Floating in the Abyss ✔️

Chapter 11

"You're moving wards today." Smiled Laura, walking back into the room after talking with Nurse Charlotte in the hallway.

"Oh." I responded, not realising that it actually meant I wasn't staying here anymore.

"You won't be under intensive care, but I've made a special request for you to keep working with Nurse Charlotte for now because you seem to get along with her and I think she's a good nurse for you. She will look after the other patient in your room too." Laura spoke professionally and listed everything in an organised manner. She seemed to be extremely efficient in getting everything done.

"Other person?"

"Yes, this isn't a private hospital because you were such an urgent patient, so if you're not in the intensive care unit, you have to share with another person."

"Oh." I said again. I wasn't sure how I felt.

"But don't worry, there's a curtain and," I zoned out of what Laura was saying and thought about it. I could be stuck in this room with another person who I didn't know or trust for months. I didn't know anything about them, or their background and I had no reason to trust them. Nurse Charlotte is a trained professional, and Sarah is a police officer which means her job is helping people, and Laura is my mother, but this person is a nobody to me. And I didn't like anything about it. "Ashlyn, hello?" Asked Laura, gently waving her hand within my line of sight.

"Huh?" I asked, turning to her again.

"Don't worry." She laughed. She called Chris and I listened in but didn't say anything. Thankfully, a few minutes after the call ended, Nurse Charlotte and two other doctors came in to apparently 'escort me' to the other part of the hospital. I hadn't actually been out of my room consciously yet apart from the first day for a scan, so I was interested to see more.

The two male doctors helped me into the wheelchair whilst Nurse Charlotte and Laura collected my few belongings to take with us. I had tried not to wince as they gently lifted me up, but I couldn't help it. The pain hadn't gone entirely yet.

"Sorry, Miss." One apologised. It felt strange being called 'miss'.

The doctors wheeled me through the hospital until we got to my new room. We went through lots of elevators and I saw a lot of other people who looked sick or broken in a way, but then had to go through the food court area since I was moving to the opposite side of the hospital.

"What's that?" I asked Laura, pointing to a big sign that read 'trampoline' in colourful letters.

"Trampoline?" She asked.

"There's no trampoline though." I frowned, furrowing my eyebrows.

"It's an ice cream store." She laughed, her eyes lighting up. "Can we stop for just one moment please?" Laura asked Nurse Charlotte, to which of course she nodded. I stayed sitting and had a look around at all the little kids running around. There was a little girl with a broken leg, sitting in a wheelchair just like me, watching as the other kids ran freely. I could see her longing to be playing there with them, until a little boy came up to her. They had to be around the same age, and even though I couldn't hear what was being said, I felt like I knew when I saw her face light up and the little boy wheel her around so that she could join in the game with the other kids. I couldn't help but smile.

"Here you go." Laura handed me a small cup which was extremely cold to hold.

"What is it?" I asked, peering at it. It looked a little bit like the chocolate mousse I had been eating every day.

"Chocolate ice cream. You'll like it." She chuckled. I was grateful that she didn't comment about how I'd never had it before. I could see a lot of people with it, so I knew that it had to be popular. One taste and I fell in love. It was even better than the chocolate mousse.

We then continued on our way to the ward I was now going to stay in. It took us a few minutes but after one final elevator ride, we went through a doorway into a room with an amazing city view.

"Woah." I gasped under my breath. I couldn't see extremely well since I was too low sitting in the wheelchair, but the bit I could see looked amazing.

"You'll be staying here, and I will still be your nurse, but I will have a lot of other patients now as well."

"Okay." I nodded. Laura was right that I liked Nurse Charlotte.

"And I have some more news." Nurse Charlotte smiled, clasping her hands together behind her back. The male doctors lifted me into the new bed and helped make sure I was comfortable before Nurse Charlotte began to talk. Laura was already extremely attentive. "I am very pleased to say that Ashlyn's concussion is gone, and her other injuries are healing very well. She doesn't need to wear the sling anymore and with a few days of therapy, you should be back moving just like before."

"That's great!" Laura exclaimed, beaming at both me and Nurse Charlotte.

"It is," Nurse Charlotte nodded, "but I have one more thing too. I can give you permission to leave in a week and you can go home." Home was a place that didn't exist. I didn't have a home, only a family, and even then, I only knew one of them.

"Really?" Laura jumped from her seat in excitement. She wasn't like any other adult I'd met before, although apart from teachers and school staff, I had only met drunk and high ones.

"Yes," Nurse Charlotte laughed. "I have to get going. Your roommate won't be here for a few hours so just relax here and enjoy the view."

Laura had a few quick words with Nurse Charlotte whilst I thought about it. I was going to go on my first plane ride to a new place in a week. I didn't know how to feel.