The Day Frosty's Been Waiting For

Three-hundred and fourteen days.

Of course, in his dark state of mind, he hadn't been able to keep track of the time exactly. To him, every passing moment was an agonizing eternity, suffocating - but there was nothing that he could possibly do to escape it. Why was he being subjected to this? Was it a horrible dream, or was he somewhere unknown - lost? Unable to move or call out for help... He couldn't make any sense of it and with nothing to possibly do, the restrains were infuriating, without a thing to do about it.

At first he was only half-aware of what was going on. There were pokes and prods at his arms, his chest, but they were dull - hardly able to be sensed, like cotton grazing across his skin. The small pokes of pressure grew over time. Sometimes they were painful, but he quickly got used to it, or think too much about it anyways.
Then the dim sounds started to fade in. A high pitched alarm, sounding off every other second; 'Beep, Beep, Beep...'

The voices followed, too muffled to understand - whispers in the darkness. He swore, there were several times where he heard the sound of a young woman crying. Slowly, the sounds grew louder, and louder; and he realized that his entire body was a heavy weight, pressing down on a bad, the fabric soft beneath his touch. He tried to move his fingers, his toes, or at least open his eyes. Every effort, though, proved fruitless. Every now and then, a women came in, opened his eyes and shined a bright light in them. It felt nice, to be able to actually see, no matter how blurry the vision. It never lasted long, though, and she always left with a sigh.

It went in and out like that. For how low, he didn't remember, but could only think what a strange sensation it was - to sleep through near-complete nothingness.


The young man groaned, his eye-lids feeling light weights of cement as he fluttered them open. He could see nothing but a bright white light. Unable to focus, he could only wonder, 'Where am I?' Blinking again a few more times, he swore he heard the angelic voice of a woman, not too far off. To him, it felt eerily familiar, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. He only had the feeling that she'd been lost, and he he'd been lost, and they'd been separated for a very long time. 'Where is she? What's wrong with me...?' He thought, gritting his teeth, sitting up. He felt so light-headed.

It was then that he noticed how weak he really was, being held back by something sharp digging into his arms. Slowly, his hand shaking rapidly, he rubbed his eyes - hoping to clear his vision out. It did well enough that he could tell apart the tubes and IVs strapped into his arm. His blue's eyes widened about as well as they could've as he grabbed the tubes firmly, yanking them out and causing the beeping machine to start screaming at him. Although his body was stiff, ragged, and wary - his heartbeat was quickening. He was uncertain of anything that was happening at the moment, and that left him completely scared.

The young man moved to stand up out of the bed, putting on foot firmly out of the ground - that he couldn't see hardly from his long gown, and standing up, going to put the other foot forward. It never touched the ground, though. It was nothing but air, non-existant. It wasn't until he tumbled to the ground with a cry that he noticed it; half of one his entire legs was missing. Whimpering be brought his hand up to his head, having hit it when he'd slammed on the floor, before curling up and staring at his palms. He needed help. 'Who am I even...?" He thought. The black-haired boy tried to call out for help, but it came out nothing more than muffled stutters.

The problem with having parents work at your school, is that they knew everything you did. They were close to your teachers, they exchanged stories and were given constant updates on how you were. It wasn't that bad when you were a student as quiet as Jayden; you didn't really have anything of interest for teachers to talk about, but whenever something did come up, it went straight to his parents. Often, the Wright brothers would much rather the Headmaster finding out than the nurse, because God knows they would receive an earful on the subject.

So Jayden was in the infirmary, sulking in silence as his mother paced back and forth in front of him. The only other person in the office was a coma patient who hadn't moved in months and months, so they were basically alone.

"Okay, but that doesn't explain why you have a D in history- no, I don't care if it's a hard class. Hard or not you should be passing- excuse me sir, I don't give two shi-" Melody Wright had been going on and on that this for a while. Over the years she had calmed into a more patient person, but once you got her started it was hard for her to stop. Honestly, Jayden understood he fucked up. But really, a D wasn't that big of a deal in the whole scheme of things, and she could just say 'fix it' and leave it be. He tried to give himself a good argument, but any time he would try to sign something she'd just shoot him down.

