Gold Plated - Carah Faye

___

Pain. My head throbbing. A powerful headache filling my head, feeling for all the world like someone was slamming my head with a chair. Colors swirled around across my closed eyelids, reminding me of the fairies that lived inside my fantasy books. Thinking hurt, so I let the pain draw me into unconsciousness.

-

    Silver? Silver, wake up.

    I opened my eyes, looking around me in confusion. White light surrounded me, and in front of me stood my mom.

    "Am I dead?" I asked, wincing as a fresh wave of pain rolled over my head. I couldn't be dead, after death there wasn't pain.

    No, you're still among the living, My mom held out her hands. Your mortal body is hurt, though. You've been asleep three days now.

    "Three days!" I screeched. "Where am I?"

    You were found, frozen and almost dead, the next morning. You're in the castle, in your bed.

    "When do I go back?" I asked. "To the land of the living, I mean."

    Whenever you truly open your eyes, she looked at me with a sad smile. I miss you.

    Before I could cry, I opened my eyes.

-

The world spun around me at dizzying speed. I weakly cried out as pain filled my head. My hands tried to move, but something seemed to weigh them down. My stomach rolled and I puked into a bowl conveniently placed by my head, spreading nasty fumes throughout the room.

A loud slam made me cover my ears. I tried to look, but my eyes saw nothing but fuzzy blobs, one of which was moving towards me. It began to speak softly, and I recognized Rayma's voice. She sat down beside me and wiped my face with a wet clothe, quietly telling me that the doctor and Queen Vesta were on their way.

"I c-." My mouth wouldn't cooperate. I closed it, gagging as the dryness seemed to sink in. I felt like my mouth was filled with cotton balls.

"Shh," Rayma ran her fingers through my hair. "don't speak, Silver." She stood up and moved away, her fuzzy hands carrying away the bowl.

My vision began to get clearer. I looked around, the details of my room becoming clearer. I wasn't lying on my bed, but on a comfy couch that was now in my room. The door opened and in walked Vesta, followed by a man in a white lab coat. I recognized him from somewhere. He was a famous scientist on Adron, but my befuddled brain wouldn't remember his name.

"Hello, Silver." he said in a cheerful voice. "How are you feeling today." He pulled up a chair and sat by the couch. His fingers rubbed the bandage that was wrapped around the top of my head. A smaller bandage was taped around my temple. My fingers explored the strange bandages, and discovered that they were soaked in red blood. 

"Terrible." I groaned, lying back down.

"That's expected with a concussion as bad as yours." He said, standing back up. "I need you to tell me what you remember last."

        "Umm, a snow storm... and darkness." I wracked my brain, trying to think of more. "I was with someone. A boy, I think."  

        "His name?" He jotted down a few notes on his notepad.

        "It was, umm..."

        "Jed?"

        "Yes!" I looked at the doctor, seeing the look between him and my grandma. "How do you know him?"

        "Because he was outside the gate yesterday, asking for you." Vesta said. "I asked him who he was and he told us everything. Now Dr. Kyst and I have a better idea of what really happened out there."

        "Then refresh me." I sat up, my head slowly adjusting to my current position.

       "You and Jed were walking, around your old neighborhood an-"

        "That was my neighborhood?"

        "Yes, now pay attention." Vesta snapped. "A storm came and you were going to go to his house. But you got separated and then you fell and smashed your head. You were found the next morning and brought here." 

        "I remember it all now." I swung my legs over the side of the couch. "Can I talk to Jed?"

        "I'm not sure if that's a good idea." Dr. Kyst said. "Your head is still slightly damaged, and without the technology from earth, it will take a few days to heal."

        "And I'm not to keen on Jed." Vesta added.

        "Well, I think he's sweet." I said, standing up. My head grew hot as I prepared to fight. A sudden wave of nausea came over me. I gasped and fell back onto the couch.     Dr. Kyst clucked. "You need rest." He pulled out a needle and pricked my arm. I fell asleep as the liquid flowed into my body.

-

        My dreams were full of confusing images. I saw Jed calling me, but we were on opposite sides of a glass wall. Vesta walked up behind him and stabbed him in the side with a knife. I screamed as he fell, holding onto his side.

        Vesta looked at me and grinned. "There, that's taken care of." 

        I struggled to get through the glass, but the wall shrank, enveloping me. It wrapped around me until I was in a small circle. The glass slowly morphed into metal, and a section opened.

        Vesta looked in. "Goodbye, princess." She snarled. Her face disappeared and the door closed, taking all the light with it. I began to breathe heavily as claustrophobia took over. The walls seemed to shrink even more.

        But then a light turned on. A single red light that blinked repeatedly. A mans voice accompanied it, counting down. "Five... Four... Three..."

        The metal behind me slid away, revealing the huge crowd that was watching.

        "Two... One..."

        Something exploded. I was thrown against the wall as the thing began to rise off the earth. I went farther from the ground, until the city was gone.

        Everything vanished.

-

        My head was pounding. I winced as it slipped off the pillow and landed on the cushion beside it. Though soft, it sent tendrils of pain throughout my head and down my spine.

        I looked beside me. This time I was alone. Rayma wasn't watching, Dr Kyst and Vesta were gone, it was beautiful silence. I sighed and leaned my head back. My thought drifted back to the disturbing images from my... dream. Vesta laughing insanely as she stabbed Jed, me getting shipped off to space.

    I stood up and slowly made my way to the mirror, leaning on various pieces of furniture for support along the way. When my body came into view stopped and looked at the creepy face looking back.

My skin had sunk in around my eyes, and my whole face was wrinkled from the lack of water. My black hair was hanging in tangles around my face, pieces of my puke caught in a knot beside my face. The rest of my body was hidden by the long white robe that hung loosely over my shoulders.

Fatigue came over me and I sat down on the floor. The room around me began to tilt again. I clutched my stomach as pain shot through it. It receded after a few moments, but it left me breathless. I gasped like a fish out of water. The oxygen level seemed to drop, and my weak brain began to wish I had a tree planted beside me to freshen the air. After thinking about this, I realized how stupid I was right now.

My vision was shrinking and the edges of what I saw began to grow dark. The darkness was closing in, and panic began to take over. I stood up and stumbled across the room. The robe caught on my toe and tripped me. I fell forwards, my arms reaching out to catch myself. My body flopped onto the ground and I gave up.

There was more commotion as someone suddenly appeared beside me. They began to talk, and I had the feeling that there were more than one person in the room. Something poked my arm. The last thing I heard before drifting off again was: "This will heal her."