Chapter 3 SUBTLE TRACE

SOMEWHERE IN ZARA'S DEPTHS OF UNCONSCIOUSNESS.

She was lost in a world that wasn't real but also wasn't a dream. Beneath a dark endless she stood, with its vastness that stretched wide beyond anything she had ever seen. The stars unnaturally bright made her think she had stepped into another dimension entirely. With a strong breeze wrapping her skin, carrying a very strong familiarity; one she couldn't place her hands to.

Still wandering around trying to figure out what the concept of this realm entails, she sights a figure from a distant that appeared to be masculine. He stood in the distance without moving an inch, with a figure alluring the beautiful glow of the moon.

Moving forward she realized out of curiosity, she realized it is Deen. But something was different. His presence felt heavier than how it was when they met. And his body seemed somewhat different and strange. His silhouette wavered as it shifted in its edges, almost as if he was changing into something else, something different from human form; she realized the distance view of the person she was beholding, had a striking resemblance with most of the paintings she had drawn. Zara was surprised, because these painting were imagination-spirited, and out of freewill. Out of curiosity, she began to take more steps forward to get a proper view of Deen, but before she could get to him, the world around her began to shift, the sky vastly fading, and the ground melting like wax. Suddenly she wasn't standing anymore, she was resting.

Warmth caressing her back, steadily and strong, as if she was lying on something that seemed alive. Then another phase of recognition struck her like lightning; she know she had seen this before, not even just seen, she know she had painted this before, but with a woman with her face.

Weeks ago, before her encounter with Deen, as her imagination led her brush, she painted a woman resting on the elusive body of a wolf, looking peaceful and unafraid. Now she wasn't just looking at the painting, she was inside the painting. The wolf beneath her took in a deep breath as if accepting the warmth passed through the embrace she gave. Its powerful form rising and falling with each inhale and exhale. Zara wanted to move, to speak and ask question, to know know what was happening, and to understand why it felt real. But she didn't move, because there was a satisfying peace and calmness she got from that embrace, something she has never felt before. Not wanting to interrupt the moment she sunk her hands deeper in the embrace, somehow she would understand this reality.

The night in an unending quietness, with a distant hum of the city beyond Deen's window. He sat at his desk, with his fingers restlessly tapping on the well polished wood, and his mind clouded with thoughts he reused to acknowledge. His thoughts interrupted by the buzz of his phone, with Daniel's name popping on the screen.

Deen hesitating for a brief second before answering the phone. "Yeah."

After a sigh crackled through the line, Daniel spoke "I know this doesn't concern you or anything, but I just thought I should tell you, cause you know.....Since there hasn't been any progress with Zara and she is likely to remain like a vegetable for the rest of her life, we have contacted her family to discuss possible steps and they have agreed to pull the plugs."

With fury in his eyes, Deen asked. "What do you mean by that?"

After a short pause, Daniel spoke carefully, as if bracing a reaction. "If she doesn't wake up in 10days, her fiance has to sign the document and make the decision."

Following the escape of the last words coming from Daniel's mouth, Deen's stomach twisted. "What kind of decision id that? Why is he making such drastic decision, and have you even spoken to her family?....who the hell is this guy?"

"Don't you think you are overreacting for someone who is just a stranger?" Daniel blurted out. "We are talking about pulling the plug, only her family can decide that, and he is family to her. She is stable yet unresponsive to treatment, she cant be on life support forever, if he gives his consent, then the hospital has no right to contend." Daniel added.

"And I said no, isn't there a way you can do something?" Deen asked.

"There;s nothing we can do, that is fate." Daniel responded.

"No" Deen yelled. "You don't know that, her fate is to wake up. She cant just die on me." Deen said as he ran his hand through his hair, trying to steady his breathe, but his anger burned lie a wild fire beneath his skin. The thought of letting her slip through his fingers, made something dark and primal grow inside him.

"She is going to wake up" Deen said quieter this time around, but with little certainty. He didn't know why it mattered so much, but deep in his heart he knew he didn't want any other outcome than for her to wake up.

For nine long days, Deen lived in the horror of quiet unrest. Waking up everyday, he found himself stuck in the personal conflict, if he should go to see her in the hospital one more time or not. Even after he kept reminding himself, that wasn't his responsibility, yes something always gave him a pull. His thoughts clouded with haunting thoughts of Zara, not filtering the terror in her eyes the day they met and how frailly still she looked on the hospital bed.

