The Life Of Gabi Walters: Book 1

Chapter 13- Ridding The Wheelchair... Almost

(I couldn't think of a good chapter title, sorry.)

It's been a few months since the wreck, and today I'm taking Adrien to the hospital to see if he can walk. The doctor said if he can stand, and walk a few steps, then he can get crutches, and go to physical therapy to learn how to walk again. If he can't, then he'll never walk again. He'll never be able to do what he loves. He'll have to live like this for the rest of his life, and I know that would crush him. 

We're not even going to bother going to school today, because his appointment is at 9:30. At around 8:00, I pick him up and we get coffee. 

---

After coffee, I drive to the hospital, and park near the front of the building. It's only 9:12, so we wait in the car for a while. The radio's off so we just sit and stare out the windshield. After 5 minutes of that, Adrien grabs my hand and looks at me with pure terror on his face. 

"Gabi, what if I can't walk? What if I have to  be in this stupid wheelchair for the rest of my life?" He starts to cry, and I pull him into a tight hug.

"Hey, it's gonna be okay, Adrien. You're strong. When you want something, you don't let anything get in your way."

"Even a wheelchair?" He jokes.

"Yes Adrien, even a wheelchair." I laugh. "It's 9:20, we should probably go in now." I lightly rub his back. He nods and I get out and help him out of the car. I push him past the parking lot, through the double glass doors, into the elevator, and down the hall into a patient waiting room. I sit at the end of a row of hard, uncomfortable chairs so Adrien can set his wheelchair beside me. I look over at him and he's shaking like crazy. I reach over and squeeze his hand to let him know it's going to be okay. 

"Hey, you can do this. Everything's gonna be fine."

He nods. Then we hear the door open, and a nurse steps out with a clipboard, and yells, "Adrien Anson!" He turns back to me and starts to breathing really hard. Tears start to well up in his eyes, and he starts shaking more.

"I can't do this Gabi, I can't-" I kiss him to stop him from talking. 

"That's supposed to stop someone from hyperventilating. Did it work?"

"Yeah, I think it did." He nods. I kiss him on the cheek and we head back to the room. They take us into a room with just a bed and a chair. I take a seat in the chair while the nurse take Adrien's blood pressure, checks his eyes, etc. 

"Alright, the doctor will be in shortly." The nurse goes to leave, but then she stops at the door and turns to Adrien. He's shaking even more now. "You're gonna be fine. Okay?"

Adrien nods and the nurse leaves the room. 

---

A few minutes later the doctor comes in wearing a long, white 'lab' coat. "Hey Adrien. I'm doctor Johnson. Are you ready?"

I see Adrien take a deep breath. "Um, not really." He laughs, trying to hide his fear. He looks at me and does a cute half-smile. Then he nods and I grab his hand and stand up. He slowly tries to push himself out of the chair. At first it's hard for him, but I push him up and get him standing. After a few short breaths, he takes a step. He almost falls, but I catch him.

"You're doing great, just keep going. A few more steps." The doctor says. I help him take another step, and another, then I let go. 

"No don't let go yet!" He says. "I'm not ready, I don't think I can do it."

"Come on. Yes you can. Start walking Adrien. You can do this."

"Okay." He takes a step and almost falls, but he catches himself. He walks all the way to the door before he stops. He looks up at the doctor to see if that was good enough. If he's healthy enough to walk yet.

The doctor clears his throat. "Well." he pulls out a pair of crutches. "Congratulations Adrien. You're cleared to walk again." We both burst into tears and I run over and hug him as tight as I can. "But you have to use the crutches!" The doctor yells.

"I will." Adrien says.

"You did it. I told you you could do it!" I say, still crying. 

"You guys can check out at the front when you're ready." The doctor nods and leaves the room. As soon as he closes the door I kiss Adrien. 

"You know how you said you were gonna make it up to me? You know, for how it used to be?"

"Uh yeah, why?" 

"Adrien you don't need to do that. You've already made it up to me."

"Yeah I do."

"Why do you insist on doing it? You already have enough to worry about without worrying about me." I say.

"Because I-" He stops in the middle of his sentence. "Because I just do, okay? Just let me do this for you. Please."

"Okay." He kisses my cheek and we check out of the hospital.

---

A couple weeks pass, and Adrien seems to be getting better every day. At first he was walking really slow, but now we can walk at the same pace. He's been telling me his physical therapy is going well too. So he should be healed in no time. Or at least that's what I thought. 

---

I walk down the hallway during lunch, and I see Adrien slowly walk up to me with his crutches. Once he gets to me, I can tell he's really worried, and he drops his crutches and clings to my shoulders. "Adrien what's going on? What's wrong?" He looks up at me, and I don't think I've ever seen him so scared. He starts crying on my shoulders, and I slowly help him onto the floor. 

"Gabi I can't feel my legs. I can't walk." He starts to cry harder. 

"Hey, you're probably just psyching yourself out." I start to rub his ankle. "Can you feel that?" He shakes his head, and I start to get worried. "Okay, but the doctor told us that once you could walk, you would be able to walk for good. So it's probably just nothing, right?"

He shakes his head again, this time more frantically. "No, my physical therapist said it was possible and that if I stopped being able to feel my legs at all that I should call an ambulance."

"Okay, okay. Let me call them." I dial 911 in one hand, and hold Adrien's in the other.

I hear a click a man answers the phone. "Hello, 911, what is your emergency?" 

"Hi, I need an ambulance at Crystal Valley High right now! I'll explain in the ambulance just please send someone!"

"We'll send someone right away ma'am."

"Thank you." As soon as I hang up the phone, Adrien hugs me, still shaking, and cries into my shoulder. 

"What if they can't fix me?" Adrien cries.

"I-I don't know."

This is the final chapter of Book 1 of the Gabi Walters series! There WILL be a sequel, and there will be a few new characters being introduced. *Cough Matt cough.* Anyways, I hope you've enjoyed, and the next book is gonna be even more fun! ;) Oh and by the way, I might still EVENTUALLY write my take on Bad Boys' Girl, soo, yeah. And I think I'm gonna change the title, so I'll tell you when I get all the details. -xo K