Dr. Bradburn and Nurse Clare were sitting together in the doctor's office after they brought Elphaba into the hospital room.
"I am very concerned about Elphaba", the doctor said. "We must find out how we can treat her further properly, without hurting her anymore in the process. If we use the mineral oil, there is a big risk that the wounds get infected."
Nurse Clare sighed and looked trough Elphaba's file which she had requested from the administration earlier and that was just brought by a messenger. "There is not a single word about that strange allergy in her file; the medical record is missing too. I wonder why they allowed her to study here at Shiz without a complete file, every student is required to give a medical report, so that we are able to treat them properly in case of an emergency," the nurse said, looking very confused.
"That is a good question, but I don't think that we will get one fast enough," Dr Bradburn said. "It would be best when Elphaba herself would tell us the most important details, but she will be out for a few hours for now. Unfortunately her roommate didn't know anything at all about her either."
"Maybe Elphaba has her reasons to hide certain things, but it is very dangerous as we saw this afternoon. I can't imagine what would have happened if Galinda hasn't found her out there, the burns would be life threatening." Nurse Clare shuddered at the thought.
"Yes they definitely would be life threatening," the doctor agreed. "It must be very hard for her to live with such an allergy, to be always in fear of rain."
"Well she managed to survive 18 years with it, so I don't think that she will see it like that anymore," Nurse Clare said. "I will look after her now and get Galinda something to eat. She missed dinner and must be very hungry by now."
"Alright, I will try to find out who makes the oils Elphaba is using; maybe we can find a way to clean her wounds with a more antiseptic oil," Doctor Bradburn said.
Z
Galinda was still sitting beside Elphaba's bed in the hospital room. The stress from the last few hours was creeping up on her and she cried silent tears while she was still holding Elphaba's bandaged hands. She hoped that Elphaba was feeling no pain right now and was able to rest.
Since the doctor and nurse left the room, Elphaba hadn't moved a muscle. Her breathing was relatively easy and she had a peaceful expression on her face. Still Galinda feared that this could change any second.
Galinda thought about one sentence Elphaba said earlier:"Please don't allow any experiments on me, promise me!"
What was the meaning of this? It was clear to Galinda that Elphaba was having difficulties with the presence of doctors from her reaction after she woke up in the examination room. What has they done to her in her childhood that would explain such a reaction.
"I hope she will be able to tell me about it," Galinda muttered to herself. "But why should she do that? We were not even friends before today; we have not even talked very much to each other!"
Elphaba's sarcastic comments annoyed her to death since they had to live together at the beginning of their first year at Shiz. But when she looked back, there were also little episodes, where Elphaba helped her with her homework and they seemed to get along very well. This happened during the last weeks and they began to respect one another more and more.
But is that enough that she would tell me her best-kept secrets? Galinda thought.
There was a soft knock on the door and Nurse Clare came in, holding a tray with some sandwiches on it in her hands. "You must be very hungry my dear, you missed dinner and it it's getting late," the nurse said and went over to Galinda and put the tray on a little table that was near the bed.
"Oh I am not very hungry right now," Galinda said and didn't bother to look at the tray.
"Galinda you need to eat something. You can't look after your friend properly when you starve yourself."
"Okay, I will eat something if I must," Galinda sighed and took a sandwich from the tray.
"Good girl!" the nurse said. "Did something happen since we left you?"
"No, Elphaba hasn't moved a muscle the whole time and I don't think that she is in pain at the moment," Galinda said.
"Very good, I suggest that you relax a little bit for now. I know it was very hard for you to see your friend's injuries and understand completely that you are very concerned about her. But as I said before, you can't help her if you are too exhausted."
"I try to do as you ask, but I am afraid to nap in and miss her waking up."
"Yes I know that your fear this, but I think you will wake up in time if Elphaba awakes. Should this happen before I look after you again, please call us and we will come immediately. We don't know how much pain she will feel and must give her more analgesics if necessary."
"Okay I will do as you ask," Galinda said and sipped from her tea.
"Alright, do you require something else right now?"
"No thank you, I think all I need right now is that Elphaba will be okay and she is not in danger."
"No she is not in immediate danger. All we need to know is how we proceed with the treatment of her wounds in spite of her allergy. We need a more antiseptic oil for her so that the possibility of an infection is lesser. We are afraid that the mineral oil we used today can not hinder the process," Nurse Clare said.