He was fairly certain she could go on forever, and that theory might have been tested out, if it wasn't for the loud cry and a bang coming from the cots. Nurse Wright immediately jumped up and ran to the room, Jayden quickly following behind in confusion. When his mother skidded to a halt in front of him, he nearly ran into her, tumbling and grabbing on to the doorway to stop himself. Melody was looking down in shock at a whimpering, lost looking boy, who Jayden quickly recognized as the com- no, former coma patient. After a moment, Melody snapped out of it and ran over to the young man, falling to her knees beside him. "Jesus..."

The blonde nurse grabbed the boy from under his arms and, with the help of her son, lifted him back on the bed. She crouched down in front of him, before turning her head to face Jayden, who had been standing there, uncertain of what he should do.

"Jayden, I need you to go get Kimberly Huffman, in dorm 101. Do you have your journal? Good. Tell her he's up." She spoke in a calm voice, yet there was no room for questions.
Nodding quickly, Jayden ran out of the room. Nurse Wright turning back to the boy and began speaking in a soft voice.


Kimply hadn't been out of her room much in the last few weeks since her return to the school. In fact, she hadn't really been out of bed as of late. She would get up (often way after her alarm), get to class and then return to her room to lay in bed and stare at the wall. Her grades her slipping, and she couldn't find it in herself to care. In fact, she found she didn't really care about much. Her mom would call her every night, and that had really been the only good thing going for her. After she had finally found her dad (only to see he was a drunkard who had left them without a word because he never wanted a family in the first place) she had realized that perhaps her mother wasn't that bad afterall. They were finally beginning to get along, and Kimply looked forward to talking to her. However, she didn't want to worry her mother with her problems, so she said nothing about Ethan, nothing about her dad, and nothing about how alone she felt. There was really no point in complaining, her problem was really just herself. It was no one else's fault but her's that she was so numb.

So whenever the knock came, she had been laying in bed with her head smothered in a pillow, which was typical. Her hair was in a messy bun, and she hadn't bothered changing out of her uniform before crashing. From her room, she heard the banging on the door, but assumed someone else would get it, or they'd simply leave. After a solid minute of knocking, however, she groaned loudly and rolled out of bed.

Ripping the door open, she glared at the blond boy on the other side. "What do you want?" She practically hissed. Not saying a word, the boy pushed a notebook into her hands while looking at her expectantly. Frowning, Kimply read the words written down in hasty, yet nice handwriting.


For a moment she crinkled her eyebrows in confusion, before it dawned on her. Dropping the journal in shock, she ran past Jayden, trying to get to the infirmary as quickly as she could.


Melody had done all the basic check ups. He was healthy, aside from being incredibly weak from not moving for nearly a year. Everything was alright, albeit him not saying much since he woke up. Then again, what should she expect? After 314 days in a coma, she wouldn't really be inclined to do much talking either. She had just been finishing up whenever the door to the infirmary opened, and Kimply nearly bursted into the room, out of breath with her face flushed. At first, Kimply's eyes only fell on Melody. "How... is... he?" She asked, while trying to catch her breath. After a moment, she noticed Ethan on the cot, and practically froze in place, appearing to be unsure of what to do.

"He's fine. Completely healthy." Melody felt bad for the girl. She had been beside the boy's cot for months, rarely leaving, aside from her 'vacation' that Melody still knew little about. She had been hoping and praying that he would wake up, and now that he had, she seemed to not know what to do. The young girl probably hoped she'd be there when it happened, but that didn't seem to be happening either. From what Mel could tell by her silence and the tears threatening to fall, the pink haired girl seemed to be overcome with emotions.

The young man hadn't even noticed when the blonde woman in white had swept into the room, another boy of her likelihood along with her. When he felt them wrap around him, pulling him upwards, he wasn't sure what to do - going into a small panic. "W- W-Wai-" The words struggled to leave choking out of his throat as he was carried back to the bed. He tried to struggle and slip away, but he was far too weak, his entire body feeling numb and limp. While he couldn't resist being pulled up and off of the floor, he did insist - with gritted teeth and nails digging into the bed sheets - that he stay sitting up on the edge of the cot.

