Scared

Chapter 21

"Sweetie, can you tighten your hand?" Amelia Shepherd was holding John's hands into hers.

She was going to test his reflex and his take on reality, since John was often out of consciousness or even disillusioned towards everything.

John was sitting up in bed, back propped up by pillows; he was too weak to sit on his own anymore.

She smiled as he squeezed her hand; good grip, a tad weak, but nothing concerning.

She checked his pupils next, making him whine and try to wiggle away, then she smiled, leaving him alone.

John was still feeling weak. He was still in critical condition and was often coming out of fainting spells.

He even had another scary seizure which had required the intervention of four nurses to keep him down while the proper antibiotics were shot into his arms.

"Mimi, it hurts...it hurts..." his voice was growing weaker and weaker, making Mimi's heart ache.

"Sweetie, I'm here, I'm here. You're not alone, okay?" she whispered, gently rubbing his arm. He whined uncomfortably and sniffled.

"What's wrong? You're in pain?" he shouldn't be, thought Mimi, the nurse had just given him a dose of painkillers and also the antibiotics to slow down the deterioration.

He was always hooked up onto the IV, constantly dripping the medicine into his pale, scrawny arm.

She looked at him in search of an answer, but John had since long gone into a far far place into his own mind.

Mimi discretely lifted the covers; she was right, he needed a nappy change.

He was on diapers 24/7 now. They had tried to put a catheter on him for urinating, and proposing to help him whenever he had to go to the bathroom for the number two, as he called it.

But John had freaked out as soon as they had tried to get too close to him; nestled into Paul's arms with tears in his eyes, he was the perfect image of the distressed girl.

So the doctor and nurses had agreed with Mimi and Paul to diaper him, but only if he could be changed only by Mimi, Paul and a nurse he had befriended, Linda.

Linda was a blonde haired, independent woman, always smiling. John had seen her with a camera and was awed by it.

it wasn't a simple camera like John's, it was a professional one.

Linda had been contaged by John's contagious giggle and childlike innocence, never belittling his feelings and emotions.

She was always there for him, just like his aunt and boyfriend.

"Hi, Mimi. How is John?"

Linda entered the room, her strawberry blonde hair pulled up into a high ponytail.

She walked close to the bed, looking at the thin body underneath the covers.

Mimi smiled, just getting out of the bathroom. "John is doing fine, doctor said his reflexes are a bit better and he's actually a bit more lucid" she said, resuming her place next to his bed.

John was indeed a bit more lucid, but his fever was nowhere near gone.

The poor boy was still having scary hallucinations, the latest being him seeing his mother in the room.

Julia, he had told Mimi, was simply staring at him with a bloodied smile and she was sometimes whispering to him that he deserved to die.

"John, no, you don't deserve to die" had whispered Mimi, softly caressing his face and head until he was back asleep.