Back to the Dream Page
Chapter 20
Don struggled to drag Mel out of that wet environment. Power and Energy still emanated from her, and she gave no struggle. His frozen clothing weighed him down and gave him extra trouble. He frowned when, upon reaching her and lifting her up, he realized how light she lay in his arms.
Gently, he set her down onto dry land and began inspecting her wounds.
Finally, she snapped out of it. "Stop that. I'll be fine. You, on the other hand, need to dry up."
"I can't build a fire Mel, and I can't exactly take off my clothes to dry them off." She smirked. "I'm serious," he whined. She just gave a little laugh and began to play with the wind. Surprised, he felt the gentlest of breezes begin toying with his hair before setting off to dry his clothes and warm him. While he dried off, she allowed the wind to toss her own hair this way and that, drying off her body. Don's clothes were taking too long though, and she fell asleep waiting.
Bewildered, Don glanced over at her peaceful form now. He could barely believe what had happened, what he'd just witnessed. And to think that this all happened in less than an hour. He glanced up at the moon, now shining brighter than ever. No clouds were left to disturb its silent watch. He shook his head and sighed before coming close to Mel to begin examining her weakened body.
It was now, in the white light and stillness of the night that he noticed just how battered she really was. Bruises stood out, ugly patches of blue-black skin marking her. Jagged cuts crisscrossed her skin where blood had once flown freely. Her wrists and ankles were raw from where rope had cut too deeply into her fragile skin. Bending down, he could hear that her breathing was shallow, still drawn from exhaustion and illness. He gently touched her forehead. At least there's no fever anymore. That's one less thing to worry about. But he continued to frown. A solitary tear escaped his eyes. And even if I do heal her, she may still die. How can I drain away the poison in her heart?
He set about the task of healing her superficial wounds.
Early the next morning found the two back at the hotel, awaiting breakfast and greeting familiar faces. Everyone grinned and gossiped, whispering how Don and Mel looked so natural together, finally happy, and all took comfort in that. Their own bout with food poisoning was practically over and they were all relieved that things were finally going right. Only two people noticed the tight look in her eyes and the slight shaking of her hands as she tried feeding herself. While Mark kept an ear open to the rumors flying around them, Don took the liberty of spoon-feeding her. She hid her trembling hands underneath the table and let the others wonder how she'd gotten back and when she and Don had gotten together. She focused on not losing her sanity. The craving for more poison was frightening; the addiction had already begun to take its toll on her.
Back in the safety and quiet of her room, she finally broke down. "This is crazy! He's gone! Forever! And I'm doomed to be like this until I die!"
"Stop it, Mel," Don snapped. "This isn't helping."
"How can I stop it, huh Don? How? Do you know how I feel right now? To know that what was once his blood is pulsing through me, and know that unless we can find a solution, I will die? It hurts knowing that I can still be torn apart by him and he's not even around anymore to realize that he's finally won."
"No," Don yelled back. Realizing he'd yelled, he quieted his voice, though doing nothing to decrease the intensity he felt. "He has not won and I don't want you to think that he has. You're here, now, alive. He's not, and he never will be again. There is still a chance for you to make it."
"Some chance this is," she sneered. "Look at me! I can't even stop shaking anymore." Tears sprang up in her eyes but she refused to let them fall. "He's killing me, Don. He's gone and he still finds a way to hurt me. I pushed him out so long ago. I'm tired. I don't want to go through it again." She sobbed into Don's shoulder and he held her, knowing that there was little else he could do at the moment.
After a few moments like that, Mark cleared his throat and reminded them of his presence. "I know the two of you have just gotten together and all, but I really think we need to talk about our current situation. Mel, I think we need to get you to the Council." Mel looked both relieved and frightened at the concept. "There's no getting around it if we're going to try and get you well again."
"Well that's great, isn't it?" Don asked, questioning Mel's reserved look. "I mean, why wouldn't they help one of their own?"
Mark shrugged. "Mel's not the most important problem. There are more out there in worse conditions than she is. It's just a matter of need and importance sometimes. I mean, the Council members are just people, too. They have their own things to worry about and take care of besides looking out for as many as they can."
"Okay. Why are you telling me this? Why mention going to them in the first place if it's a lost cause? If they're our only hope, why are we here talking about it?"
Mel lay a trembling hand on top of his, drawing his attention back to her. "He had to tell you so that you understand the severity of this. I may go but there is a chance I may not come back. We can't afford to have you bring up your hopes and then just have them dashed later on."
Don in turn took her shaking hands in his and compelled her to look into his eyes. "I don't care. Mel, I've waited twelve long years to tell you how much I care for you and I'm not going to let this keep me from loving you. Nothing can change my feelings for you, and if there's a chance that you may still, and you will, pull through this, then I'm saying let's go. But I won't lose hope until I have to. And even then, I'll still be there for you. I won't leave you. I sure as hell don't want to through losing you again." With that said, he turned to Mark. "Let's do it."
They locked the door and shut the blinds, allowing no one to see what was happening in the room.
Mark and Mel quickly settled themselves down, mumbling words that had long since become second nature to them. Startled, Don tried to join them, calling out to his own spirit helper but the words jumbled around in his mind, his thoughts still plagued by Mel. As if sensing his dilemma, Mel reached out her hand and held onto him. Revising her call to include both of their benefactors, he quickly caught on.
Don felt strange for a moment. He seemed to lose all sense of himself and felt completely free and weightless. As soon as he'd gotten used to the feeling however, he felt the world reform around him. He blinked open his eyes and found Mel staring at him, concerned. He did the first thing that came to mind. He leaned over and kissed her.
"What the hell was that for?" she asked.
He shrugged. "I love you."
