Room 3014

two

a/n haha sorry for not posting in a long time, it's been a busy summer. Hope you enjoy this chapter, thank you for all of the views and kind comments

"You're a murderer! Murderer!" The words echoed in my head. The food set in front of me looked unappetizing, the salad looked bland and the same as every other day, no dressing just some lettuce, tomatoes, and carrots. The chicken and potatoes were cold and had a stomach-churning smell, like sweaty feet. The corn was the only thing that stood out to me, but I still was not in a mood to eat. I leaned my head back, there was no headrest so my head just laid back, the ceiling was white, with black splotches here and there, it looked like some green jello had been stuck to the ceiling in the far right corner. The walls were an off-white, almost a buttery color, I just want to leave this place.
I waved the nurse over, "You barely touched your food."
"I'm not hungry."
"If you want to get better you have to eat, you have to stay healthy."
I nodded my head, "I have to go to therapy now, would you mind taking me, I have no idea how to get there, from here."
I'm in the new section of the hospital, where there is a new food court, a little garden in the middle of it all, some new rooms from numbers 3000-5000, its a nice area and has the scent of new things, but it looks the same as the rest of the hospital, dull and monotonous. I'm going to the new therapy center, I haven't seen it yet since it's my first day in the new room.
The nurse didn't mind taking me there since my therapist is her fiancé, so she wheeled me into room 2189, it was a light apricot colored room, with a door on the left side that led to a room with white furniture, there was one love seat, and a single chair next to it. The table in front of the couch was white, there was a clipboard on the table with a few separate decorations which made it feel like a home office. To the right was a big gym area, with the name "REHAB" written on the tag next to the door. In that room there was a whole running track, some yoga mats, a few ellipticals, and two sets of railings that were used for teaching patients to walk again, whether they had just come out of a coma or like me were paralyzed and could no longer walk but they could now use the muscles in their legs. I can't wait till the day my legs will work again, the doctors have told me that at this point it has been looking positive and my nerves and muscles are healing, so I should be walking again within the next ten or so months. I'll be in that room very soon.

Straight ahead was the room I need to be in, the nurse rolled me in and there was an elevated bed right in the center with a therapist sitting in his chair. He was a taller man, he was built, his eyes were a very intriguing shape and slanted, his tan skin contrasted very well with the blue color of his nurse's clothes.
"Tristan, how do you like the new area?" He spoke with an excited tone. I have had several meetings with him, his name is Lucas, he seems to always be in a good mood.
"Let me finish up this email really quick and I'll be right there. Ms. Alicia would you mind helping him onto the bed."
"Sure" she shrugged and gave a smile, which made him smile back.
The nurse had lowered the bed and wheeled me closer to the bed, she allowed me to grab the railing on the end of the bed to try to pull myself onto it, she held her hands out in case I needed help. I sat down and she lifted my legs onto the bed. She left the room to check on another patient.
"Okay, now that that's over with," he laughed, "how are you feeling?"
"Ya know, just living"
"Right, well hopefully soon you will be back to walking. But you can't walk if we don't keep those muscles moving," he smiled, "you know the drill, lay down, and I'll start."
I laid down and relaxed, meanwhile Lucas grabbed my leg and pushed it to my chest, had me take a deep breath, and exhale as he pulled it back away from my torso, he repeated this many times and then went onto my other leg. He moved my ankles around a little and did a few more exercises.
He exhaled "Just two weeks from today and I'll be in the Maldives with my beautiful newly wedded wife. So I won't be here for therapy for another week."
"The Maldives," I chuckled, "that's an expensive place to go."
"I can't even tell you how much it is, but that's where she really wanted to go, she thinks we're going to Spain. It's a whole surprise, everyone knows except for her." He smiled so big that his gums showed.
"Congrats man! She seems real great. So you're a romantic guy then, huh?"
"How do you think I won her over, with a box of chocolates? No, I asked her about 25 times to go on a date with me and she kept refusing but the 26th time, I brought her her favorite flowers, did my hair that morning, and somehow I looked put together enough for her to accept. So now I have to be as romantic as possible because I now have to win her over and over again every day to prove I'm worthy for her."
"Sounds like something right out of a chick flick"
He laughed, "Yeah, it does!"
