Chapter 76 Amnesia

Chapter 76 Amnesia
Callista.

I felt sorry for Dr. Haeger, I really did. Not knowing the answers on how to treat your patient must suck for a doctor of his caliber. The man just wanted to help me. Which is why I decided to redirect his attention.

“I understand your concern, doctor, and I really am touched that you care so much about my wellbeing,” I tell him as earnestly as I can manage. “Maybe we can put that issue to the back burner for now and focus on my mental issues instead? Advanced healing is a good thing, right? Maybe it’s just a lucky side effect of the whole affair, maybe my wolf would finally make an appearance…”

Dr. Haeger shot me a look before shrugging.

“Alright. Let’s focus on your mental issues. You forgot me and Theon, but you remembered Ruelle. But then again, you’ve known Ruelle for far longer than you knew us.” He muses. “Which is why I thought it was retrograde amnesia at first, you know, forgetting your most recent memories. But you remembered that Ruelle had died.”

“It’s selective, isn’t it? Whatever this form of amnesia is.” I question.

“Yes, it appears so.”

“So, I forget Theon and you?”

“So far, that’s all I’ve seen. We need to wait until the next episode to determine correctly.”

I let out a sigh. “Do I have to stay in the hospital until then?”

“Well, yes. You’re a unique patient so it’s for the better that I can keep an eye on you all the time. But you’re allowed to walk around the hospital grounds, you need the exercise. But as soon as you feel like you’re slipping or see a sign of rain, return to your room immediately and press the button to call a nurse.” The doctor instructs me. “Or we’ll find you a wireless panic button to carry.”

I don’t really understand any of this. I didn’t do anything to the bears to have them torture me. They’re the ones who pounced on me. Was my crime entering the city? Was that city under their jurisdiction or something?

What’s this whole deal with forgetting Theon and Dr. Haeger? It was far too specific to be a coincidence. Why did the Chamber of Despair target them specifically? Can it even target memories like that?

I wonder about the teenager I left before getting kidnapped. Was she ok? Did Jenny make it to the police station? Or did she stubbornly remain in the streets? I hope she is okay.

I’m so bored, there’s nothing to do in this room except for my thoughts, and they are getting tiring.

What was Theon trying to tell me before the rain came and messed everything up? He’d told me he didn’t hate me, and he sounded remorseful, which was so unlike him. Was the issue of Ruelle over then? Does he finally realize that I had no part in her death? Did he realize that maybe Ruelle had been playing him all along? He looked so remorseful and relieved to see me awake…

Hoping for him to realize that we were mates was futile. I don’t think he’d ever believe me, so I’d already given up on that front. If I was going to die mate less, so be it. There’s nothing I can do about it anyway.

But what if? What if he had smelled my blood and realized what I was trying to tell him all along? I did bleed quite a lot, and I was so out of it that he wouldn’t be able to accuse me of deliberately mimicking his ‘mate’s’ scent.

It feels too much to hope for. Before, I’d gotten nothing but disappointment from that line of thinking, and I couldn’t let myself be gullible now. There were far more important things than Theon getting his head out of his ass.

In order to shut down my brain for a moment, I try to nap. Because I’m tired still from the whole torture episode, sleep finds me easily, and for once it’s not filled with nightmares.

Later that afternoon, after waking up and eating some bland hospital food, I peer out of the window to see the sky clear and blue. No sign of rain anywhere.

I feel too cooped up inside my hospital room, so I decide to take a walk to clear my mind. My body is filled with energy after the nap, and it’s restless. I need activity.

Stepping into the hospital compound is nice, and I take a lungful of fresh air, feeling the warmth of the sun on my face. For a moment everything feels alright.  

I have to say that no matter what, I had missed this fresh, peaceful nature of the Rexellen pack. Whenever Theon had not been making life hell for me, it had been relatively nice being here. The views from my room in the castle were quite artistic, and the air was always crisp. There was not a time in the day when birdsong could not be heard. There would always be a pack of wolves patrolling the grounds, and before I started planning my escape, I’d felt safe with them out.  

I never thought I’d be back in this place again. It feels like I’m in a dream, that in the very next instant, I’d wake up on a bench near a park and find myself running from my kind, trying to fit in with humans.

And I had managed that for a while, even making friends.

I have missed the Rexellen pack, yes, but now I miss the human world as well. It had not been the kindest to me, but it had been there for a moment in my life, being synonymous with safety.

I don’t know if I would feel that safe in this pack. I still don’t know if Theon’s thoughts about me have changed significantly.

I try not to think of the future. It only means more heartache and uncertainty.

I wander about for a moment, letting my eyes see everyone else out and about. Most of them are elderly, sitting under the shade of the trees, reading, chatting, knitting, or just napping. I don’t close in on them, because I don’t know if they would react to my scent or not, and the last thing I want is to bother them. I am wearing a scent patch under my arm, one of the newest inventions the pack had come up with to deal with my scent. I do not know how much it will work, though, so no taking risks.

As I finish my scan of the area, at the very end of it, I notice a woman I had never seen before staring at me from the distance.

She’s tall and beautiful, with fire-red hair and blue eyes. Her hair is pinned on her head in a complex hairstyle, and the gold of her pins glints in the light. She's dressed in a bright orange jacket over a black t-shirt and form-fitting pants along with combat boots.

On her side, a sheathed sword is strapped to her hip.

As we stare at each other, the woman starts to walk toward me.