The Licensed Mage

30 Confession

        It’s been 12 hours. Twelve long hours since they’ve brought Claire in. Raven sat with his hands clasped together leaning his forehead against them, listening to the soundtrack of a hospital waiting room. The occasional sniffle and stifled cough. The absent flipping of a magazine with the muted TV. But it was the sound of Abby sobbing for Claire that continued to ring through his mind, hours after she stopped. Nearly all of Claire’s friends surrounded him in the room, those he knew and others he hasn’t met. They left him alone but he could feel their cold stares.

        He had followed the ambulance as it left the lot with Crystal sticking with him. He ran in the hospital after the team as they wheeled Claire inside, Tessa sitting on the gurney with her hands over Claire’s bleeding heart. Noise and sounds were muted as he listened to Tess shout and bark orders. Two orderlies held him back as they wheeled her in the operating room but he tried to fight his way in. Finally Henry stepped over and pulled him aside and sat him in the waiting room. Then her friends started trickling in with Abby and Elizabeth coming to him for questions. He could still remember the accusing looks on their faces as he told them what happened. Abby broke down sobbing as Elizabeth held her.

        Elizabeth brought her to the chair and sat her down whispering to her, “Don’t cry Abs. Both my husband and Tess are in there right now with Claire. She’s in good hands. She’ll get through this.”

        After that more friends came filing in for another 3 hours, asking, sobbing, throwing him cold stares. At one point Dillon came up to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. Neither of them said a word but enough was said as Dillon squeezed his shoulder, trying to reassure him. He then walked off to leave Raven alone with Crystal perched on his leg with her neck curved around his elbow and her tail wrapped around his leg in a pitiful attempt to hug him. After some time someone draped a blanket over his bare shoulders and it was then he realized he was still only in his pants but he didn’t care. He didn’t even care who gave him the blanket or knew who it was.

        As the hours stretched and no word came from the operating room the small gathering of mages quieted down. When they reached their 9th hour there someone suggested a praying service for Claire and soon every mage in the waiting room formed a giant circle and mumbled as once voice, praying for their friend and loved one. Abby stepped up to Raven and offered her hand to join in the circle but he barely moved. The only thing running through his mind was the horrid memory of Claire being shot. He could still feel her body jerking against his as she slammed against him and he knew he would forever remember that feeling.

        How could he have become so dependent on her? He’s barely known her for a month and yet here he was, feeling as if his own life was in the balance. He knew so little about her and yet he couldn’t remember what his life was like before she came kicking in. He could still remember when he first saw her, sitting on his couch in the break room, looking at him terrified. He could still feel her kneeing his stomach as she pushed him off of her. Rubbing his stomach he looked up to yell at whoever kneed him and could only see golden hair highlighted by the sunlight behind her with a luscious mouth begging to be kissed and a slightly shrewd look in her eyes. He didn’t want to admit it, didn’t want to see it but he’s be infatuated by her ever since. She’s been a world wind in his life, throwing his simple life upside down and he loved every minute. Did he love her?

        “Dunsworth, Claire?”

        Heads shot up as a doctor covered in bloody scrubs walked into the room. Everyone stood and made their way to him but Raven beat them all, running before the doctor.

        “I’m her partner. Where is she?”

        The dark haired doctor looked him up and down, raising his eyebrow at the near nakedness of the man. He merely shrugged his shoulder and cleared his throat, “She’s alive.” Everyone breathed a collected sigh of relief at his words, “But she’s weak. The bullet lodged itself into her heart and it’s only thanks to Dr. Mills’s quick aid that her heart survived. She’s resting and will be for a while.”