A Series of Unfortunate Events

Chapter 25

Andy obeyed carrying her through the foyer, turning left instead of right and then walking through the doors of the new suite. The floor plan was similar to the other suite, so Andy knew where to take Sharon to find their bedroom. He hadn't been here for more than a couple of hours the day before when he had brought Rusty, Patrice and Provenza, and the baby. Patrice had strongly suggested that he take a shower and put on some clean clothes. Then he had collapsed into a deep sleep for about three hours.

He had woken in a cold sweat from a dream about being in the cemetery, watching as a coffin was lowered into the ground. Suddenly there was knocking, scratching, and screaming coming from the coffin but the people from the cemetery kept throwing dirt on the grave. He kept trying to stop them, yelling for them to stop that she was not dead, but they laughed and kept throwing more and more dirt on the grave. Rusty had been there when he woke up and held him while he cried. He had even shed a few tears himself.

Patrice had come in with an inconsolable Bella then, and Andy had taken the baby from her wordlessly and sat in the rocker. He positioned her so that her ear and the side of her face was up against his neck and chest. He began to rock her while he rubbed her little back and hummed a lullaby. The baby had stopped crying and fallen back asleep almost immediately. Patrice had deemed him the baby whisperer. He had told her he only knew it would work cause he had seen it work when Sharon did it. Then he had bent his head and kissed the baby's head, tears had shimmered in his eyes.

Now Andy was carrying Sharon very much alive through the doors of their new suite. At her request, he took her to the bathroom first. "I need to get the stench of that place off me. Please, help me shower?" Sharon asked Andy as he helped her stand next to the toilet.

He helped her balance so she could get seated on the toilet, before saying, "okay, but let me check with Patrice, there may be something we have to do with your knee first."

A look of irritation crossed her face. "No one is touching my knee until I get a shower! Do you hear me?!" she shouted.

Andy looked at her with surprise, he knelt down before her and looked her in the eye. "Sharon, I didn't say we weren't going to give you a shower first, I just want to find out if we need to put Saran Wrap around it to keep it dry. That's all," he said in a reasonable tone.

Sharon blinked at him. A look of shame crossed her face. "I'm sorry Andy, I don't know where that came from." Tears filled her eyes and he wiped them away.

He held her chin in his hand and looked into her face. "It's alright. It's the drugs and everything you've been through. We'll get through this, Sweetheart."

She looked back at him. "I hope that when we come out on the other side of this, you'll still love me. That I won't have pushed you away.. ."

"There's nothing in this world or the next that would make me let you push me away. Now let me ask about the Saran Wrap." Sharon nodded. Andy went out and got a t-shirt of his for Sharon to wear and some of her underpants, he then turned and addressed Patrice who was standing behind him looking concerned. "Does she need anything to protect her wound from the water?"

Patrice thought a moment. "I'd like to take a look to see how deep it is, but I'm pretty sure she can get it wet now, but not once I suture it. Andy, I heard her shouting at you. That's not like her. What was that about?"

He rubbed his neck before explaining what he thought caused Sharon's harsh reaction. "She misunderstood me when she asked me if I would help her in the shower. I said I needed to check if we needed to do something about her knee first and she thought I was going to try to make her get it stitched before the shower. Her emotions are all over the place right now. Colleen said she could experience several side effects of withdrawal, nausea was one, she's already experienced that, irritation was one of them too, and hallucinations was another. There are a lot more but I can't remember them all."

As he said that they both heard Sharon cry out, "Andy, please help me! Don't let them get me! Andy!" She shrieked.

Both Andy and Patrice ran into the bathroom. At first, they didn't see her. She wasn't on the toilet where he had left her. He finally located her, she was wedged between the toilet and the shower stall, curled up in a ball covering her head with her arms. Andy knelt down to speak to her quietly and gently so as not to startle her. "Sharon, Honey, It's Andy. I'm right here."

She looked up hesitantly then launched herself at him. "Andy, please! Make them go away!"

"Make what go away, Honey? What do you see?" He asked concerned.

"Birds! Seagulls everywhere! They keep flying at me!" She whimpered plaintively.

Instead of insisting there were no birds, Andy looked around him, not because he thought he'd see what she was seeing but he was looking for the source of the hallucination. He found them. There were several bas-relief pictures depicting seagulls, pelicans, and other birds related to water hanging on the wall. Patrice saw them too and began to remove one of them. She handed him one and he showed Sharon, even tried to get her to touch it, but she resisted, looking terrified. Andy handed the picture back to Patrice, stood up and began helping Sharon to stand up. "Come on, Sweetheart, let's get you in the shower, get you cleaned up and fed. Having decent food in your stomach should help at least a little with these hallucinations," he said in a matter of fact voice.

Sharon let him help her up and cuddled close to him. He placed a protective arm around her and kissed the side of her head that wasn't bruised. "So you think that what I'm seeing are hallucinations? What about the irrational fear I'm feeling? Is it all part of the withdrawal experience?" Sharon asked in a brittle voice looking up at him.

"Colleen mentioned that you might experience hallucinations and irrational fear as part of the withdrawal process, so yes, I do think they were hallucinations. Colleen said that since you were only on Midazolam for three days, anything you experience should not have long-term effects. They'll stop, probably within the next 24 to 48 hours." Andy explained in a comfortingly matter of fact voice.

