She woke up in a bright room, almost empty, beside herself, her head hurting her so much she couldn't move it. The light was hurting her eyes but she couldn't close them anymore. She was scared, frightened by the lack of any memory regarding her last actions. She didn't know how she ended up here and the stress inside her built up so much in a few seconds that she tried to scream her way out. In vain, not a single word cale out of her mouth. So she cried, let her tears ease her pain. Her arms and legs started hurting, as every inch of her body. Again, she tried to pronounce a word, just one.

"Maman !"

And closed her eyes, for once. Hoping to fall asleep so she wouldn't suffer anymore.

"She woke up."

Celine opened her eyes as soon as she heard those words. She was desperately fighting with her pain to move her head, have a look towards whom could have spoken. But she couldn't. And everything continued to hurt so much.

The door opened and people started surrounding her, nurses, doctors. They were all speaking to her, whispering so she wouldn't feel that trauma growing.

"Calm down, stop crying, everything will be okay..." A nurse said, wiping her face.

"Where's my mom ? I wanna see my parents." Tears rolled down again. "It hurts..." She closed her eyes again, the pain was starting to make itself feel stronger than ever.

"Where does it hurt ? How can we help ? Do you want some water ?" All this help around her maintained her stress at a high level. She felt lost, her last memory, so bright and happy with all her cousins contrasted so much with her current state that it was unbearable.

"I want to see my parents !" She repeated, near to tears.

"They're waiting outside, everything's okay, don't worry. We know it might hurt, you've been seriously burnt. We tried to take as much care as we could of your wounds, but you need to calm yourself down a little bit first. Your agitation only makes everything hurt a little bit more."

They were right, all this fear made Celine's emotions completely go out of control. A nurse started to breathe loudly to show her the steps, Celine followed, as she could. Her heart was beating so fast at first, it slowly decreased. Finally, she had gain a more neutral state of mind.

"I know it's a lot for you Celine." A doctor approached her bed. "We don't want you to start to panic again, but I have to admit that your situation is almost critic. It could have been at least, if you wouldn't have been saved on time. Everything will heal, I promise. But it will take some time, and you will need all your courage for that."

Celine was listening attentively to their words. All she wanted at this moment was to cry, to become a child calling for her mother and dramatise the situation as much as she could. However, she felt the need to stop her pain, so she relaxed. All of this, her face burning, her members aching, she finally recognized the burning of this fire. Her throat was still a little bit harsh, each word being difficult to pronounce. With the help of the nurses, and some time, she finally sat down on her medical bed. There, she finally could admire the marks on her body. Once again, they were right, they could have been much worse, but she still felt scared by all those red spots covering her limbs.

"The damage is only external and superficial, nothing too bad. You'll see, this won't turn into scars in the long run."

Celine nodded. She felt like it was better for her to forget the alienation she was really feeling inside to focus on the present. There, she will have a faster recovery. And most importantly, they will accept to let her see her family.

As she hoped, and with a forced smile, her throat let her speak more fluently with the nurses. They avoided asking questions so she completely forgets everything bad that she may have went through, but if she was honest to herself, she couldn't remember anything after she left her home to go to the bar.

Finally, she asked a nurse near her :

"May I see my family ? I didn't get to see them since I'm awaken."

"I know sweetheart, we'll contact them, they're waiting outside. We told you everything you needed to know about your healing process, we'll transfer you into a true bedroom. There, you'll be able to see your parents."

"Thank you so much." She smiled, truly this time.

Then, they made her lay down again, so they could move the bed towards her bedroom in the hospital. As they were moving, she saw tons of patients waiting, in much worse conditions than her sometimes, or some other that were staring at her as she was a monster. In fact, she hadn't been able to look at herself in the mirror to see the exact way her body had turned out.

She was trying as much as she could to contain her fear. The burns, the headache... She had no idea what could have triggered all that. But she waited, her parents will tell her, and they will make her feel better, and she will feel better overall.

Fatigue had started to show up again as it now had been a few hours since she woke up. Without wanting to, she fell asleep, rocked by the wheels running on the ground.

"Celine ?"

She recognized this voice as soon as she heard it. As much as she was still sleepy, she forced her eyes to open.

"Maman ! Papa !"

"We're here baby, you don't have to worry anymore !"

Once again, she let her tears speak for herself.

"I was so scared..."

"We know, it must have been eventful, traumatizing to wake up in an unknown place will all those burns... Do you feel a little bit better ?"

"I do, the nurses gave me some creams and medicines that will help we through this pain. I'm so happy you're here !"