He stayed quiet as the woman tried calming him down with his soft words, still clenching the fabric underneath him, blue eyes glancing around rapidly before watching her fret over him. Now that he could see a little clearer, her outfit looked like that belonging to a nurse. He gazed at his cold, plain bed - the IVs hanging loosely from the machine still screaming (before she leaned over and abruptly turned it off), as well as the large white and blue that draped over him. It had to be a hospital of some sorts, his mind puzzled together in a slow, lagging process as she stuck a cold piece of metal to his chest and listened, shining a bright flashlight in his eyes and doing other things he hardly could pay enough attention too.

He took a deep, shaky-breath, trying to calm himself enough to be able to speak correctly. "W-where am-" He shut his eyes, taking another breath. Although he was trying, the words were still spilling out slow and uncertain. "Where am-m-I?" It seemed that he wouldn't be getting his answer at once, another stranger rushing into the room and stopping, taking a few hurried words that he didn't quite understand at first. And who was she? He still felt compelled to answer for himself. "I'm f-fine - ... No - not fine -" He started to seem lost again, freaking a bit. "W-what happened? What's - What is going on?"

Melody frowned, pitying the young boy. He had gone through a lot, and to top it off he was probably still trying to remember everything. She couldn't imagine a year of your life being spent sleeping- no, not sleeping. It was deeper than that, and she imagined terrifying. So she could understand his confusion and fear, and tried to calm him down as much as she possibly could. She was about to answer his question, with her mouth open and the words on the tip of her tongue, when the young girl finally arrived.


Kimply couldn't move. Was that normal? She should probably be able to move, but what would she do? She kind of wanted to run up and hug Ethan, but at the same time he looked so panicked and weak that she felt like even touching him would shatter him like glass. There was a sort of distant look in his eyes when they met her blurring gaze, as if he was trying to piece something together that wasn't there for him. It scared her.

The pink haired girl looked over at Melody for a moment. The nurse nodded, and a moment of understanding passed between the two. Hesitantly, Kimply took a step forward. "We're in the infirmary at Beata. You were in a coma for like, a year, and- God, I'm just really happy you're back." She didn't mean to, and she had told herself she wasn't going to, but in that moment she couldn't stop herself from running up and wrapping her arms around Ethan's neck. She also couldn't stop the tears when they finally began falling, and she just appreciated that he was back.

Before the coma, Ethan had been her closest friend. She hadn't realized it had happened, but he had wormed a way into her heart, even after she promised no body would again. It was only after he had sacrificed himself for the Headmaster that she realized how much she cared about him. How much it hurt when he was gone. It was then that she realized why she had been so guarded in the first place. If you let someone close to you, there is always the chance of them leaving, and it completely breaks you when it happens. She had felt it before when her dad left, and she had felt it again when the image she had built of him had been shattered when she finally found him. She had felt it when she found Ethan passed out that night. It broke her, having the only people she cared about leave like that.

But now he was back. He was back, and she began to think that maybe things might be alright again.

Beata? A coma? He was in a coma?

Slowly, very slowly, he unclenched the bedsheets and carefully brought up his hands, shaky as they were, to his face - as if there was some sort of clarity as to his thinness, his weakness, the sharp needles that had been pressed into his skin. It was then that he'd noticed as well the bangs that hung down into his face, over his eyes. His hair was considerably longer than comfortable, running past his shoulders, looking like it'd been blandly cut once or twice before. He honestly wasn't sure what to think, nor how to react when this girl came up and wrapped his arms around him, practically on the verge of tears.

The awakened Winter would've liked to think of it as comforting, or even lift his arms and give this stranger a hug back - if he could bring himself too, but the questions refused to stop stirring around in his mind, and he had simply had to ask. "Who are you?" He muttered in her ear.

