Last One To See Me Dies

I woke up in the Baltimare hospital in my hospital bed with my head still ringing and the world still spinning. “Shadow? Are you okay?” my mom asked me. Her voice sounded deep, dark, and hollow. Just like everything else in the world. I managed only a few grunts, and when I tried to move, the world would start spinning again.

I tried looking to my side, only to see that there was a pale blue pegasus with a cutie mark of a blue cross and two blue diamonds looking back at me. He was quiet for a few seconds, then he spoke. “Wodahs ekawa er’uoy.” I had no idea what he just said. Maybe it was another language. Luckily, my mom was also here on the other side of the bed. “Oh thank Celestia you’re alive!” she exclaimed, suddenly hugging me so tightly I couldn’t breathe. Looking into the mirror, I stared at my reflection who stared right back. I wondered if this was how I would die. Literally killed with kindness.

Unfortunately, she let me go so I could breathe again. “I’m sorry Shadow. It’s just, you gave us such a scare. The doctors were so puzzled when we told them you got hurt so bad just by falling down the stairs.” To tell the truth, I was also shocked. I had fallen down the stairs before, and never once had I received injuries so severe as this.

For a second, my mind was distracted by what I thought was a jet-black wisp of smoke. I thought I saw it float into the hallway and out of sight. Then it was gone in a second. The doctor to my left seemed to follow my gaze. He looked at me, then at the doorway. “Please excuse me for a moment.” he said before leaving the room. Suspiciously, he went down the same hallway in the same direction as the black smoke.

A second after the doctor left the room, a horrible, ear-piercing scream filled the air, forcing my relatives and I to hold out hooves to our ears. The scream lasted almost a minute before we could finally take out hooves away from our ears.

“What the hell was that?!” my uncle said, still yelling. “You don’t have to yell. The screaming is over.” my aunt told him. Captain Obvious over here. “Yeah, but isn’t anyone else curious where that scream came from?” I added. My relatives muttered and nodded their heads softly. “No way.” my mom interrupted. “There is no way I am letting you walk around in that condition. You have multiple broken bones, pulled muscles, brain damage, and a punctured lung. Nope. You are not going anywhere.”

I was not brain damaged! If I focused enough, there was the possibility I could levitate myself out of bed. Or, I could have someone levitate myself out of bed. Or, I could have someone levitate me. “And nopony is going to help you get out of bed.” she said, reading my mind. “So just sit there and recover while we check who made that scream.” and with that, she and all my other relatives walked out of the room.

She wasn’t going to get rid of me that easily. I tried focusing my magic on myself, but as soon as my magic sparked, all of my pain rushed back to me. I didn’t yell. Pain wouldn’t stop me. I ignored my injuries and focused on my horn. My magic ignited, enveloping me in a magic glow. Suddenly, I was so strained that I couldn’t think straight. Pushing myself farther than ever before was really taking my breath away. For a moment, I could actually feel myself lift off the bed for a second. But the corners of my vision were starting to darken. I released my magic before I passed out again.

Breathing heavily, all I could do was wait for everyone to return from whatever it was that they were looking at. Damn it! I hated not being able to move. But there was nothing I could do about it. Luckily, they came back running with shocked looks on their faces. “So, what was it?” I asked inquisitively. My relatives’ expressions didn’t tell me much. “Shadow, you need to see this. Was all my mom said, which confused me. She was the one who insisted that I stayed in bed. Now she changed her mind because of something she saw?

‘Either way,’ I thought as my mom levitated me out of the hospital bed. ‘It gets me out of here’.