A week had passed since Aleron had found Brayden. Although the storm had died down in three days, he decided to stay at the hospital until Brayden woke up. After a very high fever that lasted two full days, his health had greatly improved. Most of his injuries had started to heal apart from his wrist and the wounds caused by Kazmir. Much to everyone surprise he started to show signs of waking up. The night before he started withering in pain, causing his heart rate to elevate. They had no choice but to give a heavy dose of pain killers to calm him down, but it meant that there was a chance he could wake up in a matter of days. While Aleron was patiently waiting in the observation room, Sophia came up to him and ask him to grab a coffee with her to discuss Brayden’s future.
“I’m afraid I have some bad news,” Sophia sighed, as they walked back to Brayden’s room. “Unfortunately, the higher-ups have decided that we can only keep him here until his stitches come out.”
“That’s pretty specific. Did they say why?” Aleron asked.
“According to them once those wounds caused by Kazmir’s claws are healed, it means that we have no more reason to help,” Sophia explained. “It makes it sound that the only reason we took him in was because Kazmir is involved, which just sounds horrible.”
“How long do you think we have before then?” Aleron asked.
“That I can’t be sure,” Sophia claimed. “Unlike his other injuries I haven’t seen any improvement, so it could be a while. If he is to wake up any day now, we’ll need to use as much time as possible to get him ready for the time he has to leave.”
“What about after? He hasn’t got anywhere to go,” Aleron commented.
“Well…” Sophia started, as she stopped in front of the rooms. She was interrupted by the door of Brayden’s room opening, and a nurse walked out to the hallway.
“Oh, I was just looking for you,” she said when she saw Sophia.
“Has something gone wrong?” Sophia asked, looking concerned.
“No, nothing’s wrong, quite the opposite actually,” she said. “Mr Valero has woken up. He’s still a little out of it and hasn’t realised what going on yet, but he’s conscious. How would you like to proceed?”
“Okay, we need you to talk to him,” Sophia ordered. “It will be too stressful for too many people to be in there so Aleron and I will watch in the observation room. Just ask him some basic questions and keep him as calm as possible.”
The nurse nodded and re-entered the room. Aleron followed Sophia into the other room and sat in the seats in front of the one-way mirror. They watched as the nurse walked over and knelt down beside Brayden.
“Hey there sweetie, you’re awake,” the nurse said as Brayden looked towards her. “Are you feeling alright?”
Brayden nodded. He then blinked and looked around with a glint of confusion on his pale and drowsy face. His heart rate on the monitor close to Aleron rose slightly.
“It’s alright, you are just in one of our hospital wards. You were brought here about a week ago, but everything is fine now,” the woman assured him when she saw that he looked a little stressed. “Do you want me to remove the breathing mask?”
“P-please…” Brayden muttered with a nod.
Aleron watched patiently as the nurse turned off the ventilation machine and took the mask off of Brayden. Once she was finished, she walked back over to him.
“Now, I’ll need to ask you a few questions, is that okay?” she asked and waited for him to respond. He only nodded again, but the nurse continued to do what Sophia had asked. “Could you please tell what your name is?”
“B-Brayden… Valero…” he answered, speaking just loud enough to be heard. He then looked away from the nurse and to his hands looking a little more anxious than before. “Or was it Ray…? I’m… not sure…”
“It’s alright, it’s natural to be a little confused after what you’ve been through,” the woman stated.
“That’s not a normal reaction, right?” Aleron asked Sophia a little concerned with Brayden’s response.
“Perhaps, we’ll need to watch a little longer to be sure,” Sophia claimed.
“Okay Brayden, can you tell me how old you are?” the nurse continued her questioning.
“I… d-don’t know…” he shook his head.
“Oh… well…” the woman said, becoming concerned. “What about your family? Do you have any siblings?”
“I-I don’t know…” Brayden said again.
“Do you know the name of your home?” the woman asked.
“N-no…” Brayden said as he began to tremble.
“It’s alright, don’t worry about it. Let me ask an easier question,” the nurse smiled nervously. “Do you have a favourite drink? I might be able to get you it if you like.”
