The Path I've Walked chapter 2

I woke up, but the room I was in, was unfamiliar to me. My entities were in the other room, but the people I was with were the immediate issue. I saw my adopted parents sleeping in some pretty uncomfortable looking chairs, and a tall, but otherwise average young woman in a candystriper's uniform, standing at the foot of my bed. It took me a moment before I realized that I was in a hospital. The biggest clue had been the several tubes leading into my thin, but toned arms, well at least the right arm.
         "Well hello!" the candystriper whispered, "I've been helping out around here the last week, since you got here." She seemed just too happy, at least to me, unless of course a miracle had happened. I looked at her for the next ten seconds before she started up again. "My name is Anna..." then it hit me.
         "Wait, I've been here for a week?" I shouted this. I didn't care if I was going to wake up my parents, and I certainly wasn't going to let her get another word in. "What about..." I continued, but she must have thought the same thing.
         "Excuse me, I was talking," I sat up and let her continue. My parents must have been really tired because they hadn't woken up. "Thank you, now as I was saying, my name is Anna, and I have been acting as your nurse the last week. You've been unconscious in some sort of a coma state. But you wouldn't believe what's been happening in the short time since then."
         When I heard this I simply folded my arms, and thought to myself, 'Try me. You'd be surprised.'
         She began once again, "Every patient that has been placed within the same room or the next rooms over, has gotten better within twenty four hours. I don't get it myself, but there is something special about you, and apparently the higher-ups have noticed it too. They've been cycling people through here like there's no tomorrow. I'm surprised that it happened like it did, I'm not sure but I think there have been 14 cases of different kinds of cancers disappearing completely, a few people woke up from comas, and a couple other less important things were cured, to boot. I don't understand it, but the hospital has actually been paying your parents for you to be kept here -- Oh Geez, I just realized that you shouldn't be sitting up like that, you need your rest." The frantic woman now finished her speech, leaving me with my thoughts as to how she could do that in only one breath, and raced out in a panicked flash, slamming the door behind her, waking up my adopted parents in the act.
         They jumped from their seats, my mom's frizzy hair flailing around, making it frame her thin face, wrought with lines. And my dad's scowl he'd usually worn when he was worried, disappeared into his mustache and goatee, which seemed to be more scraggly than usual. My mom rushed up to hug me but stopped just short, thinking she might hurt me. I held out my arms and she hugged me, practically tackling me, and weeping tears of joy, like one might if someone were to have found the last thing they ever got from their best friend. My dad literally prayed to god, thanking him for my safety. He was happy but thickheaded about showing it. We spoke nothing but we communicated, we knew that this had been worth it after all the times hitting rock bottom, each economic hardship, was validated through this one moment of survival. As cheery as this was, we still weren't going to be any more tight knit of a family than we were before but we'd respect each other, while we could.
         The candystriper came back and took my adopted parents with her to speak with the doctor. They followed her out and left me there to revel in the wonders of the length of my cryptic dream. It didn't take long before my seclusion was ended , as I could see my spirits entering the room, appearing clearer than they had ever been before. Time nearly stood still as I first truly saw each of them for them.
         The first one to enter the room was Melody. She was beautiful. She walked around like any human would. She had flowing brunette hair that nearly reached the base of her four tails, and complimented the orange-yellow fur that covers most of her body, elsewhere was patterned with white. She was about my height standing around 6'1" and wore a short shirt that exposed her well-toned, white-furred stomach area, not to mention a fair amount of her cleavage. Being that she was slightly past human average, and seemed to be about my age, I couldn't help but notice. She also wore a relatively short skirt, that showed the white patterning on her knees, the lean shape of her calves, and even displayed her subtly wide hips just right. Each of her tails curved up out of the back of her skirt, and if she had let them hang down they could probably have reached her ankles. But as beautiful as all of this was, her most striking feature was her face. Her face was somewhat fox-like in that her nose and mouth akin to that of a muzzle, but not protruding so much that it would seem unnatural. Her triangular ears rested on top of either side of head. Her cheek bones were giving her a happy look, but not so high that it might look like botox. She definitely had a natural beauty about herself, and she deserved it completely being that her meta physical, beauty was a perfect match for her inner beauty.