Days passing by, with each one tormenting than the last. On the fifth day, while spending time in the library of his personal chambers trying to disconnect his mind from wandering to Zara, he sat on the chair, mute for an hour before concluding to put a call through to Daniel. "Her parents haven't showed up yet?" Deen asked keeping his tone even.

On the other end of the phone, Daniel sounded tired. "Is that a way to say hello to your friend? Anyways no, No family has reached out or come forward except her fiance, and he even has been barely coming in here."

There it was, a long lingering silence between them. "something is definitely not right" Deen said to himself. "Barely any visitor, she has been left there all alone." He added as he ended the call.

And a quiet thought lingers into his mind. "I cant be the only one who cares if she wakes up or not." This thought creating an unsettling feeling in his gut.

The long awaited tenth day had finally come, and Deen couldn't contend the feeling he had. In his private office, book scattered beneath the window, with several documents splattered on the desk, there Deen was pacing from door to window completely ignoring the crying documents that needed to be attended to, consumed in his wavering thoughts. Suddenly he paused as if strucked by a lightening that snapped his brain, He grabbed his keys from the desk and hurriedly left the building.

Meanwhile, Zara's fiance was sat in a private room at the hospital, and right before him on the desk was a clipboard of documents. Holding a pen in his hand with an unreadable expression on his face while looking lost in his thoughts. In a shaky breathe, he began to sign the document.

Moments after this, Deen stepped into the hospital, walking straight to the ward which Zara was in. His heart pounding out loud as he took fast strides. He didn't bother stopping at Daniel's office because that wasn't what brought him to the hospital. He knew exactly where he needed to go to.

Zara's room even though filled with utmost quietness, had soft hums exhumed from the monitors beeping, that sounded like a countdown for Zara's life in Deen's ears. Deen stepped into the ward quietly, not even sure of what to expect, all he thought of was being be her side. He walked to the window with his hands in his pockets, trying to calm the storming rage in his heart while staring out the window as if looking for a direction on what to do.

Zara who was somewhere else entirely had no idea of what was happening around her. Still trapped in her world of trance, she wandered through the realm in search of answers, answers to questions even she couldn't fathom. The sky above exhumed darkness but not black, with swirls of ashy smoke. Spiked with shadows dancing across the ancients ruins that stretched into nothingness as she walked forward. The thick air carried an ancient energy, full of forces that seemed older than time, everything felt primal.

Then she saw Deen again, clearly, but not as she knew him. He stood tall, carrying an ambience of power, but his form was caught in between a man an a beast. His eyes gold portraying an unnatural glow. His features, his posture, his presence, were still his but wilder. He seemed like the Deen she knew but his aura gave a chilling feeling, way more than the one she felt when she first saw Deen. A long black hairy tail swirled behind him, his hands no longer in human form but now clawed, his face still baring familiarity yet with sharper edges still carried his stern look. He looked at her intently, not with fear or malice, but with total protectiveness.

Taking this view in, Zara stumbled backwards as fear overwhelmed her mind, her mind screaming against what she just beheld while she kept on taking more steps backward and away from the creature in her front. "This can't be real, none of this is real." She said out to herself. Just as the weight began to crush her as she creamed in agony, the air shifted as a the dark sky had a wide crack. And suddenly, she was yanked by an invisible force from her dream with a pain that felt like she was been torn.

She jerked as her chest rose sharply, her lungs gasping for air as the machines shrieked, sending her eyes flying open, full of life. The machines beside her creating a sudden blare, created by the shock of the changes in her vitals. Her body once numb, was suddenly full of life again, confused and weak yet alive. With a sudden splurge of headache, and blurry vision, she saw a tall broad-shouldered and still figure standing in front of the window.

"M-M-Micheal?" She croaked with her voice barely audible.

The man hurriedly turned in shock, it wasn't Micheal but Deen. His face froze, unsure of what he expected to see, as he said "Micheal?"

Her eyes wide open, not fluttering or confused but glazed wide open, sharp and alert, filled with glitter but not for someone who had just woke up from a vegetative state.

For a split second he froze, not moving,as relief, disbelief and hope caresses his face. He walked forward towards her cautiously, like a predator slowly approaching a prey, to avoid it being scared and disappear. "Zara" He whispered.

Her brows furrowed slightly. "Deen?" Her voice raw and uncertain as she said.

Without an answer, Deen walked and stopped at the side of her bed, without breaking eye contact. She blinked, as if trying to gain focus in her head and rearrange her memory. Her gaze sweeping his features in, and moments later, a glint of proper recognition, sparkled somewhere deep inside her gaze.