"We followed you as quickly as we could. You scared us so much baby girl !"

"About that..." She didn't know if that was the right time to talk about it. On one hand, it had only been a few hours since her recovery and the truth might be still a little bit too harsh for her. But on the other hand, the faster, the better it will be to let her deal with all of it. She breathed slowly. "I don't know how I ended up here... What happened ?"

"How much did you forget ?" Asked her mother, Therese, while holding her hand.

"I don't know, I don't remember anything since we left the house for the bar."

"You don't have any memory of the party ?"

"None, I'm sorry..."

"Don't be, that's okay. We'll tell you everything !"

A small knock on the bedroom door cut the conversation between Celine and her family. Therese left a kiss on her daughter's cheek.

"This must be the nurses telling us we need to go, we'll tell you everything when we'll come back, as soon as possible, maybe tomorrow if we're able to. I promise, baby."

"Than you Maman, I love you. And I love you Papa."

"I love you too Princess."

They waved at her and opened the door, the nurse standing behind it showed them the way to leave. Celine smiled one last time at her parents as the door got shut. She didn't get to be alone for a long time, some nurses came back to her, with some water, a nicer wear for her to sleep in, some indications for her new place to stay. It was a bit overwhelming for Celine, so she nodded a few times and let them talk. Soon, they left her room, not without reassuring her on her situation.

Then, she was left alone, for good this time, so she could sleep. But she couldn't. As much as she wanted to make time pass as fast as possible to see her parents once again and get the answers to her multiple questions, she couldn't help but make up those answers in her head.

What could have happened? Who hurt her ? Was it intentional ? And then, who saved her ? Do they have any wound as well ?

She was dreaming about a mysterious case where she was the center of the attention, saved by a prince charming when she fell asleep.

When she woke up, everything she has dreamt about has faded away. Most of her pain too had vanished with her sleep. And now, she was hungry.

Hopefully, a nurse with a cart serving her the breakfast appeared quickly after her awakening. She smiled at her, nodded for a few things and was then left alone to eat.

As she chewed on a piece of bread, she wondered how many days she would stay here. Of course, she wasn't hoping to get out of here on this day, not with all the recovery she had still to go through. But she was strongly wanting to go back home. Even a small séjour in the hospital was too much for her to handle, especially after all the choc she had gone through.

She finished her breakfast and decided to rest a little bit more in her bed. Her head had started again to hurt, as well as her burns.

"She's asleep."

"Maybe we should wait a little bit..."

Again, the voices of the people she loved the most were enough to wake her up.

"Maman, Papa, Michel ! What a pleasure !"

"I guess she woke up." A nurse said, laughing softly. "I'll let you all discuss alone."

She then left the bedroom, leaving the family enjoy their time.

"How's my favorite sister doing ? You feeling okay ? Not too lonely here by yourself ? We wanted to bring all the family but they said it was quite too much..."

"I'm fine Michel, thanks." She laughed. "How have you been doing without me ?"

"It was quite sad, no one could disturb the breakfast by singing the songs on the radio this morning, minus one entertainment at home... And Claudette said she misses your snorings."

"I missed hers too !"

Celine and Michel laughed together while their parents were looking at them, a smile on their face.

"So, what did I miss ?"

This encounter with her parents and her brother had completely erase all the bad Celine had felt before, and its sad reality. She remembered it all too well at the sight of her parents which didn't dare say a word.

"What happened ? You can tell me, I can handle that !"

"We're not so sure about that. The past day has been eventful for you. Maybe it's better if we waited a little bit more..."

"Is it that bad ?" She said laughing. By the look on their parent face, she stopped immediately and said more seriously :

"If you truly think I'll do better knowing everything later, we can forget all of that and enjoy this moment together, don't feel oppressed by this feeling. It's going to be okay."

Michel cut her a little. He wasn't feeling that sure as well.

"Well, I just... I thought you'd know, so I invited someone special to join us..."

"Who did you call Michel ?" Asked Therese quite angrily.

"No, it's a friend, it's fine. He won't... I mean..."

"Michel ?" His dad inquired again. "Did you invite him ?"

"Who ?" Celine intervened as well, feeling more and more curious about what was going on.

Therese glared at her son, Adhemar did too. They were waiting for Michel's answer.

As an answer, Michel got up and left the bedroom. He came back a few seconds later with a man following him.

"Who is he ?" Celine didn't understand anything of what was happening. Her mother answered sadly :

"He's the one who saved you Celine, from the fire."

Celine looked at him so rapidly she hurt her head doing so. There, two strong brown eyes was staring at her back.