The next couple of updates might be a bit late. I've got some personal and medical things I'm dealing with and haven't been feeling very well at all. But, I promise I'm going to keep getting out what I can. Hoping to have a lot of this sorted in the next few weeks and be back on track.
Anyway, thank you for sticking with me. It's making me really happy to see people enjoying this. Thank you all. 3
The journey to recovery is a long one, a painful one, and extremely difficult. It takes a lot of fight and a lot of encouragement.
4 - Crawling Up From Ashes
The left side of her body hurt. It wasn't nearly as bad as it had been before, but the pain was still present and clawing at the edges of her consciousness at all times. Her left hand always hurt. Always. The fire had damaged it beyond salvation and it had to be removed just below the elbow, but it still hurt. She felt the muscles in her non-existent hand tense and flare in pain. The doctors said it would ease over time and she wouldn't feel like her hand was sitting in a bed of embers, but that didn't help with the present pain she felt.
"Cinder, hey, you alright? Should we stop for the day?" A deep sounding voice asked, though with a rich tone of warmth and sincerity.
Cinder's attention came back to her current situation. Her right hand gripped the balance bar for support and she leaned against it. "Oh, sorry," she tried to say but it came out as a raspy breath. She closed her eyes and breathed slowly to let the irritation in her throat pass and tried not to cough. Things would hurt so much more if she coughed. She did everything she could to not cough. When she opened her eyes she looked over at the man next to her. Short, curly, dark hair and olive skin, green eyes, sheep ears. He looked more like a personal trainer than a physical therapist.
"Hey, no, it's okay. We can stop for now. We've been at this a half hour. You shouldn't push yourself." The physical therapist wheeled a wheelchair around and helped ease the girl into it.
The black-haired girl quietly nodded and forced a partial smile out of politeness. The truth was she was angry. Frustrated. Plain mad. Her entire situation wasn't anything she was okay with. The police still couldn't find the perpetrators who started the fire that cost her everything. No home. No family. No friends to turn to. She was stuck in the hospital until the doctors signed her papers that she could leave, but after that? She had nowhere to go. She thought about it a lot. All the time. She dreamed about it and the fire. Just when she had found a place for herself when she had found her grandmother again when she was getting her life on track again... Cinder sighed and slumber her shoulders.
"We'll keep at this and you'll be up and about in no time."
Cinder nodded and forced another smile. It was hard to be in a sour mood with Mister "Check-out-my-cute-sheep-ears" Woolsey and his positive attitude about everything. She tried to speak again but couldn't get out more than a hoarse "aah" sound. She frowned and had to motion for Woolsey's attention. She really wanted to ask for something to drink and hated she had to mime things, but at least it got her message across. No sooner than she motioned to drink something did an open bottle of water get handed to her. She smiled and accepted it before taking a long, slow sip. The roughness of her throat eased and she no longer felt like coughing. Cinder handed the bottle back and silently mouthed out the words "thank you."
"I already messaged ahead. Miss Stephens should be down to bring you back up to your room any time now. So, just take a breather. You did good work today. Definite improvements over where we started the week at." Woolsey took a seat in one of the chairs along the wall as he talked with Cinder. "I think a couple more months of this, and assuming your doctors agree as well, we can get you fitted and move you into prosthetic training."
Prosthetics. Cinder realized that she would probably get something to replace her hand but she always thought it would be way down the line. And only if she could afford it. She was aware that she might be able to collect some sort of insurance policy from the fire and her loss, but it would need to go towards her grandmother's funeral. Anything leftover would have to be for trying to find someplace to live. She didn't know about getting a prosthetic yet, and she didn't know how to express her anxiety about the whole thing.
She didn't have to explain anything because Woolsey could tell from her changing expression. "Hey, I get it. Let's not worry about that now, then. We can focus on the small goals. Leave the big stuff for when we're ready. What's important is we keep at this." He smiled and his ears flicked. Not a moment later, someone else was wheeled into the large physical therapy room.
