You guys are awesome. Thank you for all the kind words. I am slowly getting to where I'd like to be in the story, and I think you guys will like what is to come. That said, this chapter includes some details from a police report page. I am not as familiar with this kind of thing as I'd like to be, nor am I an expert on medical aspects of this story, though I do a lot of research. Please take this into consideration while reading that part of the chapter. I do not mean to offend anyone.
Let me know what you think. Enjoy!
Sun shined Tuesday morning when she woke up and stretched for her second day at the facility. She only hoped it would go somewhat better than the day before. Trish's words about empathy came to mind and she stared at the file that had remained unopened in her bag, wondering if she had the nerve to read through it further and find out more about what happened to the blond inside that building. It almost felt as if she was being intrusive into his life.
She exited the house and drove the short distance to the public hospital building and walked inside, seeing not too many patients out yet that morning, and no interns that she recognized. She greeted the nurse who was working with Austin the day before and headed for the elevator, ready to try and at least be civil with him that day.
She passed Jake's room on the way and waved at him with a smile and hoped that was a good sign. Once on the second floor, she made her way to the corner of the hallway and knocked on his door. She realized he was still asleep, and wondered if she should come back. Then, instead she heard Trish's voice in her head again. Empathy… what could she do to show she understood he was in a bad place and she felt something because of that?
There wasn't much in the hospital room and it looked a bit bleak. Maybe she could start with that. She found nurse Wendy by the information desk on the second floor and explained her plan. She didn't know what he liked, but remembered that he spoke about lakes at one point yesterday. She was open to suggestion, and the Nurse made a point, "Well, you can't exactly do that in one day. Maybe you should enlist the help of the other interns and do it as a surprise. Find out what he enjoys. I think he would really like that. He doesn't get many visitors here."
That didn't surprise her. He seemed like a jerk, but she played into it anyway. "Really?"
The woman smiled sadly, "No. His parents come a lot." She chuckled. "But no one else. There was a girl who came once but she never came back. Actually, I don't think she even went into his room—stopped outside of it and then ran off. I didn't get a chance to ask."
"That sounds kind of sad," she admitted.
The Nurse nodded. "Its tough when your patients struggle and you can't do more than your job, Ally. I think you'll come to see that in time. But when you can make a difference, you do it because it can do more than put a smile on someone's face here." She chuckled and whispered for her to come in closer, "I used to tattoo people back in the day while going through nursing school. It somehow got out to the patients. A couple weeks back, Jake had me drawn in sharpie a tattoo on his amputated leg. They wouldn't have approved of it if they found out, but it made him very happy. It washed off before anyone could notice—and I made his day. See what I mean?"
She nodded her head. Nurse Wendy knew empathy, and she knew it well. She was only seconds from asking her what happened to Austin when a beeping noise went off, and the nurse smiled. "Speaking of Austin. He's requesting my presence. Seems that sleeping beauty has awoken. Care to come with me?"
She shrugged her shoulders and followed after the young nurse, who entered the room first. She saw Austin from the corner of her eye, looking uncomfortable and sweaty. It only took a second for the Nurse to realize something was off, and Austin only whimpered when she asked what was wrong.
Ally had never seen him like that before, though she didn't have much experience. She pulled back his blanket and somehow, the bruised leg looked even worse. The nurse cursed and looked up at Austin who bleakly stared at her. "Ally, come here. I want to show you something before I start to deal with this." She motioned her forward and Ally hoped that Austin was out of it enough not to notice her presence. She pointed to the dressing on his leg and gently peeled it off. It was a disgusting color, and seemed angry, and red.
"What do you think?"
She once got a really bad cut on her leg when riding her bike as a kid. The cut ended up getting infected, and if she could remember correctly, it looked like a much smaller version of this. She nodded her thoughts first, and then said, "I think it looks infected. Would you give him antibiotics then?"
"He is already on an antibiotic for this kind of thing," she admitted. "So now we must go back and look at how strong they were and what we could change. That said, we do not have the authority to do this, so we will emergency page his doctor and give him the information. If you excuse me, I will be right back after I do that. Keep him company, will you?"
She felt as if she had been just tossed a grenade, but Austin was in too much pain to really care, it seemed. He was sweating profusely from the top of his head, and the best he could, he was shifting his upper body. "Can I do anything?" she asked with worry, hating the whimpering sounds that came from his mouth.
He eyed her wearily and then shrugged, "I dunno." His words sounded like there was something inside of his mouth. He moaned again. Her hands went to his forehead and she was alarmed at how hot he felt.
"Do you want some water?" she asked.
He nodded weakly.
