Annabelle's Dream

Chapter 2

Annabelle stepped out the door into the cold night air. She shivered, but kept her pace to a fast walk. Before she knew it, she was at the hospital sitting in the waiting room.

The hospital was a lot busier than normal. So she had to wait for two hours before she even made it to the front desk. She was greeted by a dull hello, but she didn't care in the slightest.

"May I see Christopher Ross. Can you tell me where to find him?"

"Sorry, sweetheart. No one is allowed to see him. He's in ICU."

"But I have this letter giving me permission to see him when I want."

Annabelle pulled out her letter and handed it to the lady behind the front desk. She read it over and yelled into the back of the office.

"Horace! This woman needs to see Lieutenant Ross! Take her will ya?"

The man named Horace came out from behind the desk and said, "I'm not taking her anywhere until I see something that permits her to see the Lieutenant."

The lady thrusted the letter at Horace and turned to help the next person. Annabelle stood to the side and watched as Horace's eyes move slowly over the words in the letter.

"This way." He said flatly.

Annabelle followed him down the hall, through a corridor, past rooms 45, 46, 47, and 48. He stopped at the door that said, "ICU. Ross, Christopher."

"In you go," Horace barked.

The nurses that were caring for Christopher jumped as Annabelle walked through the door. Then one of the nurses that looked old enough to be Annabelle's grandmother said the best possible thing to her, "Oh! You must be Annabelle! Christopher here talks about you all the time."

"Excuse me," said Annabelle in a shaky voice, "but I'm not sure that I quite know what happened. I received a telegram from him, but he doesn't look well enough to send a telegram. Would you please explain to me what is going on?"

"Oh dear," said the other younger nurse who was watching after Christopher, "Do you not know?"

"You poor soul! Come, sit down and Ole' Aunt Gretta will tell you the story."

Annabelle sat on the edge of Christopher's bed and held his hand prepared to listen to the fate of the man she loved. Aunt Gretta, the older nurse, started at the very beginning of the story.

"It all happened when the Lieutenant here wasn't yet so high in the ranks. He was just starting out and had had a bad head wound from messing around with some of the boys in his barracks. He came to the infirmary and I was the nurse on duty. I told him to keep coming back everyday until I told him that he was safe not to come to have it treated any longer. While he was recovering, he was promoted higher and higher until he eventually was right below Lieutenant. He and I got to know each other you see. I had never had any children of my own and he was like a son to me. Anywho, we got closer and closer, and he told me a lot about you and how much he missed you. Well, one day he was sent off to battle on the front lines. The troop that he was in charge of were irresponsible and inconsiderate little brutes. They were making their way around a mine field with Christopher leading the way, when the man at the back of the troop stepped on a mine. The troop was blown sky high and Christopher was the only one to survive, but just barely. He lost a lot of blood on the way to the infirmary. Once again I was the nurse on duty. He was very lucky because he had only lost one arm and only to the elbow. After a few weeks, he began to seem better and it was starting to look promising for your Christopher. He eventually was able to sit up and feed himself. That's when they decided to transfer us both to the same hospital. He sent you the telegram and we left two days later. But, on the way up here, Christopher became very ill. He had a very bad fever and was not sleeping well. He assured me that all was well and that he felt fine. But on the third day of our travel, he was worse. When we got here, he wasn't responding to anyone or anything. They sent him directly to ICU, and I came with him. He's been here ever since. It's been about two days now since we got here and there is no sign of him getting any better. His arm is infected. It has been well cleaned and sterilized, so hopefully we will see improvement soon. I'm sorry we couldn't get the story to you sooner, but they thought that it would be best for you to just come see him for yourself. But, there is something that I do know to be for sure, that you being here will help him come around." Aunt Gretta finished her story with a smile and a wink as if to say, go on kiss him and see if true loves kiss really does work.

"Would you give us a moment?" Annabelle asked the two women.

"Of course. We will be right outside if you need anything." Alisha, the younger nurse, said.

When the two women had gone, Annabelle allowed herself to weep over how close Christopher had been to death only days before. She had now moved a chair over to the side of his bed, leaning her head against his good arm. She wanted to say something to him, but she couldn't talk through the tears that just kept pouring down her cheeks. At one point she thought that she might have to call the nurses in to help her not Christopher. When she could breathe steadily again, she took a deep breath and started to talk to Christopher.

"Hey, Chris. I missed you a lot. I was afraid that I would lose you every day that you were gone. When I got your telegram, I was so happy to just know that you were alive and breathing. I wish you would just wake up and tell me that everything will be okay; that you will be okay. I want you to know that I will come to see you every day until you wake up. Then I will spend every day that I can with you while you recover. I never wanted to be the first one to say this, but I love you, Christopher Allen Ross. Don't you ever forget that."

"I love you too, Annabelle." Christopher opened his mouth for the first time in days just to say those words to his girlfriend of one year.

Annabelle gasped. She gently placed her hand on his warm cheek and said, "Christopher, can you hear me?"

There was no response.

"Nurse! Aunt Gretta! Alisha! Come quick!"

The two nurses came rushing into the room. They began to check Christopher's vitals and listen to his heart. Once they had finished all of their tests, they looked at Annabelle and smiled, "Everything is fine." Alisha said.

"But I heard him speak! He told me that he loved me! He said it right to my face. I am positive that he said that!"

"Clam down, Annabelle! You're fine, and I'm sure that if you said you heard him speak, it happened. He has been on the mend for a while now and it could be possible that he is starting to wake up. All of his vitals are fine. He is going to live, and if I'm not mistaken, he will be better in a few weeks. Seems as if you were his saving grace after all." Annabelle loved the way that Aunt Gretta gave her all the details smoothly and as calmly as possible.

Annabelle took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Okay, Aunt Gretta. I trust you. I think I need to go and clear my head. I'm also really hungry and I need some food pretty bad. Can I get you ladies anything while I go to get my supper?"

Annabelle waited for the two ladies to respond to her question.

"Well, I don't know about you , Aunt Gretta, but I'm famished! I'll take a cheeseburger and some fries with a small Coke. If that's not too much to remember. Oh, and make sure to bring back some ketchup; I do love my ketchup!" Aunt Gretta looked up when she was addressed by Alisha. She smiled at the girls and then put her order in too.

"You know what, Alisha, that sounds so good that I'll just take the same thing! Sounds like you're a little more hungry than you thought you were!" Aunt Gretta winked at Alisha and laughed as she turned around to rearrange Christopher's IV.

"Okay! I can do that. And to make it easier to swallow, I'm buying everyone milkshakes to go with it! I think it's about time that someone rewarded you two for all that you have done to help and care for Christopher," Alisha opened her mouth to protest Annabelle buying all of the food, but Annabelle cut her off short, "No, Alisha, this is what I want to do for you guys. To show just how much I appreciate you two doing all this for him. No buts, ands or ifs! I'm buying!"

Before the two nurses could speak, Annabelle was out the door and down the hall.