Killing Tink

Ch. 4

Tink opened her eyes and saw a hospital room. Her arms were tied to the bed with foam covered straps and she shook herself to loosen them, which only resulting in making them tighter. She could hear the beeping of monitors and see bright lights made her head throb. It wasn't possible. She couldn't be here, not in a hospital. Where was Stash?  Alarms sounded with an urgent ringing and a nurse quickly appeared at her bedside.

"Hello there. You're ok. You're in the hospital. It's going to be alright. Can you tell me your name?"

Tink wondered if it were a trap. She scanned the room again looking for any sign of Stash. She was tied up. Normal people didn't tie you up. Normal hospitals wouldn't tie you to a bed would they?  Her head was pounding and her heart beat so hard she couldn't get her breath.

The nurse's face scrunched up into a pained expression as she came towards the bed, her hands holding tightly to a syringe.

"I'm going to give you something to calm you down okay?  It's safe here. Try to slow your breathing down. No one is going to hurt you."

Tink felt herself thrashing and the more she wiggled, the harder it was to breathe. The harder it was to breathe the more she squirmed trying to get air. She wanted to be untied. She wanted to run. Suddenly her body was slowing it's panic and felt lighter. Her breath came in gulps and her eyes felt heavy. Another nurse came into the room and lay her arms across her kicking feet.

"So what do you think?  Crazy?  Junkie?  Street girl?  My money's on most of the above."

Tink didn't care what they thought. She just wanted to get out. She wanted to find a place to raise her baby and forget everything that had ever happened to her. She struggled to fight against the drugs but felt herself being pulled under.

"She's not a druggie, that's for sure. That was only 2 of Valium. She's a lightweight. And I'm not talking about her body although she is in serious trouble there. Whatever happened to her she's starving to death. Tell Dr. Mann to put in a STAT consult for..."  The words faded as Tink drifted.

The next time she opened her eyes a small framed man in a suit was sitting next to her. He had dark skin and big brown eyes that Tink felt she could swim in. She'd gotten a good look at them because they had been staring at her wordlessly for some time now.

Other than changing his position in the chair across from her bed he hadn't made a move. And even the change of positions were done slowly and carefully as if she were a wild animal.

The first few moments Tink felt herself sweating as she waited for whatever was going to happen to her to start. The beeping was alarming and Tink thought about crawling to the other side of the bed but the ties made it impossible. She kept turning her head from the man to the door waiting for the torture to start.

After a while she calmed down. His eyes didn't shift around at all. He seemed perfectly calm in the chair, waiting for nothing. Just staring at her  like she was running the show.

After a few minutes he spoke.

"I'm going to get up from the chair if that's ok. I'm going to grab the cup of cold juice I brought you and bring it to you. I am going to move slowly, and just give you a drink of the juice and sit back in the chair. If that seems too scary I want you to tell me."

Tink looked at the glass of juice. Still in the container, unopened. And back to the man. True to his word he slowly stood up and stayed by the chair. She heard the beeping increase and she did her best to stay calm. It was too much. Why was he talking to her like she had brain damage. She wasn't a wild animal. She was just a girl.

He kept his eyes on hers and opened the juice. He placed a straw in the can and slowly walked to the bed. Tink  felt her muscles tighten and despite having no idea why tears flowed from her eyes.

He lifted the can and she drank the juice. Gulping it down until he pulled it away.

"I want to give you more but we have to go slow. It looks like you haven't eaten in a long time. Your body can't handle a lot right now. The stuff in your IV will help, but we need you to go slowly."

Tink wanted to close her eyes. She felt the sugar swimming around in her blood. Zinging like a warm fire, she felt it swirl around her stomach and it made her cry harder.

"My name is John. I'm a doctor here, a psychiatrist. But more than that, I'm a decent person and I'm very worried about what happened to you. I'd like to find out what that was, and how we can help you get better. Do you speak?"

Tink blinked back the tears and looked toward her wrists. A psychiatrist. A shrink. They thought she was crazy. Maybe she was crazy. She didn't remember coming here. Maybe she killed Stash?  That could be why they tied her up!  As much as she was afraid of spending her life in prison she would be happy if she killed him.  But she couldn't remember anything. The last thing she remembered was eating soup.

The soup!. She remembered Stash beating her. Kicking her and smashing her face with the pan and spoon after he poured the soup on her. She had thrown up on him. But that didn't explain why she was here.

As she remembered the last few moments she could remember she felt her chest squeezing out the air. It was impossible to get air in. She sucked and gulped for more and it just made it worse. She kicked and thrashed trying to get some into her lungs and the alarms started screaming again.  A new nurse ran in and the shrink  help up his hand.

"We're good. Thank you."

The nurse put her hands on her hips. "You may be good, but she isn't. She's in distress. I'm supposed to help keep her calm until she's stable. Her heart..."

The man stood at the end of the bed. "She's having a panic attack. She's not going to code. Please leave. Put my name on the monitor strip. I'll be fully responsible."

The nurse turned in a huff and left the room but stood at the room window with her eyes on the monitor above the bed.

Tink felt sweat dripping down her chest and tried slowing her breathing looking at the shrink in terror.

"I know, it's scary. But it's just fear. Whatever hurt you isn't here now. You're ok. I'm right in the room. No one is touching you. Focus on the bed. The bed is clean, the air is everywhere and I'm right here. I'm not going to hurt you. Just relax your body and breathe."

Tink kept her focus on his and slowly she worked on a single breath. In and out. And another. Slowly she stopped thrashing and felt her chest lighten.

"So, you're a tough one. That's good!  Most people can't do that quickly. You survived. Whatever happened to you, you made it. You survived in spite of it. Do you hear me?  I'm going to let you sleep now. But I'll be back. You did well."