The Plot 2
07 Sep 2016Niatra
When he opened his eyes, weird machinery was above him. It was of human nature and something about the nurses and doctors around him ringed a bell.“Is he waking up? I hope not, I am knee deep in his back!”
A beeping started, he felt an injection. Suddenly things went black again and he remembers a dagger stabbing a woman in front of him and her last words, I forgive you, still ringed in his head when he passed away.
“Niatra! Niatra, wake up you moron!” Someone was looking at him. He saw the light changing. Niatra opened his eyes, slowly, but they were not able to cope with the light shining directly into them.
“Niatra!” He felt the slap.
Staring at him was Digitarry and Grey, both of them dressed for festivities.
“What happened…sir?”
“I found you and Hersilia at the coordinates at Andhrimi, but instead of a dead traitor, we found your dagger in Hersilia’s abdomen and you with weird machinery on your back!” Grey started.
“Yeah what the heck happened Niatra, are we now killing our Paladins for real? For fucks Sake!” Digitarry continued,” What the hell happened?”
“I…” Niatra started. Suddenly he was awake. “Where is Hersilia? Is she alright? Where is she!”
Both Grey and Digitarry looked down in what appeared to be sadness.
“You took her by surprise but only hit her abdomen. You nearly killed her, but after extensive surgery…”, Grey inhaled deeply and continued:
“You basically sterilized her, Niatra!”
“I…” Niatra felt tired yet again:” I am sorry….so sorry!” He said fainting.
Niatra dreamed. He dreamed the same thing over and over again. He dreamed to stab a woman, on accident. He dreamed to stab another woman, not on accident. But it was not intentional. It was not him. As soon as he realised that it started again. Over and over again.
His eyes snapped open. A white cloth was on his face. No, not a cloth. It was not on his face either. He stared at a hospital partition. Laying on his side with a terrible headache. His back hurt as well. All of his body hurt. Sitting up slowly, he managed to realise who and where he was. Sluggishly moving out of bed he pulled the partition away. He had to grab it several times as he moved like a drunken bar patron. Finally having a clear sight he inhaled and fell on his bed again.
In front of him was Hersilia, with tubes coming out of her mouth, nose and one from her chest. She looked more dead than alive. He started feeling numb. He must have accidently opened some medicine bag as he felt something wet running down his check. It tasted salty and started dripping down on his bed.
The next thing he remembered was standing, dressed for festivities, near the cargo bay of a cutter, saluting with all other Paladins, a female body in their mid. While it was being wrapped up and put on the cargo scoop to be flushed into space, he felt people staring at him. But he did not care, it was his fault. His fault alone.
After the space-burial, Niatra did not leave his office for three days. He did not acknowledge any knocking or messages and just sat on his chair, waiting for the end to come. Suddenly a knock on the door tore him out of his vegetation. The door opened Marshall stepping in:” Hey buddy, you can’t stay here all the time.”
Niatra stared at his turned off computer screen.
“Look Niatra, if I can’t get you out of here on my own and show you the good news, I’ll just bring the good news to you!” And with that he stepped out of the room.
After a few moments, slowly but surely, a synthetic arm grabbed the doorframe. Only moments later Hersilia came into the room, pale but alive. And very much so.
She pulled up her robe, showing Niatra her scar while staring at him with her blue eyes.
“That fuckinghurt y’know?” she grinned and hugged him tightly, she added:” Glad to see you’re alright!”