Obscurity

Chapter 16: Participation

Sierra

Lunch came and went without a hitch. No angry and defiant outbursts from anyone. We turned our trays in at the cart and Stacy appeared out of nowhere to announce to the day room that Group would be starting in ten minutes. Oh, joy. Another Group, another day. I'm not too enthused about it because it's always the same old song and dance.

It's exactly what you might think it is. All of us sitting around together sharing our various stories and whatnot. It bores me because hearing the same old things over and over takes the fun out of it. All the stories, same endings. Except for one, actually. I just realized I never heard Alma's story. Perhaps today's Group may prove to be a little interesting.

I look over to Alma sitting by the large windows in the day room and wonder if she's going to come to Group. While Michelle and Jim pass by me to make their way there, I hang back behind to see if Alma makes a move. She sits there, seemingly uninterested with migrating with the rest of us. My hopes dwindle a little with this.

Chris comes out of the nurses station, carrying his clipboard and comes over to me. "How's your nose doing?" he asks.

"Well, I'm just fine now that you ask." I quip then quickly correct, "My nose is fine, so nice of you to ask." I grin at him and half curtsy. I'm probably quite a sight with this splint bandaging still dominating my face.

He smiles, "Good to hear the both of you are doing well." He jokes. "Are you going to Group, Sierra?"

"Indeed I am, Sire." I say with a terrible British accent.

"Good, you'd better get moving along, so you're not late." He says. It seems as though he's trying to get rid of me. Group is starting soon, but I'd rather stay right here and find out if Alma is going to come along and make it memorable.

"I was waiting to see if Alma was going to join us today." I explain.

With the mention of her name, Alma looks up at Chris and me. I throw my friendliest smile at her before gearing up to talk her into coming with me.

Chris approaches her table and I stay where I am, half in the hallway half in the day room.

"Alma, would you like to join us for Group?" He asks.

She doesn't answer right away. She must be trying to decide. Thinking it over in her mind. She looks over to me and then back to Chris.

"We would sure love to have you with us today, Alma." He says, emphasizing her name for some odd reason. He's weird. I shrug it off.

"Sure. I'd love to participate, Chris." She says in response. She also emphasized his name. These two are acting strange. I wonder what that's all about.

"Well come on then. We've got about five minutes until it starts." I announce giddily as I turn and stroll towards the group room, the two of them trailing behind me.

I almost skip my way to Group. I'm really excited to find out more about Alma. Hopefully, she'll share some basic information with all of us. I worry she won't be very talkative. She keeps to herself for the most part, and I'm dying to find out more about her. I cross my fingers and keep hoping she opens up a little. At least enough to quell my insatiable curiosity some.

Upon entering the Group room, I see the chairs pulled from their normal stacked formation and set around the room. They're not set exactly in a circle, but it's close. They are lined up in a semi-round formation. I take a seat immediately to the left of where Stacy usually sits.

If I sit to Stacy's left side, she will call me last when we all share. She typically starts the sharing circle by calling on the person immediately to her right. I hope she doesn't change it up today. That would be awkward since I deliberately sat left of her to avoid going first.