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She wakes early in the morning, the Acre still dark outside, and she feels that something is wrong.
After a moment of consideration, it comes to her. Her back, which had been hurting her to the point that she was forced tp stay bedbound for several days now, was no longer paining her. It was almost like a miracle, the way she suddenly felt nothing.
"What's wrong?" Miss Bunting's tired voice comes from the other side of the bed, and Esmeralda can hear the way she holds her breath when she waits for the answer.
"My back has stopped aching." She informs her happily, hoping it will help to ease her partner's anxieties. Her past few days of illness had been difficult for both women, and she knew they could use some ease from the situation.
Miss Bunting exhaled, relieved. "I'm so glad" She says, a sloppy little kiss landing on Miss Avocet's brow before she returned to her side of her bed and went back to sleep. In mere moments, soft snorres could be heard, informing Esmeralda that she was no longer awake.
Miss Avocet, meanwhile, stayed awake for a while longer. She enjoyed her now pain-free existence, breathing easy for once and feeling more like herself. It all feels so good and hopeful, like things will be better never get worse again, until she finally decides to try and visit the lady's room.
She tries to move, but her body doesn't budge, leaving her still laying down on the edge of the bed. She tries to sit up, and with some effort she gets up right, but her legs won't swing over the edge as she expected them to. They don't do anything at all. At this point, a part of her brain started to warn - something wasn't right . But she was too stubborn, and the rest of her mind argued that her legs must be numb, weakened from her having spent so long in bed. They'd come back to her.
Slowly, she manages to use her hands and her hip to move the legs so her toes touch the floor. By now, she knows that they really are numb, but she still refuses to let it stop her. Pushing at the mattress with her hands, she manages to stand, and then...
She falls, her head ricocheting off the corner of the night stand and she feels a sering pain go through it as she continued down to the ground, her head also bouncing off the hard floor.
"Esmeralda?"
She can hear Rosemary moving on her side of the bed and she wants to say something to her, but all possible words die on her tongue. She can taste the metallic taste of blood in her mouth and the world around her is rapidly fading into black.
The last thing she notice before she goes is a pair of familiar feet standing by her head, and the sound of her partner screaming helplessly.
She wants to help her, but there is no time as she passes out.
When she awakes next, she is in a different bed. Her throat feels like sandpaper and a small measure of panic fill her mind as she cannot recall how she made it from one to the other.
"Florence '' She croaked, relieved to recognize the younger Ymbryne suddenly approaching her. "What..."
"Schh, don't speak." Miss Treecreeper ordered strictly, pouring her a glass of water and handing it over. "Drink this" She said, going to inspect the itching IV line inserted into Esmeralda's arm at the elbow. She keeps squinting, pushing her glasses up her nose as she inspect the wrinkled skin around the needle.
"You hit your head twice trying to get out of bed. It's been almost twelve hours." Miss Treecreeper eventually supplied as Esmeralda stayed quiet, drinking the water she was given. "Also, you most likely cannot walk."
Miss Avocet spit out her water as she heard that, coughing when some of it slipped down the wrong pipe. "Whatever do you mean?!" She demanded.
"Why do you think you fell out of bed and hit your head so many times?" Florence asked patiently, looking at her former teacher with a mix of fear and pity.
"Because I tried to visit the ladie's room..." She sighed, hating how sensible it sounded now that Florence forced her to think about it. Her legs haven't just been numb - they were unresponsive, right after… "My back pain went away."
"More like you stopped feeling it" Florence corrected, sitting down on a chair next to the bed. She reached out, touching Miss Avicet's arm. "We can't get any reaction from either of your legs or feet. Best I can tell they've been disconnected. As far as your brain knows now, you can't move them because they're not there."
"So I'm paralyzed..." Esmeralda concluded bitterly, downing the rest of the water in the cup in one go. It made her cough a little again, but it was good for hiding the way her voice became thick with emotion at the thought.
"Pretty much so. I want to look at your back more closely, though. The fact that you say your back pain went away may indicate a larger problem in your spine." Florence sighed, moving her hand to pat her back when she coughed. "Please be careful."
"You better fix this." Esmeralda warned grimly when she recovered, growling and glaring at the younger Ymbryne. Florence had to fix it. Esmeralda couldn't live her life like that, she couldn't.
"I don't think I can." Came the meek answer, her former students voice hesitant as she knew it was not the new she wanted.
Miss Avocet didn't bother to answer her. She couldn't, words she might've said stocking in her throat as she began to cry.