The Loving Silence

Chapter 40

Rue kept imagining the way the nurse had denied her behaviour and what she'd said to the both of them completely, and how the superior had believed her.
     He had barely even looked at them when they spoke. From the moment he walked into the room, it became obvious he had come for no other reason than that he had to. His face was so dull, as if it no longer had any muscles he could use. One would be hard-pressed to find someone looking more bored or disinterested in their surroundings. Even his voice sounded as if he was halfway through being sedated. His words were terribly slow and drawn out. Perhaps he had escaped right after some dentist had numbed his mouth in preparation for some procedure. Dentist visits were often feared by the general public after all.

Luca had wondered momentarily if there was something wrong with the man, medically speaking. But seeing as his voice perked up significantly as soon as he decided the meeting was over - without anything having been resolved - he was just unprofessional and rude. They could have told him the nurse tried to cut someone open, and he would not have batted an eyelid.

Sometimes Luca truly wondered if medical personel received a manual as part of their hiring process. Something that told them that "the patient is always wrong" and that "medical personel never make mistakes". They always did seem to cover for each other no matter what. Under different circumstances such blind loyalty might have been admirable, but this was just the healthcare system's guide to avoiding lawsuits.
     "I'm sorry for how you experienced your stay. Now I have pressing matters to attend to and as this appears to be a misunderstanding, I trust that we're done here. Goodbye now."

When her superior had left the room, the nurse smirked and turned her chin up slightly. Just to make sure they knew they'd lost. That no one would have their backs. It infuriated Luca to no end. He wanted the lot of them under investigation so that they could at least be fired, but preferably reprimanded in court as well.
     He was trying to get Rue to agree to take the matter further, but Rue wasn't sure he had the energy. Mentally or physically. It was such a struggle to push back against someone when they couldn't see they were even in the wrong. And this time multiple someones were involved.

     "How are you feeling?" Luca wondered and squeezed his hand.
     "I don't know. I can't quite believe that they dismissed us like that. Even going as far as to try and make us think we had dreamt it. Imagined it all. They didn't care enough to even listen. Probably naive of me, but I didn't expect that."
     "I rather did. You're just more of a romantic than I am. More trusting. I hoped they'd see sense, but I can't say I actually expected them to. The system is rather dependable that way. You can always trust it to screw you over." He stretched and jawned.
    "But just as I told you, I can speak to Skyler about it. He will be able to help and so will Mica if we ask him. I am sure of it." He glanced at Rue before he turned the car onto the street leading up to the hotel. "Look, I can tell you're not sure you can fight this for your own sake, but think about the next person that comes through there. They may be treated even worse than you were, and may not have the strength to fight it. They may not have anyone with them, and it may break them."
     "Are you saying that would be my fault then? If another person were to be mistreated like I was?"
     "Of course not! The victims are never to be blamed for that which they are exposed to. I am merely saying that... I don't know what I am saying actually. I just hated being treated like that, seeing you get treated like that, and I'd hate to see someone else, someone who has no one to speak up for them, to be treated like that. I am thirty one years old. I have met enough troubled people, seen enough abuse in my lifetime. I am tired of seeing people hurting people without a second thought."
     "Are you referring to The Place?"
     Luca nodded once, "We were at the very bottom of society and there was nothing to indicate that we would ever move up. We had nothing for so long that..." he frowned and breathed deeply, "Let's just say there came a time when we no longer wished for better times. We merely accepted our fate, and did our best to make it through the day."