Kimply had only been on a roller coaster once. She was young, and her mother took her to an amusement park. The day as a whole was probably the happiest day she had spent with her mother, though she remembered very little, just the feeling. There had been, however, one moment that she remembered very acutely. She had been watching the biggest ride in the park from afar for most of their trip, with the cautious gaze of a child who didn't know what or what not to fear yet. So when her mother had asked if she wanted to ride, she just shook her head. Her mother had never been very empathetic though, and insisted Kimply ride anyway. She kept her eyes close for the whole ride, and cried silently as it went up, before screaming with the strongest terror to ever reach her heart as it fell. Her stomach felt like it was both dropping and flying up at the same time. Her heart was beating wickedly, yet it had to have stopped completely, because in that moment, she thought she had died.

That's how it felt when she heard Ethan whisper softly, bringing back the exact same terror and pain. There was also shock, which had her frozen in place with her eyes wide. No, no, no, no. This can't be happening. He's kidding. He knows me. He has to know me. If he doesn't.. She couldn't finish the thought. Pulling back and facing him, she looked into his eyes with a wide, searching gaze. She sought hard for any hint of recognition, but came short. Everything broke at that point. What ever hope she had left, whatever hope he had brought when he woke up was gone. She had thought he'd be the one to shatter like glass, but instead it was her.

Blinking once, instantly her gaze was distant. It was just to much to take right then and there, and the only thing she could do was shut down. She let her arms fall and she stepped backwards, until she was a good distance away from Ethan. She avoided his gaze and focused instead on willing the tears not to come.


After a silence stretching for a long, long moment, Melody cleared her throat and looked over at the young man. It was clear that Kimply wasn't able to respond, as it seemed to be too much, so the nurse did the talking. "You don't remember Kimply? I believe you two were very close friends before... Ahem. She's been by your bedside taking care of you every moment she could." There was no aha! moment that she could find, no memory of the girl in the way he looked at her, so she went on tentatively her her tight smile falling into a narrowed gaze and frown. "How much.. How much do you remember?" She was almost afraid to hear the answer.

He felt her entire tense up around him once the words were muttered, saying nothing more as she pulled back slowly and looked out him, her eyes desperately searching his face. He wasn't sure why, but he felt terrible, ashamed for forgetting this girl, for forgetting this place, whatever happened to him. He didn't want to be left in the dark. He'd spent so much time there as it was. Through his black hair, one could see his eyes narrowing sharply as he studied the unfamiliar girl back, trying to find something - anything - that might jog his memories. Her messy blonde hair tinted slightly pink, and her bright blue eyes, rimmed red and puffy with stubborn tears. In a haze, he thought she was pretty, but that meant nothing; because he still swore that he had never seen her before in his life.

"I- I'm sorry, but I don't..." He murmured apologetically to her, staring down at the ground as she took a step back. The both of them, in that moment, looked like they were ready to crumble then and there. For a few heartbeats, he was lost in the silence, before the nurse had called his attention. So, that was her name. "... Kimply?" he repeated, glancing up at her, who had apparently been waiting a very long time for her friend to return. He sighed, frowning and shutting his eyes, trying hard as he could to think back to the past. Yet, "I don't remember anything..."

Melody smiled without it reaching her eyes, nodding softly. "Right. I was afraid you'd say that." It made sense then. How torn up and confused he appeared to be. Lost in a place that he should have been very familiar with, without a thought of the people who were closest to him. She looked from Ethan to Kimply, trying to figure out what she should do. Obviously, he should be caught up on who he is, as that's something someone typically should know, but did she really have to be the one to catch him up? She was a nurse, not a therapist. Anyways, it was quite obvious the kids had some deep shit they needed to work out, and they didn't need her breathing down their necks. So she'd let kids be kids, she decided. she just hoped they wouldn't end up having sex on a cot. It really wasn't that comfortable. /shot

Melody turned to Kimply. Since you know this young man better than me, and apparently better than he knows himself, I'm gonna need you to catch him up."
Kimply frowned in confusion, but before she could argue, Melody went on. "I need to go do all the boring... stuff, that needs to be done now that he's up." She nodded, content with her answer. Giving both the teenagers one last concerned expression, she made her way out of the room.


Kimply didn't know what to say. She was scared that if she started speaking about his past she'd start crying again. In fact, if she talked at all she might start crying again. She eyed the spot by him on the cot, before deciding against it and pulling up a chair in front of him. She cleared her throat and spoke carefully, keeping any emotion out of her voice. It still shook a little, no matter how much she fighted it. "So you got nothing? Not your name? Your age? Your favorite color? That's an important one, after all." She tried to joke, but the effort of keeping a smile on her face for more than a split second deemed itself too difficult.

