Numbered

Chapter Twelve

Kylie spent the rest of the week in the confines of the hospital. Instead of having her own room like the upper numbers, she shared a ward with 1s and 2s. Intoxicated teenagers often wandered into the ward, shouting incoherently before a nurse dragged them away. The nurses themselves were constantly rushed off their feet. She often heard them complaining about the upper numbers in the Luxury Suites and how their needs could not possibly be met when they had to take care of hundreds of patients every day.

 Kylie had learnt from the nurses that she had fractured two ribs and bruised the others. Thankfully, there was no internal damage. The vehicle hadn’t been travelling at a high enough speed to cause too much damage and the nurses had told her she would be okay if she’d managed to walk straight after the accident. Her ribs would heal in six weeks and they’d told her to refrain from strenuous work. When she asked about general housework, they told her she could continue that, so she didn’t have to worry about facing the wrath of Madame Worth.

 Kylie was put beside another injured girl. The girl immersed herself in the many tattered books lying on her bedside table so Kylie’s days passed slowly.

 Jared visited, often with flowers and grapes, even though Kylie worried someone would see the problem with this image. Thankfully, he began covering up his wrist. As soon as he left, she felt like she was suffocating, and it wasn’t just her ribs that caused her pain. She needed him. Realising that scared her senseless. She had never really relied on anyone before, except her grandmother, and even then her grandmother had depended on her in turn.

She wanted him to reassure her as he always did.

When she had first woken after her cut was stitched, he’d apologised over and over again for arguing with her and told her how he thought he’d lost her. He’d kissed her on the forehead and held her hand when the curtain was pulled across. She wished he could stay with her until she fell asleep, but the visiting hours were limited and Jared couldn’t spend too much time away from home or his parents would grow suspicious.

One particular morning, Jared arrived with a box of chocolates. He urged her to get up and they walked around the hospital grounds. Together they talked and ate their way through the truffles. When it was almost time for him to go, she grabbed his wrist and pulled him closer.

“We have to keep this secret,” she whispered in his ear.

He smiled in response.

“I knew you’d come round,” he replied, with a smirk and she hit him playfully.

She didn’t know what exactly she had agreed to.

At the end of the week, the head nurse came to her bed and told her she was being discharged. She’d packed up the change of clothes Jared had given her and signed the necessary forms before walking out of the hospital.

Jared’s car was waiting for her outside the reception. The nurses had notified the Worths that Kylie would be leaving.

She sunk into the soft leather exterior, the effects of the pain medication making her drowsy. She didn’t know how she was going to continue work like this but she’d find some way.

“Don’t worry about the housework when you get in. Mother said you can rest tonight,” Jared remarked. “Though if it was up to me, I’d give you until your service ends to rest.”

She smiled. “As long as I’m allowed a good night’s sleep tonight, I’ll be happy.”

“You don’t ask for much,” Jared replied, as he shifted the car up a gear and gathered speed on the straight road. “Easily pleased?”

“I’m just grateful for the small things,” she said. “I’m better off here than back home. But that worries me, because I don’t know how my grandmother is doing.”