Blood and Water | Neteyam

Take My Whole Life Too ∼ 42

Tcelia gradually opened her eyes, struggling to shake off the lingering haze of sleep that still clung to her. She had been out for an entire week, and yet she still felt exhausted. Blinking a few times, she peered around the pod, her gaze settling on the beautiful orange hues that filled the room. The sunrise had crept in, casting a warm glow over everything, a compelling contrast to her sleep that had been completely dreamless and black.

She let out a groan as she attempted to raise her arms, the throbbing pain in her chest intensifying. It was as if she had been asleep for years, and her body had become stiff and unyielding. Slowly, she sat up, swinging her legs over the edge of the cot, and gingerly placed her feet on the woven floor. Next to her, Jake was sound asleep, his arms crossed and head lolling to the side, his mouth slightly agape. Despite the pain in her chest, Tcelia couldn't help but smile at the sight of him. Tcelia had fallen asleep pretty quickly after she had woken up again, still completely exhausted for some reason, despite having slept for over an entire week straight. Jake had promised to stay by her side whilst she slept and Tcelia was grateful for his unwavering presence by her side.

Someone had braided her hair into box braids again at some point whilst she had been out, and her hair now hung in nice braids down her back. She had to admit that she'd missed the hairstyle a bit. It reminded her of home.

She touched her wrists gently, a green coat of herbal paste spread carefully around them to heal her wounds. Gently smudging the herbal paste away from her inner wrist to get a look at the damage, she smiled a little to herself. The wounds had healed nicely, scabbing over in a ring around both of her wrists. They would probably leave scars, but that didn't bother Tcelia much. And if these wounds had healed nicely, her wound by eyebrow probably didn't look too bad either which was a comforting thought.

As she inhaled deeply, trying to steady her spinning head, Tcelia gripped the cot with both hands and pushed herself up to a standing position. She swayed slightly, standing for a moment looking down at her feet to gain balance. Her legs felt weak and unsteady after a week of disuse. In fact, her entire body felt weak and fragile, an annoyance that only served to increase her frustration. She tentatively touched the white gauze that was tightly wrapped around her chest, unable to believe that she had survived an injury like that.

"Tcelia?" Something clattered to the floor in front of her and Tcelia looked up in surprise. Behind her, Jake jolted awake, coughing as he did.

"Oh, hi guys." She smiled at Norm and Max who had been making their way into the pod and were now standing frozen and looking at her in shock, a medical bag dropped on the floor.

Norm reached her first, almost falling over the bag he had dropped and forced her to sit down again immediately, muttering something about not overexerting herself. He was in his avatar body, so when he kneeled down in front of her, he was only half a head shorter than her.

He reached up to feel her forehead worryingly, "How are you feeling? Hot, cold, good, bad, tingly, swollen, woozy?"

Max had come up to Norm's side, having picked up the bag that Norm had dropped. "It's good to see you awake, Tcelia. Don't tell the others, but we were beginning to worry a little." Max winked at her as he placed the bag by her side and opened it, peering into it.

Tcelia rolled her eyes and gently slapped Norm's hand away, smiling reassuringly as she did, "I'm fine, guys." Then she pointed at Max, "Although I didn't need to know that you guys were starting to doubt my chances of survival."

Max shrugged with a playful smile, pulling out something from the bag, "You're a big girl. You can handle it."

Tcelia looked over her shoulder, her eyes settling on Jake who was leaned back in the chair, a small smile playing on his lips at the interaction that was unfolding before him. "Can you believe them? You didn't doubt me, did you?"