Man in the Wall (Who is he?)

Chapter 26 - Frozen in time

I continue endless attempts to create a small form of communication between the two of us while performing her checkups but to no avail. She simply stares at me the way a mother does once she has had enough of her child's reckless behavior.

Her phlegmatic persona troubles me. I sense a death glare and fear she would snap at any given second and attack me. Too much? I doubt. Her zombified state is frightening enough to scare off the greatest, most feared predator. With her check-up completed, I place her file in the top drawer of the desk.

"What happened to you in there? In that room?" I ask with yet another attempt to get her to speak before returning to my seat. 

Despite it being a serious question, she doesn't answer me. Her eyes, un-flinched, as if frozen in time, are locked onto the wall on the other end of the room.

"Vivian, you do know that you can trust me right?"

As the words escape my lips and reach her ears, her eyes snap towards mine. Her head slowly rotates and she begins to tilt her head sideways. Her eyes grow narrow and intense as she examines my face. As if silently questioning whether or not what I just said is true and I hope that she realizes that it is. I need her to know that she can trust me.

I shift uncomfortably under her sharp gaze as it carries on for much longer than I expected it to. "Why are you looking at me like that?" I ask, wanting to break the silence along with the tension in the room. Yet again, she doesn't respond. It's as if I'm battling to revive her all over again. Previously it was her heart I had to save, now it's her head.

She slowly softens her eyes and rotates head back towards the wall. Her empty stares and silent treatments are getting us nowhere. This is not what progress looks like. 

"Fine, if you're not going to speak, let's get you to your room," I say as I stand up from the chair and walk around the bed to help her get off. 

As I reach for her arm and gently grab at it, she rips it away from me. Her features grow with pain and anger and feel a slight pang in my chest that she doesn't trust me enough to simply guide her off of a bed. It's not like I'm going to hurt her. She should know me better than that by now. 

"Vivian, I'm just trying to help you. I promise I won't hurt you and I won't allow anyone else to either... Especially Steven." 

At the mention of his name her eyes grow wide and her head snaps in my direction. Tears begin to fill her eyes and a look of fear is plastered all over her face.

As quickly as it came, is as quickly as it left. 

She shuts her eyes for a few seconds and I hear her take in a deep breath and exhaling before reopening them. A neutral look overtakes her features yet again and her eyes become soulless. I start noticing the heavy bags under her eyes as she yawns with exhaustion.

"Maybe it's best you spend the evening here. You need the rest to regain some strength. I'll take you to your room tomorrow," I inform her.

Then I remember that I sent Frank on an errand, which he gladly handed over to the nurse. I have to tell her to leave Vivian's meal for tomorrow. Besides, what on earth was I thinking!? She can't eat any solids now, her throat is swollen. I'll have to organize for some fresh orange juice. She needs the vitamins.

"I'll be right back. I just have a few things to deal with. Don't go anywhere or try to get up on your own. You'll only hurt yourself," I tell her as I slip out of the room.

Once I've dealt with all that needed to be dealt with, I head back to the room with the orange juice. Vivian is surprisingly still in bed. I walk to her and bring the juice up to her lips, but she refused to part them. "It's orange juice. Trust me, you need it," I say as I put the straw in her mouth. She reluctantly starts gulping each and every drop of it.