“I-I d-don’t know that e-either,” Brayden claimed, becoming more stressed and started shaking violently. “I-I-I c-can’t…. I don’t…. I can’t…”
He began to hyperventilate causing his heart to race. The machines set off a warning sound stating that his heart rate was dangerously high. Sophia got out of her seat and ran into the other room in an attempt to comfort him. Aleron couldn’t do anything but watch as Brayden placed his hands on his head and tears began to stream down his face.
“Hey, hey, hey, you’re going to okay,” Sophia said, kneeling down to him and stroking his back.
“I-I c-c-can’t… I-it’s all g-gone…” Brayden stuttered through his rapid breathing. “I-I can’t remember… i-it’s-s all blank…”
“This isn’t good, he’s panicking too much,” Sophia stated before looking up at the other nurse. “Can you run and get a sedative for me? I think medication will be the only way to ease his pain right now. And please hurry.”
The woman ran out of the room as Sophia continued to try and get Brayden to breathe. However, no matter what she said Brayden’s breathing did not improve. At that moment Aleron knew he couldn’t just watch. He wasn’t good with kids, but he had to help in any way he could. He did know a large variety of medical knowledge, so he believed there was something he could do. After taking a deep breath, he walked out of the observation room and into the other room.
“Sophia, why don’t you go help that nurse,” Aleron suggested. “I’ll look after him.”
“Are you sure?” Sophia asked. “It would be better if I helped prepare the medication, but I can stay if you like.”
“No, go,” Aleron said. “I can handle it from here.”
Sophia got up and ran out of the room. Aleron then sat at the edge of the bed, sighed and spoke to him as gently as he could.
“Hey there,” Aleron said. “Everything’s going to be alright.”
“Y-y-you’re…” Brayden muttered, removing his hands from his head and looked up at Aleron with wide and teary eyes. “You… saved…me…”
“Yes, that’s right,” Aleron nodded, placing his hand on his small head. “I brought you here where you’ll be safe. You don’t need to be scared, your memories will come back.”
“R-r-really?” Brayden asked.
“That’s right, they’ll come back,” Aleron claimed, stroking his hair. “Do want me to hold you closer?”
Brayden nodded. Aleron grabbed onto him and embraced him. He buried his face in his chest while breathing rapidly.
“E-everything h-hurts…” Brayden muttered. “M-make it stop…”
“It’s alright, just take deep breaths and everything will be okay,” Aleron assured him.
Brayden began to cough, but once he finished his breathing calmed down a little. Aleron kept holding onto him as he burst into tears.
“Shh, you’re okay, everything’s going to be fine,” Aleron said, continuing to stroke his hair in an attempt to calm him down.
Brayden ended up crying for five minutes before he started to relax. His breathing was still a little quick and uneven, but his racing heart had eased significantly. Aleron kept holding onto him until he lost all of his energy and fell asleep.
“So, what now?” Aleron asked Sophia as he crossed his arms and legs, leaning back in his seat.
Three hours had passed since Brayden fell back asleep. When Sophia returned to find him fast asleep in Aleron’s arms, she sighed with relief. As his heart rate was still a little high and his breathing was unsteady, she gave him a sedative to calm his nerves. Just in case he woke up again, Sophia ended up keeping a selection of pain killers in the observation room. Brayden was in so much pain and shocked about his memory loss that it sent him into a massive panic attack. It concerned Sophia so much that she attempted to prepare everything she could in case another one stuck. Aleron did not leave Brayden’s side for the same reason.
“We are going to have to run more tests,” Sophia replied with a sigh. “I suspected that he may have had a slight case of amnesia, but at most I thought it would only affect a few months before Kazmir’s attack. For him not to remember anything at all, concerning doesn’t even begin to describe it. We’re going to have to thoroughly examine his brain to find out the cause.”
“Will that be painful?” Aleron asked. “I think the poor thing is enough pain without adding the stress of examinations.”
“It shouldn’t be, we may only have to do a few scans if we are lucky,” Sophia explained. “Hopefully we won’t find anything too serious. It would be just awful to put Brayden through another life-threatening surgery.”
“He’s not doing too well, is he? Is he really going to be okay?” Aleron asked.
“Only time will tell. Who knows, he might wake up tomorrow, and all his memories have returned. However, what happened today is highly likely to happen again which means we are going to have to keep an even closer eye on him. It also means we have to change our plans for his therapy.”
“Is there anything more I can do?” Aleron wondered.
“No, you should think about heading home now,” Sophia sighed. “You’ve been a great deal of help, but we can’t ask anything more from you.”