My appointment with him lasted another half hour, then it was over and it was time to head back to my room. It took me a good five minutes to get from that end of the hospital to the other side. My eyes are extremely heavy, but its only around 2 in the afternoon. I entered my room and managed to pull myself onto my bed. The humming of the air conditioner put me in a peaceful state of mind, I hugged Cassie's teddy bear and closed my eyes.
"Mornin' big bro," which was followed by a chuckle, "pancakes? How creative, you make this every Saturday. Next Saturday, can we try french toast or even bagels topped with sausage, egg, and cheese." Cassie walked over to the stove and took over the cooking. "Cassie? Wait, I thought you were-"
"dead?" she interrupted, "Why would I go and die on you like that?" she laughed.
"But, I was just in the hospital, how am I home?"
"Must've been a crazy dream then."
"ha, a crazy dream, you got that right."
"Remember anything else from that 'crazy dream' of yours?"
I explained everything that had happened to her. Cassie's eyes were drowning in a pool of tears, yet not one could stream down her face. I grabbed the plates, and two cups, the orange juice from the fridge and the syrup from the cupboard. The pancakes were finished and they smelled of syrup and sweetness. I put two pancakes on each plate, then we sat down at the table.
"It's your turn to pray." she grinned.
I opened my mouth to pray, but before I could manage to get even a syllable out of my mouth, the windows shattered and the walls fell and all of a sudden, the sun turned a dark orange, and the sky turned a purple, so dark it almost looked black. I tried to grab onto Cassie's hand, but she wasn't there, I heard her scream coming from a distance that was too far for my eyes to see. I walked towards the sound of her screams, the road just became longer, and longer.
"Cassie, don't worry, I'm coming to save you!" I screamed. As I walked, each tree that I past withered and died. Then, the sound of a familiar noise began. Beep beep beep, the sound of a heart monitor. There was a bright light that suddenly blinded me. My eyes opened and I was in a building, similar to the hospital, although something was different. The walls were pitch black, the plants were all dried and dead, and there was red ivy growing on the walls.
"Tristan." a deep and bellowing voice called. "as you already know, your condition is permanent, you will never be able to walk again." I looked over at the nurse, he was tall, skinny, almost to the bone, his face was caved in and as pale as the moon, he wore a black hood, that covered the top of his head, and went to the ends of his legs. He wore no shoes and his toes were curved like a birds talons. "Who are you?! Where's Cassie?! Whats going on?!" I yelled at him, he pushed me down, my legs were held down, and he somehow managed to hold my arms too.
"Tristan! Tristan!" I felt someone shaking me. My eyes opened. "Wheres, Cas?!" I was breathing very heavily, and shaking out of control.
"Tristan, you were screaming. I had to wake you up." a calming voice came from a kind nurse to the left of me. I looked around, everything was back to normal.  I let out a sigh of relief and tried to calm down. I looked into the nurses pretty blue eyes, "Honey, what was going on?" She tried asking, but I was too shaken up to respond. I tried sitting up and moving a little more.
"I want to leave, please take me out of here, just take me home, take me to where Cas is," I mumbled to her. "Honey, you know that I would do anything to help you, but that I cannot do that, I'm so sorry." she stood up and walked to the door, she opened it a crack and whispered something like "not now doctor, its not a good time, can you tell him some other time?"
"No time is a good time for this. Better to tell him now, rather than give him false hope that he's going to get any better."
The doctor barged into my room. "Tristan, I understand you have had a bad day, but I need you to prepare yourself for this news, alright?"
"Just tell me." I took a deep breath and was prepared for the worst to come out of his mouth. "As you know, your condition is a hard one to be in, about two months ago it looked like you were healing, but somewhere in these past two months, something has changed and now it seems like your muscles and nerves are no longer trying to heal themselves, and nothing is working. So it seems like your condition may be permanent. I'm so sorry, Mr. Andrews."
My eyes bulged out of my head, I tried to stay calm though. "Are you being serious right now, is it like April fools or something? Your joking, right?"
The doctor shook his head. I tried to stay cool, but my breath seemed to get heavier and heavier, I sounded as if I had just run a marathon. My sight became blurry and my cheeks became wet. I pulled myself up, I tried to grab the sides of my bed and stand.
"Mr. Andrews, stop." the doctor commanded.
