"Good morning, Miss Molly," chirped the young nurse as she set down a tray of food and smiled at her patient. "How are you feeling today?"
"Better than yesterday," the Queen replied with a yawn as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes and returned the smile.
Sheās been in the hospital for about two weeks now. The first few days were rough, and she was on a pretty steady stream of painkillers, but she was doing better by the day. She was lucky. Her medical records were still in the system and she was marked down as a human, meaning the hospital staff treated her as an equal. Nons and Anons werenāt allowed in this hospital, as horrible as it was. Thank goodness she never bothered to change her status to āalienā.
"Expecting any visitors today," asked the nurse as she poured a cup of water.
The Queen smiled sadly and shrugged. āI donāt know. I havenāt had a chance to contact my parents yet. Iām not sure if anyone knows Iām even here.ā
"Tch, aw, Iām sorry to hear that, sug. Is there anyone youād like us to contact for you?"
"Oh, I donāt want to be a bother. Besides, I donāt want to scare anyone."
"Well⦠hrm." The nurse picked up a clipboard and flipped through the pages for a moment. "Youāre gonna be here for a while yet, hon. Someone should know youāre here so they donāt think you died or something. Crazy out there, you know. We donāt need your family thinking you got bumped off by an Anon."
The Queen thought it over, then nodded. āYes, thatās true. Alright. May I have a pen and paper so I can give you the number of one of my niblings?ā
The nurse grinned and gave her a funny look. āNiblings? Well, sure. Here, borrow my clipboard.ā
The Queen accepted the clipboard and pen from the nice lady and quickly jotted down a phone number. She double-checked it for accuracy, then handed it back and smiled. āThank you. I hope itās not too much trouble.ā
"Oh, not at all! Iāll get this to the lady at the front desk, and hopefully your, ah, nibblers will come and see ya! Take it easy and enjoy your breakfast."
The Queen thanked the nurse one last time and waved her off before pulling her tray a little closer. Hm, she should have wrote down a note to ask one of her nieces or nephews to bring her some salt and ketchup. Sheās been eating bland hospital food for so long, she wouldnāt be surprised if her tastebuds were dead.