Galinda's eyes brightened up as a thought hit her. "Nurse, maybe I can help you with this problem! My father is an apothecary; I think he can make some antiseptic oil for Elphaba. If you give me some notepaper, I can send him a wire and ask him."
"Hmmm we could of course ask our apothecary in Shiz too, but I think he will ask some questions about why we need antiseptic oil when we could use something else. To explain Elphaba's allergy to him would be hard, because he is very old-fashioned and would not believe us. So your idea is not bad, I will get you some notepaper and you can write this wire to your parents."
"Thank you! Daddy can really help her; he is a very good apothecary and will do everything to ensure that Elphaba has everything she requires."
"I will return in a few minutes and bring you fresh tea also," the nurse said and hurried out of the room. She returned after five minutes with the notepaper and a carafe of tea and handed it to Galinda.
Galinda quickly explained the situation to her father and read her note trough.
Dear Popsicle,
Don't worry I am okay. I need your help with something. My roommate got burned today and requires a special antiseptic oil to clean her wounds. I can't explain you why we can not use commonly used things in this short time, so I hope that what I tell you now will be enough. She is allergic to water and got her burns from the rainstorm today. She uses oils to clean herself and we don't know much more than that. I hope that you can make some special oil for her, they used plain mineral oil from her to clean the wounds at first, but the Doctor is afraid that they get infected more easily with it.
I miss you and Momsie very much! Please give her a hug from me. I will explain all of this more in depth to you later when I can write more.
Your Galinda
Galinda was satisfied with it and gave it to the waiting nurse.
Oh Elphaba, please don't be angry with me for asking my father for help! Galinda thought.
Elphaba seemed to have her reasons to hide her allergy from everyone.
She leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes for a moment. She seemed to have napped in because as she opened her eyes an hour was over. She rubbed her eyes and shook her head in disbelief. Suddenly she heard a faint whimper from Elphaba. She looked at her to see if Elphaba was awake or just moving in her sleep and the movement caused her pain.
She heard the whimper again and gently took Elphaba's hand again. "Shhh Elphaba, everything is all right," Galinda tried to soothe her. Just then Elphaba opened her eyes and turned her head into the direction of Galinda's voice.
"Galinda," she whispered, her voice hoarse, and squeezed the blonde's hand a little. "Are you real?"
"Of course silly, I am very real," Galinda chuckled.
"Where am I? Why does my whole body hurt like hell?"
"You are in the infirmary, don't you remember? You were surprised by the rainstorm earlier and got burned rather badly."
Elphaba's memory quickly came back and the realization where she was made her panicking again.
"What! I am in the infirmary? I don't want to be here, I can not handle doctors!" Elphaba tried to get out of bed, but she cried out in pain and sank back into the cushions. She was rather pale from the pain.
"Elphaba don't panic and please calm down, nobody will harm you here," Galinda said soothingly, gently touching Elphaba's upper arm. Elphaba yanked her arm away and yelped in pain from the sudden movement.
"Careful you hurt yourself even more. You have burns all over your body; try to hold still, it will not hurt so much if you do."
"I want to be out of here Galinda; I can not bear to see a doctor!"
"Elphaba please hear me out: I heard your request earlier to not let anyone hurt you and don't allow any experiments. I don't know why you have such fear to be in the presence of medical staff, but you are too badly injured to be in our room alone. Please let me call for the Nurse so that she can look after you, I promised her to tell her when you are awake."
Elphaba nodded and sighed. Galinda went to the door and looked if she could see the nurse. When she didn't saw her she called down the hallway, hoping the nurse would hear her.
Fortunately the nurse heard her the first time she called and came quickly over to her.
"Is she awake?" Nurse Clare asked.
"Yes but she is still very unhappy to be here and started to panic again after she awoke and realized where she is. She seems to be very afraid of doctors, I don't know why. She tried to get out of bed, but failed because of the pain."
"Oh dear, I hope we can lessen her fear, but she needs to stay here. As you witnessed, she will be in much pain if she tries to get up now."
