Day 4
Arcanus Valiant woke up in drug-induced haze. He was feeling good. He looked to his left to see an IV coming from his arm and a series of bandages and casts holding him together. A hospital gown had replaced his clothes. He hoped it wasn't too revealing, but he couldn't roll over to check.
"Well this is just great,” He tried so swivel around and stand up. He could not swivel or stand. He sighed in defeat and then drifted out of consciousness.
Day 7
Valiant once again came to and found that he felt worse than before. Perhaps he was gaining a resistance to the painkillers and sedatives.
He wiggled his toes and clenched his fingers. It really hurt to move his right hand.
"Stupid werewolf," He muttered.
"That's what we're afraid of," A canned voice came from above. "You had deadly contact with one of them."
"It wasn't a werewolf," he said. "I shot it with a silver bullet and it didn't even flinch."
"Interesting yet irrelevant," The voice replied. "We'll need to keep you here until the next lunar cycle completes."
"When was the last full moon?"
"About a day before you went on your mission,"
"So you mean,"
"Yes you'll be in quarantine for the next while. You've already slept off the first week though."
"A week,” Arcanus paused for a moment. "Has anyone fed my cat?"
"You have a cat?"
Day 8
Arcanus' body still refused to really do anything. He also suspected that they turned all his sedatives and painkillers off.
Today, Valiant was frighteningly aware of how much he was messed up. His collarbone and upper arm were broken and whatever muscles would have held them together were had been nigh shredded. His left ankle had suffered a small fracture. It wasn’t the first time he’d broken a bone; it wouldn’t be the last.
Every now and then, he’d whimper and then go back to staring at the roof. Why didn’t these rooms have televisions?
Day 9
Halfway through the day some one dropped off a book for Valiant. He didn’t know whom; he was extremely grateful. Next, he went about the business of discovering how hard it is to read a book with only one functioning arm. He also tried sitting up, that didn’t pan out either. And so the secrets within of “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets” became aware to him one, awkwardly turned, page at a time.
“I wish they had gotten me a book I hadn’t read before,” he mumbled between a particularly difficult flip. He secretly wished Harry would get his ass in gear and deal with He-who-should-not-be-named sooner and not wait until the end of the school year.
Day 10
After having wrapped up the Chamber of the Secrets, Valiant triumphantly sat up and felt a little dizzy. He asked for a sandwich. Later on, he ate one. Solid food never tasted so good.
Day 11
Valiant woke up in a cold sweat after having a particularly startling dream about being torn to bits by a werewolf. In the end it turned out, he was the werewolf tearing apart himself. He discussed this at length with the doctor who came to peer at him through the glass. He explained to the doctor that the dream was no doubt symbolic of the fact that he was slowly turning into a werewolf and the beast was destroying his real self.
He explained it several times, but each time the doctor merely replied that it was probably just stress.
“You were almost killed Valiant,” He said as he wrote stuff on his clipboard. “Most people get dreams about events that happen to them. It can be especially vivid if that event was a big deal. You almost died, so you can see where that’s coming from.”
“But it was a powerful werewolf”
“Just because you fight monsters for living, doesn’t mean you’re any different from anybody else.”
“But!”
“I’m going to get some subway?” The doctor cut him off. “Want something?”
“Sure,”
Approximately an hour later, Valiant had consumed another sandwich. He particularly enjoyed the tender beef.
Day 15
Halfway through his term, Valiant felt better and was starting to get the hang of quarantine. He’d get up, read a little potter, have some breakfast, eat a sandwich around noon and then go back to sleep.
Valiant found himself with the awe-inspiring ability to shuffle around his little room. He’d go up to the glass, have a look in the hallway, shimmy back to his bed and take a breather. Sometimes he did this several times in a given hour. He was careful to ensure no one was looking. He couldn’t have people thinking he was going crazy.
A few days back, he had asked for a pen and some paper and he started writing stuff down. Whatever came to his head, he wrote it on paper for kicks. Really there wasn’t that much else to do. He also asked for a TV; they said they couldn’t hook one up – the rooms were pretty much sealed in.
Day 17
Valiant made a list of the things he would do once he got out of here. He hadn’t written much, but “Eat a Banana Split” was enough for now.
