The awakening

When she woke up, there were beeping sounds all around her. Her ears hurt from all those sounds and she felt the urge to destroy the source of all those noises.

"You're awake", a deep and elegant voice told her. She tried to turn in the direction of the voice, but she realized that her eyes were covered. The beautiful masculine voice continued. "First, you probably want to know about your son's condition. Don't worry, he's absolutely fine, so you don't have to worry about him. Second, you probably want to know where you are. The answer is in a private hospital in country G. We had to move you here because in your country it wasn't... appropriate", he said after a short pause. "Your mother is with your son here. They are staying at a hotel nearby", he continued.

"I want you to stay as still as you can and listen to me. You were in a car accident. Your condition was precarious, so you were transferred here", he continued talking slowly, almost whispering. "You probably have a lot of questions, but I urge you to just leave them aside for the moment. It's not the time for questions yet."

"Who are you?", Raina couldn't keep herself from asking.

"You should rest now. As I said, it is not the time for questions now", the man said, without answering her question. She then heard him move and she suddenly felt dizzy, her conciousness slipping away again.

She woke up after some time, she didn't know after how long. She realized she lost track of time completely, not knowing whether it was day or night, or for how long she had been asleep. She heard all those beeping sounds from different machines again and she realized she was still in the hospital. There was still a blindfold on her eyes and she couldn't understand its purpose. Was there a problem with her eyes? There was a shuffling coming from her right side and she instinctively turned that way. Surprisingly, she suddenly felt threatened and all her hairs raised on her skin. Her fists clenched instantly, ready to attack any threat coming her way.

"Raina," the voice from before was heard by her again, "don't get defensive. I'm not here to hurt you", the man continued. "I just want you to get used to it slowly."

"Who are you?", Raina asked again, but she was surprised by her own voice as it didn't sound as her own. The loud noises from the machines were making her dizzy. Again the thought of destroying all the sources of sound came in her head. "Shut that damn noise!", she almost screamed, feeling she was about to lose control any minute.

"Sure," the voice said, "but you need to remain calm." A shuffling was heard again and the sounds from the machines were cut off. Welcoming the silence that should have followed, Raina calmed down a little. But there was no silence at all. She could hear footsteps and voices all around her and sounds that she didn't recognize in the distance. She heard some cars passing by and even children's laughter. A multitude of different sounds attacked her all at once and she felt her head was about to split.

"Aaaaah," she screamed, covering her ears, "make the sounds stop!"

There was shuffling near her again and her body became defensive in an instant, as if a great force was threatening her. "You should rest some more, you're still not well enough," the man said. She felt a hand on her face, then she lost her conciousness again.

The next time she woke up, she heard voices talking not far from her.

"You should let her experience it as the others did", a man's voice was whispering.

"But I don't want her to suffer like others did," the voice she got used to replied. "And she is not like others, she is special, remember that," the voice continued a little annoyed.

"You cannot protect her from this phase, she has to go through it," the other voice replied. "And we can't stay here for long, it isn't safe," the voice concluded.

"I know, but...", the deep and elegant voice said, but he seemed to feel something and stopped. She heard footsteps coming her way. "You're awake. How are you feeling now?," the voice she got used to seemed to sound awfully close to her. "Don't be scared, listen to my voice. Concentrate on my voice, it will get easier," the voice continued.

"Who are you? And why am I here?," Raina asked again, feeling oppressed by the force exuded by the owner of the voice. "And why am I blindfolded?," she continued, feeling her body getting defensive again.

"It's for your own protection," the man replied. "Raina, I will tell you everything at the right time, but, for now, I will only say this. Your body is not like before now, it's going through changes. You need to get used to them little by little. Don't force yourself, we have plenty of time. Your hearing became sharper, so a flood of noises will make you feel confused and you will become defensive, even violent. You need to focus on something and not let the other sounds in if you don't want them. And keep yourself calm at all cost. That is the secret to controlling your changes faster."

He said all those things with a calm and monotone voice, as if nothing out of the ordinary happened. But Raina was in disarray. Numerous thoughts went through her mind. "What does that mean? What changes? What's wrong with my body? Why did this happen?" She started to panic again with all those questions spinning in her head.

"I told you to try to calm down, concentrate on my voice, Raina," the man said again and he started humming a soothing melody to help her calm down. She tried focusing on his voice and ignoring all the rest. In fact, she started taking in other sounds and presumed it was nighttime as she heard crickets and owls somewhere and the number of sounds was a lot less than before. A phone vibrated not too far and she heard the voice of the other man answering.

"What is it?," the man almost whispered, but Raina was able to hear him. The voice on the other line was a woman. Raina heard her as well. "Howard, they are moving, there is not much time."

"Got it," Howard answered and cut the call. "Eric...," Howard said, but he was cut off by the other man. "I've heard everything, but we still have time," the elegant voice responded.

"So his name is Eric," Raina thought. But right after, sounds of numerous speeding cars were heard and she started panicking again. "You have to rest now, Raina, we have to move," Eric said in a calm voice and she felt his force enveloping her. In no time, she was off in dreamland again.

When she woke up this time, she found herself in a new environment. She knew it was new , although she still couldn't see anything. She heard the birds chirping and felt that the air around her was warmer and more humid. The sound of leaves rustling in the wind and waves crushing on rocks was present at some distance, so she concluded they were somewhere by the seaside.

It was a more tranquil location. But, as she gathered her senses, she realized that she could still hear so many sounds that she got startled. She tried calming herself down and tried differentiating the sounds around her. As she calmed down, she realized that not only her hearing sharpened, but so was her sense of smell. She could almost taste the air around her, different smells filling her nostrils and she suddenly felt the urge to vomit. "What's the meaning of this? What is going on?," she started panicking again as she tried to discern what was happening to her.

At this point, she heard a door open and footsteps coming her way. She hissed and her breathing started sharpening as she suddenly felt her body jumping in a crouching position, ready for attack. She couldn't comprehend why her body reacted this way, it was like some animal instinct took over and the surviving instinct kicked in. Before she knew it, her body already leaped forward to reach the noise. She crashed on a firm body and she tried clinging to it. Her hands instinctively went for the other person's throat, but they were stopped midway by a strong grip.

"Breath, Raina, calm down," she heard the same elegant and deep voice she heard before. "Eric was it?," she thought to herself, but her body seemed to not listen to her mind as it didn't stop its attack. She forced herself to take a deep breath through her mouth, scared at the thought that any smell coming her way might increase the urge to attack that ran through her body. Her hands eventually stopped their attack and she slowly regained her composure. It was a tough fight between her instincts and her mind, but in the end, after taking a few more deep breaths, she successfully took control. Her body remained tensed, but at least it wasn't attacking anymore.

"Sorry about that, I don't know what's happening to me," Raina said in a low voice, a voice that sounded raspier than before. "What's with my voice?," she couldn't help asking herself. It was like every word of her mouth was full of sensuality yet came in an elegant and imposing way. As if trying to provoke and dominate at the same time. Her voice usually sounded more relaxed and somewhat aloof, but now it was like a noble lady took over, a noble and sexy lady that is. A perfect femme fatale voice.

"I've already told you your body is going through changes now. It's pretty usual for this phase, don't worry," Eric said in the same monotone voice. It was like he wasn't attacked by her just a few minutes ago. It truly seemed like a normal situation for him.