Can't Escape: Chapters 10 - 20

Can't Escape is a blogfic by Swanfeather. It features blogclanners as humans, and was also the first modern blogfic. This is the second page for the story - you can find the previous chapters on the old page.

Chapter Ten
“I’m leaving.”

The dirty blonde shifted her gaze over to her friend, shaking her head sternly. “No.”

“Come on… You know I have to.”

“You don’t ‘have to do’ anything. Not without me.” The blonde never broke the glare she had on her face.

“This time, I have to go alone. No big deal.”

“I’m older than you, meaning that I can command you. You are not going anywhere without me.”

“Do whatever you want. Your command will not affect me as I’m a high position person.” She waved her hand in the air, making gestures.

The blonde stood up, facing her friend. She had a little trouble standing straight, which didn’t go unnoticed. “I’m a founder, for heck’s sake!”

She just shook her head at the stubborness. “Look, you’re even stumbling. It’s not safe for you to leave yet.”

“I’m not a baby. I can walk and I can stand and I don’t need you to change my diapers!”

“Geez, not that I’d do it anyway”, she snorted.

“You know what I meant. Now, where are my shoes…”

She grabbed the blonde’s shoulder. “Moss”, she said with a calm tone, “now is not the time. You need to rest. Don’t you remember at all what happened yesterday? You fainted! You just can’t run around now that you’re a convalescent. You should be aware of these facts.”

Moss sighed deeply. “I don’t want to miss the meeting…”

“Don’t worry, I’ll tell you everything.”

“I was there. You need me to tell you what happened”, she insisted.

“I’ve got it all in my mind. Please, just stay here. Take care of Shivy.”

At the mention of Shivy, Moss’s gaze wondered over to the bed where the girl was ‘sleeping’. She hadn’t gotten better… at least not much. They had enough trouble already, why Shivy too? She shook her head in misery.

“Fine.”

The reply caught her off guard. What? Had she given up that easily?

“Did you just -” she began.

Moss nodded. “Yeah. Be sure to tell me everything. And by everything I mean  everything – who all were there, what you discussed, what you decided, who knew what, who wanted what, what Flo’s sock color was…”

She laughed. “Promised!” Then she took a step towards the door, quickly opening it. “Bye, I’m leaving before you change your mind -”

She heard a snort before slammed the door shut, running out of the medicine house. It was chilly outside, and a bit dark, since only faint, cool light was seen through the clouds. The morning sun was climbing up, using the heavy clouds as ladders… It was pretty. Mornings were always so refreshing, cleaning minds from worries, symbolizing new fresh starts.

She was so happy because she wasn’t feeling too grumpy. The night had been stressful, dealing with Moss and a few others, and she knew she could get grumpy over staying up and wandering around the Camp.

Soon she spotted a familiar figure nearing her. She smiled as she saw that her friend was moving smoothly and without trouble.

“Morning”, she greeted the ravenette.

“The best of mornings to you too, Lily! How’s Mossie?” Shiver asked, smiling slightly.

“She’s well, but I insisted that she’d rest today.”

“That’s a wise decision! I agree, these conferences make anyone go bim bam bom. Especially when you’re still recovering.”

Lily laughed, heading towards the Tavern, Shiver right on her heels. “You always cheer up my days”, she told the founder.

Shiver bowed her head overdramatically. “Why thank you. If I can’t be memeish, then I’ll be cheering-up-ish.”

Lily rolled her eyes playfully. When they reached the Tavern, she opened the door for Shiver. It creaked louder than usual, making Lily wonder how long all of their houses would last, before they’d have to rebuild them.

As soon as they entered, a loud single cough echoed inside the dim, empty Tavern.

“Late.”

Lily glared at the cougher, Flo, who was sitting at the corner table with the rest of the founders. They all looked gray-faced in the dimness.

“I had to deal with Moss. She needed to stay there and rest”, Lily explained, like it was the most obvious thing on Earth.

Shiver grinned widely. “And I had to deal with the skeketons taking over my room’s closet, so I needed some stuff from the closest Voodoo shop, and on my way there I crashed to Gandalf, who wasn’t too pleased with me, and he had to take me to Voldemort -”

“Stop!” Flo screeched.

“What? You don’t believe me?” Shiver pretended to be hurt.

Flo shook her head. “No, that was pretty believable (compared to your previous stories), but you said his name aloud!”

“Gandalf? Oh, he doesn’t mind -”

“No, You-Know-Who!” Flo frowned disapprovingly.

“He’s dead, Flozie”, Shiver dropped the bomb.

“Not certain. You don’t know which book we’re living right now.”

Shiver was about to reply, but Lily clapped her hands loudly. “Jokes are over. I didn’t come here to discuss random City stuff”, Lily announced.

Icy, who had been watching from the shadows, motioned the two to come closer. “Actually, you maybe did. We have the City on our to-be-pondered-over list.”

Lily pulled a chair for herself and crossed her arms on the table. Now she was interested. “Should we start on that?”

“Our patients and their injuries are the first subject. Lily, you’re the one to talk about that”, Flo said.

“Well, Dew’s recovering… The wound on her back isn’t bleeding anymore. She woke up yesterday. I’ve treated her with extra herbs, and I think she will be just okay.”