Cinder craned her neck to get a look at the new person. They weren't anyone she had seen around the hospital before and she wondered what they had happen. All she could really make out was a great deal of wrappings on the person's arms and neck. And a mop of black and red hair. They looked frail, and considering the state they seemed to be in, she thought it could have been a fire they were in, too. She relaxed back into her seat and shook her head, not envying the new person. It was always hardest the first few times. She turned back to Woolsey and nodded her head in the direction of the new person.
"Oh, her? She's new. Don't worry, though. You're still my patient." Woolsey winked and flicked his ears again.
Cinder smirked and rolled her eyes before shaking her head. She tried to think of how to express what she wanted to ask. She raised her hand to her forehead, rubbed it as she thought.
"Look, I get it. New girl, want to make friends, maybe think she's cute. Want to get to know her. I can't tell you who she is, though, or what happened. She is another patient, after all."
With a blush and another roll of her eyes. Cinder shook her head at Woolsey and he laughed.
"I'm only teasing. Anyway, Miss Stephens is here to take you back to your room. I'll see you same time tomorrow?" Woolsey grinned and laughed while Cinder sighed and shook her head before laughing.
Ruby sat in the wheelchair and didn't want to move. In the time since coming out of her coma, she had scans and more scans and even more scans done until she was sure the hospital could create an entire three-dimensional scale model of her insides. That wasn't factoring in the blood work and other tests. As lonely and awful as her coma was, what she could remember of it at least, it seemed preferable to laying in pain, being miserable for the following week she was in the burn ward, and it's not like the days following were much better, either. She felt humiliated having to have help to even use the restroom. Or eat. Or move. Sitting in the wheelchair, she felt helpless. This was supposed to be time for her physical therapy, but she didn't know what good it would do her. All the physical therapy she did before hadn't made up for the fact she couldn't walk due to both atrophy and a broken leg. Why she had to see a new person she didn't know.
A tall man with dark hair approached her and knelt down next to the chair. His deep voice was soothing and reassuring.
"Miss Rose? I'm Woolsey. I hear you're my new partner in this all. Seems we will be working together for a while. I have an idea of what you're thinking. This all seems like a waste of time. You'd rather lay down and wait for it all to be over. I get it."
The girl simply looked at him and sighed. A lot of things felt like a waste of time now that she was supposed to be recovering. The tight sleeves and wraps the staff made her wear felt uncomfortable. She couldn't walk on her own, or really at all, and here she was supposed to be working hard to learn all of this again. 'Again.' The word stung because it was an indication of her regression of basic motor skills. Despite not being as injured as the rest of her body, Ruby's legs still had lost considerable muscle mass from inactivity. She frowned at Woolsey.
"We'll start things off easy. We're going to get to know each other a little bit and sort out a plan for you. I was told you worked on stretching?"
Ruby stared at Woolsey and lightly shrugged.
"The notes say you were going to be working on gripping next. Did you start that at all? That's the important one."
Ruby shrugged again.
"Miss Rose. I'll be honest with you. I can tell you don't want to be here. My job is to help you not have to come here anymore. We have a similar goal. Did you start work on gripping yet?"
Ruby stared at the man for a long moment, unsure of what to make of him. Her last physical therapist was much less personable in their approach. Finally Ruby nodded and Woolsey smiled.
"Okay, good. Let's get you started with some warm-up stretches today and we can get you gripping again."
Ruby closed her eyes and nodded. She was done with the whole situation and feeling helpless. She was done with doctors and exercise plans and casts and compression wraps and she was pretty sure she was done with her new physical therapist, but she was also stuck with everything. All she could do is keep going, so she did.
Cinder held tightly to the balance bar to keep upright, but this time she could move. One step at a time, she reached the end of the bar with a satisfied smile. She had done it. After all the time she spent working at it, she could make it to the end. And she didn't even need help. Or have to stop for breath.
"Good, good. You're making very good progress. Next thing we know you'll be back to ballroom dancing."
Cinder turned her head to Woolsey and rolled her eyes with a smirk to which Woolsey simply laughed.
"Seems your sense of humor has recovered as well." The man walked over to where Cinder stood and helped her back into her chair. "I think that's good for today, don't you? End with a high note?"
