Fighting Life

Chapter Twenty Six

It took time, as hospitals always did. Clark was getting impatient with the wait and asked a number of times when the doctor would be back. All he had were burns to the hands, he thought it would be quick and easy and then he would be on his way. Yet, nurses kept telling him to wait, offering him something to drink, something to eat. He refused all, just asking for any updates on Allyson and Tana, which were met with the same response, they do not know.

At least two hours or maybe three went by before Doctor Hughes finally returned, with a nurse, and they worked carefully to treat the burns on Clarks hands. Some sort of anti-infection liquid, then the splitting of the blisters, to remove the dead skin, to place specialised cream on the open wound and see how deep the burn went. The cream stung, but Clark was a grown man, so he put up with it. Once the Doctor was happy with his work, non-stick patches we placed over the burns and then bandages were wrapped around his hands. Clark thanked them and looked, glad to see that he most likely could still type and write with them while they are healing.

Before Doctor Hughes left, Clark asked once more about Allyson and Tana. The Doctor could not tell him too much. Just that both girls were stable and in intensive care. Clark wanted to check on them, so the Doctor asked the nurse to check if it was ok. He waited, until she came back and stated that he can visit, but it may be pointless as both are resting. Clark did not care about that and asked the nurse to take him to where Tana was. She agreed and they walked through some back halls from emergency to where the girls were resting, handing over to the Unit nurse there.

In fact, they were in rooms next to each other, so it was easy to check up on both of them, but Clark realised somebody was in the room Allyson was in. The nurse made a comment that their families had been notified and Allyson's mother was in the room with her for now. Clark was pleased to hear that and knew he would pop in there to speak with the woman to see if there was anything he could do to help. The nurse said Tana's family had been contacted, but none could come in, so she did not have any visitors. They were only allowed one visitor at a time, so she would allow him access to the room, but warned him not to expect too much as Tana was resting.

Clark did not mind, he wanted her to rest, but his mind was too on other things. Walking into the room, she was in the bed, blankets covering her and some monitors next to the bed. Her faded coloured hair was messy against the pillow and she had a nasal cannula providing extra oxygen to her. He knew what it was, had seen it many times in his life, so he knew it meant that while Tana was breathing, she needed help still. He also noticed that at the end of the bed, there seemed to be something boxy under the blankets and he was wondering, if they were doing that to keep weight off her ankle.

To think, how far things had come. At the start of the year, Clark was a tough cold person, who did not care about others, what they thought or how they felt. He was cold like a stone. On the outside anyway. He was guarded, protecting himself from caring, because he did not like to lose what was important to him, and if he did not get close to people, did not give himself a chance to get to know them, then he would not care.

That was all so until he decided to make Tana his personal assistant. He did not know who she was, where she was from, he just knew she worked hard, had impressive stats and even though she took two days off work, she had the lowest absent rate than anyone else in the office. He chose her because he thought she would be the perfect person to take over from Maggie, somebody who did their work and did not fuss about other things. He was indeed shocked when he realised she was the girl he had pulled from the road, when that fool of a driver came speeding by. Yet he still gave it a chance and little by little, he grew from her.

She was strong, she was smart and she was just as head strong as he was. Yet, she was foolish, an idiot at times. She got herself into positions that she should be thinking twice about. She hides things so nobody would ask questions, but it made things more difficult for her. When she went off at him, in the office that night, he realised something from her words. She was right. And if he did not want to lose what was important to him, then he needed to change, because his work was important to him, his firm was important to him and he saw it, the cracks forming and she was the one to wake him up to it. Even after that night, she continued to do and say things that felt like a dagger was digging into him, making him see things, feel things differently. He accepted it, he grew with it, gave caring a try and yet, he still needed to protect himself, so people did not use it all against him.