Flo nodded. “Very good. How about Blue’s leg? Or Flamey’s?”

“Flamey’s leg wasn’t that injured to begin with. As Blue only came yesterday afternoon, I haven’t seen any progress yet, but I’ll check on her – all of them – when the meeting ends. I think she’s stubborn and strong enough that she could even walk with just one leg.”

“Sounds good.” Flo seemed pleased with the information.

Sunny, who had only watched the interview carefully, started talking: “Have you heard about Flamey’s pronouns change?”

Lily glanced around at the table and saw only nodding heads. “I think they announced it to everyone at dinner”, Icy pointed out.

“Speaking of dinner…” Lily muttered, “how much food did they find yesterday? How long does that amount last before we’re in trouble again?”

Flo seemed to be thinking. “They found a good amount of berries and vegetables and so on, enough to fill our hungry stomachs. Icy has worked in the kitchen with the help of a few, and has gathered all the remaining ingredients, trying to make as much food as possible out of them. I believe she’s succeeded somewhat, and we have a decent amount of food to keep us alive until we’ve fixed the problem permanently. We’ll need some people to go look for edible stuff today though, but I think that can be arranged.” Flo gazed at Icy, earning a nod.

Shiver squaled. “Holy skeletons, that was so professional, Flozy! Maybe you could actually become something one day!” she cheered.

“Thank you for your trust, Shiver dear.” Flo bowed her head. Sunny smiled widely at the two’s joking.

Icy cleared her throat. She clearly didn’t want to go off topic. “Let’s go back to the injuries that we were talking about. Dew, Flamey and Blue were okay, and I suppose Moss too, but what about, say, Wistep?”

Lily’s eyes widened. Wistep was something she definitely didn’t want to discuss. Not now. Not here. She tried to act like the question hadn’t affected her one bit. “Wistep? I think we’ve already conversed on this”, she stated with her calmest tone and shrugged.

However, Icy seemed to notice some uncertainity, hardening her eyes. “I mean, yes, you told Flo about her condition not being excellent, but you haven’t updated us on the situation for a while. How’s she doing?” Icy kept asking.

“Still the same”, Lily assured with a monotone voice.

Icy’s eyes glittered with hidden suspicion, but she kept herself cool. “And with ‘same’, you mean…?”

Lily flashed Icy a silent, almost unnoticable, warning look. “That she hasn’t changed. She’s exactly like she was when I first informed you about her recovering.”

“Not recovered more, at all?” Flo piped in. Shiver stared at Lily from the corner of her eye, clearly eager to hear the answer.

“We are doing the best we can”, Lily promised, completely avoiding the question. Flo didn’t seem to notice, though.

Flo nodded, and smiled encouragingly. “We believe in you.”

Lily glanced at Icy, anxious to figure out if the kitchen boss was satisfied with her answer. Icy’s eyes weren’t narrowed, her eyebrows weren’t furrowed, her lips weren’t curved downwards. Her outerior was just the same as always – kind and motherly – but Lily was almost certain, that the Rapunzel didn’t quite buy her explanations. Lily didn’t want to argue with the founder. How the heck was she seeing through the covers?

“Lily”, Icy said, “you would tell us, if something happened to Wistep, right?” Her gaze was just natural, but it burned on the healer’s skin.

She felt uneasy. Why wasn’t Icy believing her? Lily resisted the urge to bite her lips nervously. “Don’t you trust me?” she replied with a fake upset tone, avoiding the question in a genius way.

Icy’s eyes widened a little. “Of course I do! We all do. Sorry if I came off as rude; you just seemed a bit uncertain. I didn’t mean to doubt. Maybe you’re a little stressed with all the patients and that’s all. Besides, you have no reason to hide facts about her, right?”

Lily laughed. “Why would I? This is not a murder mystery and neither of us healers has anything to hide.”

Icy smiled. “That’s what I thought.”

Phew.

“So, you probably want to hear about the other injured ones too”, Lily continued, changing the subject as quickly as she could.

“Of course”, Sunny said, nodding.

Lily tried to recall everyone who had been healed after the storm. “Shiver, here, is I suppose doing pretty swell?” the healer glanced at the ravenette.

Shiver nodded swiftly. “Oh, I’m just splendid!”

“And… Swan is doing well too.”  Were there anyone else? “Um, yeah. I think that’s all.”

“Great to hear that!” Sunny flashed a smile.

“So I suppose… everyone’s recovering?” Flo made a conclusion.

Not everyone…  Lily tried to swallow the uncertain tone in her voice. “That’s correct”, she muttered, a little raspily.

Shiver slammed her hands on the table. “Woah, we’re actually making progress!”

“Don’t you dare to say that you doubted our success.” Flo glared at the skeleton.

“No, of course not. I didn’t  doubt  it, I was pretty  certain  that we would fail.”

Sunny snorted and started laughing. Flo humphed, but failed to hide the smile. “Don’t you trust us? Where’s your self-confidence? Or more importantly, Flo-confidence?” she lectured, but her eyes revealed that she was only joking.

“Flo-confidence sounds like a brand of something I would never eat.”