         Maribelle was mysterious to say the least. She had a soft beauty, yet an almost translucent aura seeped out of her pores, shifting from a white to a black, to somewhere in between, and then repeating the process. She was thin and short, probably somewhere around 5'4" tall. He skin was pale, as you might expect a vampire's skin to be. Her hair was black like the night sky on a moonless night and short; about down to her chin, but it was curled somehow and could probably be straightened down to her shoulders. Some of her hair was held back in pigtails, that were curled separately from the rest, to look like the curl of a Christmas present's ribbon. Her face was almond-shaped, and her eyes were deep set, but not bug-eyed, giving her a perpetually sullen expression, as though she had some sort of regret hanging over her head. She was wearing a black spaghetti-strap tank top, that hugged her figure, accentuated her already large chest and displayed the top of what it had accentuated. She also wore a short black ruffled skirt with a studded black leather belt, that revealed her hips to be nearly comparable to Melody's but was still clearly smaller. She wore a spiked dog collar around her neck, apair of long black fingerless gloves, and knee-high black leather combat boots that had a multitude of laces and a thick rubber sole. To say that she was a goth would be an understatement. To say that she was the living embodiment of the gothic subculture of america was just a little more accurate.
         Rhogar was as different from what I expected as possible, while at the same it made complete sense. He was about 6'9" tall and crimson scales lined his body wherever it was visible. His face was human shaped, aside from his mouth and nose which were similar to Melody's in that they resembled a short muzzle. His eyes and ears, really showed his elven heritage. His eyes were just green, there was no white in his eyes, but his pupils were draconic slits like that of a cat's eyes. And while he had no hair like most elves do, he still had the trademarked pointy elf ears. He seemed to be muscular and broad shouldered, but it was difficult to tell because of his clothing. He was wearing the last thing I'd expected a spirit to wear, and I sure was surprised about it, too. Rhogar was a steampunk!He wore the clothes of a sixteenth century blacksmith and then a little more. He wore a bandana on his head, and a pair of goggles. His goggles were brass rimmed and had rivets holding each circular lens in place. His red wings had a copper clockwork exoskeleton, leading from the base of his wings to the tip of each appendage, without covering any of the scaly webbing between appendages. He also had a clockwork like exoskeletal system on his right arm. It seemed like his arm was fine otherwise, but the steam-powered arm looked bulky, almost as though he used it to apply more pressure when smithing.
         They were what I had been with this whole time. They were so different, so unusual, so weird. They were such abnormal things, but then again so was I. I was so different, so unusual, so weird. I am such an abnormal thing. They weren't what I had been with this whole time. They were who I had been with this whole time, and now I could see them, the way they could see me.
         Melody charged in, clearly joyous and apparently no longer worried. Rhogar stood in the back of the group, as Maribelle passed him by to check how I was doing. Melody simply jumped onto the bed and pushed up against my side, sort of like she was snuggling in.
         "Well," spoke Maribelle, I'm quite surprised to see that you've recovered from that. Having a spiritual energy overflow, can be really bad, that coupled with a Chi Network Mass Blockage, usually results with the recipient, or the patient, or the subject, or... well whatever you really wanna call it, you get what I mean.It usually ends with the patient never waking up again. Still, I suppose that it..." she stopped. She had probably noticed the blatant look of utter and absolute confusion on my face. I'm usually pretty knowledgeable about a lot of things, but Maribelle could probably tell that spiritual ailments was not one of my strong points. She restarted, "Well, here's the gist of it, you suddenly had a massive surge of magickal energy, and on top of that many of the paths that energy flows through were blocked by some sort of hex, curse, or enchantment."
         "And I'm pretty sure it' all because of those damn micro devils. We didn't even set them off. They just went berserk." Added Melody, her voice carrying from the depths of my side that she had plunged her face into. "I'm sad that we couldn't get to open the treasure," she huffed, though she was clearly more distressed about something else. " Well, I'm just glad that you're all better," she embraced me, full on hugging my waist.