“Are you sure?” Aleron said, a little apprehensive about Sophia’s suggestion.
“You are one of the few Shadow Beasts the MLC is willing to trust, we need you to head back and continue your work,” Sophia claimed. “It for the best of our kind that we continue that healthy relationship. We’ll take care of Brayden from here, and I promise to find him a good home when he’s better.”
“Okay, when you put it that way, I have no choice,” Aleron reluctantly agreed.
He ended up leaving early the next morning. He was hesitant about leaving Brayden behind, but he knew that he'd be in more trouble than he already was with the Head Shadow beast if he abandoned his job monitoring and helping the MLC. With a heavy sigh, Aleron made his way home, hoping he was making the right decision.
Aleron couldn’t stop thinking about Brayden the whole week he was away. Everything he did reminded him of the poor little kid he left back at the Shadow Beast hidden city. The first thing he did was cheek the storm damage in his house which made him remember the day he found Brayden. He then had to help the MLC rescue a bunch of orphaned kids, help lost animals find new homes and a bunch of other small jobs that related back to what Brayden was going through at that very moment. Completely conflicted with his decision and baffled by the kid’s memory loss Aleron ended up going back to the Whispering Willow forest to search for clues to Brayden’s emergence. Much to his annoyance, he found nothing. He almost gave up when he found a book lying in the mud. It was dark blue with gold markings that swirled around the cover like flames. It was filthy as it was covered in dirt and blood, but there seemed to be no damage to any of the pages. He took it home, cleaned it and shrunk its size to fit into his pockets using magic as Aleron had no doubt in his mind that the book belonged to Brayden. Using returning it as an excuse to go and visit him, Aleron immediately set off for the hidden city.450Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe3x8TGRBXb
He wasted no time when he arrived, heading straight to the hospital. He waited patiently in line at the service desk to ask permission to see Brayden, just in case he had been moved to a different room.
“Aleron?” he heard Sophia call out to him before he could reach the front of the line. He turned his head to see her walking towards him. “What are you doing back here?”
“I came to see Brayden, I think I found something that belongs to him,” he replied. “Am I out of line for doing so?”
“No not at all, actually you may be able to help us,” Sophia shook her head. “We’ve been having a little trouble of late.”
“Really? How so?” Aleron asked, raising an eyebrow.
“I’ll explain as we walk,” Sophia stated. “Will you follow me?”
Aleron left the front desk and followed Sophia by walking beside her.
“So, what’s the problem?” he asked.
“I’m afraid Brayden hasn’t been doing as well as we had hoped,” Sophia sighed. “We were really expecting to be doing physical therapy by this point. However, with his current condition, it’s impossible.”
“Is he not healing properly, or has he fallen back into a coma?” Aleron questioned.
“Actually, his injuries have mostly healed, even the wound on his torso is showing signs of recovery,” Sophia explained. “The problem is he doesn’t seem to be doing too well mentally. You see, his memories haven’t come back yet. It would seem the shock of not being able to remember anything has left him quite depressed and scared. No matter what we do he won’t eat, he doesn’t speak, and he comes down with a fever whenever we try to communicate with him.”
“So, he won’t talk at all?” Aleron said, concerned about Brayden’s condition.
“He hasn’t spoken a single word since he woke up,” Sophia sighed. “I think the poor thing is traumatised. Sometimes if we get too close, he starts to cry. Whether it’s because of his memory loss or because of what happened the night he was attacked by Kazmir, he often wakes up with panic attacks in the middle of the night. On the nights he doesn’t have one he cries in his sleep.”
“Have you found anything that’s causing his amnesia yet?” Aleron asked.
“No, we have made several examinations, but we are unable to locate any issues with his brain,” Sophia stated. “It has led us to believe that his amnesia is caused by trauma.”
“And what is that you need me for?” Aleron wondered, doubting whether he would be any help.
“We really need to get him to eat. He may be fine at the moment, but if things continue like this, he’s going to get very sick,” Sophia explained. “The last time you were here you were able to calm him down and got him to fall asleep. Perhaps he may be willing to speak with you or at least interact with you in some way.”
“So, you just want me to talk to him?” Aleron confirmed.