Sunny was still choking on her laughter, and Flo clearly found it hard to not join in. Icy smiled widely, and Lily couldn’t help but grin too.

“What! I just made up a fancy word and the award I get from it is a random skeleton mocking me -”

“Excuse me, you just called me ‘a random skeleton’. Extremely offensive. I’m definitely not random. In fact, I’m very high in skeletons’ hierarchy.”

Lily snorted. “How can you rank high in ‘skeletons’ hierarchy’? How do you measure the rankings? Like, is the highest one ‘most dead’.”

Shiver shifted her gaze from Flo to Lily and then back. She shrugged. “Well, I’d get high rankings with that system too.”

Sunny laughed even more loudly, Flo and Icy joining her. “You’re too funny!” Sunny managed to say.

Icy wiped her eyes from the tears that had formed from cracking up. “We’ll never become anything professional – despite Shiver’s analyze on Flo. If anyone important saw us and this meeting they’d literally kick us out.”

“I can see that happening”, Lily agreed and laughed.

Flo gasped for breath after the laugh marathon and clapped her hands. Sunny was still laughing extremely noisily, basically choking on it, and didn’t even stop when the others did. “Okay. So what we have yet to discuss? I think, the City, so – Sunny, stop dying while I talk! And did we have anything else?” Flo glanced around, Sunny slowly calming down.

Shiver shook her head. “I don’t think so.”

“What about the City?” Lily asked, leaning in. This was a topic that made her curious.

Flo turned to look at the younger healer. “Isn’t it obvious? Everything that’s going on at this time seems to have something to do with the City.”

“Does the doom of the warehouse have something to do it with too in your opinion?” Lily questioned.

“Well of course! You remember the clues we found? The footprints? The  human footprints? Yeah, I bet they have something to do with the City. Something important that we’re missing here.”

“‘We’ aren’t missing anything. You are, Flo dear”, Shiver softly said and shook her head dramatically. Flo rolled her eyes and stuck her tongue out.

“Wait”, Lily interrupted, “what do you mean? How can the footprints have a connection with the City?”

Flo stared at Lily like it was the most obvious thing. “Well, duh. Footprints. What makes human footprints? Humans. With their feet.”

Lily sighed deeply. “Could you possibly explain with a liiiittle more details?”

“If you want. So, if there’s a person, who’s possibly connected with the Monsters, a person who really has fancy shoes and something that can light a whole house up, where do you think they got those?”

“The borders?” Sunny suggested.

“Yeah, like us. Maybe the person has a camp like ours”, Icy continued.

“Have you seen another camp?” Flo inquired, turning to Icy.

“Well, no, but it isn’t possible for us to know every little millimeter of this huge forest -”

Flo seemed to think for a moment. “Fine point…”

“So what you’re saying here is that the person has a connection with the City because of the shoes? Do you think they occasionally visit the City to get new fancy shoes?” Lily raised her eyebrow.

“I felt like I had a point here…” Flo muttered.

Sunny patted Flo’s shoulder. “Don’t be upset! I understand what you were going for. It’s possible that this person knows a lot more about the City than we do!”

“Aren’t you even a tiny bit creeped out that there’s another human living in this Forest – someone who definitely knows about our existence and wants to finish us!” Shiver announced with a dark voice.

Lily closed her eyes. Everything was so complicated, twists and turns in events all the time. It was causing her a headache. Why them? Why was a random forest person with fancy shoes targetting them? She felt like she could never understand. She sighed. “I don’t know… I admit it’s scary, as we thought nobody else survived from the explosion or whatever it was, but now that we’ve seen that indeed someone other than us is alive, it feels oddly natural. Somehow releaving. We aren’t the only ones left.”

“But this intruder is a hostile”, Shiver reminded.

“Are you sure? Maybe they think that we’re the bad guys.”

Icy shook her head. “I’m not so convinced about that. I felt like the person knew exactly what they were doing and to who.”

Lily shrugged. “You can’t be certain.”

“But if they’re accompanied by the Monsters, then I think that they surely know what’s against them. There’s more to this person than we’ve seen so far”, Sunny theorized.

“Remember the memory that Swan told us a while ago? About the woman?” Flo suddenly asked.

Icy’s hazel eyes sparkled with curiosity. She apparently though that Flo had an idea. “Oh, you mean the woman who harshly dragged Swan to a dreadful room full of trapped people? Yes, I do remember. I think someone made her tell us. What about it?”

“Didn’t someone have a theory that the woman in the memory and this terrorizing person are exactly the same being?”

“Wavey”, the founders replied in unison.

Flo smiled lightly. “Most likely. But what if she’s right?”

There was a silent moment, while everyone processed this theory.

Finally, Shiver opened her mouth to reply, but didn’t really succeed. “Then…. ummm… then…”

“Then this is a real mystery”, Lily stated, uneasiness growing inside her.

Sunny smiled sadly. “Oh, no, I’m most certain that this is a mystery already. I’m sure this case goes a lot deeper than any one us can see.”

Another moment of silence. All the unanswered questions lingered above them, teasing as they dashed by, grinning at their stupidity, mocking their uncertainity. They filled Lily’s ears, to the point when it wasn’t silent anymore.