"I can walk!" I shrieked. Two nurses rushed over and tried to grab me, "Get away from me!" I managed to balance for less than a second before I fell onto the floor. I screamed, while tears streamed down my face and hit the floor. I tried to stand up and I fell again. My hands were red, and my elbows hurt from the number of times I had hit them on the floor.
"I can walk! I can walk! I can.... walk." My voice cracked, and it was hard for me to breathe. I banged my hands on the ground.
"Damnit. Damnit. Damnit! I can Walk!"
I hit my legs as hard as my fists could.
"Work, damnit work."
Four nurses grabbed me by my arms and legs.
"Get the fuck away from me!" I screamed at them. My arms were flailing, and my hands kept hitting the nurses. The nurses strapped me down. I tried pulling my hands out, each direction, nothing worked, I was stuck. I screamed again. "Stop this! Stop!" I continued. "You said I was getting better! You said-" the doctor came over and put a needle in my arm. The room spun, and then everything was black.
I finally came to, "what did I do?" I asked the kind nurse, "the doctor had to sedate you, you were hurting a lot of nurses." A tear fell down my cheek, "I'm sorry. I'm so.... sorry." The kind nurse came over to my bedside, "Are you calm now?" she asked, I nodded. she unstrapped me and sat me up, she sat down next to me and hugged me. My head fell on her shoulder and I sobbed, she held me tight. "Shhh...It's okay to be hurt, honey. Everyone goes through tough times, and this is your tough time. I'll be here whenever you need someone. Don't give up, okay? You are so strong." She said with her soothing voice and continued hugging me. I opened my eyes and lifted my head, I looked at her face, there was a big bruise on her temple. I lifted my arm, and she flinched. "Did I do that?" I managed to choke up. "Yes, but it's okay, sweetheart. I'm fine, its just a bruise, it's really nothing."
"But it is. I hurt you and you did not deserve it... just.... just like.... just like Cassie." My eyes were swimming in my tears. "I'm sorry, it seems like all I can do is hurt, people. I don't want to hurt you again, please leave, I don't want to hurt you, please." She tried hugging me again but I turned away from her, "please, I can't seem to do anything to benefit anyone, I'm just a burden, I hurt Cas, and now I've hurt you, please.... just go before I hurt you again."
Her eyes were filled with pain, "Honey, you're alright, but if silence is what you need now, then you can have it." she gave a small smile and left the room.
All I'm good for in this world is hurting people. Tristan Andrews, the murderer.
I grabbed the sheet of notepaper next to my bed, along with the pen, the notepaper was covered in chickweed flowers, a small white flower, with a bright yellow center. The pen spelled the words "Every thought is a battle, Every breath is a war, and I don't think I'm winning anymore." I set the notepad back down on the table next to me, and moved my body to the edge of my bed, then pulled the wheelchair closer to me, and lowered myself onto it, I wheeled myself out of my room and to the elevator. The elevator door slid open and it dinged, once I entered the elevator, I tapped on the Button for the 10th floor or the roof. The elevator stopped on the 8th floor. The doors opened and someone was waiting to get in. An attractive young girl walked in, her eyes were puffy, but she smiled at me and hopped in the elevator. "Are you going up?" she asked. I was in a daze, her skin was sun-kissed, and covered in freckles, her smooth chocolate brown hair was shoulder length, her eyes glowed like an amber that was caught in sunlight, and were kind and soft.
"uh"
She smiled "Hey, are you going up or down?"
"uh I um, I'm Tristan."
"I'm Mallory," she giggled "are you going up or down?"
"Oh me? I'm uh, yeah, I'm going up, phew sorry, just got a little distracted there."
"You seemed to be daydreaming, what about I wonder." She smiled very wide and showed her pearly white teeth.
The elevator door opened, "Uhh, this is my stop." I told her.
"Okay, I have to go down, but I guess I'll see you around."
I giggled "Yeah, I'll see you around."
See you around, her sweet-voice called in my head.
The elevator door shut, and it seemed like I was slapped back into reality, only reality seemed a little different, the dark night sky seemed to be lit up by a few more stars than in these past few months.
It sucks when you know that you need to let go, but you can't because you're still waiting for the impossible to happen. Are you my impossible, Mallory?