A writer and his muse

Chapter 8

Johanna woke up in a hospital. She noticed a slight tugging above her eyebrow when she looked around. Johanna reached up and gingerly felt her forehead. She felt strips of bandages keeping closed a jagged, bumpy line. Johanna reached to hit a 'nurse' button but found her arm in a sling and bound to her chest. She immediately started to panic and hit the 'nurse' button with her other arm. Moments later a nurse walked in.

"Hello. Good to see you awake." She scribbled her name on a large whiteboard. 'Angela'.

"Where's my dad and brother?" Johanna asked. She was scared for the answer she might recieve.

"In surgery right now." Angela replied. "I'm going to check on a few stitches you have." Johanna nodded. Angela walked over and lifted the sleeve of Johanna's hospital gown. There lay a square patch of white gauze. She winced as the nurse lifted the gauze to reveal a line of stitches across the side of her shoulder.

"Everything looks good." Angela smiled and fixed a new square gauze on Johanna's shoulder and let her sleeve fall back in place.

'Looks good?' Johanna though. No, it does not look good. It looks very bad. "How bad is it?" Johanna asked quietly.

"It's pretty deep." Angela replied honestly. "But you should regain full range lf motion anfd the stitches shouldn't leave a big scar. You have a very minor concusion. No lasting damage though. You might be sensitive to lights and sounds for a short while. I'll let you rest for a while." Angela left the room.

Johanna watched her leave. She waited a few seconds after the burse left to examine her room. Her clothes we folded neatly on a chair fairly close to the bed and Johanna stretched out to grab them. She threw on her pants and her shirt. She saw a phone in the corner of the room and padded over to it. She had to try dialing a few different times because she didn't know the number to get out of the building. After the fourth try she got it.

"Mom?" Johanna started and wiped her nose. "Mom you have to come to the hospital now!" Tears flooded down Johanna's cheeks and she had to stop. She placed the phone back on the cradle. She peered around the corner of her door out in the hallway. No one was around. Johanna raced back and shoved her feet into her shoes and back to the door. Still no one. She slipped out and looked around. A male nurse turned down the hallway to Johanna's left. She quickly turned right and walked forward. She noticed a sign that said critical and decided to follow it.

She was led though hallways and finally to a glass wall preventing anyone inside. Johanna sat down against the wall and cried into her hands. Hot tears ran down to her elbows and soaked small puddles in her jeans. She noticed nurses shooting wary glances her direction, but no one made an effort to go near her.

Johanna sat alone outside the place she knew her brother and father were and waited for Kate.