“Oh dear, dearer and dearest”, whispered Shiver, breaking the silence.

Flo sat straighter, gaining back her leading powers. “Ahem. As this is a meeting, conference, breakfast chit-chat moment – whatever, we really need to make a decision. Make something happen. Change the world, you know? And as our world is just now this camp and this forest, we have to make a good one. So what are we going to do differently from this point on?”

A short, quiet muttering moment took place.

“I suggest we search for more food, at least”, Icy stated first. Flo nodded at the kitchen boss.

Sunny was the second one to suggest: “In my opinion, we should plan some kind of night guarding shifts.”

Flo nodded again. “That’s a good idea to prevent more attacks from happening. But we’re all tired now, the storm and all the injuries and food searching have taken our strenght, so I think we should wait a few days before we start with that system.”

“Is that wise? I mean, what if there’s another attack when we’re not guarding the Camp?” Lily suspiciously asked. This delay Flo was planning had some holes in it. Holes, that certain Monsters would find useful.

Flo shrugged. “I don’t think so. They just attacked. They wouldn’t do it again so soon, would they?”

“I guess not…” Lily muttered, still not completely satisfied.

“Any more ideas? Lily?” Flo continued.

“Well…” she thought for a moment. “Someone has to go look for herbs, I suppose. We’re running out with all these injuries. I can’t do it now when there’s a lot of patients, and Moss can’t leave the Camp.”

“Of course. Is there anyone who knows herbs here, other than you?”

“I’m… not sure. Let’s just put Frosty to do it.”

“Okay… but why always Frosty?”

Lily shrugged. “He’s a good jack of all trades. And he doesn’t complain. Or his complaints don’t work. Either way. And he’s helpful and likes animals.”

Flo rolled her eyes. “Are you sure you aren’t using the poor little guy? And what animals can you find there anyway. This forest is lacking animals.”

“Whaaaat I’ve never used anyone, what makes you think so? You said I could pick someone. The lucky one is Frosty. And as for the animals, there are cool bugs and spiders in the Forest, anxiously waiting for his company.”

“Love the attitude.”

Lily snorted. “Really?”

“No.”

“You hurt me.”

“Intended.”

Lily scoffed loudly. “Rude.”

“That is what hard life has made me…” Flo raspily whispered with a very dramatic tone.

“Remind me again – why’s Flo our leader?” Lily replied sassily.

Flo placed a hand on her heart. “Because I’m the best!” she gasped.

“Oh, well, then this might shock you, but -”

“Ahem.”

Lily snapped her head at the voice’s direction – Icy. She looked kind of tired. “Guys, to a certain point this was funny, but now it’s turned to unneeded teasing. I mean, I don’t want to be a party pooper, but I don’t feel like we should joke around all the time.”

Flo laid back on her chair. “You’re right. Sorry.”

Lily smirked at the ravenette. “Why isn’t Icy the boss? I mean, at least her intelligence level -”

“Don’t you dare to finish!” Flo hissed, pointing at the healer.

Lily grinned even wider. “- is above -”

“Guys! What did I just say?” Icy sighed, smiling slightly at their childishness.

“Sorry”, Lily and Flo mumbled in unison.

Sunny cleared her throat. “Where were we?”

Shiver remembered. “The plans. Herbs. Frosty as a slave.”

“Correct. Does anyone have any more suggestions?” Sunny asked, glancing around at the table.

The founders shook their heads, the lone healer included.

Flo clasped her hands together, taking the lead again. “So! What have we managed to decide? What problems have we fixed?”

None,  Lily was about to blurt out. Their bigger plans seemed groggy and not too well thought out. Yes, Frosty could possibly find some herbs and the food patrol might’ve succeeded too. But the night guarding. It was just a random idea thrown in the middle of a serious converstation. They hadn’t planned it out. There was no shift schedule – heck, they hadn’t even decided when they’d start with the whole project! And, how could a single teen wandering around the dark and quiet Camp during the night even help if there was an attack? The Monsters would eat the person alive, for sure.

“Herbs, food”, Shiver listed, counting with her fingers.

“Future attacks”, Icy added.

“Not that yet”, Lily interrupted, “we haven’t decided on the shifts yet or anything.”

The boss acknowledged her complaint with a nod. “I’ll look into it”, she promised.

“You better”, Lily muttered. Her voice was almost inaudible, but loud enough to make the ravenette roll her eyes.

“Is that all?” Sunny asked, clapping her hands.

The skeleton looked around. “I think so”, she responded.

Icy exhaled deeply, letting all of her stress out. “Great! Now let’s get to more fun business. Who wants some breakfast?”

“I do!” Sunny immediately announced.

“Me!” Flo exclaimed, and laid back on her chair. Suddenly she seemed exhausted… maybe she had some stress from being a boss after all. Maybe she was more responsible than she sometimes seemed.

Lily scoffed at herself. Now she was being plain mean. Of course she’s responsible. Of course she takes care of this camp. I have no rights to underestimate her now when we really need everyone to rebuilt our lives.

“What do you have to serve?” Shiver curiously questioned the kitchen boss.

“Apples. Water.”

