Mindless

chapter 3

Third Chapter

  Two days of being bed ridden in the Gottlieb Memorial Hospital passed before I was allowed a pair of crutches.  I never believed I’d ever been as happy as I was to receive the pair of aluminum walking sticks as I was that day.  I wasn’t allowed to leave yet though. The nurse had told me that I had lost a lot of blood and I still needed to recover from the extreme loss. But they were probably just looking for my foster family. The police had also showed up. They had come for my statement on what happened the night of my attack. But they left half way through the story, telling me that was all they needed.

 If the nurse had found me nuisance before, they must have really hated me after I got my crutches. I wondered the hallways until my leg got the best of me and I was forced to retreat back to my bed for the first hour after the doctors allowed me out of the room. I had, had me two day worth of staring at the curtain in room 722. “You shouldn’t move around so much.” Carmen said as she did the routine every five minute checkup. “You’re guni’ be in here even longer than the doctor intends on keeping you.”  I was about to respond to her but then a group of nurses and a doctor entered the room wheeling a bed into the other side of the room. Carmen and I watched in awe as the large group’s silhouettes hurried around the other half of room 722. The medics exchanged a bunch of words, but they were speaking to fast for me to understand them.

 I had only just got to glance at the patient they lay beside me. It had been a boy no older then maybe thirteen years old.   He was knocked out cold like I must have been when I first was brought into the room. The staff left all in a clump and Carmen followed, hunting for answered. One of the nurses had tripped over the curtain that divided the room and allowed me to see the sleeping boy. He had thick un-brushed dark chocolate brown hair and roundish shaped head.

 Every breathe he took was deeper than the other.  His foot was what had been wrapped in bandages, but the rest of his body wasn’t unscaved. His face had what look like a claw mark across his face and he was covered in dirt. I found I stared at my new neighbor until the one nurses came back.  He closed the curtain and left me with only the shadows from the other side of the room. The nurses couldn’t seem to leave the boy alone for the rest of the day. Even though they were neglecting giving me any information about him. But just as they took their eyes off him something interesting happened.  Coming back from a wondering around the hallways, I was having a hard time getting back into a comfortable position.  Just as I was nestling into the layers of stiff pillows, there was aloud crashing sound from the boy’s side of the room.

  I watched in shock as the boy’s frail form stumbled across the floor in front of me and disappeared in the bathroom hidden behind the wall to my right. I could hear as he threw up whatever food he had in him.  When he was finished, I could hear him hyper ventilating. “What the hell?” He whimpered under his breath. Slowly I got to my feet supporting myself with the crutches. I hobbled over to the bathroom as quickly as I could, hoping nothing was wrong. Once in the door does archway I stopped, not want to intrude on his space. He was on his knees and sweat was dripping down his face.

 “Are you alright?” I asked after he didn’t notice me right away. “Do you need a nurse?” Once he says me he closed his eyes. He had an expression on his face that told me he didn’t want me asking.

 “No, I’m fine.” He sighed lifting himself off the floor, only to crash back down.  I hobbled over to his side and stretched my arm out towards him.  He hesitated for a few seconds before grasping my arm and letting me bring him to his feet. I felt my face contort with pain as I applied pressure to my wounded leg. Dragging both of us across the floor seemed to take an eternity.

 “I’m not lifting.” I stated once we were right up against his bed. The boy nodded and pulled himself onto the bed with the last of his mite. His horizontal position led to his legs dangling off the side. Once his spine had straightened out he let out a heavy sigh of relief.

 “Thank you.” He said in a hushed tone. I dipped my head and then started to hobble back over to my side of the room. I didn’t want to stay any longer then I had to, because I didn’t know if it was illegal to cross the curtain.  “Can I ask you something?” His soft voice brought me to stop and turn to face him again.  I couldn’t just not answer him. It would have felt like living a three year old that lost their mother alone.

 “Uh huh?” I replayed leaning into my left crutch.

 “Can you just tell me where I am?” He requested slightly lifting his head from the bed.

 “Gottlieb Memorial Hospital.” I answered vaguely.

 “No I meant which city or state.” It took me a little longer to think over what he had just asked me. I had expected him to just be a boy how had fallen off of something as boys do. But he seemed as if he was on a mission, his injuries just a setback.

 “Chicago Illinois.” I claimed. The boy began to mummer under his breathe. He seemed to be devising a plan of attack.  “But each answer I give you comes at a price.” I had once had a concealer that would make deals for me to spill my guts. They had always worked on me.

 “Is it as expensive as a Regan Price?” The boys shoot back an answer without hesitation.  When he spotted my puzzled expression, he seemed to realise that he had made no sense to me. “Sorry I have a friend with the last name of Price, ask away.” He said, already knowing what I wanted.

 “So what’s your name Boy on the other side of the room?” I asked and he smiled at my choice of words.

 “Coal Bennett and what is yours girl who saved me from the bathroom.” He said, grinning with pride at his own phrase.

 “….Claire Paige.” I answered, but had hesitated a little too long though.

 “What’s your real name?” He said, quickly detecting my lies.

 “Claire is my real name.” I tried to harbour the fake name. But he had already seen clearly through the myth.

 “No it’s not.” Coal smirked.

 “I’m not going to win this am I?” I said rolling my eyes into the back of my head.  Smiling, he shook his messy brown hair back and forth. “My names Jenna.” I said and when I didn’t give out my last name, Coal raised his eyebrows. “Florence.” I finished and Coal rested his head back on the mattress. It was nice to speak my true name again after hiding it for so long.

 “Well nice to meet you Jenna Florence.” His voice hummed quickly, before his weakness took over and he was just a sleeping thirteen year old boy again. On my way back over to my bed, I’d tried to convince myself that Coal was just a normal boy. And that the vibe of difference was just a phantom. But everything from the way he styled his hair to the way his voice sounded was unfamiliar. It wasn’t what my councillors called normal. Endeavoring to forget everything that had happened lately, I turned on the little television that hung above my bedside. All the channels seemed to blur together as I flipped through them. Every face and every voice the same as the last. The lid above my eyes started to become heavy and it became harder and harder to stay awake.

 It came into my vision from the corner of my eye. A sparkling silvery stream of water. It was as thin as a ribbon and floated through the air as if it was in a cannel. Because of my exhausted state I was utterly fascinated with the flying water. Dancing it cut through the air shimmering and glowing. Lifting my hand I broke the surface of the water with the tips of my fingers.  The freeze of the water pricked my senses and sent a shiver down my spine. With my eyes still fixed on the stream I dropped my hand witch was completely dry, down by my side. Suddenly any energy I had left vanished.

My eyes slammed close and with that sleep kidnapped me, dragging me into its blackness.