Without Chance

Chapter Ten: The Sleeping Girl

As my father and I went down the hallway just off the elevator, I noticed the sign pointing to Emergency Care. I thought about the girl, and had an impulsive idea.

"Hey Dad?" I asked. He looked down at me. "Can we go see her?"

"Who?"

"The girl who was strangled," I said, trying not to add "Duh" to the end of that sentence. Who else would I be talking about? He considered, but stopped walking.

"Yeah, for a few minutes," he replied with a sigh. We turned down a side hallway, not toward Emergency Care. We went to another wing of the hospital and spoke to the woman behind the desk.

The woman looked like an Islander, her hair in dozens of tight, elaborate braids, and a mother-of-pearl necklace. I smiled at her. This woman reminded me of my fourth grade teacher. She was a great teacher.

"Oh hi, Mark," she said to my dad.

"Hi Simone," he said, smiling at her. "Listen, I know it's not visiting hours, but my son here goes to school with the attempted suicide patient. They're friends and he wanted to just step in really quickly and see her." My dad touched my arm as he said "attempted suicide" to keep me from protesting. This was not the place to argue that point. I kept quiet.

"Sure, Mark," she said, "go on in." I'd been right. She had the same accent Mrs. Torrey in the fourth grade had.

"Thank you ma'am," I told her with a smile. She smiled back at me.

"Sure thing, sweetie. Your friend Katie is down the hall in room 146. You two need anything, you just give me a shout," she said. My dad thanked her, and steered me past the desk and down the hall. Her name was Katie. I made a note to remember her name. I didn't really know her, but it felt important.

We walked in room 146, my dad knocking softly, then glancing through the small window in the door before turning the handle and opening it. He gestured me in first. I hesitated, but this had been my idea. I stepped inside.

Katie lay on the bed, silent and still. She was lying in that unconscious position the doctors always put people into in movies; body straight, lying flat on her back, legs straight and arms straight down by her sides. You know, the kind of position that nobody naturally sleeps in?

She had tubes and tape everywhere, holding in her IV, monitoring her heart-rate and respiration, even a long tube down her heavily-bandaged throat.

On either side of the bandage I could see telltale traces of vicious bruising. The tube was attached to a machine that gave a regular hissing pulse. Her brown hair had been neatly arranged, also not a natural look for someone lying in a bed. I moved closer.

Katie was alone in the room, kept company only by the hissing and beeping of the various machines. She looked terrible. I felt a lump form in my throat as I reached her bedside. I watched her sleep for a minute, then unconsciously reached my hand out and touched hers.

I half-expected a miraculous reaction, like she'd suddenly wake up, or reach out and take my hand, but nothing happened. Not even a flutter of her eyelids. I sighed heavily, and turned to go. I wasn't sure why I'd come down here to begin with.

"What are you two doing in my daughter's room?" a sharp, rough woman's voice sounded. The woman looked angry, but bore a resemblance to Katie that nobody could miss.

"I'm sorry ma'am," I said quickly. "I'm Ryan, Katie's friend from school. I just wanted to see her, to make sure she was doing okay. We didn't mean to bother you."

She looked at me hard, then at my dad. He gave her a reassuring smile, but said nothing. Something seemed to click in her thoughts and her eyes went back to me in surprise.