Things Unseen

Chapter Eight

Alyssa closed her eyes in an attempt to steady her spinning head. It hadn't really crossed her mind just what would come from lying in the same position for a week, but she was beginning to find out. She heard the nurse strapping the leg braces onto her, but didn't feel it. She tried not to think about that. 

Adrenaline rushed through her, and the smallest bit of excitement. She was out of that bed. She would sleep in a real bed that night – in a real home, with people she knew. She had never had a night in her life where that hadn't happened, and a week of staying in a hospital had been more than enough to make her look at it differently.

Enough for her to dread the coming months.

One week in a hospital, three days at home, and weeks at a rehab hospital afterwards. No one could tell her how long it would be. No one could tell her anything. It was a guess, a hope, a blind journey into the next chapter of her life: the one that would be spent just trying to relearn something she had done without thinking since she was a year old.

"How are you feeling?" Alyssa had almost forgotten about the nurse standing in front of her. She looked up and cocked her head, letting her fingers run over the wheels of the chair she found herself in. "Probably just how you'd expect." She offered a smile to the woman, who returned it warmly.

"I know it's got to be hard." She said, "I've seen a lot in my days here. People coming in and leaving with one less limb, one less organ, or not walking out at all. Then again, I've seen people walk out who didn't think they would, and some leaving with another little life cradled in their arms. It's all a journey."

"I guess so," Alyssa leaned back in her chair. "That's got to be hard for you, seeing all these lives changed so much."

"Yeah, it can be." The woman's voice turned wistful. "It's like a piece of me changes with 'em, you know. I can feel their emotions. And I'm just a nurse. It's harder for the doctors, 'cuz they're the ones who have to tell 'em what's what. They have to go out to the widows in the lobby and come in and tell the patient they've got cancer. I just come to change the sheets."

"I never thought of any of that." Alyssa stared up at the woman in wonder. Lines etched her face from years of wear, but her eyes shone.

"Well, miss, I never really thought 'bout what would happen if I couldn't walk. See, it all comes around, really. Everyone's got a struggle of their own. Everyone's got something going on behind their eyes. It's just that some share more than others," her smile returned, "Like old nurses who could chatter all day."

"Oh, I could chat with you all day," Alyssa grinned, and for an instant forgot she was in a wheelchair. "You're very good at what you do."

The woman grinned, "That's because I don't do it alone."

Footsteps sounded from the hallway through the open door. Quick ones that gave away who it was before his form came through the doorway and into the room. His jaw was set, and he glanced at the nurse without a word. She pursed her lips, "I'll be back in a bit, honey." She said to Alyssa. "Good morning, Doctor.: she said to Dr. McCarthy in the same pleasant tone that she had used the entire time. Alyssa realized that these two worked together, side by side often, she could only assume.

Dr. McCarthy glanced up from his chart and looked at her with a lingering gaze. His eyes were still cold as they took her in, and she kept her own stare blank. "How are you doing?" he finally asked.

"Um, I'm doing... fine." She cocked her head at him. "I'm leaving, so I'm pretty glad. Nothing against you, of course, I just want to get home."

"Wouldn't blame you if it was me." He shrugged.