Day 20
Valiant asked the doctor why nobody had visited him. The doctor said that nobody was allowed. Valiant asked why.
“If you are a werewolf, we may have to put you down,” The Doctor replied with a sigh. “Turns out wolfsbane, is a real plant, but not a real cure. We really don’t know what we’d do if you were one. They guys upstairs want to keep all our options open. It’s easier on everyone that way.”
Valiant was silent for a long time. As the doctor was about to leave Valiant said, “Can I at least have a new book? I’ve read this one so much; it’s more like ‘Harry Potter and the Missed Clues’ now.”
“I’ll see what I can do,” the doctor replied.
Day 21
The doctor came back and passed Dune through the slots.
“Thanks” Valiant said,”Hey why are you the only doctor who comes down here.”
“I’m actually just an intern,” He replied.
“Seriously,”
“Well yeah, the doctors kept you alive initially, and now that you’re stable, set and healing. They’d like to keep their distance,”
“Mmmmh,” Valiant muttered, “This isn’t the most caring organization.”
Day 25
Valiant had gotten to the point where he would read one sentence from Dune and the next from potter and vice versa. He went on and on like this for quite some time. It wasn’t bad. It lacked some coherency, but it made up for that with deep artistic insights only Valiant could see. Harry’s journey to wizardry was not unlike Paul Atredies’ rise to power –except it was different.
Day 27
“Full moon tomorrow night,” the intern woke him up. “Feeling any different”
“Not really, maybe I hurt less,” Valiant replied, “I can use my arm a bit more!” Valiant feebly waved and then quickly stopped. “That hurt a lot more than you’d think.”
“Ok,” The intern replied. “So no major changes.”
“I’ve done some one handed pushups,” Valiant replied. “They hurt, but I guess I got to work on my good side. I’m pretty out of shape I think.”
Day 28
The full moon came out, apparently, and midnight was rolling near. A whole team of scientists watched Valiant now. Some stood in front of the glass while other, more sane ones, assured Valiant that they currently viewed him through some monitors.
This was the big night. Valiant wondered what would happen. He so badly wanted to get back home. ‘Harry Potter and the Dune’ had lost all appeal now.
Valiant was feeling better. Probably the best yet, but he hadn’t been hurt this badly since the incident, and couldn’t really gauge if he was healing any faster or slower than normal. He could move his arm a fair bit now. It wasn’t very strong, but what could you do. His leg was much better - almost as good as new.
“How’re you feeling?” one of the men asked for like the millions time.
“Fine,” Valiant replied. He walked over to his chair, sighed and looked at it. “
Valiant put his hand on the top of the chair and turned it around so it wasn’t facing him. He gave it a good squeeze with his top hand and threw it at the window. In a shattering cacophony, glass rained down on both sides of the windows. The scientists, already on edge had jumped out of the way.
Valiant confidently strode to the window and hopped through. He tore a lab coat off one the scientist and covered himself up a bit better. It made him feel less… vulnerable. The excitement got his heart pumping and he felt a whole lot better now. He walked down the hallway. An alarm sounded, some one yelled at him not to go. He didn’t care.
He kicked open the door to the stairwell, walked to the first floor and kicked open that door too. He was doing pretty good.
He stood in the organizations front lobby and saw guards arranging themselves on either side. He kept on walking.
“Valiant,” Someone called out behind him.
“You can’t break quarantine! We don’t know what you are. You’re a danger to everyone”
He kept on walking and the automatic doors slowly slid open – letting the rain it. “I’m Arcanus Valiant. I’m a danger to myself.”
He strode out onto the sidewalk. Now he felt much better. He hoped it was fresh air and not the moonlight. He took several steps and hailed a cab. He stepped inside and gave the driver directions home.
Day 29 00:12
Valiant walked up to his apartment door only to realize he didn’t have a key, but oddly enough, his door opened for him. Standing in the doorway was a person he hadn’t seen in too long.
“I fed your cat,” she said.
“Thank you Marian,” Valiant replied softly.
“They called me when you broke out,” She said, “I figured you’d come here.”
Valiant hugged her.
“Thank you so much,” He said again, “I gotta get my wallet and pay the cab driver.” He felt her nod. “After that, do you wanna order some pizza?”
"ok"
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