh as she sat beside me on my bed and Faye who was sitting cross legged on the ground directly in front of us had a deep crease between her brows.

"You have a lot of catching up to do ".

***

"You did what?" I stared at my friend in disbelief.

"It was terrifying Dian..." Faye's voice shook for a millisecond as she stared at the ground "I had to."

I sat there, with my mouth hanging open as stared at my best friend in shock not believing what I was hearing about her abandoning a year of her education to do research on a non-existent creature that might have attacked us that night.

Faye had suffered minor injuries the night the accident happened, but unlike me who ended up in a two month coma, she had recovered during the first week.

Faye and i always had similar dreams. We'd both had a passion for art and photography and we both sent applications to NYU on the same course along with Damon who was going for advanced chemistry. We used to draw and paint random things when we were younger and add them to our collection of F&D. A large art book that we store all our works from scratch till date.

So yes it upset me knowing that my best friend would give up all her dreams because of an incident that caused her a traumatic period.

The air felt heavy and I felt the words slipping off my tongue when Ming interrupted me by saying "I was going to leave.." her manicured and pink polished fingernails danced around each other as she sat cross legged talking in low tones. "Grandma broke a spine, they wanted me back home."

That only deepened my already hurting frown. It sounded like bullshit to me.

Ming's family are really religious people, they don't like people who aren't accustomed to their tradition and like every other wealthy family, they wanted Ming to go back home to China so she could study business and manage half the shares in their company.

"But you didn't."

"I didn't." She looked up at me. " Mother cut me off."

"Ming..."

As if reading my mind she jumped in " I didn't do it not entirely just because of you.... I don't like being caged you know that. I feel like they are trying to control my life and besides all that, I've always had this big dream of getting a hard earned medical degree. I wasn't going to throw all that away for..."

She coughed, folding her arms together... "Besides, my real family is right here, in Randall. The both of you, and your mom and Jamie." Her smile was soft and charming but yet it didn't reach her eyes, it was a sad wistful look in her eyes I am sure I can understand just fine. "So I got a job at Joe's and I'm taking online classes, dad's secretly been helping too. "

John Lee, although i have never truly met him before, is a very powerful man with seven children all scattered around the world for both educational and business purposes. A Chinese man who is one of the richest men i might have ever heard of in my entire life, with an aura like that of a deadly ogre. A man you never want to cross under any circumstance. But despite all that, he is a man that loves his children more than anything else in the world and would do anything to maintain their happiness. Reasons as to which i will always hold respect for him.

I turned my attention back to Faye and it was like she was lost somewhere else in the conversation. She looked like she was in a trance, the expression on her face, one of pure horror.

"Faye are you okay?"

"That thing. The thing that hit me... The thing that hit you... " Her breaths became shallow and ragged just a little bit. "that wasn't a normal creature... "

Ming put a hand on her shoulder to stop her friend from talking. Her dark hair framed in a shoulder length bulb around her slightly round cheeks, small sharp eyes filled with a wary like expression and her small pink heart shaped lips pressed tightly together in a small pout. "slow down."

She says calmly and Faye obeys taking in a deep breath. My memory of that night was slightly foggy so i couldn't exactly remember what it was that had attacked us.

It was probably just a wolf that had gotten lost at the wrong side of the track.

But that's the thing. Ming lives no where near the woods. It was rather a big lavish penthouse on the upside of town where the rich folks live. So no, i don't understand why and how an animal big enough to break through her front door could get to that side of town and only attack us.

"I saw it Dian!" Faye said directly to me, controlling her breath this time. "it wasn't a wolf or whatever else you're thinking."

A deep crease formed between my brows. I stared at my friend, she wasn't acting normal. Faye is someone who easily brushes things off when rendered unimportant or impossible. But then again she's the smartest among us, she's hardly ever wrong about anything. And at the same time she's been through a tough time these past few months i haven't been around, so i can understand why her beautiful hazel eyes read a fearful expression i couldn't decipher.

"It had wings and... and... "

"Faye." This time i was the one to stop her rambling again.

She pursed, staring at me with disbelief in her eyes. "You guys don't believe me" it wasn't a question. It was a statement. Her eyes moving from me slowly to Ming and back to me again.

"Faye... "

"It's fine. "she goes blank "but i know what i saw. And I'll prove it to you."