Nurse Clare turned to the door and opened it. She saw the fear in Elphaba's eyes as soon as she stepped into the room. "Hello Elphaba, I am Nurse Clare and am in charge of you here," the nurse said and walked over to her, Galinda following close behind. "Your roommate informed me that you awoke 10 minutes ago and that you are a little bit frightened"
A little bit is a big understatement, Galinda thought.
Elphaba looked warily at the nurse and took a deep breath, trying to calm herself a little bit.
"Hello I am Elphaba, but you should know this already," Elphaba said.
Nurse Clare chuckled and replied: "Of course I know your name by now. Don't be afraid of me, I am not out to hurt you and so does the doctor. So please tell me how you are feeling at the moment."
"My body hurts all over and every movement is like hell," Elphaba said, still looking wary.
"Well you received very bad burns all over your body and we needed to puncture some of them, these will hurt you most at the moment. We had some problems to find out how to clean your wounds without damaging your skin further, but thanks to Galinda here we were able to find a solution, "Nurse Clare said.
"How did you clean them?" Elphaba asked.
"We used some of your mineral oil, you can ask your roommate about that later, now I need to go and fetch some new analgesic for you."
"How long must I stay here? I don't want to miss too many classes." Elphaba asked.
"It depends on your condition during the next few days; I think you must stay here for at least four days"
"WHAT? FOUR DAYS?" Elphaba cried and shot up into a sitting position. She completely forgot that moving was not a good idea right know and regretted it immediately as the pain shot through her whole body like thousand needles. She gasped and cried out in pain, her breathing becoming labored. Galinda gently put her hand on her arm and guided her back down onto the pillow.
"Please calm down Elphaba, I know that you dislike missing any class at all, but you can't go back yet, they will have their reasons," Galinda said.
"Galinda it is not just missing my classes, I told you already that I cannot bear to be here," Elphaba whispered.
The nurse hadn't heard Elphaba. "She is right dear, you can barely move without feeling intense pain and we need to control your wounds regularly. We can not risk any infections here. Let me fetch some stronger analgesic for you, so you can be more comfortable. I will be right back girls," Nurse Clare said hurrying out of the room.
Elphaba closed her eyes and exhaled slowly. She wished that all of this was just a nightmare and she would wake up anytime soon. She never thought that she would get into a situation like that, being surprised by a rainstorm. That never happened in her 18 years of life. Yes she got burned on few occasions, but not so bad like today. Before she could think more, the nurse came back, this time with Doctor Bradburn following behind her.
As soon as Elphaba caught sight of Doctor Bradburn, she started to tremble. She looked like she wanted to try to flee again. Galinda gently laid her hand on her shoulder again, trying to calm her.
"Elphaba nothing will happen to you, you are safe here," Galinda said.
"My dear, please try to calm down! I assured you earlier that the doctor will not harm you in any way," Nurse Clare said.
Nothing of this helped and Elphaba started to gasp for air, trembling violently now.
"She's having a panic attack! We must try to get her out of it as quick as possible," the nurse said.
"I will try to get her attention, I hope it will work," Galinda said franticly. "Elphaba, just look at me please, you have to breathe my friend, just breathe! Trust me Elphaba, everything will be alright!" She saw that Elphaba was looking at her but she wasn't calming down. She got paler and paler with the lack of air.
"I am here to protect you; I would sell my entire wardrobe just to ensure that nobody will harm you." This last sentence from Galinda seemed to get Elphaba's attention immediately, simply because what Galinda just said was so absurd, that she has to hear it.
It worked! My little out of character display finally got her attention! Galinda sighed and let out a little breath of relief.
Doctor Bradburn was standing close by the whole time, but he could do nothing to help the very frightened green girl who was in his care. What in the hell of Oz have they done to her in her childhood to cause such a reaction? This is not a normal reaction to an examination; a slight fear would be understandable but this panic attack is totally unusual, he thought to himself. He saw that Galinda finally seemed to get Elphaba's attention and was curious if the girl could help her friend to escape from the panic.
"I am glad that I have your attention now my friend, so I will be very glad if you try to breathe with me. That's it, slowly in and out, just with my own rhythm, you will be alright," Galinda said in a soothing tone. Finally Elphaba seemed to calm down and caught her breath. Four minutes after her panic attack hit her, she breathed nearly in sync with her roommate.
Nurse Clare and the Doctor exchanged a relieved glance.