“Well that’s boring.”

“Does that mean you don’t want breakfast?” Icy asked, standing up and nearing the front counter.

Shiver shook her head furiously. “No! Of course not. Give me all apples you have.”

“Alright then”, Icy smiled, “what about you, Lily?”

The blonde sighed, and stood up too. “I’ll pass. The patients need me.”

“They just want you to get the check over with so they could hurry to breakfast”, Flo pointed out.

“Exactly.”

Icy nodded at the healer. “Okay. Good luck!”

“Luck? Why do I need luck?”

“Ahem, hungry campers? Do I really need to say more?” Icy rolled her eyes and disappeared into the dimness.

“Oh”, Lily said more to herself than anyone else, “I guess I’ll definitely need that luck then.”

“Remember to come eat something when you’ve finished!” Sunny yelled after the exiting healer. Lily waved her hand at the sunshine and walked out of the Tavern.

She breathed in and out. Okay. Patient checks. Let’s get this over with. Swiftly she made her way towards the girls’ dorms. A breeze ruffled her hair. It felt good – refreshing – after the “intense” pondering period.

Let’s see… Blue, Flamey, Swan, Dew. She gulped. And possibly Wistep. She tried to calm herself down. She didn’t want to see Wistep – no, her condition was too horrifying for her eyes to bear – but maybe she had to. Nobody should’ve touched her anyway. She hoped to leave Wistep to Moss. Moss had dealt with these things, right? She had more experience. She knew how to deal with guilt. She’d figure out how to…  fix  the problem. She had to. She needed to.

I hope nobody’s been curious and wondered why we secluded room six… Wistep has to stay a secret. Luckily she has only two roommates. Robbie had asked questions. Wavey hadn’t. But she probably had way more of them in her head than she let show. Sneaky girl. Knows that by asking nobody tells her anything, but if she keeps silent, the answers might come to her.

Lily had fed everyone with her most careful lies, and at least everyone’s outeriors had eaten them easily. Everyone trusts the healer, Lily bitterly thought as she opened the dorms’ door. Guilt weighted in her stomach like a big rock.

A bright voice interrupted her uncomfortable moment. “Oh, morning!” a camper, who came from room one chirped.

Lily smiled slightly at her. “Hi, Darkie. Have you recovered from the soreness that Blue’s searching caused?” she inquired.

“Yeah! My legs hurt a little, though, but nothing that bothers me.”

“If you need something, you know where to find me.” Lily nodded. “Anyway. How’s everyone else?”

“The other ones in that patrol? Kinky and Breezey?”

“Yep, that duo.”

“Oh, I don’t think there was anything that happened to them in the first place.”

“Glad to hear that.” She looked around. “I actually came to check the patients. Are they in their rooms?”

Darkie shrugged. “Guess so.”

Lily rolled her eyes. “You should know. Blue’s your roommate.”

“Ohh, if that annoyed ball of boredness lying angrily on the bed was Blue, then yes, she can be found there.”

The healer sighed. “Thanks for the ‘helpfulness’…” Lily mumbled, trying to push past the girl.

“I heard that sarcasm!” Darkie humphed, blocking Lily’s way.

“Oh, totally didn’t aim for that.”

“I heard that too.”

“Wow, really? That’s definitely surprising.”

“Sarcasm is basically dripping down your body… watch out. It’ll be fun in the wash house.”

Lily snorted at the dumb joke. “Sarcasm is my middle name”, she retorded.

“I thought it was Dawn.”

“Sherlock…”

Lily pushed Darkie’s arms out of the way and flashed a grin to show that she was only joking. Darkie rolled her eyes and muttered something along the lines “I want food”.

The healer opened the door of room one, completely forgetting to knock. “Get up, if you haven’t already”, she yelled.

A faint laugh was heard. “Wow, you seem to be really happy today!”

Lily laughed sarcastically.

“No, for real! Usually you kick our butts!” the same voice replied.

“Woah, I’m not  that  brutal.”

Birchy sat up on her bed. She flashed a grin at the girl. “I thought I could sleep a little longer today, but I guess not…” she mumbled and fake glared at Lily.

“Your breakfast will grow legs and walk away if you don’t go there in time”, Lily reminded.

“And where would my breakfast walk?”

“To Flo.”

“Should’ve expected that. Well, I suppose I have to get going… where were my clothes…?” Birchy stood up and walked over to the closet. Lily watched as she searched for the clothes.

“Ahem. I want to go to breakfast too.”

Lily snapped her head at the direction of the sudden voice. She spotted a familiar broad-shouldered girl, sitting on her bed, arms crossed.

Blue.

However grumpy or overly sarcastic Lily sometimes seemed, she really did care for her friends. Especially the injured ones.

“Good morning”, Lily greeted. She smiled slightly at the girl. She looked like she was doing well – despite having that annoyed expression on her face.

“Please. Save me from those vain politenesses.” Blue stared at Lily disapprovingly.

“At least you seem okay.”

“Well that’s wonderful. Does that mean that I can leave this darn room already?” Blue hissed with a toxic tone. She clearly was bored out of her mind.

“Depends”, Lily answered shortly.

