Call of Caldiria chapter 5

Chapter 5, version 2

Veredel awoke to a blinding light above her and a stabbing pain in her mind. Countless voices filled her head, threating to suffocate her. “Where am I?

“My leg! I can’t lose my leg!”

“I need to get back there and see my son now!”

The voices and pain kept coming and coming. Veredel lost herself in the unrelenting tide. She screamed, clawing at her head. The light above her head flickered for a moment. She could then faintly hear voices, real voices, as strong arms pulled her hands from her head.

“Get her restrained before she hurts herself.” Two strong male nurses pulled her arms down as a third female stood at what appeared to be the foot of a bed preparing a needle. Veredel caught a quick look at them before she started thrashing her head, trying to deal with the pain in her skull.

“Keep her down and give her the sedative. We can’t waste time here.” Veredel felt a sharp poke in her arm. Then all her pain faded away, and more importantly the voices started to quiet in her mind. She took a few deep breaths; she had never felt pain like that in her life.

“Thank yo…” Veredel stopped herself as she noticed the nurses were already gone, leaving her alone. Where are they off to in such a hurry? They didn’t even bother to take my vitals. She looked around the room. It was small, the bed she was in taking up over half the space.  At the foot of her bed a screen divided her room from what she assumed was the rest of the hospital. Next to her bed an IV drip tube that connected to arm. For the first time she also saw the bandages on her shoulder as if for the first time.

What happened to me? As soon as she asked the question the memories ebbed back into her mind. Sean, he had shot her father, and then her. Though highly sedated, she could feel the pain of her little brother shooting her all over again. How could he do such a thing?

The screen suddenly whipped open.  Her mother walking though.  “You’re finally awake. Thank God.”

Veredel did her best to sit up. Her mother rushed to her side. “Veredel honey, don’t strain yourself. You have been out for almost 48 hours.”

“What? That isn’t possible.”

“Veredel do you remember being shot?”

The question caused an image of Sean shooting her flashed before her eyes. She nodded. Her head felt heavy under the pain medication. “Yes, I remember.”

Her mother clasped Veredel’s right hand. “Please tell me what happened. Your father is still in critical condition and they won’t let me see him. Your brother is missing and this whole dam town has gone insane.”

“The whole town? What are you talking about?”

Her mother grabbed the remote to the small television that was hanging from the top left corner of her room. She turned on the television. “It is something you are going to have to see for yourself.” The television flickered on to a cooking show with some blonde haired man Veredel had never seen.

“This is what I need to see?”

“No…” her mother started flipping through channels. “If you hadn’t been shot I might do something about that smart mouth of yours.”

Veredel ignored her mother’s comment. The television settled on a station, a news desk the first thing that Veredel could see. Then her eyes caught the headline. “7,000 people missing and the number is still rising across the country. Call of Caldiria related to the disappearances.” Veredel’s jaw dropped. What is going on? The news anchor, a young dark skinned man with darker hair returned from off-screen. He had bloodshot eyes, disheveled clothing and looked like he had been up almost the whole night.

“The number of people who have just vanished overnight is continuing to rise. Every story coming into the station is more bizarre then the last. The latest victim says her husband tried to club her to death when she asked where he was going in the middle of the night. I… I have never heard of anything like this happening. People are just vanishing overnight, including my co-anchor who usually runs this show.”

“There is one connection between all these stories. Those who have vanished had purchased a Call of Caldiria game the previous day. Our station has tried to reach out to Tradition Gaming for comment but they refused to speak to us or any other news network. Their CEO, Alex Prenen, has seemed too have vanished as well.”

The broadcast went on from there, talking about more and more people who had vanished overnight. Veredel felt like she was in the middle of a horrible dream, but this was too painful and real to be a dream. Veredel took the remote from her mother, and turned off the television. “I can’t watch this anymore.”

“I am sorry this is painful, but you need to know what is going on. Just like I need to know what happened between you and Charlie. And where is my Son?” There were tears forming in her eyes. Whatever medication the nurses had given Veredel was wearing off and she could softly feel her mother’s thoughts in the back of her head.

“Sean can’t be missing. He just can’t.”

Veredel hung her head low, trying not to look her mother in the eye. “Sean, he… ugh.”

“Sean what?” “Tell me what happened to my son already.”

“Sean is missing.” She hoped her mother wouldn’t ask her to elaborate. She didn’t want to say Sean had shot her and her father. She didn’t want to see the information tear her mother apart, like it was eating away at Veredel.

“Missing? But how? He wouldn’t just wander off for no reason. Tell me what happed Veredel.”

Veredel stared at the empty space between her and her mother. Her mouth felt heavy as she started to speak. “Mom. Sean…”

The curtain swung wide open, and two nurses marched in. “Ms. Stanwhick you can see you husband now.”

Her mother looked relieved. “Good, I will see him after I am done visiting my daughter.”

“I am afraid we need to take her back for some tests. You can talk to her again in a few hours.”

Veredel couldn’t tell what her mother was thinking anymore, the haze of the painkillers made it too difficult with the other people here. But she could tell that her mother wasn’t thrilled at being dismissed without knowing what had occurred last night. Veredel on the other hand was thankful for some time to try and think on what she was going to tell her. Or maybe I won’t have to say anything all. No doubt my father will give her an ear full.

Her mother leaned in and kissed her. “I won’t be far.” She squeezed her way out of the room.

Veredel then was wheeled away. In the corridor she witnessed some of the chaos with her own eyes now. To her left and right were people of all ages with blood soaked limbs, bandages covering an eye or horrible bruises. Veredel closed her eyes, unable to look as she was taken out of the emergency wing of the hospital. She realized she had been lucky, if she could say that about being shot by her brother. So many others had fared worse.

Veredel knew these tests were for her bullet wound, but she couldn’t help wonder if anything could be done about her other issue, the screaming voices tearing apart her head. The painkillers helped, but she still heard faint whispers in her head that didn’t belong to her. More troubling she had been hearing them all week. Now they had become so much worse.  How can I tell anyone? They will think I am crazy. Why is this happening to me?