Recovery

Just how many days have passed now? Three? Five? A week perhaps? It's hard to tell. All I can pick up from the hazy repetitions of food and sleep is that it's sometimes bright and at other times dark beyond the window by the bedside, and that my body's gradually hurting less and less between the foggy slumbers. Sometimes I wake in a cold sweat, my heart pounding frightfully against my ribcage as it's urging to escape something sinister lurking within the shadows, every time it happens either James or the red-headed woman sits by my bedside making sure I'd be ok before I inevitably return to the realms of dreamless fog, where the flow of time seems to either accelerate or dissipate completely.

I remember yesterday, some pieces before I slipped back into resting within some newly changed bedding. I was moving around by myself, slow and unsteady, propped up by something called crutches resting under both my arms as I made my way through the room and over to the bathroom laying close to the right end wall after exiting the wooden door into a room draped with dry herbs above a counter sporting both ceramic and glass jars filled with all manners of strange things I'd never ever seen before, assortments of vaguely translucent orbs, strands of thick dried roots, some of the jars were even filled with this greenly transparent liquid swimming with small twisted tendrils and leaves. I got so distracted by those sights that I almost forgot where I was going or what else was decorating this curious space. If I recall correctly there was a fireplace too somewhere across the wall with a black iron pot suspended over its active flames, and opposite to it was another light wooden door presumably leading outside.

Anyway, James noticed my distraction during that time, I'm pretty sure I heard a little chuckle from him before he lightly tapped my shoulder to get my attention, I surely must have looked stricken like some sort of fool, trying to take in and process the numerous incomprehensible sights surrounding me, not that I can blame or bear any grudge from his or anyone reactions with all these new things I've gotten to both see and experience since they took me in. Rest was a quick bath and another serving of soup as I got back to bed, it was thicker, colored in a strong opaque red, it even had stronger potency and flavor than the ones I'd had served to me before, it made the buds on my tongue tingle long after the bowl was empty, and I was leaning back within the beds warm and comforting embrace... it made me feel... Somewhat longing for something, almost nostalgic in a way, I wonder why that is?

And now I've awoken again, the pain almost entirely faded, and my sight clear as glass, taking in everything around myself properly, it isn't, but it really feels like the first time, in addition somewhere deep within my chest there's more, I'm not sure how to explain it, maybe anticipation? Or foreknowledge? No, that can't be, but it feels pleasant like today will bring about something good. My hands, feel normal, I can tighten my fists without any discomforts, and not only that, I can wiggle my toes tho it brings small prickling shocks up my left leg, still, it is way better than what it was, even before I left Alchemilla Hill with James, Abel, and Mary... Ah! The door is moving.

"How are you feeling today?" It's the lady, did they mention her name earlier? Ah, it's fuzzy, I should ask at my first opportunity, the block and pen I got from Mary have been resting at a small nightstand just an arm's length away, I really should use it again now that everything's so bright and clear.

"Looking at how you're moving about this early tells me things have taken a turn for the better." There! The light coarseness of the paper, the firm slimness brought of the pen. She seems to be in high spirits, I can't lie, there's just something invigorating about this morning, Is it the mellow breeze sneaking through the window sending a waft of lovely scents through this room? Or is it perhaps the sunlight bathing everything in a near golden glow? Or is it just the feeling, the feeling of life finally surging through me after laying near dormant for oh so long? There's just no way to know.

("Yes! I don't know what to say, but today just feels good.") Those kind eyes sparkling with caring warmth, those lips curling in a proud smile, or at least that's the feeling I get, her skin flushed against the morning's golden rays.

"Do tell me if it still hurts anywhere, still, you've got some glow back to your skin, and you seem more and more healthy as the days pass." It's all due to the help you've all given me, just where would I be if they hadn't found me? Ough, the thought alone sends cold shivers creeping up my back.

("Just a bit in the left leg, but the rest is lots better, I just can't thank all of you enough.") Her skin seems even more flushed now, yet her kind eyes and lips haven't changed from earlier, is she holding her reaction back? No, her smile's growing wider oh so slightly.

"You don't have to thank us, nursing you back to health, taking you into my family, I'm gonna be honest, I always wanted a daughter ever since I married James." Family... she, she wants to not only take me in but have me as her own... granting me not only a place but a place of belonging. This feeling is like my heart is being lovingly embraced by wings of its own, I... something has come unraveled, deep within, breaking the dam holding the nostalgic emotions from things far beyond memory, flooding my eyes with pressing rivers of joy... No, it's way more than that.

"Oh, sorry, was I being too much?" Did?... No, it's fine

("I'm just so happy. What do I call you from now?") I can't see much through the constant flow of tears but that shaking in her voice, could she be the same as I?

"If mom's too much, then call me Agatha."