Rafiki

The blackness before my eyes, the intense pain all over my body and the vague sounds around me. My body seems to switch between reality and my own thoughts. I can barely feel my body, I only hear the world in a haze. It feels as if I have a choice between staying conscious as much as possible or letting go of everything completely. My body feels so heavy, so fair, that I am tired of fighting and let myself disappear into the blackness.

'Why won't the bleeding stop?'. The frustration can be heard in Jamie's voice. He looks at his defenceless daughter on the hospital bed. The nurses keep sticking needles into her white skin, hoping it will wake her up. Nuri is nailed to the floor next to the bed, Chea is assisting the nurses. 'We are doing all we can highness'. Although the nurse means well, it doesn't come across that way.

Celeste stands a few feet away leafing through a book. 'What are you doing?', the question is full of frustration and even a little irritation. Celeste looks up at Jamie, just as irritated. 'Her condition is not medical. Her body is turning off her blood'. Jamie lets his eyes slide from Celeste to his daughter. The girl is on dozens of tubes, multiple needles and respirators. Her heart is still beating but even that is slowing down.

'What you're doing isn't working,' the frustration in Jamie's voice grows fiercer. 'Calm down'. Nuri puts her hand on his shoulder, hoping to calm him down. Celeste slams the book shut in frustration, throws it on the floor and walks over to the bed. 'Draw my blood, give it to her'. The nurse, and by now the doctor, look at her as if she has gone mad. 'Madam her blood can be deadly'.

'I know that, just do it. I am the only one who has the same blood'. At this the long hidden secret fell on the table. The nurse looks at Celeste as if she has gone mad, in pure amazement. Celeste looks at the heart rate monitor which slowly begins to fall. 'Now,' she demands. The doctor nods quickly and starts running around the room. She feels the eyes of the others burning into her back.

Celeste's head goes from Novak, to Jamie and finally to Nuri and Chea. Chea's eyes are proud, Nuri's eyes mainly speak confusion and surprise. Celeste tries to ignore both looks and focus on the doctor. The doctor inserts a tube into Rafiki's drip. The next needle goes into Celeste's arm and is attached to a machine.

As soon as the doctor turns on the machine the tube fills with Celeste's black blood. The blood slides through the machine into Rafiki's infusion. The heart monitor becomes a little more regular but is still very slow. Celeste puts her hand on Rafiki's wrist, touching her blood. A sharp burning pain shoots across her skin before she pulls her hand away. Dazed, Celeste looks at the burn on her finger. 'Her blood is like poison, boiling hot and burning'.

Just then a nurse walks into the room, with a hard expression on her face she joins the others beside the bed. 'I have put her blood under a microscope, it has the same molecules as Hemlock'. Everyone looks from Rafiki to the nurse in amazement. 'That is one of the most poisonous plants', Chea concludes. The nurse nods slowly. It is dead quiet in the room, only the soft heart monitor can be heard.

'Does that mean she is completely poisoned from the inside?' The nurse nods slowly. It's a miracle her heart still works. 'Will she wake up yet?', Jamie asks the question no one dares to ask, the question that has been hanging in the air for some time. 'Yes she will. Inject this into the drip'. Everyone looks towards the door in surprise when they see Noa standing there.

The boy, who is completely dressed in black, holds up a jar with a yellow liquid. He rushes to the doctor and almost pushes the jar into his hand, the doctor looks at the boy in surprise. The doctor looks at the young man in amazement. 'Do it'. Something is wrong with Noa's tone but the doctor doesn't ask any questions. He grabs a syringe and draws the liquid into the glass top. He puts the needle in Rafiki's arm and injects the liquid into her bloodstream.

The blackness before my eyes is peaceful, quiet and painless. I vaguely hear what is happening and being said around me, but I cannot place it. Sometimes the sound is clear, sometimes it is completely silent. I wonder if this is how it feels to be dead, I wonder if I am dead. Somehow I know that this is not the case, then I would no longer hear anything around me. The sense of time has disappeared, I don't know if I lie here for minutes or days.

As soon as an infernal pain starts stabbing into my body, my eyes shoot open. I start to hyperventilate and cannot see what is happening around me. This is a pain I have not felt before, it burns and cuts like knives through my entire body. I grab the blankets and start pulling on them, purely to distract myself from what I'm feeling. No more. My eyes try to focus on what I hear.

I feel a touch on my skin and seem to be able to breathe for a moment. The world spins around me but slowly begins to focus. Noa's blue eyes look straight into mine. 'It's easing,' he tells me calmly and composedly. I drop my head on the pillow. As soon as Noa's hand leaves my skin, I can scream out again from the pain. With all the strength I have, I grab Noa's hand and pull him closer.