Things Unseen

Chapter Sixteen

Alyssa let her hairbrush run through her hair faster than she usually did. Years of running late for school, work, and just about anything else had given her the skill of getting herself ready in less than ten minutes. She had thirty minutes before the time she and Dr. McCarthy had agreed on, but she wanted to be early for a change.

She grabbed her hair tie and began to gather her hair into it, then stopped. She wheeled back a step and stared into the bathroom mirror, lowered so she could look straight ahead despite being in the chair. She laid the brush in her lap and ran her fingers through her hair instead, realizing that the scorched strands had grown out. The burns on her face had faded to scars only she could notice, and other than her legs, everything else had returned to what it had once been.

She put her hair tie back on the counter and shook her hair over her shoulders. She had no rehab today. She was having lunch with Dr. McCarthy, and her family was coming that evening. It was going to be a good day.

Her cellphone began ringing suddenly, and she grabbed her chair's armrests in surprise. With a sigh and a chuckle she reached beside her and looked at the screen to see Corrine's name flash across the screen, signaling a video call. Her face broke into a smile, and she answered.

On the other end, Corrine lay on her stomach in her bedroom, her hair tousled and her makeup half on. She grinned as the screen cleared. "Hey girl," she said, "Wow, you look nice."

Alyssa rolled her eyes. "Thanks. And how do I look the rest of the time?"

"Nice. This is just nicer. Especially compared to me."

"You always look nice." Alyssa laughed, "It's just a unique nice."

"Oh, thank you." Corrine shook her head.

"So what's up? Why are you calling on this fine morning when you could be off doing... well, anything else."

"Wellll..." Corrine narrowed her eyes. "I haven't talked to you in, like, three days, which is about seventy-two hours, which is like forever, so I wanted to see what's up with you." She grinned.

"Oh, I see. Nothing much is different really, except I get today off because it's Sunday and all." Alyssa leaned back in her chair and held the phone in front of her.

"That's cool. You need a day off. If you're going at this rehab the same way you always worked here, I'm sure they have to force you to stop."

Alyssa grinned. "No comment."

"Mm-hmm. Thought so." Corrine tossed her curls. "So then what are you going to be up to today?"

"Well," Alyssa paused, "My parents and Tina are coming by tonight. And I'm having lunch with someone before that, so I'll be busy."

Corrine raised an eyebrow, "And just who is this someone?"

"Stop it. Remember that doctor I had back at the other hospital? The one I told you about?"

"You mean the atheist who lost his marbles when you mentioned God?"

"Yeah, that's the one."

"You're having lunch with him?" Now both her eyebrows went up.

"Yeah."

"Why?"

Alyssa paused. "Well, I bumped into him here a while ago, and he seemed... I don't know, not as angry I guess. Then out of the blue he calls me, telling me it was great getting to see me, and he hoped everything was going well with my rehab. So I called him back and said that I'd love to see him sometime, and he calls back saying that he'd love to come see me, and he's coming today."