Call of Caldiria chapter 6

Chapter 6

Veredel leaned against a desk, watching people continuing to rush about the hospital. She had been discharged a few hours ago and now in a lobby, waiting on her paperwork so she could finally leave, as well as an order for her medication. She had a bandage covering her gunshot injury on her shoulder which had luckily just nicked her. The doctors had given her some powerful painkillers to deal with her pain. Normally she would have found an alternative, afraid she might become addicted to the pills but right now the medication was the only thing keeping the pain of the voices out of her head.

People were still pouring into the hospital at a steady rate. Most spoke of the same tale, someone they knew suddenly tried to kill them and then ran off. Veredel had never heard of anything like this. What the hell is going on?

“Ms. Stanwhick?”

Veredel turned her attention back to the desk. There was a tired looking blonde haired man with amber eyes. His skin was overly tan, and there were burn marks at the edge of his clothing. His blue scrubs were covered in dark sweat. She answered quickly, not wanting to waste anyone’s time in this crisis. “Yes?”

He passed her a piece of paper with her doctor’s signature on it. “Here is your prescription order. Now I am sure your doctor has already told you the risks of this medication and I am too busy to go over them again. Have a nice day.” He turned around and walked away. Veredel took the piece of paper, shoved it into her pocket and made her way out of the emergency room.

The sunlight was blinding as she walked outside. Veredel walked a block or two to get out of the way. There were police and other emergency vehicles everywhere. Once she was a good distance away, she got on her cellphone and tried to contact her mother. She didn’t’ have a ride considering she had come here unconscious. On the fifth ring, her mother picked up. “Hello?”

“Hey. They let me go. Can you give me a lift home? My car is still at home and it is over twenty miles to walk.”

“Veredel, I’m sorry. You are going to have to wait. Your father is still in critical condition and I’m not leaving until I know he is ok.”

Veredel held her hand over the phone as she swore. She wasn’t waiting around to watch that bastard get well. “Ok, I will figure something out. I am not sure they are going to let me back into the hospital. The whole place seems to be in crisis still.” Veredel heard the line go dead. “Hello? Well that is just great.” Her mother was like that sometimes. It hurt. Usually she would talk to Sean about it. Today was turning out to be hell.

She stared walking home. There was no reason for her to stay around here. Besides she had to go get her car so she could get the prescription for the pills to make sure the pain in her head wouldn’t return. There was only one pharmacy in town and it was inconveniently on the other side of town form the hospital.

Five minutes into her trek home she could already feel the sun beating down on her. It was a hot cloudless day. She wished that she didn’t live out in the middle of nowhere, then maybe she wouldn’t be in this mess. Maybe if I had never bought Sean that dam game I wouldn’t be here right now either.

She started scratching at her forehead. The medicine they had given her at the emergency room was beginning to wear off and she could feel the pressure starting to build in her mind. Small whispers seeped into her mind. She hurried her pace, wanting to get as far from the town as she could before her condition was unrestrained. She didn’t want to experience the pain she felt when she awoke at the hospital again. And yet, she wondered how she was even going to make it home before her mind snapped.

“Veredel?”

She turned at her name to see Coner, still in his work uniform. Seeing him made her angry, more so then usual. She felt that if he hadn’t gone out of his way to get her the Call of Caldiria copy, maybe she would still have her brother. “What do you want?” She didn’t hide the irritation in her voice.

He looked a bit hurt. “Whoh. What did I do to tick you off this time?”

She took a step towards him. “You should have just sent me home without a copy that day you… you.” She rubbed her forehead her headache was intensifying.

“I can’t believe she is taking this out on me. She does know that this issue is wide spread.” “Look, it isn’t my fault you bought that game. Umm are you alright?”

“I’m fine. Since when have you cared about anyone but yourself?”

“Look I’m not in the mood to fight right now. I was just fired.”

“Wait what? Why?”

“Anyone having anything to do with that Call of Caldiria game was fired as good publicity. They said I knowingly sold a dangerous game. So not only am I out of a job, this is a black mark on my future record. I doubt anyone wants to hire me.”

“Why are you telling me this? You never give a crap about how life treated you or anyone.”

He adverted his gaze. “I am no one’s scape goat. I want people like you to hate me for reasons of my own choosing, not this fiasco.”

Surprisingly she found a bit of respect for him. Her anger subsided. “I am sorry you were fired.”

“I don’t want your pity, though.” And there was the Coner she knew. “So what is wrong with you? You keep rubbing your head like you have a rash or something.”

She wasn’t sure what to say. She was not going to tell anyone she had been able to read people’s minds and it was causing her great pain. She didn’t want to be laughed at, or worse, someone believed her. What would happen then? She didn’t want to end up as someone’s lab experiment. “I have been having migraines. I think I might need to talk to a doctor.”

“Hmph. Good luck at this time. All the focus is helping those affected by this crisis.” She just nodded. “I can tell by your face there is something more to it all.”

“Ya, I am pretty much stranded here in town.” She thought telling him about that might get him to stop asking questions.

He laughed. “Well that is kind of funny. That piece of crap car you drive decide to do everyone a favor and break down?”

She was unable to hide her frown. “No. I was taken to the hospital for a gunshot injury. It was just a glancing shot though so they discharged me. My car is still at home and my parents refuse to give me a lift.”

“Oh.” “Look that sucks. Um I actually was heading that way if you need a lift to your house?”

A few questions ran though her mind. Chief among them was why he was being so kind to her. But she wasn’t going to let this opportunity pass. He would easily change his mind. “Sure.”

“Ok, come on then. Let’s get this done before anyone I know sees that I am helping you out.”

She followed him, keeping her mouth shut knowing full well this wasn’t the moment to cause problems. She would just have to suck this up so she could quickly get her pills and not have to deal with her head trying to spilt apart. Once that was done, she could figure out what to do next.