Cinder nodded and breathed deeply, feeling relaxed to be sitting again. The muscles in her legs ached but she felt confident about it. She felt satisfied with her efforts for the day. Before she could think to ask, the physical therapist was already handing her water. For a brief moment, she reached for it with her left hand but caught sight of herself again. She needed to get used to the small everyday things with only one arm. It certainly wasn't easy.
"Hey, it's alright. It happens."
After taking a long drink, Cinder lightly nodded and handed the bottle back to Woolsey to place the lid back onto. She turned to try and grab her purse from the back of the chair but couldn't quite reach. Woolsey pulled the bag off and handed it to her.
"I got you covered." He laughed. "Though, it seems my next appointment should be here any time now."
Cinder nodded in thanks and pulled her phone from the bag. A message. Her ride was going to be late. She sighed and motioned for Woolsey's attention. She tried to speak and it sounded like a breathy gasp. Cinder frowned and opted to simply show him the message on her phone.
"Not getting picked up for another half hour then? Well, you're more than welcome to stay and wait inside here, out of the heat, but I'll be working with my next patient."
Cinder nodded in agreement to the plan. She breathed easier not having to leave just yet. The wrappings on her leg and what was left of her left arm were tolerable in the cool, but in the heat it made her skin itch and she couldn't get comfortable. Her thoughts wandered as she stared at her phone again, rereading the message. A group home. She was living in a group home. She could hardly believe it, but she also didn't have many other options after getting discharged from the hospital. Cinder knew she couldn't stay at the hospital forever, but she had hoped to stay for a little longer if only to pretend the other problems she had outside the building's walls didn't exist. Her current disability checks would only get her so far and she needed to figure out her financial situation fast.
She shook her head. She was meeting with her grandmother's lawyer later to settle her estate. She could wait until then to worry about it. For the moment, she wanted to relax as best she could. Deep in thought, Cinder hadn't realized the next patient already arrived. The girl with dark hair again. Judging by her bandages, she was also in a fire of some sort, and... something happened to her leg. Was it broken? She couldn't tell. But the girl was fascinating to her. She reminded Cinder of herself when she had first started therapy with Woolsey. She found him to be sickeningly optimistic in his approach to everything. The way he never left her alone, even with how uncooperative she had been. Though, it seemed the dark-haired girl had cracked before she herself did. Why was she staring? That was rude, but Cinder couldn't look away. There was just something about her that seemed familiar. She was positive she had never met her before.
No, she didn't look familiar. Cinder realized she had told herself that as an excuse to keep watching. What was it Woolsey just called her? Was it Rose? Miss Rose is what he said, right? So, that had to be her last name. Well, a last name was better than nothing. She still wondered what had happened to the girl to put her there. It would be rude to ask, though it's not as if she could really ask her anyway. Words were hard enough to make anyway with how damaged her throat was. Though, the girl didn't say a word to Woolsey. Was she just being rude, or could she also not talk? She supposed it didn't matter.
Miss Rose was struggling to pull at an elastic band in her hands. Cinder could tell she really was giving it her all but her body didn't want to cooperate. She dropped the band and looked utterly defeated. That look of sadness and feeling of giving up was all too familiar to Cinder and was hard to see in someone else.
Why was she still staring? Cinder looked down at her phone and opened an e-reader app to continue the book she had started the day before. The words ran through her head but the meaning didn't stick. She looked back up to see the girl looking at her. This was strange. What should she do? Cinder offered a smile and a lazy wave of her hand in greeting. Miss Rose only looked at her and appeared to be deep in thought. Had the girl wanted to say something to her? Did she want to tell Cinder off for staring at her before? Whatever the reason, she felt embarrassed by the exchange and only watched in return. Woolsey broke the staring contest by saying something to the girl. She nodded and tried to stretch the elastic again.
A buzz of her phone tore Cinder's attention away from the girl. A message. It seemed like her ride was there.
As Cinder was being wheeled out, she looked back at Miss Rose only to see her looking back with a look of curiosity.