She smiled and it relieved him. He'd noticed how drained she'd looked after that teleportation and just smiling helped her, even if it had been for only a little bit.
He took note of his surroundings then, becoming aware of the warm air, the hushed tones in both color and noise. He turned around and saw five people looking straight at him with smiles on their faces. "Welcome, fellow Healer," one member said. "Let me introduce ourselves. I am Hyam. My friends here are Casta, Li, Melisenda, and Quinn."
"I'm honored to finally meet you," he replied solemnly.
"The same to you. We've been watching you for quite some time now and we're quite proud of how far you've come along."
"But how…?"
Hyam brushed his question off. "No time for questions, Don. You came here for another purpose, didn't you?"
Don looked over at his companions and found that they had respectfully kept their distance, kneeling and waiting for their turn with bowed heads. "Yes, I have."
"Mark?" His spirit helper acknowledged him and Mark looked up.
"Don and I are wondering if you could look after our friend, Mel here."
All eyes looked over to her, Mel could feel it, but still she refused to look up.
Silently, her protector left the circle and knelt before Mel, taking her trembling hands into her own. How are you feeling, child? she asked in thought-speak.
To be honest, not good at all. This drug is killing me. She looked up mournfully into Casta's understanding eyes. You know, it's been eight years since I last talked to Richard. I'd finally gotten over him, and one of the reasons why I was able to do it so quickly then was because I had a lot of people helping me out. I also had too many other things to think about than to waste my time on him. But now?
Again, Casta smiled. He made it a little more difficult to just forget about him, huh?
You can say that again.
Casta laid a comforting hand on Mel's knee. Don't worry. Once you're better, you won't have to spend another minute thinking about him.
If I get better.
You will get better, if you're willing and want it enough.
You of all people know I just want this whole business to be over with. It's getting so old.
Yes, I know. You've started on the path to healing already, by getting rid of the source. But getting better completely is another matter. I've heard of this drug before and it scares me with what it can do.
You've heard of it before?
She nodded. Unfortunately, yes. It's very powerful and takes strong people to overcome it, but I'll let Hyam tell you more about it since he knows more about this than I do.
With that, the two women turned back to the others who had waited patiently for their personal exchange to come to a close.
Hyam cleared his throat and began to speak. "The drug that's in your system right now is highly toxic and addictive, as we've seen. There is a way to get rid of it, although there is no real cure for it yet. The poison affects the blood, making it thicker than usual. This adds a lot of stress on your heart because it has to pump that much harder to make your blood circulate. Meanwhile, all other aspects of your body go down in function because the blood cannot distribute nutrients or collect wastes as efficiently. Mel, you should understand what I'm saying, as a medical student yourself. So should you, Don, for that matter."
"I understand perfectly, but how do we help her?"
Hyam gave a tired sigh. "That's where the difficult part comes in. Not only is a major blood transfusion needed, but willing volunteers need to take in the poison themselves and have their own body kill off the deadly cells."
"But that doesn't make sense. Why does it need to be killed off inside others? Can't we just get rid of the bad blood?"
"We tried that, Mel, but we can't just throw it away and make it disappear. It kills long after it's been thrown out and we can't risk that. The only way to do it is if people are willing to take in a bit of the poison themselves and let nature work it out naturally. Obviously, you can't do it yourself because your body's just so overwhelmed by it." He paused, taking in the skeptical looks. "Okay. I know it's a weak excuse, but this strain is still fairly new and we're still learning about it. As of now, that has been the only way to treat it successfully."
Still, Mel wasn't satisfied. "So what's the problem, Healer? Why do you still look worried?"
He smiled sadly. "In all of the previous cases I've had to deal with, the drug was still pretty fresh in the blood. It hadn't been able to do too much damage yet. Plus, they didn't have nearly as much poison in them as you do, judging from how you look and seem. And the last thing…" He trailed off, not wanting to go any further.
"What is it?" Mel asked, trying to meet the Council's eyes and read the problem there. "Please, tell me!"
Casta took the burden upon herself to answer. "Okay. You know that none of the Council can help you literally with the blood. We can't afford to get sick." Mel nodded. "Well, when we finally knew what was wrong with you, we asked if anyone could volunteer and help out in this case."
It took a moment but the idea finally dawned on Mel and she shut her eyes, lowering her head. "But you asked too late and everyone's already preoccupied. There's too many battles being fought and no one can be spared. He timed it so it'd be this way." Her voice shook.
"Mark has already offered to donate the healthy blood. You guys match, and it isn't as if we haven't done it before. But he can't take in the poison as well. He'll be drained enough as it is with the amount of blood we're getting out of him."
"I understand," she whispered, bowing her head down even lower in respect for their time. She did it to hide her tears as well. She heard Mark mumble his thanks and come closer to kneel by her side again, this time to help her go home. However, Don wasn't finished.
"Wait. I'll do it."
"No, you won't," Mel said.
"What do you mean I won't? I said I will and I'll stick with my word."
"No," she said it firmer this time.
"And why not?"
"Because it's too risky." Her head snapped up to let her glare through her tears at Don. "You're new. You still have a lot to do, a lot to learn. You have plenty of possibilities left for you. I won't have you risking your life to save my own."
"Mel, I swore that I'd stay by your side every step of the way and that I'd do anything I can to help you."
"But don't you understand? If something goes wrong, I don't want to live knowing that you died because of me."
He stole over to her, kneeling in front of her and taking her hand in his. "I don't want to live with the knowledge that I could have done something to save you. I've stayed sheltered for so long, it's time I take responsibility for myself. This is a risk I am taking because I want to." Gently, he brushed the tears away as they slid down her face. "Will you let me help you?"
The two stared into each other's eyes, lost in a battle of wills. Eventually though, she surrendered, letting his arms claim her.