Chapter 7: Confessions

The past is not a package one can lay away. ~Emily Dickinson

I woke up to a hospital room. My arm was in a cast and so was my upper body. I was wearing an ugly hospital gown. Eww. Then the doctor came in with a clip board, "Oh goody, you're awake." He smiled.

"How long have I been out?" I said groggily.

"Not too long. Just two days. Now let's get down to business. Alright, let's see…" He was going through papers.

"Three broken ribs, a broken arm and your rib punctured your lung. Hmmm, I say you're pretty lucky." Lucky? I almost DIED!

"When can I go home?"

"Tomorrow, but lay off doing anything physical. You still need to heal," he glanced at the papers in his hands, "Oh, and you have visitors."

"Who is it?"

"Three boys. They said they knew you." Mmm. Three boys? That could be anyone!

"Okay. You can send them in." The doctor left, and the werewolves entered. It was Connor, Roland, and Micah. Connor was the first to speak, "What happened? Are you okay? I brought you chocolate." He held out a bag. Roland was carrying a "Get Well Soon" balloon and flowers. Micah was holding nothing.

"Thanks, you guys," I smiled. Roland walked to my left and tapped my cast, "Does that hurt?"

"Yes, ow! God!" Roland's hand cringed away, "I'm so sorry!"

"I'm just kidding. I'm fine. On morphine." But it was depleting steadily.

"So what happened to you?"

"Gavin."

"Uh-huh. Wanna specify?" Micah crossed his arms over his chest. I shrugged, "Not really. It's pretty normal. I'll give the details later."

"Fine," Micah sighed. They left. Ethan entered after an hour of silence, "Toni, what happened?"

"The usual. Vampires and their damn good strength." I saw he had his hands behind his back. What's that?

"Well, -…"

"What's that behind your back?" I pointed with my good arm. Ethan smiled and pulled out a teddy bear, "I thought you'd appreciate this. Since you already have…" He stared at the balloon, flowers, and chocolate, "…Uh, gifts. I wanted to…" He was wondering where I got the gifts. He kept glaring at the heart-shaped box of chocolates like it was evil. I reached out to Ethan, "Gimmie." Ethan laughed and gave me the teddy bear. I clutched it to my chest.

"Thanks, Ethan."

"You're, uh, welcome, Toni." He blushed, then turned to leave.

"Give me a hug before you go." Ethan turned, "Okay." He gave me one of those awkward hugs, then left. Two hours later, Rinka arrived.

"Toni!" she chimed, "Are you alright?" She was holding a wooden box. Great. Another gift. It looked really old.

"What's that?"

"Oh, something that you're gonna love." I eyed the box curiously. Rinka walked over and sat in the chair by my bed. She looked me in the eyes, "Do you want to know how I got this box? And why I brought it?"

"Sure." I had a feeling this was going to be personal.

"Well, a long time ago, when I was human, I had two older brothers. We lived in an old house. It was my twelfth birthday. The nicer of the two of my brothers, Enrique, gave me this as a present. He told me that whenever I was sad to open the lid and think of him," Rinka smiled at the memory. She continued, "At my party, I was with my maid, we were really rich back in the day, and we were in my room putting on another gown. Then we heard the commotion downstairs. Someone was yelling 'Fire!' My maid opened the door and smoke flooded in. Amazingly, I got out, but my brothers…They…Died as far as I know. They never found the bodies. I went back to the house and found the box. It had survived." She stroked the box in her hands.

"After that, I was raised by my maid, Sra. Rosa. She took care of me until I was 19."

"Why 19?"

"Because she died of old age. She left me."

"I'm sorry about your brothers. Did your parents die too?"

"Yes, they did," Rinka murmured. She wiped her face, then handed the music box over to me, "I'm giving this to you because I know you lost your sister. I just wanted you to know that you're not alone. You're not the only one who's lost a family member." I felt like crying with her. I hadn't seen Liz since she was turned. The confrontation with Gavin brought all those emotions back. I started to cry, and Rinka hugged me.

"Thank you," I whispered. Rinka glanced at my cast, "I can heal those…if you want, of course." I looked at the cast, "How?"

"By giving you my blood. Don't worry, you don't have to drink it. I just have to touch the wounds themselves." I agreed, "Okay." Rinka looked around, "Now, where can I find something sharp?" Then she stopped herself, "Oh right! My fangs." She bit into her wrist hard till a dark liquid, vampire blood, gushed out. I had no time to react when she ripped through my cast with her fangs. I yelled. Then she leaned back and pressed her wrist to my arm, letting the blood settle. It felt even better than the morphine. Thanks, vampire healing powers.

"How does that feel?"

"Good," I smiled, moving my arm. It was healed. Rinka tore off the rest of the casts, including the one around my upper waist, and spread more of her blood. I'd look horrible, but I felt better. Much better.

"Thanks again." I sat up as she began to leave. She spoke over her shoulder, "I'll pick you up tomorrow. We have a lot of work to do."

"Wait, what work?"

"Tata!" Damn. I sat there, looking at the box in my hands. Curious, I opened the lid. A sweet lullaby flittered from the box. I sat there for a moment, thinking weirdly of Henri. Why hadn't he come to see me?