บท 23: Addie Is Awake
"Addie?" Dad fell to his knees and hugged me tight.
"Addison, my little girl." Mom slumped over on the bed and added her arms to the hug as well.
"Mom? Dad? What is going on here? What happened to me? And who are these men?"
I could tell that I was in my room and I was in my nightgown. Not to mention, the fact that I didn't know them meant that they shouldn't really be in here. Did something really bad happen? Did it have something to do with that dream that I had a hard time waking up from?
"Addie, my name is Briar, I am the village healer." The man that was standing next to my left side by the pillows smiled at me. He had shaved his head, but I could tell that the pure white hair was growing back already. That was weird, why was his hair white if he only looked as old as my dad at most? His eyes were kind looking and filled with a fierce sort of golden light.
The other man hadn't said anything yet, he was just standing there and staring at me. He also had his head shaved but I couldn't tell what color his hair was. His eyes though, were a listless brown that seemed almost devoid of all emotion or life.
"You're a healer?" I asked as I looked back at the man named Briar. "Why did I need a healer? What happened?"
"Addison, you've been sick sweetheart. You were in a sleep state like that boy last year and if you had not gotten the special medication then you would surely have died." There were tears streaming down my mom's cheeks and I could tell that she was relieved and all, but the emotions were thickening her voice and making it hard to understand what she was saying.
"The boy? From last year?" Was she talking about John Bacon, the boy who died last year? "I..I was going to die like the butcher's son?" There was fear coursing through me now.
My dream hadn't been just a dream. That dream was probably my subconscious mind trying to come to terms with the illness that had been ravaging through me.
"Yes Addie, that is exactly what was going to happen." Dad was crying as well. His face was wet and red when he lifted his head to look me in the eye.
"Am I OK now, though? Will I be alright?" I didn't direct the question to my parents that seemed too preoccupied with crying to answer me properly. Instead, I had looked at the healer who was still standing close to me.
"Yes, Addie, you should be healed now." He smiled at me, and I saw both kindness and curiosity in his eyes. "I will be monitoring you over the next few days to make sure that all is well, but I expect that you will make a full recovery."
"Thank you. Thank you so much Mr. Briar."
"You should be thanking me." The other man finally spoke. "I am the one that got the cure for you, and I am the one that administered it to you. No one else could give it to you since it needed to be given by a wolf."
This man was glaring at Mr. Briar but that wasn't what struck me as odd. His words had been the problem. Specifically, one of his words. Just one tiny little word that he had said was making me panic as I looked at him.
"A w..w..wo-. A w..w..wolf?" I was scared as I said the word and looked into his angered face.
"That is right. Without the help of me, a werewolf, you would never have been able to see the light of day again. I am the one who deserves your thanks, not him." He jabbed a finger in the direction of Mr. Briar and glared between the two of us.
"Y..yes, of course. I owe you my life, sir. Might I know your name so that I may thank you properly?" I was doing my best to be polite now. I had just pissed off a werewolf and the one who had just saved my life at that.
"I am Boberre." He crossed his arms in front of his chest and looked a little bit like a petulant child.
"Thank you so much, Mr. Boberre. I can never thank you enough for going through so much trouble. Not only did you obtain the cure that I needed, you came all this way to make sure that it would work for me. Thank you ever so much." I had clasped my hands in front of my chest and lowered my head just a little in my gratitude. I was also silently praying to myself that he didn't kill me or my family.
"You are welcome, girl." He harrumphed as if he were slightly pissed off at me before he turned to look at my dad. "Mercer, I will come back for my payment in five years. At that time, you will pay the fee that I demand, or you will pay with your life. Is that understood?" He was no longer giving off a petulant attitude or even a halfway kind one. He was showing us that he had authority over us and that Dad must pay the fee or else.
"Y..yes Sir, Mr. Boberre. I will pay for it, no questions asked." There was genuine fear in my dad's eyes that hadn't been there moments earlier.
"If you try to run then, it will be your entire family that pays the price." Mr. Boberre threatened my dad again before he turned on his heels and stormed out of the room.
I saw that Arthur and Catherine had been waiting at the opened door and watching on, but the moment that Mr. Boberre marched toward them they scattered and got out of his way. No one said or did anything at all until we heard him stomp down the stairs and out the front door.
It wasn't until the door slammed shut that Mr. Briar broke the silence in the room.
"Not a very pleasant one, is he?"
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