Rehab

Hunter was in a bad place as he woke up in the barracks. His head pounded in pain like someone used it to brake rocks with. His vision was slow and blurry when he moved to fast. The light from the sun outside hurt his eyes and made his head hurt more. He slowly sat up and saw he was wearing clean clothing. This meant someone cleaned him up and redressed him since he was in bad shape back on the island. After removing his blanket he saw his left calf was in a fresh bandage. He slowly remembered Nicolaus tending to his wounds and figured the good doctor was looking after him during his sleep. As he slowly remembered his last fight instinctively touch his face and felt the bandages on his head. Then he remember the redcap hitting him with that lantern which felt like a rock. It was a humbling experience to find something he could not kill.

He wondered how he escaped and why they kept saving him. Why did they value him so much? It was to much for him to process and he felt empty and weak and to make it worse he had no idea how long he was out. He looked around and saw no one around. His stomach growled since he had no idea when the last time he ate was. As he looked around he saw two wooden crutches by his cot. He wondered who left them for him but needed to get some food first. So he slowly worked his way to get the crutches and then worked his way to regain his balance with his bad leg. After finding his coat and some coins in his nearby pack he hobbled along to the market. He could care less how he was seen since he was starving.

It was hard to get used to the crutches on the muddy parts of the ground, but he managed. After a while he made his way into the market and tried to find some food he could eat. The smell of food clouded his thoughts as he was very hungry and in a lot of pain as he struggled to use his eyes properly. For a moment he almost stumbled as his crutch got stuck in the mud. However before he could regain his balance he felt hands on his body to support him. It turned out it was the twins who were on the verge of tears as they saw him in such bad shape. They took him back to their stall and took turns feeding him as they worked selling food from their booth. Hunter found it hard to eat the skewered meat on a stick so they ripped off small pieces for him to eat slowly then gave him water to wash it down.

After selling out of meat at their stall, the twins helped Hunter get to their shack. There they tended to him and checked his wounds. It was then that they let Hunter know how bad he looked. He had two black eyes, a bruised nose, some blood in his left eyeball, and what appeared to be a few holes in his left calf. Hunter realized he was in real bad shape as he listened to the sad twins. He wondered why they cared for him when he could no longer provide them money or meat. They actually got mad at him and told him he was a fool for making them worry so much. Hunter didn't know how to deal with so many people caring for him in his weekend state. Then his swollen brain was overwhelmed by to much and he passed out.

Then one twin took what money Hunter had on him to get medicine and food for him as the other one took care of him. The next few days they nursed him as best as they could with medicinal herbs in soup which tasted bad. Since he was in bad shape he mostly ate and slept. The only time he got up was to use the bathroom, but the twins even helped him do that since he fell the first time. He wanted to complain but every time he protested the twins glared at him and insisted he stop being a child. The next few days were much the same as they took turns working the stall and attending to Hunter. Hunter was also surprised they never asked him for money or comfort the whole time. It was weird feeling obligated to others for poor Hunter as he felt a pit in his stomach. To make things worse he kept dreaming about the fight he lost to the redcap. It haunted him to know he found something he could not beat. During his time in recovery he wondered how he could be defeat such a creature before the next time he crossed one was.