Learning to Trust

Chapter 70 - Day Four

Day Four

In order to succeed, you must fail at first.

This was proving to be extremely true for the girl in the early hours of the fourth day.

Three more left.

With a walker in front of her, her goal is to stand up and hopefully have some balance. She had been moved to a regular chair against the wall near the window in her hospital room earlier in the morning.

She's determined, and yet, she's full of fear.

There's three female nurses and Doctor Scott around her to help her get up.

"Okay. Are you ready, Tris?" The doctor asks.

She nods slightly, lying. She's not ready for a big step in the right direction towards healing.

"Okay. One, two, three." On three, all the nurses push Tris up from the chair. It doesn't require four people to lift her, for she still is extremely underweight, but they're all there for stability and balance.

Tris tries to get her right leg to function under herself, gripping onto the walker with trembling arms.

They've been doing physical therapy with her right leg go prepare her for this moment, but in the current moment in time, it seems to have done no good to her.

Her knee buckles under her and the nurses are there to catch her right in time. They place her back in the chair.

Breathing heavily, the girl grips her hands into fists to prevent them from shaking. She can't help the trembling if her right leg though.

"That was a good first attempt. Honestly, Tris. It really was." The doctor says, resting her hand on her shoulder.

"Let's try a different approach." The doctor says, moving the walker. "All of us will hold you up. Okay?"

Tris nots slightly again.

Counting to three, they all lift her up and get her on her foot. They all balance her, but they can't help the trembling in her right leg from weakness.

After about a minute, they set Tris back down for she looks like she is about to fall down.

"I've got an idea. The only problem is that it might get me in trouble, but oh well. I'll be back in a minute."

The nurses offer the girl water as the doctor leaves the room.

Leaning against the light and dark blue tiled hall in the hallway, she makes a call on her phone.

"Hi Four, Marie here. I need a favor of you. Will you come and hug your girlfriend?"

+ + +

Her eyes light up when she sees him walk through the room.

It's been almost two weeks since they've seen each other.

Two weeks since the girl was deemed no longer a citizen of the city she was currently in; the city she was born in.

"Tobias." She breathes, relieved.

"Hi." He says just barely above a whisper, tucking a strand of hair that doesn't fit in her ponytail behind her ear.

"Okay, so this is what I need. Because of stupid priority bullshit that I'm forced to follow, the nurses and I are no longer able to work with her today on standing and gaining some kind of balance. If you're up for it, Tris, help her up and have her lean on you, basically like an embrace, just to get her more stable on her right foot and standing. Alright?"

Four nods, Tris doesn't reply. She's too busy looking at the man she has been so desperately wanting to see since they have no longer allowed her visitors.

"And be subtle about it. If someone other than the three of us know about this, all of our asses are on the line. Okay?"

Four nods again and the doctor leaves the room.

"Do you wanna try this?" He asks the girl.

"Yes." She says, determined.

He shifts around awkwardly, doing quick trial and error scenarios in his mind as he hypothesizes what approach will be most successful.

"Is this alright?" He asks, referring to his hands under her arms close to her armpits. She's holding onto his arms with her hands, feeling more comfortable than when four nurses tried to help her get up.

She nods.

He counts to three, and on three he lifts her up with ease.

"Lean all of your weight onto me, Tris." He says with strain in his voice as he tries to help her balance on her right foot.

She's hesitant, not knowing how to position herself so that her leg doesn't tremble or her knee buckle under her. She grips onto his arms as his heart races frantically from not thinking much of this through.

"Lean on me." He says, but she doesn't move, still unsure of what to do.

'Will you come hug your girlfriend?' He hears the doctor's voice in his head in the same mannerism it came in over the phone.

He pulls his arms backwards swiftly so that her weak center of balance is thrown in his direction and her head lands on the lower end of his chest. She wraps her arms around his torso for support, and he steps forward, supporting her back and holding her tight.

"There you go," he says into her hair. She still is stiff in his arms from the initial shock he gave her from forcing her into his arms.

"You're standing!" He says to boost her confidence. She's still uneasy, and she's holding onto his torso as if her life depended on it.

The minutes go on, as her strength and confidence on her right leg seem to increase.

He feels her soften, her head growing heavier on his chest as her grip rays strong.

Her right leg shakes, but not as strong. Most of her weight is being leaned onto him, so there's less pressure on her leg.

After a few minutes, her leg begins to buckle under her, so he helps her ease back into the chair that he usually sits in when he is visiting her. He squats down to her eye level. Her lighter blue grey eyes meet his deep blue orbs as he strokes her cheek with his thumb.

"Why haven't they let you see me?" She asks quietly.

He doesn't want to lie to her.

But he has to.

She can't know. She will flip and everything will go to hell.

He doesn't want to tell her that they want to ban her from the city, take away her dignity, and leave her to rot.

He wants to tell her that all of that is on the line at this trial in three days.

But in three days time, that trial will happen.

All of this has been hidden for her for four days.

There's only three more.

Three more until an unknown fate will judge the course of the future.