"I am so afraid, please don't leave me," Elphaba whispered, shaking slightly.
"Of course I'll stay with you," Galinda said and gently stroked Elphaba's cheek, well away from her burns. Elphaba flinched a bit and Galinda was afraid that she had hurt her roomy. "Oh I am so sorry; I didn't want to hurt you!"
"No you didn't, I am just very unused to someone touching me," Elphaba said quietly.
"Can I come near you Elphaba?" Doctor Bradburn asked. "I would leave you alone but it is necessary for me to look after your general condition. I know that you are very frightened. I understand completely that there are possibly things in your past that are responsible for your reactions and the cause of your panic."
Elphaba was very exhausted from the panic attack and hasn't the strength to fight against the examination any more. She gave a slight nod and closed her eyes briefly. Galinda was very relieved that the worst was over for now and that Elphaba would allow to be examined.
She sat down in her chair again and watched as Doctor Bradburn came onto Elphaba's side.
"I will explain to you everything I will do during my examination, don't hesitate to stop me if you feel uncomfortable. First of all: How much pain are you feeling at the moment? Is it tolerable?"
"Every movement hurts like hell, the burns are throbbing; I don't think that I can bear it any longer," Elphaba said.
"Alright, that will not be a big problem. We can provide you with a long-lasting analgesic to lessen your pain. I will look for the general condition of your body now. I have to touch you in order to see if you need more fluid. There are two big problems we have with burns: first the losses of fluid caused from the damage to the skin and second an infection of the wound," the Doctor said and gently touched Elphaba's arm to feel how elastic her skin was. At first she slightly pulled back, but then tried to relax.
"It seems that you indeed need more fluid. We must see what you can drink in bigger amounts; we gave you tea earlier is this okay?"
"I am afraid that I can't drink tea, at least very much of it. It tends to burn my throat like water does. But I can drink milk and apple cider as much as I want," Elphaba answered.
"That is okay as long as you are able to drink a lot of it. Due to your allergy we can not give you an infusion. That would be the regular procedure in your case. But I warn you, you should feel weak the first time, because you will be not able to compensate all with drinking," the doctor said.
"Must I really stay so long here? Nurse Clare said I have to for at least four days."
"I am afraid so, you will see that we have only your best interests and health in our mind. Our biggest problem is the cleaning of your wounds, that mineral oil we used to clean them will not be sufficient in the long run. Do you have any oil with antiseptic properties?"
Elphaba sighed. "No I haven't any oils with antiseptic properties. To be true, nobody cared to give me something like that. It is a very complicated story and I can't tell you all of it right now."
Galinda had observed everything with a watchful eye the whole time. "I have enlisted the help of my father who is an apothecary. He would be able to create an appropriate oil for her."
"You did what?" Elphaba asked stunned, not knowing if she should be angry or grateful.
"Yes I wanted to help and you need that oil, I don't want you to have a infection. Please don't be angry with me!" Galinda was at the brink of tears.
Elphaba reached out for the blonde's hand. "Please calm down Galinda, I'm not angry with you. You just wanted to help, I see that now. When do you think will we get an answer from you father?"
"I don't know, I hope we will receive it tomorrow afternoon, he got a wire from me," Galinda said.
"Very well, now I have to tend to another patient and will see to you in the morning Elphaba." Doctor Bradburn said and went out of the door. As soon as he was gone, Elphaba relaxed considerably.
Nurse Clare went to the side of Elphaba's bed and set a tray with carafes of milk and cider down on the bedside table. The girls hadn't noticed that she was gone while they have talked with each other.
"I have brought you your analgesic too, please take it now, it will lessen you pain immensely. Please try to drink as much as you can before you feel the need to sleep again. It could be that this kind of analgesic will make you drowsy too, just like the one we gave you the first time. If there is anything you two need, just pull that cord beside the bedside table, it rings in my office."
"We will do that," Elphaba said. She took the pill from the nurse and swallowed it with some cider. She tried to get more comfortable, but the pain on her back was too much to do so.
"The analgesic will kick in soon my dear, try to relax a little," Nurse Clare said. "Galinda, would you please come out with me for a moment please?"
"Of course," Galinda said and followed the nurse out into the hallway.