Opening his cloudy blue eyes slowly, he cast another glance at the nurse - whoever she was that had helped watched over him for God knew how long - feeling almost a bit uncomfortable when she found it fitting to take her leave. He almost wanted to tell her to not go because he knew she had to have answers to his many questions, and he didn't mistakenly shatter her heart, like this other girl. He could tell she was still concerned, but that didn't stop the pleading look on his face, sighing when she left. Glancing up again at this "Kimply", he could tell she was hating every moment of this just about as much as he was.

His name? His age? Favorite color? He hadn't the slightest clue about any of those things, and didn't quite pick up on her joke in his state. But apparently, she was once his closest friend, so she should've known all of those things - right? "No," He said quietly, thinking how troublesome that really was, how weird. Here he sat, with no memories and no identity. "Can you tell me?"

Nothing. He knew nothing. She couldn't imagine being a blank slate, thrown into a world where you don't even know your own name. Shit, how was she going to explain Beata itself then? It was bad enough trying to grasp everything already, but then she'd have to thrust the fact that he had powers, and was in a school filled with students who had powers as well. She decided to leave that detail for last. She really wished Nurse Wright was here to explain all of that, but nooo. She had to go and leave Kimply to do the talking.

Sighing, Kimply forced a hopefully reassuring smile. "Of course. Your name is Ethan Matthew Riley. Your birthday is December 21st, and you're 17. Your favorite color is blue. Which I always thought was boring because everyones favorite color is blue. Your favorite cereal is Cheerios, you are a cat person, you can name all the constellations- or, I guess you could. You once tried to spend the night in a Barnes and Nobles." She had listed off every random fact that jumped into her head, counting them on her fingers before looking up and raising an eyebrow. "What else would you like to know?"

Ethan was his name?

Blinking slowly, he carefully took in her words, analyzing everything out of habit - a habit he didn't even realized that he had. Names were definitely good. He was seventeen apparently, but at the moment, he felt far older than that - more weary. He hadn't the time to consider the color, nor remember the last time he saw a cat. The thought of cheerios made his stomach pain for real food. The stars and the book store, he supposed he had a thing for reading... a huge thing. "I did what?" He asked, a bit skeptically. Ethan assumed all of these things, feeling rather pathetic that someone he used to know had to tell it to him.

He looked at her closely again, still waiting for that eureka moment to come crashing in, and yet nothing was sparking in his mind - no matter how much he wanted it too. "You and I were friends...?" Ethan muttered questioningly, asking her to elaborate more.

Kimply could practically see the gears turning in his head as he processed everything. It was so blatantly Ethan and she doubted he even realized he was doing it. It made her a bit to know that he really was just like his old self, minus the memories, and the fact that he'd been gone for a year, and the weary look in his eyes. That was new.

She laughed at how disbelieving he was of it all. "What can I say, you're a weird guy." The way he questioned if they were friends made her want to flinch, but it helped know that he at least was curious about it. Smiling softly, she spoke as if she they had been friends for ages, thought he was just meeting her that day. "You used to be a medic, who helped out in the infirmary. We met after I got shot by this guy after-" She stopped herself, thinking it best not to bring up the Yeti, as it would bring up a lot of questions that she wasn't sure he was ready for the answers to. Subconsciously, she placed her hand on the scar on her stomach before going on. "well, that's a story for another time. Anyway, you took care of me. And we just sort of became friends from that." She shrugged nonchalantly, peeking out from under her bangs to gauge is reaction.

He couldn't laugh along with her, simply looking at her curiously. She'd been shot? By who? What kind of dangerous place did they live in, and why did she change the subject? If he wasn't a medic, did that mean he was supposed to know his was around this infirmary? "Just sorta became friends?" Ethan repeated, raising an eyebrow, though it was hard to see the look of skepticism on his face. Sorta friends didn't stay by your bedside for an entire year while you slept. "And w-who shot you? What is Beata? Where are my parents...?" The young man was starting to sway slightly as he sat, still weak - even though he'd just waken up. He felt the urge to lay down again.

