Chapter 3

The crisp smell of hand sanitizer greeted Heidi when she finally woke up. She heard the slow beeping of hospital monitors and the quiet chatter of doctors to nurses and other patients. She raised a hand to her head, tenderly running her fingers over the back of her head. She felt the rigid rise of stitches in her skin, neatly done. She lowered her hand back to her side and turned her head slightly to see the monitor screen, pulsing in time with her heartbeat.

Heidi found herself all alone in a hospital room; only the bed that she lay in and several chairs that sat on one wall filled the room. The chairs sat underneath a large window in the wall that showed the hallway outside; casting fluorescent light into her dark room. A man’s jacket lay over the armrest of one of the chairs. She wondered who it belonged to. She could see two police officers standing guard outside her door, passing time by telling stories to each other. She sighed deeply, shutting her eyes; she was alive.

She opened her eyes again as a nurse in scrubs walked in, her attention on the clipboard that she carried. Quietly she looked up at the monitors that Heidi was hooked up to, writing something on her clipboard when she saw what she had come for. She looked down at Heidi, jumping slightly when she found her patient awake.

“Oh!” The nurse said quietly, quickly coming closer to Heidi’s bedside, placing a hand on her shoulder and gently pushing her back into bed as Heidi tried to sit up.

“Stay down sweetheart, you’ve been through quite a bit.” She said quietly as she pressed a button on the wall, silently calling a doctor. “Your doctor should be here in just a moment.” She said gently.

No sooner had the words left her mouth did a young doctor in a white coat hurry through the door.

“Miss Butler.” he said out of breath, as if he had dropped everything to rush to her room as quickly as possible.

“I’m glad to see that you woke up, we were worried you might have suffered from a concussion. You took a pretty hard hit to the head.” He told her as he pulled a small flashlight out of his pocket and carefully shone in her eyes, checking her pupils for signs of a concussion. He then gently leaned her head forward, checking her stitches, nodding when he found them satisfactory.

“Where am I?” Heidi asked hoarsely, thanking the nurse as she handed Heidi a glass of water, allowing her to quench her thirst.

“Lewis Gale Hospital.” The doctor informed her. “You’re a very lucky girl, your Familiar saved your life.”

“My Familiar?” She echoed in confusion. She looked to the door as a young man hurried in, accompanied by the two police officers from the hall. He was young, about her age, but stood a few inches taller than she was. His hair was fine and dark, falling over his forehead. He was pale and thin and watched her with concerned green eyes. She didn’t even have to ask, she knew exactly who he was.

“Thomas.” She said quietly, speaking the name of the Familiar who stood before her. The name fell easily from her mouth, as if she had been calling out to this boy her entire life. When he entered the room she felt a sense of security that she hadn’t felt since she was a child, being held by her father after waking up from a nightmare.

“How is she, Dr Moore?” Thomas asked, looking from her back to the young doctor. He spoke with an accent, similar to that of British men, but not as heavy.

“All of her vital signs are showing stability, she should be able to be released tomorrow.” He told him, looking back to her and nodding encouragingly. “But we would like to keep her overnight for observation.” He added. ”And I’m sure that the police have a lot of questions for you.”

“Can we ask for a few hours of rest before the police start their investigation?” Thomas asked, turning to the officers who stood behind him. “I’m sure Heidi is still exhausted.”

“I wish that we could,” One of the officers started, “But we need to act quickly in order to find the culprits.”

“You haven’t found them?” Heidi asked with concern, looking from the police officers back to Thomas, with uneasiness raising in the pit of her stomach. “They are still out there?!”

“Unfortunately the culprits did escape your Familiar during the time of rescue, but in that moment it's your Familiar’s first priority to secure his Ward rather than capture anybody.” A short woman in a suit said as she walked into the room, her heels clicking on the linoleum floor with each step. “But rest assured, your Familiar won’t allow anything to happen to you Miss Butler, you are in wonderful hands.”

“My name is Linda Grey, I’m your Crisis and Familiar Guide and Counselor.” She told them with a practiced smile as she pulled out several business cards, handing one to Thomas and then the other to Heidi.

“A crisis like yours is very rare dear and this all must come as a huge shock to you. I'm here to make your transition into Familiarism as easy as possible. But first we must start with the paperwork!” She explained.

“As a Humanistic Class Familiar, Thomas is expected to function as a model citizen of society. I’ll begin with Thomas’s registry while you speak with the police.” Ms Grey said with a smile. She waved her hand in the air as if motioning for Thomas to follow her out into the hall. He hesitated, looking back at Heidi where she lay in her hospital bed as if he didn’t want to leave her.

Ms Grey let out a short laugh and spoke up again.

“I know you're especially protective right now dear, but she's perfectly safe here. We’ll cover all these impulses and feelings you’ll have when we get to pamphlet three, now come on, we have a lot of ground to cover!” She exclaimed as Thomas looked back at Heidi with wide eyes as if the idea of pamphlets made him want to stay behind even more. She found herself smiling as he followed the counselor out into the hall, then turning to the police officers.

“Miss Butler, we’re going to ask you a series of questions. We need you to answer them to the best of your ability, no matter how painful it may become.” The first officer told her, taking a seat next to her bed. She took a breath, nodding her head in agreement.

“Of course Officer, let’s begin.”

Heidi answered every question that the police could think of. She told them of the first time she saw the scarecrow man, standing across the street from her at The Book and The Bean and then again at the Halloween party where he had taken her. She described everything that she could to them, the car ride to the field and the unseen voice who seemed to be the ringleader of the whole ordeal. She told them of the other body that shared the trunk of the car with her, feeling her heart throb when they confirmed that the other girl was killed from a blow to the head. They suspected that this had not been the first time that their abductors had taken and killed, but it was however, the first time someone got away.