“In that case – do your check on that freaking leg already!” the dirty blonde pointed at her bandaged leg that had been put on a pillow.

“Grumpy, much?” Lily smirked and stepped closer to the girl. She kneeled down and started unwrapping the bandages.

“You’d be too if someone boring trapped you in a boring room for a boring eternity. I’m so bored.”

“Yeah, that came across…”

Lily took the bandages off gently, and eyed the wound. It looked surpisingly well-healed – the blood was dry and it hadn’t swollen too much.

“Well?” Blue impatiently demanded.

“Woah, hold your horses, kid. This will take time, y’know.”

“You have no right to call me a ‘kid’. Our ages are not that apart”, retorded Blue.

“Whatever you say, kid.”

“You’re purposely annoying me.”

“Maybe.” Lily smirked at herself, keeping her eyes on Blue’s leg, washing and treating the wound with herbs and necessary tools she had brought to the room before.

Blue let out a long sigh. “I’m not dumb. I won’t step into your trap and get annoyed. You’re not that good – even though you really are annoying.”

“Test me.”

“Oh dear Reginas, I won’t. We’d be here all night.”

“Possible.” Lily tossed the bloody bandage away and tied a clean one on the girl’s leg. “Does it hurt?” she asked, finally meeting the patient’s eyes.

“No.” Blue shook her head quickly. She seemed to be sincere about the pain – for once.

“For real?” The healer had learned to question what the blonde said about aching and hurting parts in her body.

“Yeah, this time, I’m really serious. I feel nothing. Not that I’d admit if it hurt, but it feels completely normal. Now, can I go?” Blue narrowed her eyes at the other blonde.

Lily stayed without a word for a while, giving Blue false hope. “…Nope.”

Blue inhaled extremely deeply. “You – ! Do you get pleasure for your wicked soul for torturing an innocent girl, you heartless demon – !”

“Woah, calm down, kiddo. You can’t stress your leg now. It’s recovering fast – now it just needs rest. We both know it’s for the best.”

Blue glared at Lily murderously, but kept her mouth as a thin line. As much as she didn’t want to admit, she probably knew that it really was for the best. She wanted to recover soon.

She wasn’t stupid.

A door slammed shut – the door of the closet. “Okay, children. I’m leaving for breakfast. Want me to get something for you?” Birchy stood there, arms crossed – ready to stuff her stomach with totally not half raw or tasteless apples that were awaiting her in the Tavern.

“Yes, please. Bring Flamey, Dew and Swan”, Lily ordered.

“Woah, you cannibal.”

“I didn’t mean for breakfast, idiot! I need to check on them and it’ll be over with faster if they’re all here in this same room.”

Birchy rolled her eyes, but couldn’t hide her faint smile. “Hey, I understood. I’ll get them. Want me to make one of them get an apple for Blue?”

Lily opened her mouth, but Blue interrupted. “Then that one needs to be someone I can cope with. And better not bring me a poisoned apple.”

“Poisoned?” Birchy raised an eyebrow.

“OUAT”, Blue replied, like it would explain everything.

“Huh?” Birchy whispered to Lily and stared at her with a puzzled expression. The healer just shrugged. She turned to look at Blue again. “How’s Swan, then? Can you stand her?”

“Yeah. I like her.”

“Why?” Birchy blurted out. She flushed as she realised how rude she had sounded. “I mean, nothing against her, but isn’t she kinda annoying at times?”

Blue raised her eyebrow. “So? You all are.”

“And there comes the boom”, sighed Lily, more to herself than to Birchy.

“It’s because I like her name”, Blue explained and laid back on her bed.

“What do you mean?” Birchy sounded even more dumbfounded.

“Actually, I don’t like her name. It’s wrong. I don’t understand why she’s been called by her surname.” Blue shrugged, as if she was disappointed.

“Darkie forgot to tell me that you also hit your head…” Lily muttered.

Blue glared at the blonde. “Screw you. You should be aware of these things. OUAT. Emma Swan. Got it?”

Nope. “Sure.”

Someone cleared her throat. “Alright then… I’m getting the targets here. Bye!” Birchy disappeared out of the door.

“You scared her away”, Lily stated, grinning.

“Speak for yourself.”

“What? You were the one to act like a maniac.”

“But you existed.”

Lily raised her eyebrows, faint smile dancing on her lips. “Crash and burn.”

Lily sat on Darkie’s bed and looked around. The room looked exactly like the others – it had everything they needed, and only that. Nothing more. Simple, yet comfy.

“Where’s Breezey?” Lily lazily asked, trying to start some small talk.

“Went to breakfast with Goldi and Darky.”

“Cool.”

Blue didn’t seem to be in the mood to have a chat, so Lily let it go. She took over Darkie’s bed, lying down on it. She didn’t need to socialize with annoyed patients – she didn’t get extra pay for difficult customers.

Suddenly the door creaked open and Flamey slid in, making peace gestures with their fingers. “Dramatic entrance!” they announced and dabbed.

“Cool…” Lily mumbled, and from the corner of her eyes she could see Blue cringing at the dab. “At least it seems like your leg works”, the healer continued.

“Heck yeah it does! Never felt better.”