"Galinda I am a little concerned about you. Please don't try to stay up all night to look after your friend. I know that you don't want to go to your room now, but you need to sleep. We can provide you with a cot to lie down in Elphaba's room if it is okay with you."
"I will do as you ask as long as I can stay with her. But I will need to get some things from my room, should I go now?"
"Yes this would be the best time. Just try to be quick, because I don't think that Elphaba will be comfortable here without you."
"I agree with you, I will run over and grab some necessities and will hopefully be back in 20 minutes or so. Just let me go in and tell Elphaba that I am away for a short time." Galinda quietly opened the door to Elphaba's room, afraid to startle her. "Elphaba, I need to leave you for a moment to get some things from our room. Do you want me to get anything for you?"
Elphaba looked frightened again as she heard that Galinda would leave her alone here. Galinda saw this and tried to reassure her. "Elphaba I will be back soon and nobody will approach you while I am gone. They know that you are frightened, your panic attack made that more than clear."
"Okay, I am selfish. You are here with me since you found me; you must not stay to keep me company."
"Don't be silly Elphaba; you are not in the least selfish! I'll be back in about 20 minutes, until then don't worry about the doctor or the nurse, they will stay away, and I will make sure that they do."
"That is alright, just try to be back quickly," Elphaba said.
"I will be right back, remember to pull the cord if you are not feeling well while I'm away," Galinda said and grabbed her cloak and hurried out of the door.
As soon as she was out of the door Galinda ran to the exit and over the campus to their room again, hoping that nobody would see her. A distraction like the one with Jennica earlier was absolutely not welcome at the moment. Thankfully, there was no one outside of her dorm because of the late time and she made it to room 22 undisturbed.
She quickly got some essentials for a night away and looked around the room for something she could bring her roommate. Finally she collected a poetry book from her nightstand and put it into her small bag along with her other things she wanted to take with her. After a final check Galinda left the room and hurried back to the infirmary.
Z
As soon as Galinda left the room, Elphaba felt anxious again. She knew that no one would harm her here, but in this regard her mind was not very cooperative. Images from her past appeared before her inner eyes, images she wished that she would not have to see ever again. The panic started to rise again and she fought with all of her might against it.
"Elphaba Thropp, you will stop that this instant!" she chastised herself, but all of that didn't help and she started to tremble again. She lost control over her breathing and reached blindly for the pulling cord, but was not able to reach it.
Z
As Galinda was walking over the campus, she suddenly had an uneasy feeling. Something must be wrong with Elphaba! "Oh no!" Galinda said and started to run. When she reached the entrance to the infirmary she burst through the doors and ran down the hall into Elphaba's room. Her worst fears came true as she saw Elphaba gasping for air again. She quickly went over to her.
"Elphaba I am here! Everything is alright, just look at me; we will do it like earlier. Breath with me, slowly in and out."
When Elphaba saw Galinda rushing through the door, the images started to fade away and she heard her roomies calming and soothing voice. She felt immediately drawn to her voice, encouraging her to breath with her. She managed to catch her breath again and was soon breathing nearly normal. Elphaba felt a stinging on her face and realized that she was crying.
She tried to wipe them away, but was not very successful because her arms hurt too much.
"Oh Elphaba, wait I can do that," Galinda said and got a soft cloth from the bedside table. She gently wiped the tears away and stroked her cheek. "I am glad that you got over this panic attack too, I hope that you must not suffer another again."
"It is this place that triggers all the bad memories from my childhood. I am afraid that I can not stop them as long I have to stay here. I can't tell you what happened a long time ago right now, please don't ask me."
"Oh Elphaba it is absolutely okay. Please drink something, you really need it." She got up and poured some cider into a glass and handed it to the still pale looking green girl. Like before, Elphaba had problems with raising her arms and Galinda supported her with drinking.
"I feel like a baby!" Elphaba sighed.
"You are hurting and I won't let you suffer, so no protesting!"
Elphaba gave a small attempt of a smile, but even this movement hurt in her face. She started to get very sleepy from the analgesic and the stress. "I think I need to sleep again," Elphaba said.
"I recommend that my friend, you will hopefully feel better after a good amount of sleep." She helped Elphaba to cover up properly and sat back in her comfy chair, watching her roommate drifting off to sleep. "I hope you can sleep untroubled," she said quietly.