Once the police had gotten as much information from her as they could, they revealed to her some of the information that Thomas had given them about her rescue and how he carried her on his back into town until he was able to flag down help. He had carried her all through the night, arriving at the hospital that morning. She had been unconscious all through Saturday until the sun had set once again.

She found herself repetitively looking out the window of her hospital room, looking for Thomas. When he finally returned to the room, she felt the feeling of relief and security flood over her again. He nodded in thanks as the police officers left the room and for the first time since she had met him, they were alone.

“Hello.” He said sitting down in an armchair next to her bed, picking up the jacket that he had folded over the armrest and slipping it on. “My name is Thomas. It’s a pleasure to actually meet you.”

“Hello.” She said in return. “I’m Heidi. Thank you for saving my life.”

“Always.” He said simply, smiling softly at her.

“So did you learn anything fun from our new councilors?” She asked, talking about Ms Grey.

“Oh, yes, a wide span of things.” He said with a grin pulling several pamphlets out of his pocket. He laughed as he flipped through them, holding up the one’s he liked in particular.

“Revenge Killing: It's Not OK, Common Age Slang and Emojis, Technology is Our Friend and my personal favorite, Dealing With Rip Van Winkle Syndrome. I have no idea who this Mr Van Winkle is, but from the pamphlet provided, I believe he had a very long nap. It makes me wonder what sort of things happened to make these pamphlets necessary.” He joked as he opened one, skimming through it’s pages.

Heidi couldn’t help but laugh, wincing in pain as the sudden movement reminded her of her injuries. Thomas stood and helped her carefully sit up in bed. She pulled the blankets up to cover her lap, she didn’t like how unflattering the hospital gown was.

“Ms Grey wants us to do a session with her once a week, so I guess you should let her know when would be a good time to schedule that.” He told her as he walked over to the window that allowed them to look out over Salem. He watched as the lights from cars flowed over the highway in the distance.

“The world has changed so much from what I remember.” He muttered.

“When is that?” Heidi asked, watching him curiously. Thomas let out a tiny laugh as he looked down at his feet, stuffing his hands in his jacket pockets.

“It’s so strange.” He said, “This whole Familiarism thing makes it feel like we’ve known each other for years, but in truth we only know each other’s names. I suppose that's why it's called Familiarism. I don’t know a thing about you Heidi, nor you me.”

“Well, we have plenty of time to start?” She offered. “How about I ask a question and then you ask a question and we continue like that?”

“Alright.” He said with a smile, crossing the room to sit on the edge of her bed. “To answer your first question, I’m from Salem Massachusetts, in the year 1692.”

“1692?!” Heidi exclaimed, making Thomas look up in shock.

“Yes?”

“During the witch trials?” She asked, growing more and more curious of her Familiar’s past life.

“You know of the trials?” Thomas asked with a shock in his eyes.

“Well yes, the Trials are famous.” She told him. “I’m actually studying them in school right now.” She told him. “Were you there to witness them?”

Thomas’s jaw tightened as he looked down at his feet, letting out a quick sigh as he prepared to tell his Ward about his life and death.

“My father was hung for being a witch.” He told her solemnly. “They forced my father, mother and sister into confessing the same day that they were accused. I didn’t believe that they were witches, so I fought against the court. They hung my father first. I tried to get to the platform, to try to save him from the gallows but they held me back as they slipped the noose around his head. When they dropped him, the rope around my father's neck snapped under his weight. They said that I cut the rope with witchcraft and they hung me with him.”

“But there was no Thomas listed for the victims?” Heidi asked, trying to find any information that she could.

“I guess there wouldn’t be any information.” He told her. “There was no trial for me. So I suppose no records.”

“Who was your father?” Heidi asked quietly, looking down at her hands as they gripped the bed sheets, sorry to be bringing up his painful past.

“Samuel Wardwell.” He told her quietly. “My mother, Sarah and my sister Mercy were all convicted.” He hesitated for a moment before he spoke again. “But please, don’t grieve for my past.”

She looked up from her hands at him, interested in why he would ask that of her.

“The past is in the past. There is nothing that you or I can do to change it. The fact that what happened is known to the world eases my pain, because my family and all the others will be remembered for as long as history is told.” He said, offering her a smile. “I have been fortunate enough to be given a second chance at life. I intend to spend it looking forward, rather than back.”

“You are wise beyond your years, Thomas Wardwell.” Heidi told him with a smile.

The two talked for hours, until the sun had risen once again. Heidi was amazed about how easy it was to tell Thomas about her life. Not once did she feel shy or self conscious when she was speaking with him. She told him about her family, her childhood, George and her work. He smiled and took in every ounce of her life that she offered him. He told her about his life before he had it so suddenly taken from him, he told her of his favorite memories. He told her stories of his family and of all that he used to wonder about the world. They talked until their eyes grew heavy and Thomas sat in the hospital chair to sleep.

‘So this is what it’s like.’ She thought to herself as she looked over to the chair where Thomas sat leaned back against the wall with arms crossed and eyes closed. She watched as he slept deeply, his shoulders rising and falling with each even breath. Heidi pulled herself from her bed, carefully placing her feet on the ground, testing her strength before holding herself up. When she found that she could stand, she pulled one of the many blankets off her bed and carefully laid it over him as he slept. She found it odd, that after everything had happened, she still felt happy. She returned to her bed before closing her eyes and falling asleep.