Lily smiled. “Great. Where’s the -”

“Hello world!” someone cheered. To Lily’s surprise, it was Minty. She and Swan were carrying Dew into the room. Swan had an apple in her hand.

“Crashed into Minty on the hallway. She volunteered to help”, Swan explained, as the two placed Dew on Birchy’s bed. The girl groaned slightly, but seemed pretty well.

Lily nodded. “I’ll check on you now. Sit down.”

She began her process of changing bandages and applying herbs and all kinds of medicine that were necessary. Minty stayed to help – she apparently wasn’t hungry. With her help, the job was done way quicker than Lily had thought.

By the time she had finished on Dew, she was already exhausted. All this time I’ve gotten away easily, and now it’s backfiring. No serious injuries in years and boom – suddenly the medicine house is full. “Is the bandage too tight?” she asked Dew after tightening the bandage around her torso.

“Oh, no. It’s good.”

“And you’re feeling fine overall?” Lily was sceptical about her condition. Like, she almost got pierced after all. Would she really get away with it without any huge injuries?

“Yeah, I think so. But my legs feel cold – almost numb.”

This didn’t yet shock the healer. “That should be understandable. You lost a lot of blood, after all.”  Maybe if I rub them they’ll warm up.

Dew had a white skirt, so her legs were mostly bare. Lily started massaging them. Dew let out small hissing.

Lily was alerted. “Does it hurt?”

“No… just feels a little nasty. I think they’re sore.”

Lily nodded slowly, and moved down Dew’s legs with her massaging. When she reached her ankle and the foot, Dew’s hisses died down. Phew. So it doesn’t hurt too much. She continued rubbing her foot. The feet felt most cold.

Dew sighed. “Thanks. The massaging felt good.”

“Huh?”  But I haven’t stopped yet.

“You could’ve massaged my feet too, though. I feel like they’re the most numb.”

Confusion filled Lily’s body, as she raised her eyebrows. What was she talking about? “I haven’t finished… I’m massaging your feet all the time.”

Now was Dew’s turn to be bewildered. “W-What? I can’t feel anything.”

It was like a cold slap on her face.

‘I can’t feel anything.’ Feel anything. Anything.

Lily felt like she had swallowed a pile of snow – her stomach was frozen like a wintery lake. Not Dew too. Her hands were trembling as she took a tighter grip on the girl’s feet, trying to warm them up.

“Dew.” Her voice was shaking, and she couldn’t help it. She squeezed Dew’s feet as strongly as she dared – but powerfully enough to make the girl’s skin turn pale. “Can you feel my hands touching your feet?”

Dew shivered, as her eyes were filled with fear. She didn’t know what was going on, but it clearly didn’t look good. Her voice broke when she whispered: “No.”

Lily tried to swallow the panic in her throat. Her heart was racing. She felt like dying. This is not happening. This is not happening. It’s not. Not. It can’t. Can’t. Ever. She released her grip and took deep breaths to calm herself down.

“L-Lily. What’s h-happening?” Dew’s voice trembled more than her body – which was almost impossible.

“Move your feet. Toes”, Lily ordered with an ice cold tone.

Dew’s eyes were wide. “I-I can’t! They’re too n-numb!” she panicked, starting to gasp uncontrollably. “Lily, what is this? What is going on? Oh my god, am I dying?” The last sentence made tears form in her eyes.

“No.”  She’s not,  Lily tried to assure herself,  not as long as I’m here.

The room had fallen dead silent. Flamey looked like they had seen a ghost, staring there with fear evident in their eyes. Swan’s jaw had dropped, like she had been about to say something, but then didn’t and forgot to close her mouth. Minty was gasping like a fish on dry land, and Blue stared at the girl with wide eyes, a half eaten apple on her hand, not showing any emotion besides a small hint of concern.

“Lily”, Dew whispered, too afraid to even wipe her tears. “Save me.”

It felt even worse than if Dew had told her to finish it all. ‘Save me.’ But what if I can’t? I already failed once. I could fail again. I will fail again. I’ll end up ruining her too. She’s going downhill, and I can’t save her.

Dew took the healer’s silence as a no, and bit her lip. “I’m screwed, oh god. Oh god. God, no. At least tell me what’s wrong. Why’s my leg numb? Why don’t I feel it? Why is it so cold?”

As cold as the rest of this world. Good peope aren’t rewarded with good things. Lily inhaled. “Can you walk?”

“N-No. You saw yourself. Minty and Swan carried me in.”

“Can you move your upper legs?”  There must be a way…

Dew lifted her knees off the mattress, showing that her upper legs worked fine. Her feet hanged from them lazily, like they didn’t belong there, like they were  dead.

What maybe was a flash of hope in the blonde’s eyes disappeared quickly. It was replaced with something worse – realization. “Oh my god, Lily. Are my feet -”

Here it is. The end. The truth. The doom.

” – paralyzed?”

Lily didn’t say ‘yes’. She didn’t want to admit it. She felt like if she said it aloud it would become more true. “It can be temporary”, she reassured, but it sounded as weak as a mosquito far away.

