The man named Drew left and came back a couple minutes later and in came a woman with him. “This is the doctor I was telling you about. Ines, this is Ash. I’m going to leave you with Ines. Is that okay?” Ash nodded hesitantly.

The woman looked at him and smiled. She was a tall woman with raven black hair and deep blue tips. He thought it was weird that her hair had blue in it, but he shrugged it off.

“Hi there. I’m going to look and see that you are healing well, it that okay? I’ll check your head first.” Ash nodded as she approached carefully as if he were a wild animal that could bolt at any minute.

As she undid the bandages on his head, she asked, “How old are you Ash?”

“Thirteen. I think.”

“You’re a very small thirteen-year-old. What have you been eating?” She asked as she checked around the small wound on his head.

“They gave me bread where I lived.”

“Only bread?” She asked quizzically.

“Yes?”

“This is healing nicely. Will you let me take a look at your back now?” She asked as she let him keep the bandages off.

He nodded, and she helped to sit him up. “You’ve been asleep for nearly a week you know.”

“Have I?” He asked.

“Yep. Arms up.” She commanded as she unwrapped the bandages around his torso. He managed to lift his arms up just far enough for her to slip her hands in to unwrap the bandage. “Looks like this is healing pretty well. You know, burning something to keep it from bleeding is never a good idea not to mention painful. I hope you don’t try to do that in the future.”

“I won’t.” He said quickly.

“Good.” She said as she fixed his bandages back onto his back. “Now let me see your leg. It wasn’t that bad, but it still needs to be taken care of.”

She helped him to lay back down on the bed and then pulled the blanket away from his left leg. He was wearing some loose-fitting pants and the left leg of his pants were rolled up to reveal a white bandage wrapped around his leg too.

She pulled it off to show a nasty burn that looked more serious than it was. “Not bad. I guess being in one room for a week without moving really does help your wounds to keep from getting infected. Now, would you like to get that blood washed out of your hair? I’m sure it’s sticky. I’ll help you.” She said.

He nodded and tried to sit up by himself but failed. “I don’t think…” He croaked. “I don’t think I can.”

“Don’t worry dear. I’d said I would help you, hadn’t I?” Then she walked over to where he was laying, and she slipped an arm under his shoulders trying to be mindful of his cuts and one under his knees.

“You don’t have to. I’m probably too heavy.” He protested.

“Not at all dear.” She said with a sad smile as she picked him up with ease.

Then she walked over to a door that was cracked open and she shoved it open with her foot. Then she set him down on the toilet where he attempted to keep his balance.

“I’ll be back in a second.” She said as she went out of the room.

Ash was surprised everything was so white in here. He knew what the toilet was as he had used one there, and he knew what a sink was, but neither of the ones he had used compared to the ones in this room. There was also something else in the room, but he wasn’t quite sure what it was and there was another one of the things in that room that showed another room.

Ines came back in the room with a wooden chair and set it in front of the sink. Then she picked Ash up where she proceeded to sit him in the chair facing away from the sink.

She grabbed something off the tub and came towards the sink. “Keep your eyes closed. You don’t want this in your eyes.”

Then she pushed his head back until it was leaning over the counter of the sink. Ash closed his eyes and she pulled the hair that always covered his eyes back away from his face.

He heard the water turn on and then it started to wet his hair. Ines started to hum as she put the shampoo in his hair. “Wow.” She said suddenly. “Did you know your hair was white under all this dirt and blood? I’ve never seen hair as pretty as yours.” She said.

After several minutes, she said, “All done.” Then she took a towel and dried his hair before grabbing something out of a cabinet to the left of his body.

She must have done something because there was a sudden loud noise by his ear and he jumped and shrank away from it with fear in his eyes. “It’s okay.” She said putting her hand on his head. “This is called a blow dryer. It’ll dry your hair off, so you don’t have wet hair and catch a cold. Is that okay?” He nodded warily but allowed her to dry his hair.

He actually found that he liked the warmth that thing produced and started enjoying it as she blew it through his hair and sifted her fingers through it. “It’s amazing how your hair isn’t a complete knotty mess!” She told him.

After she was done blow drying his hair, she got out a comb and pulled the knots free of his hair. He did not like the bits of pain that it brought.

The last thing she did was wash off his face and neck with a wash cloth and soap. “Okay!” She said excitedly. “Are you ready to see?”

“See what?”

“You!”

“How is that possible?” He asked perplexed.

“Look behind you. That’s called a mirror. It reflects everything around it.”

Ash stared at it gaping. He had already pulled his hair back over his eyes, but he could see how white his hair and skin looked. His hair was just about chin length now as they had cut his hair anytime it was longer than his chin at the academy.

“See. You are very handsome.” She told him. “Here,” She pulled something out of her hair and turned his face towards hers. Then she put something in his hair that pulled his bangs away from his eyes.

She smoothed his hair out of his face. When she saw his eyes, she stopped for a second, but recovered quickly. “See? There you are.” She said with a smile. “You ready to go back to the room?” He nodded, so she picked him back up and brought him over to a bed.

“What is that?” He asked quietly.

“You mean the bed?”

“The soft thing with the blanket on it.”

“Have you never been on a bed before?” She asked her eyes starting to water with sad tears.

“No. I slept on the floor. Do people not sleep on the ground?”

“Not usually.” She said trying to disguise the tears in her voice as she set him on the bed.

She turned away to wipe the tears away when she heard, “And what’s this? It is also very soft.” She turned back to see him holding one of the many pillows that were on his bed.

“That’s a pillow.” She replied sadly. “It helps you sleep.”

“Oh. I like it. It’s comfortable. My last pillow was itchy and poked me in the head.”

“I’m going to go get you some food. I’ll be back.” She told him as she left the room.