Kimply missed his laugh. She wanted to make him laugh, or smile, or something that didn't make him look so... down. However, questions he asked didn't warrant a humorous reply, and now wasn't a time to laugh anyway. He had just woken up from a coma only to not remember a thing about himself, after all. However, at his first question she smiled with nostalgia, a soft, meloncholy smile. "What can I say, I was in the infirmary for a while. You took care of me, and even after I was alright and able to leave, you still helped me. With school and everything, because I'm not really the best student." She played with her hair, twisting it around her fingers, praying to God that she didn't blush. For a Winter, she wasn't exactly the smartest. "Also, I taught you how to shoot a bow. Or, I tried. You weren't exactly what you would call... good." She tried to find a way to say it nicely, but God, he almost shot her in the knee at least twice. He was dangerous, and not in a good way.

She couldn't meet his eyes, and ignored two of his questions. At least for the moment. She didn't want to drop two bombshells on him at once, and the Yeti story really wasn't something he needed to worry about right now. She didn't know how to explain it to him in a way that would soften it all. Maybe just tell him he had powers? Or show him her's? She was strong now. After so long at Beata, practicing and working her butt off, she had been able to master much more than simply drawing maps and being badass at hide and seek. She had begun to disappear and reappear in new places. The first time it had happened she was sleeping, and had no idea why she had woken up in the courtyard. Often, actually, she found herself in the very room she was in now. After gaining this ability she had learned to harness it, but it still drained her greatly, and she rarely used it.

Reining her thoughts back in, Kimply realized she had been rubbing absentmindedly at her wrists. Quickly, she got an idea and looked up at Ethan. "Do you trust me?" She paused before shaking her head and answering for him. "No, of course not. Hell, you just met me..." She looked sad for a moment, but cleared her thoughts and focused on the task at hand. "Okay, I want you to try something for me. It'll make sense, just... here." She pulled up the sleeve of her shirt to her elbow, revealing three straight cuts her wrist. Two of them were nothing but scars at that point, but one was new, albeit no longer bleeding. She looked up at Ethan cautiously, hoping he wouldn't judge her. "Don't- don't ask, please. Just..." She looked in his eyes, as if making sure she didn't spook him before reaching out towards his hand, placing it on her wrist that she held out in front of them both. She left her hand on his so he wouldn't pull away and looked up again. "If this doesn't work I'll look like an idiot... But just concentrate on the cut, okay?" She bit at her lip, hoping for the best.

They were really good friends then, especially if she put up with him almost shooting her, by the sound of it. Ethan supposed, for the time being, if there was somebody he was going to place his faith in, then it would be best if it was her; not that it seemed like he had many other options as it was. She didn't seem all that bad either. Maybe missing out on some sleep, but not bad. He did start to feel rather wary though when she pulled back her sleeve, revealing three straight lines grazing across her skin, one still a inflamed, ugly red color.

Even though he didn't know her all that well, there was something about this that - for lack of a better word - pissed him off. "Why?" He muttered, asking anyways, not able to understand why someone would harm themselves in that way. It didn't make any sense, and for a few moments, he could do nothing but stare at her in the eyes. Ethan didn't move until she grabbed his hand, slowly guiding it over to the cut. As she wished, he focused on the cut, figuring there had to be some reasonable explanation for her to ask him to do so. He lifted his hand, staring at it and tracing his finger over it gently, trying to figure out how deep it was. With a sigh, her placed his palm over it again gently, wondering why she was doing this and wishing he could make it disappear.

With the image of the wound glued to his mind and the later thought repeating many times, he suddenly began to feel light-headed. He had to shake his head to keep himself from zoning out too much, the room starting to get dizzy. Because of this, it'd taken him several moments to notice the soft blue-white light glowing under his hand. He was surprised, but didn't have the energy to react, forcing himself to stop whatever he was doing and grabbing his head to try and steady himself out. He felt faint. When he glanced at her wrist again, he was shocked - to say the least - to see the wound that had been there moments before was near completely gone without a trace. "What - how -?"