Sharon tried to remember the conversation with Colleen and realized that her memories were a bit fuzzy again. She held her head in her hands. "When did she say that? I... I don't quite remember." Sharon asked tearfully. She remembered having a brief conversation with Colleen, just as they were leaving, but she didn't remember her saying that irrational fear would be part of the equation. She hated being afraid. It was bad enough when there was something to actually be afraid of, but being afraid of things that weren't even there, made her feel foolish and humiliated. Sharon looked up into Andy's dear face and realized what he said while she was freaking out. She nodded and then leaned into him saying, "Let's get this shower over with, please. I'm getting dizzy."

Between Patrice and Andy, they got Sharon showered and dressed. Andy washed her hair and Patrice assisted Sharon with washing herself. Andy used Sharon's jasmine and mint shampoo then rinsed and conditioned it. Before they had come to Cathedral City and the whole series of unfortunate events had occurred, Sharon had gotten her hair colored, but the cheap hospital brand of soap had left her hair dull and lifeless. The higher-end products she'd brought with her to the Three Palms in the duffel bag did wonders to revitalize the rich auburn color, giving it shine and bounce. He left it to curl naturally, knowing that her patience, not to mention her stamina was waning. Once his t-shirt was on her and her panties were on as well, Andy carried her into the bedroom and sat her on the bed. He put a couple of pillows behind her back, and one beneath her knee to elevate it.

As they were doing this, Grace came to the door of their bedroom carrying a tray and cleared her throat. She was wearing a pair of jean leggings, that hit her mid-calf, a short sleeve blue blouse with embroidered roses on the lapels, and a jean jacket. A blue silk scarf was tied around her neck and her two-toned shag was well-coiffed, her makeup was perfect as well. "Hi, welcome back," she said brightly.

"Thank you, Grace," Sharon said politely. The shower had done wonders for her, at least for right at the moment. She was still tired, but she felt a little better.

Grace stepped into the room as she said, "erm… Lieutenant Provenza mentioned that you would be in need of something to eat. So, I put together a tray. There are some soup and small finger sandwiches. Just something light to get your stomach used to eating again. This tray is for you and there's a spread on the kitchen table, for everyone else."

She brought the tray over and placed it over Sharon's lap. "Thank you, Grace, it all looks delicious, but it looks like a lot of food."

Grace smiled, she hadn't known this family long but knew they were good people who had been through a great deal in the last few days. She was happy that they were together again. "Well, eat what you can and we'll save the rest for later, okay?"

Sharon nodded and looked at the tray again to try to figure out where to start. She decided to begin with the potato soup since it was hot. There were also a few small chicken salad sandwich triangles, a peanut butter and strawberry jam, an egg salad and a couple of small cucumber sandwiches. She picked up a spoon and dipped it into the soup, as it got closer to her mouth the spoon and her hand started to shake. She managed to get the spoon in her mouth and the shaking stopped when she realized the food in her mouth tasted very good. She put more soup on the spoon and continued to do so until it was finished.

Andy watched to make sure she wasn't having any problems with choking or swallowing. All the while eating his own lunch, which also consisted of soup and sandwiches, although his portions were bigger. Finishing with the soup, she started on the sandwiches. She nibbled one small triangle of each kind before she was full. Then her eyes started getting heavy. Andy took the tray and put it aside then helped her slide down, but he continued to sit beside her. Patrice had left the room but planned on coming back once Andy had gotten Sharon to sleep. He ran his fingers through Sharon's soft curls, trying to get her to relax and let sleep overtake her.

At first, she resisted but finally her eyes closed, once Andy promised her he'd be nearby when she woke up. After they were pretty sure she was out for the count, Patrice started wiping the cut on Sharon's knee with antiseptic and numbing wipes. She then took a needle and shot the area around the wound with a stronger numbing medication. Then she made quick work of sewing up the wound. It was a deep enough to need stitches but didn't go too far down into the knee. After thirty years as an emergency nurse, Patrice knew what she was doing. She put a bandage on Sharon's knee and rewrapped her ankle, then she put ice on it. Patrice finished cleaning up, leaving some oral antibiotics for Sharon to take once she woke up and after a few instructions for Andy she left the room.

He moved Sharon onto her side, facing the door being careful of her knee and ankle, then he lay behind her. He needed a nap as much as she did. They slept uninterrupted for three hours. When Andy woke up, Sharon was still sleeping so he got up, went to the bathroom, and then walked out to the main room of the suite. He found only Patrice there looking at her iPad and reading something about Midazolam and writing notes. She had a worried frown on her face. When she realized he was standing over her she asked, "Oh, hello Andy. How is Sharon?"

He stretched his back out as he answered, "still sleeping."

Patrice was still distracted by what she was finding out Sharon might have to go through to get the drugs that were forced on her out of her system. She was worried about her friend. Looking at her watch and then back up at Andy she mentioned, "We should probably get her up if she's going to sleep tonight and we need to talk."

"That's true, but before I wake her. You need to tell me what's got you so upset," Andy inquired. Wondering what could give Patrice such a distressed look.

With a loud sigh, the retired nurse explained, "I'm reading about the side effects of the drug they gave Sharon while she was in the psych ward. She seems to be experiencing a lot of them. The main thing is that I was trying to find an alternative to her going cold turkey." Patrice looked up from the iPad again to turn to Andy. "There is a drug that could help, but well, we may have a rather big problem."

TBC...

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