“It  can? ” Her voice was anything but hopeful. “Can? Hah! Don’t you understand what this means? Don’t you? It means I can not ever walk again. I can’t run in the Forest. I can’t swim. I can’t do anything. I can’t live! My life is ruined! I’m doomed to lay in my damned room for the rest of my miserable life! I can never be happy again. Never!”

Lily couldn’t breathe. It sounded even worse when it was put that way.

Minty gulped. “Calm down, Dewy. It’s gonna be alright”, she tried to reassure, “you heard what Lily said, it can be temporary -”

Dew let out an unamused laugh. “Lily? What Lily said? She can’t save me. Tell me, Lily, what happened to Wistep? Where is she? Nobody can’t go to her room – not even her roommates. Don’t think I haven’t noticed how anxious you healers get when somebody mentions her. She’s dead, isn’t she? You couldn’t save her and just hid your mistake. And you can’t save me. You’re worthless!” she screamed, venom dripping from her tongue.

It hurt more than being stabbed with a sword.

“D-Dew, I’m sure that’s n-not the case -” Flamey began, but was cut off short.

“She’s correct”, Lily announced slowly, no matter how much the words pained her when they escaped her mouth. She neared Dew until she was standing right in front of her.

Maybe Lily expected Dew to look victorious after the confession, instead she was absolutely horrified. “Dead?” she stuttered.

“No”, Lily mumbled, “worse.”

Dew’s eyes were on fire. And it wasn’t a nice little fireplace kind of fire – it was inferno. “You – you liar!” she yelled, and slapped Lily on the face.

Gasping, Lily stumbled backwards. She touched her cheek. It felt warm under her fingers. She glanced at the others for – support? Understanding? Help?

However, she got none of those.

Blue looked like she would attack Lily if she came closer. Hurting her friends wasn’t something Blue tolerated, and she’d punish the guilty ones if she got a chance. Minty, who was sitting next to Blue’s bed, stared at Lily with wide eyes and flinched when the healer shifted her gaze at her. She’s afraid of me,  Lily realised, feeling sick.

Flamey glared at Lily disapprovingly. Wistep was their good friend, and they would not let anyone who hurt her get away easily. Lily bit her lip, and turned to look at Swan. The newcomer hadn’t known Wistep too well yet, heck, she had only been at the Camp for – what, a week? It felt like forever, years, ages, decades. And yet the girl was narrowing her eyes angrily at the healer she had previously respected.

Then Lily realised something that basically snatched her heart out of her chest, crashed it and jumped on it until it was in pieces – small, unnoticable pieces, hard to collect and glue together. She realised the truth. I deserve this.

She took in a deep breath as her eyes got wet with tears, glittering as brightly as the pieces of her heart. I deserve all their hate.

At that moment she knew she wasn’t welcome anymore. She turned her back on her former friends, not even trying to explain. She had no explanations. Nothing could justify what she did – what she and Moss had hidden. She speed walked to the door, and looked at the campers one last time before exiting.

Their stares hadn’t changed.

“I’m sorry”, Lily whispered, gulping her tears down. “I’m so sorry.”

Her words got no reaction.

She slammed the door open and ran out, just to crash into Wavey. She could’ve tripped if Wavey hadn’t caught her arm. Lily quickly tried to wipe her tears away.

“I heard everything”, Wavey quietly said. And that was enough to make the tears flow down again.

And again, she didn’t try to explain.

“You need to take me to her, Lily.” The sudden request caught the healer off guard. She looked up from her hands to see what emotions the girl’s green eyes held. Judgement, for sure. And betrayal. Anger. Fear.

However, she only saw curiosity. And sadness. Unbelivable sadness.

“She was your good friend, wasn’t she?” Lily quietly asked. The use of imperfect made the girl flinch. “Yes. We’re roommates. And I’ve known her for so long. I… have a feeling that we knew each other when we still lived in the City”, Wavey mumbled. She obviously refused to refer to Wistep with ‘was’.

As much as Lily wanted to ask if she was mad at her, she didn’t. She just grabbed Wavey’s wrist and sprinted towards room number six, Wistep’s room.

Wavey’s room.

When they reached the door, Lily grew hesistant to open it. Was she just going to show Wavey what she had carefully tried to hide? Screw me. This moment had to come someday – sooner or later, but the healers couldn’t have hidden it forever. The truth had to be revealed. And that moment was now.

Taking in a deep, shaky breath, she pushed the door open. Wavey was standing right on her heels. She peeked over Lily’s shoulder, curious and hesistant at the same time.

“Look, Wavey. Look, and see the horror I’ve created.” She pointed at the bed Wistep was ‘sleeping’ on.

However, Lily didn’t look there. She knew how Wistep was. Pale. Motionless. Like a freaking corpse.

She heard loud gasping coming from Wavey. “Oh my freaking gosh. Oh gosh”, she repeated. It was rare to see this something from under the girl’s usual, calm shell. “What has happened to her?” she whispered.

When Lily didn’t respond, Wavey turned around. “Lily, what is wrong with her? What happened to her?”

Lily gulped. “She’s…” She couldn’t force the words out of her mouth.

“Paralyzed?” Wavey guessed, trying to sound calm – but Lily saw through that.

“No.” Lily gaped on air like she was dying. “Braindead. Because of me.”