“Yes, if we can improve his mental state and get him talking again his health will improve as well. If you manage to convince him to eat something, make sure it’s something plain and light,” Sophia said as they arrived at Brayden’s room. “Alright, this is it. I have other matters to attend to, so you’ll be on your own from here on out. Good luck.”
Aleron went to call out to her to say he didn’t know what he was supposed to say but she left before any noise could leave his mouth. With a heavy sigh, he opened the door quietly and entered. Brayden was sitting up on his bed with his legs against his chest. His arms were hanging loosely on top of his knees, and he was staring at the end of the bed. When Aleron closed the door behind him, Brayden looked towards him. He could see that his eyes were dull and lifeless before he looked away again.
“Hey,” Aleron said softly. “It’s been a while.”
Brayden said nothing, burying his face in his arms. Aleron walked over and sat on the end of the bed.
“How are you feeling today?” Aleron asked.
Brayden didn’t respond, he wouldn’t even look at him. Aleron sighed, it was painfully clear that the kid was feeling depressed. To lose all of his memories was obviously really hard on him.
“Is there anything you need?” Aleron asked, trying to start up a conversation. “Can I get you something to eat or drink? Or maybe I could get you a game to play?”
Brayden remained silent, he dug his nails into his arms and began to tremble. Aleron knew at that moment that his silence wasn’t because he was upset about his memory loss, it was because he was afraid. Aleron could only imagine how daunting it was to be surrounded by people he didn’t know. Added on to all of the injuries he had and pain he had to endure must have been really stressful on him.
“It’s alright, you don’t need to force yourself to talk to me,” Aleron claimed. “You don’t need to speak until you’re ready, okay?”
Brayden looked up at Aleron with tears in his eyes and then nodded. It was obvious that he felt he was under too much pressure to talk. Once Aleron assured him that he didn’t have to, he seemed to relax a little bit. However, he still looked very uncomfortable.
“I should introduce myself,” Aleron said, thinking that if Brayden knew who he was, he’d feel a bit better. “My name is Aleron, it is very nice to meet you.”
He reached out his hand so they could shake hands. Brayden looked at his hand, wiped away the tears from his eyes and went to grab it. However, he stopped looking unsure. In Aleron’s eyes, it looked like he doubted whether he should shake his hand as he couldn’t remember who he was.
“And your name is Brayden Valero,” Aleron answered for him, deciding to reveal some of what he already knew about him. “You are ten years old and your birthday is the eighth of April.”
Brayden looked at him in surprise and tilted his head as if to ask Aleron how he knew all that.
“I used to be an acquaintance of a distant relative of yours,” Aleron explained. “Unfortunately, I’ve lost contact with that person, so that’s all I know.”
He was lying of course. He knew way more about Brayden, but in his poor mental state, Aleron thought that learning about all that information would be too stressful for him to handle. Brayden seemed a little disappointed, but he also looked a bit happy about learning something at least.
“I actually have something for you,” Aleron claimed, pulling out the book from his pockets and returning it to his original size. “I believe this belongs to you. It was with you when you collapsed.”
He handed the book to Brayden who looked down at it and blinked. Aleron couldn’t read the expression on his face, he couldn’t tell whether he was happy or just confused. He then held the book so that it was close to his chest and placed his forehead on top of it. He no longer looked tense as he tightened the grip on his book.
“Alright, are you hungry? I’ve been told you are allowed to eat now,” Aleron asked, hoping that Brayden would agree. Thankfully, he nodded which caused Aleron to smile. “I’ll go get you something, does butter and toast sound okay?”
Brayden nodded again. Once he did Aleron stood up, told Brayden he would be back soon and turned around to head towards the door.
“Th…” a quiet voice muttered. “Th-thank y-you… A-Aleron…”
He turned back to Brayden to find him looking up at Aleron. His cheeks were a little red, and his dull eyes started to show a little bit of life once more. He was still hiding behind his book, but Aleron could tell that he looked really happy.
“No worries kiddo,” Aleron smiled, placing his hand on Brayden’s head and tousled his hair. “Are you that happy to get your book back?”
“Y-yeah,” Brayden said with a slight smile on his face. “B-but also…thank you… f-for s-saving me.”
“Now there’s the smile we were waiting for, maybe I should visit more often,” Aleron chuckled. “Would you like that?”
“Y-yes,” Brayden exclaimed as a massive smile appeared on his face.450Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4e41BJGlOX
