MoanaOne moment, I was in the interrogation room with the police officer sitting across from me.“Ms. Fowler?” he asked, standing from his seat with a worried look on his face. “Are you alright?”My eyes were wide and my hands were shaking. I was standing with my back against the wall, feeling as though I couldn’t get a full breath into my lungs. The room felt as though it was closing in on me, and I felt trapped inside like an animal caught in a net.And then, suddenly, I felt my knees buckle under me. I fell to the ground, and then everything went dark with only Edrick being the very last thing on my mind.…When I woke up, I was in a dark room. In fact, it was pitch black… But when I held my hands up in front of my face, I found that I could see my own hands perfectly. The room itself was black, like a void.“Hello?” I called out. My voice felt thick and heavy. There was no echo, and no response.I called out again. This time, after a few minutes of waiting, there was finally an a
EdrickWhen I finally burst into the interrogation room, I found the two officers crouched over Moana as she was lying motionless on the ground with her eyes rolled back in her head. I shoved my way past them and scooped her up off of the floor, then ordered them to call an ambulance immediately, which they did.The ambulance came quickly, and before I knew it I was sitting in the back of it and holding Moana’s limp hand while they drove her to the hospital.“She went into a state of temporary shock,” the doctor said at the hospital, taking his stethoscope out of his ears and hanging it back around his neck with a sigh. “I believe her wolf put her into a minor coma to cope with the stress, in order to protect her and the baby. But there’s no knowing exactly how long she’ll be asleep.”“What do you mean?” I asked. “You don’t know when she’ll wake up?”The doctor shook his head. “No. I’m sorry. The best we can do is monitor her and try to get things like her blood pressure back down to
MoanaWhen I woke up, I found myself in a dimly lit hospital room with Edrick sleeping on my lap. I was no longer floating in a void, nor was Michael above me with a knife. Instead, I was safe and sound with my mate by my side.But nothing felt right. That dream was too vivid to just be a machination of my own anxiety… It felt like an omen. Was Michael coming for me with that knife, or was it really all just a dream made up in my own mind?Suddenly, Edrick must have sensed that I was awake because he jerked his head up and opened his eyes wide.“Moana,” he whispered. He lurched forward suddenly, looking relieved, and kissed me deeply. I was comforted, but also taken aback at the same time, and when we pulled apart I gave him a puzzled look.“What happened?” I asked quietly. My throat felt dry and cracked.Edrick shook his head. “You’ve been asleep for three days,” he responded, his own voice shaking. “But you’re okay. You’re okay now.”I felt my eyes widen as Edrick spoke. “Edrick, I
MoanaJust as the doctor promised, I was prescribed some medicine for the baby and for sleep and then I was sent home later that day once my bloodwork and vitals all came back within a normal range. The entire way home, Edrick didn’t let go of my hand. Every time I glanced over at him, it seemed as though he was looking at me, and that was comforting to me. The memory of our time spent together in my bed before I was taken to the police station stayed in my mind, which was a welcome distraction from everything else. It felt as though there was no longer a wall between us, and I hoped that everything would smooth itself out from there.When we arrived back at the penthouse, Ella came running as soon as the elevator doors opened and practically flew into my arms.“Moana!” she cried, sobbing into my chest. “I thought you were never gonna come home!”“It’s okay, baby,” I cooed as I stroked her hair and held her tightly and blinked back my own tears. “I’m home now.” I could only imagine th
Moana“Moana… What happened?” Selina asked as she looked around at the mess in my room with wide eyes. Scattered all around us were countless violent, graphic drawings that I somehow scribbled out in an unconscious state, even though I had absolutely no recollection of any of it. I didn’t know how to respond, because I didn’t even know what happened. All I could do was stand there, frozen, and stare at Selina.Selina slowly came into my room and set the tray of food down. “Are you okay?” she whispered.I nodded. As I did, I already felt that all-too-familiar sensation of hot tears pricking at the backs of my eyes. “I don’t know what happened,” I finally managed to say. “One moment I was just sitting in my bed and drawing in my sketchbook, and then it was like I blinked and my whole room was just covered in… whatever this is.”The old housekeeper looked around with a wide-eyed gaze for a moment. “I’m so sorry,” I said quietly as I began to stoop to pick up all of the discarded papers.
EdrickI hated to leave Moana behind, but I missed too much at work while she was in the hospital. Now that she was safely at home, I only needed to go to the office for a couple of hours to deal with some meetings.Unfortunately, those couple of hours quickly turned into a full day of work. By the time I headed home, it was already starting to get dark out. All I could think about was getting home to Moana and my daughter and spending the rest of the evening with them.However, when I got home things seemed incredibly… off.The penthouse was dark and quiet when I arrived. It wasn’t that late, which was a bit confusing. But as I started to make my way through the penthouse and found Selina sitting in the kitchen by herself with only a lamp illuminating the room, I quickly realized why everything felt so strange.Selina was sitting with her back turned to the kitchen door, but I could tell instantly from the way that he
MoanaThe medicine that Selina gave me must have made me sleep for a long time, because it was bright outside when I finally woke up. When I rolled over to glance at my clock with my bleary eyes, I saw that it was eight o’clock in the morning already even though it felt as though I only slept for five minutes. Yawning, I rolled back onto my back and suddenly felt a comforting presence beside me. It was Edrick.Moving slowly in order not to wake him, I slowly rolled over to face Edrick and couldn’t help but smile. He was sleeping soundly beside me. I hadn’t been dragged off to a psychiatric facility in my sleep; at least, not yet. Slowly, his eyes cracked open and he turned to face me. His hand came up and stroked my hair for a moment before he pulled me in tightly and let me bury my face in his chest.We stayed like that for a long time, just holding each other. I breathed in his scent in big, deep breaths, and felt myself relax a little more w
MoanaBy the next morning, Edrick had already called the therapist for me and I was scheduled to have my first session right there in the penthouse that very morning. I was nervous, but also excited in a strange way. I wanted to get to the bottom of these strange occurrences, not only to figure out why this knife seemed to be so prominent in my mind and to see if it had any real, tangible significance, but I also wanted to get better so I could return to work.When the therapist walked into my room, I immediately noticed that he seemed like a nice man. He was older, tall and thin, and had a completely bald head with a gray mustache on his upper lip and a pair of round wire-rimmed glasses sitting on his nose. He had a warm smile on his face and wore a tweed suit, and carried a notebook in his thin hand.“Hello, Moana,” he said, holding his hand out for me to shake. “I’m Dr. Rhodes. Are you ready to get started