         I just looked up at Rhogar, hoping he could tell me what the hell was going on. He just shook his head saying, "I'm sorry, Kaz, they made me swear to secrecy." This only confused me more, but not quite as confused as I became when Maribelle's foot sailed across the room, closely followed by the rest of her, and made direct impact Rhogar's right cheek. That left me stunned.
         Maribelle went further saying, "What was that!? You swore to secrecy, about how you swore to secrecy." I heard them having conversations before, but every time someone spoke, it just sent me further into a state of confusion.
         "I'm confused, exactly what happened?" I exclaimed with enough gusto to actually get their attention, and apparently the attention of the other patient in my room.
         The man bolted upright. He looked at me with a wild look in his right eye, because he didn't have a left one. He shouted at me, "ARE YOU MY MOMMY?" in what I believe was the most annoying voice possible.
         I turned to him and in a high-pitched girly voice spoke gently, "Yes dear, just go back to sleep, your mommy isn't going anywhere." Not knowing what to expect as he was in the hospital for a reason, I waited for him to respond.
         To my surprise, he said "Okey-Dokey, mommy, night night," and slumped down, putting his head on the pillow with enough force for a few feathers to fly out. I looked at the sleeping man-child; he looked to be about in his sixties and only half of his head grew any sort of hair. His left eye, scalp, and ear were severely burned, which I assume was the source of his trauma. I didn't think I'd see him again, and when I was sure he'd fallen asleep, I returned to talking with my friends.
         Okay. So, how did all this great stuff happen while I was out?"
         "Well," Maribelle started nervously, "as much as I wanted otherwise, once I said it wasn't possible, Rhogar told me to give up."
         Rhogar cleared hi throat apparently preparing to defend himself. "In my defense," he began making me question the existence of telepathy in Rhogar's mind. "I could see that this was getting to us all, and I couldn't stand the silent cries nearby... I..."
         "He wanted to help," Melody broke in. "He wanted to help who he could. We all wanted to help who we could." She paused stifling a sob. She cried all the while saying, "I'm sorry I left your side, I'm sorry... I'm... just... sorry." She cried, tears dancing across the tips of her fur. I didn't know what to say, so I said nothing. And my actions spoke for me. I opened my arms wide, and embraced her. Maribelle and Rhogar joined in, and we held on until she calmed down.
         Once she had regained her composure, I knew what to say, "There was nothing you could do. You know it, I know it, they know it, and you know as well as I do, that neither you nor me would've wanted you to torture yourself with the cries of the helpless, especially when you could ease their pain." She looked up at me, smiled, and and then nuzzled up against my side, apparently content with not needing to be forgiven.
         "Well, as I was saying," Maribelle said, "Once we came to terms with our inability to help, we went into the next rooms and tried to help them. Luckily, we could, so we've been going around in the next rooms helping who the hospital can't help."
         "Good, I may not have been conscious, but you listened to my wishes and made the most of it. Better by far than doing something that would do nothing.
         "Okay Kaz," Rhogar broke in, "We were helping, that's really all that happened. Anything else was done by the hospital"
         I turned to my left, looking at my neighbor. I really felt sorry for him. I looked at the two who were still standing, and asked them, "What about this guy next to me? What can you do for him?"
         Maribelle looked up at the man and sighed. "I have no idea what's wrong with him... His Chi network is fine and there's nothing we can do about his surface scar tissue, but the problem is that I can't figure out why he's acting the way he is. He's been here for a day too."
         Before Maribelle could keep going a herd of doctors came in with my parents. They looked over my body, making sure I was okay before signing the release papers and a check to my parents. They unhooked me from the medical machines, gave me my clothes, and sent me and my parents out. Maribelle, Melody, and Rhogar followed right behind us. We got in the car and drove home, no one spoke a word, our family dynamic too strained for reasons better left unsaid. On second thought, a few minor details are deserved to help you understand why I acted like this with my family.
         When I was just a little kid, my real parents died. I didn't go to an orphanage; no I went to live with my legal guardians. They were friends with my parents back when they went to college together, who just so happened to end up marrying each other. I wasn't something they wanted, that much they made obvious. And the only reason they kept me was that their best friends were gone and I was their only living connection to them. Though this bond became brittle over time, due to mutual disdain. There are more details, but these ones are truly best left unsaid.