Holding Onto You

Ch. 53

Demi's pov

"I wanna go sit by the water."

I turn my head to Maya to see her looking at me pleadingly, "Ok lets go sit by the water." I say.

She stands up and I put an arm around her and walk with her carefully. She's been doing good going up the stairs, but downstairs is a struggle. This is a slope and I am not to confident letting her walk alone.

I walk at her pace and help her sit down before sitting down beside her. She reaches for the water and I keep my head turned to her, "Watcha think?" I ask.

"Feels kinda cold." She says.

Cold. That's something new. She hasn't really been able to feel cold. She's been struggling with cold and just saying 'I feel numb' with it.

Curious I feel it myself and sure enough, it does feel a bit cold.

"It does feel a bit cold." I say.

She smiles, "I can feel cold now."

"I was just thinking that. That's a pretty big thing huh?" I ask.

"Yeah." She says keeping her hand in the water.

"I wonder how the ducks do it. I'd freeze my ass off."

She gives a small laugh, "You freeze your ass off when it's anything below 64 degrees."

"I know, poor ducks." I say.

She rolls her eyes playfully, "I think they are fine."

As the wind causes her hair to fly into her face, I pull it behind her as she looks at the pond, "I can feel the grass a little bit. It doesn't feel the same as it used to, but I feel it a little bit beneath me. I can't really describe it. I feel it though." She says.

"That's good. Do you think you're slowly getting feeling back in your legs?" I ask.

Maya was almost completely numb from the waist down when she discharged from the hospital. Once the pain subsided I did fear she was going to be paralyzed. Here we are though. She's walking and slowly getting back to normal. I know it'll take time, but it's nice to see her making so much progress already.

"I think so, a little bit."

I check the time on my watch to see it's almost 12 in the afternoon, "Do you want to pick some lunch up and come back and it here?" I ask.

"I'm not hungry."

"You have to eat Maya." I sigh.

She turns her head to me and looks at me with a fake smile while I see the panic in her eyes, "I know, I will. I want to eat here with you. I'm just not hungry right now."

"What do you want to eat?" I ask.

"I don't know." She says looking back at the pond.

I can imagine the idea of eating after all she's told me today, is overwhelming. So as much as I really don't want to see it, I'm willing to let Maya just eat a salad if it means her actually eating. I just don't want her to struggle and not enjoy today, so I'm willing to compromise.

"Maybe we can pick something up from panera or olive garden? Both have some pretty good options for what I think you'll eat. When we get home though I want to see you eat something a bit more filling-"

"I know. I will, I promise. I just don't want to think too much about it and overwhelm myself. I'm actually having a good time right now which I haven't had in a while, a long while. So I just don't want to think about what I'm going to eat. I'd rather you just not tell me when I'll have to and just say 'ok lets go get something to eat now'. I'll eat whatever you say I need to, me doing it my way isn't going to make me better. I'd be better by now if it worked doing it my way, I'm not. So I know I need to do it your way and whatever way the doctors say."