Song Bird

Part 1

I stared at the shoe box of handmade cards and the bouquet placed on the table before me in confusion, glancing up at my expectant best friend uncertainly.

"Um, thanks," I said, glancing at all the handmade and colorful "Get Well" cards that filled the box. Kyle rolled his eyes behind his thick glasses, glaring at me slightly.

"They're not for you, Aaron," he said flatly. "If you came to the last Student Involvement meeting, then you'd understand what you're being volunteered for."

"Volunteered?" I repeated suspiciously. Kyle always wanted me to get involved with groups more. After he became the president of Student Involvement, he badgered me until I agreed to join his group, which was designed to help out with little things around school like decorating the gym for dances, hosting ideas for Spirit Week and painting murals in the hallways. I was never really that interested in spending my after school hours stringing paper chains up around the gym and only came to some of the meetings because Kyle wanted me to. Granted, I never paid that much attention, and that was coming around to bite me in the ass a bit.

"Yes, volunteered," Kyle confirmed. "We thought that for this project we'd get one of our least involved members to help out. Mainly so that we can get more people to want to be involved with our causes rather than to just have their name on the bottom of the members list."

I narrowed my eyes slightly, realizing that he was talking about me. When Kyle got like this, it was really hard to make him change his mind. Resigning myself to my new fate, I sat back in my chair, I glanced at the bouquet of flowers again. "So, what's the deal with the flowers, then?"

"Remember that incident with the girl that fainted a couple months ago?" he asked. I didn't know how I couldn't remember. The event was gossiped about for at least a month, about a girl who fainted in the hallway during passing period. She knocked her head on the tile floor and there was a big hubbub about the EMS showing up and the teachers trying to keep everyone under control. Apparently, she was still in the hospital three months after her episode. Kyle handed me a card from the shoebox. It was bright pink with doilies sporting big cut-out purple letters screaming Get Well Soon, Allison! "Our project for this month was to compile some get-well wishes and cards to help keep her spirits up. I volunteered to have you take the cards to her."

I placed the card back in the box. "All I have to do is take this to the hospital?" I asked him. Kyle tried to hide his pleased smile at my unsaid agreement to his terms.

"Yeah, yeah! It's really simple. She's at St. Mary's hospital, just ask the ladies at the reception desk what room she's in. Thanks, Aaron! I knew I could count on you!" He slapped my back in a friendly manner as he left, leaving me with my colorful burden. I sighed to myself, wishing I had said no so I could go home and play video games instead.
... ... ... ... ... . .

I headed over to the hospital right after school ended, hoping to get through with this quickly so I could do my civil duty of the month and get back to doing other things. I parked my car out in the short-term parking and headed into the building with the box of cards tucked under my arm and bouquet in hand. I told the receptionists the girl's name and they directed me to an elevator around the corner. I rode the elevator to the third floor where another receptionist desk waited. I asked again, and this time they pointed me down the hall to a room in the back. I noted that the sign pointing down the hallway led me to the Long-Term Patient ward. I wandered down the hallway, looking for the room number I was given.

The girl's room was the second to last in the ward, and she wasn't the only one in there. I wandered in, noting that there was a sleeping older woman in the bed near the door and a teenage girl sitting in the bed near the window. She was turned away, staring out the window with a rueful look, her long straight blonde hair falling lifelessly over her hospital gown covered shoulders. I took a few uncertain steps in the room, clearing my throat quietly.