Читать книгу Rayan - Son of the Desert - Indira Jackson - Страница 30

When Rayan woke up he had no idea where he was. He had definitively never been in this room before. The bed in which he was lying had red-white bed linen and the walls around him were painted in a clean white colour. All was decent, orderly and light, which was quite unusual around here, especially considering the places he had been to during the last weeks. On the desk someone had even put some colourful flowers in a vase.

He looked down at himself and noticed that he was wearing dark blue pyjamas, which he also had never seen before, but which seemed to fit quite well. When had he last worn such a thing? Rayan tried to get up, but as soon as he reached a sitting position on the side of the bed, his head was spinning around so madly that he had to wait until the room stopped rotating. This told him that he had obviously been out cold for quite a while. How many days? He checked his face to find an answer there, but someone had taken the effort to shave him. Where on earth could he be? This was clearly not a hospital.

Just when he was trying to make his aching head think about what he could last recall, the door opened quietly and a housekeeper dressed in black with a white apron came in. As she saw him sitting on the bed, she turned around, left, and he could hear her call through the house: "He is awake!“

So he decided it would be easier for him to just stay where he was and wait. Obviously someone would now come and inform him about everything he needed to know.

Shortly after, he heard two sets of footsteps in the hallway and then Julie and Jack Tanner entered the room. The house of the General, of course! He suddenly had a blurred memory that he had come here. But how long ago?

Julie Tanner was very pale and much leaner than the last time he had seen her: a long time ago – as it seemed – during that lunch – together with Clara … Clara! Suddenly that part of the jigsaw puzzle fell into place and pictures shot through his head. He felt grief surge through him like a flood.

The woman seemed to understand that the memories had been triggered within him and she took him without hesitation in her arms. “How are you, lad?“, she asked him quietly. Rayan supposed that it had been her who had shaved him and felt ashamed. He had been in a desperate state and looked terrible.

The General had stopped in the doorway and had folded his arms on his chest. It was clear that Julie had told him that this was her responsibility and he should keep out of it. What kind of an opinion would Clara’s father have about him now?

But Jack Tanner just smiled reassuringly when he saw the doubt in Rayan’s gaze and said: “Welcome back to the land of the living. You surely have taken your time …”, which was immediately stopped by Julie: "leave him alone Jack, his body needed the rest, you saw how haggard he was!“

The she turned to Rayan: “And you are not going to even think about getting up now. You are going to eat and after that you will sleep again!“ It was not a question, it was a command.

Although it was a completely new experience for him that someone cared about him, he felt far too weak to protest. He was just glad that they were not bothering him with any questions. He ate some soup and then lay down again; within seconds he had fallen asleep again.