remedy | l.h

care

the smell of sterility wafted throughout the air. strong, bright lights shone, highlighting the light blue wallpaper in the children's ward, which was emblazoned with brown teddy bears. medical professionals worked skilfully, from patient to patient, despite the tragedies that surrounded them.

maddie was only one of the many patients to be held in this establishment, yet she was one of the most significant at this moment in time. she was in the intensive care unit, and inches from meeting death himself.

a doctor approached maddie's allocated nurse. "patient status please?" 
"eighteen, female, suffering from deleterious head trauma from falling down the stairs after becoming unconscious from smoke from a reasonably sized house fire." she responded.

"ah I see, is she awake?"
"not currently, we are working on that. i mean, we are hopeful that she will awaken."
"she will. i'm sure of it. actually, with adequate care, she should be out of here within a week."
"then why is she in this unit, ma'am?"
"i didn't say there wouldn't be consequences."

coughing and spluttering soon came from behind the nurse- maddie had awoken.
"i killed my mother. oh- oh- o.."

"honey, you haven't done anything wrong. your mother's death was a tragic event of misinterpretation, nothing more than that," the nurse compensated soothingly.

"no, it wasn't. i was careless. i left those straighteners on. i did it. not my mother."

"i'm sure that wasn't the case."

the nurse arose with caution, trying not to disturb the tangle of tubes protruding from maddie's arm. she was then summoned by the same doctor that she had had a momentary encounter with earlier.

"we've found the consequence." she said, sure of herself.

"and?"

"maddie will suffer with amnesia, short-term. it may improve over time very gradually, but the possibility of her memory becoming completely whole is very low."

"so what will she remember; would she remember the chat that i just had with her?"

"most probably not. she would remember events that have happened before the trauma had occurred, such as her mother's death, hence why she will remain fairly shaken about the whole thing; in her mind it would of happened around two hours ago instead of days, months or even years."

"should she be informed of this or should she remain oblivious?"

"well, at the moment, her best bet is to remain incognizant; we don't want to disturb her further- she may become very confused. you know what? call in one of her family members or a close friend  and they can tell her when it feels right to them- she's probably going to take it better if its from someone she knows, and trusts,"

"who should i invite? her dad has never been there for her, and her mother has passed,"

"pass me her mobile. ah, maybe lucas. lucas hemmings. he sounds like a decent guy."

"sure, okay, i'll call him." she took the shiny, blue mobile out of her hand, and dialed the number under the contact of lucas. she raised the device up to her ear, awaiting a voice at the other end of the phone.

"hello?" a voice asked, with a thick australian accent.

"hello, lucas, i am calling on behalf of crestfall hospital, do you happen to know maddie, by any chance?"

"yeah, why, what's happened?"

"she's in intensive care, and we need you to assist us,"

"no-no-no-no-no,"  luke said, his voice trembling in upset.

"please lucas, we need you,"

"fine, uh-um-bye." he replied, choking on tears.