I wake up to the sound of Cory closing the hospital room door, and slowly open my eyes to see him dressed and ready, holding a McDonald's bag.
"Hey baby, I brought you breakfast." He whispers. I smile and push myself to sitting up against the bed, as Cory sits on the edge .
He takes out a breakfast burrito wrapped in a plastic wrap with the McDonald's logo on it, and hands it to me with a warm smile. I grab it and begin eating, as Cory eats a sandwich and hash browns. A loud knock comes from the door and we both turn to look, as a short blonde skinny woman walks in.
"I see your up! I'm Stella, I'll be your nurse this shift." She says smiling with bright teeth. Cory and I nod as she walks over to the computer in the corner of the room and begins charting.
I quickly become full, eating half of my burrito and setting the other half in the McDonald's bag we're using as a garbage.
"Alright, so it looks like today we have your hourly walks and a shower. Is that correct?" Stella asks politely.
"Yes, but the doctor mentioned that she'd be able to receive some pain medicine?" Cory asks nicely, and is correct. The burns have been bad, and my hip is in horrible pain from falling on it.
Stella nods with a smile, and stands up giving me that 'are you ready to walk?' look that I dread. I smile and pull myself to sitting on the edge of the bed, groaning In pain. I grab onto the bed and pull myself into a standing position, as I'm now able to by myself.
"I'll be back love, I'm going to do some laundry." Cory mutters softly squeezing my hand, and kissing my cheek as I nod. Stella grabs my arm to help me walk and I pull away.
"I'm sorry, but I like going by myself. Gives me thinking time." I say with a sincere smile, trying to lighten how rude that was.
"That's fine." Stella says smiling and walking out, disappearing in the hallways.
I begin walking out of my room, and turning down the hall towards the family room. as I step down the cold, white floors I hear a small girl crying. suddenly I look to the left of me and see Chloe, the girl I met yesterday.
She's sitting on her bed, clutching the green rough hospital blanket in one hand, and holding a small stuffed elephant in the other. tears streaming down her face, hooked up to an IV pole. The color of the bags has changed, and the liquid. They're still yellow but the bag has a red sticker.
"Sweetie, are you alright?" I say taking a step toward her room, and instantly biting my lip rethinking that.
She looks up with clammy cheeks and bloodshot eyes from crying, quickly wiping her tears.
"I'm fine." She says quickly looking away and laying back in bed, which is still propped up.
I walk into her room and see many cards taped to her walls, bags of clothing, and small bags of chips on her counter. Along with many machines on her bedside. I quickly sit on the chair that's next to her bed, and set my hand on hers.
"What's wrong?" I ask sincerely. She looks at me with a different look in her eyes, a look of hope. Tears stream down her face again.
"It hurts." She cries covering her face with her hands. I squint in confusion, and she looks at me once more.
"What hurts?" I ask puzzled. I gave her a serious face as another tear streamed down her face, and her lip quivered.
"Everything hurts.. Everything always hurts." She says crying, and with a sigh. I suddenly have no idea what to do. How do I help her? What can I do? Then it comes to me - what am I good at? Being motherly.
I move to sitting on the edge of her bed even though my hip is killing me, as she quickly jumps on my lap, and hugs me tightly. She sobs louder, and stunned I brush my thumb up and down on her back.
"It's okay baby girl." I mutter as she puts her head under my chin, and I put my hand on the back of her head. Holding still , ready to cry myself from the pain of more weight on my hip. But I can't leave her, I just can't.