She walked over to the sink in his bathroom and found a cup in there. She filled it a bit and then handed him the cup, which he drank slowly. It didn't seem to help all that much, but it did make her feel better. It was an antagonizing few minutes for them both before Nurse Wendy came back in with news. "His doctor is prescribing a much stronger antibiotic and a pain medication as well. He doesn't feel the pain that he's in from the waist down, but there are other sensations that are radiating through his body, so it will treat both." She showed her how she would update his chart, and then directly entered the antibiotics into his bloodstream, as well as the pain killer.
"It'll knock him out within minutes," the nurse laughed, "So don't be shocked if you turn your back and he's out. It's a good thing. He needs rest."
She nodded. "What should I do then?"
"Why don't you get started on that decoration project of yours?"
It should not have surprised her that Cassidy and Jake were all too eager to help her with this project. Jake even knew some things that Austin liked (music, movies, etc.) and gave her some fantastic ideas to start. The best by far was bringing in a DVD collection. Upon discovering that he would be there possibly longer than six weeks, Jake had practically begged her to bring in some of the best movies around.
The debate to which movies were the best around soon commenced.
Ally was quick to list Titanic, in which Jake scoffed and Cassidy shoved his shoulder. They seemed to be getting along great. Others chipped in, suggesting classics and some more up to date choices. She was quickly typing as many as she could into her phone, wondering if they could even set up a DVD player to that ancient TV in his room.
"I can't just bring DVDs. That isn't decoration," she said after about a half hour. She looked at Jake, whose room was decked out with space themed things. Apparently, he enjoyed the universe in many, many ways.
Cassidy pointed out maybe she should just bring in some stuff from her house.
She pretended to list that but secretly pushed it far away from her mind. He wouldn't care for anything in her room.
"I say get some cool stuff from a cheap store and just make it fun," Jake demanded.
Too bad she had no idea what fun really meant.
"Well, I think that's enough thinking for one day," she muttered after there was a considerable silence. The clock said it was nearly noon and she figured she should go and check on her patient. Wendy had asked her to come back in a somewhat timely matter, as she wanted to go over some details with the girl. Apparently, each intern answered to a nurse, and hers happened to be Wendy. It was sort of perfect.
The upstairs was quiet, a lot of rooms dark with sleeping patients. Ally hoped that the pain that Austin was in had subsided, though she was not looking forward to another three hours in that room with him. Wendy found her first, asking how the planning went. She told her it was a work in process, which it truly was, and asked if Austin was awake yet.
"He was briefly. I got him to eat a little bit and then he dozed off again," she admitted. "It can be rough on the body the first few weeks."
"What should I do?" she asked.
Wendy gave her a tiny smile, "Austin admitted that you didn't read his file yesterday to me after you left." She placed a gentle hand on her shoulder, and Ally briefly wondered if he'd said anything else. She'd yet to be told she was terribly rude to a disabled teenager, so she figured she was probably safe. "Maybe you should adequately look into it and understand more about what has happened to him. It'll help not only in this process, but probably in your friendship."
So Ally did just that and walked into his room and sat in the corner, watching him sleep for a minute or two before pulling the file out from her bag. It seemed wrong to be reading it in his room, but also reading it elsewhere felt like she was also showcasing what should be a private thing.
The beginning was much like she remembered, stating the obvious injuries, including his amputation and the paraplegia. Then, it got back into the details of the night the injuries occurred, and Ally felt herself feeling sicker as she continued to read.
The medical report itself was hard to understand, despite what she did know from her parents. She turned the page a couple times, finding what seemed to be detailed notes from an officer on the scene and later at the hospital.
From Police Report…
Teens were en route to friend's home when swerving into opposite lane. Collided with large SUV and flipped, going over the barrier and into a large ditch, where in the force of the process was stopped via a tree. Moon (18) was thrust from the passenger seat of the vehicle and found about 10 feet away from the wreckage. Passenger Wade had stumbled out of wreckage by the time first responders were at the scene.
Blood alcohol levels read 1.7 when tested at hospital.
Wade (also 18) sustained minimal injuries while Moon went immediately into surgery in attempt to save damaged left leg. The doctors then determined that the leg was beyond repair and with parent's approval, was amputated. Doctors stabilized his right leg and repaired other less severe injuries (including separated shoulder, several deep lacerations, and a concussion).
Moon woke the next morning and SCI was discovered. Hopeful for increased mobility but doctors are stating that currently he is considered a paraplegic. Fluid, pressure, and swelling present in scans that are attached. It is not yet clear how long it will take for a proper diagnosis to aid in his recovery.
There were further notes given by a doctor that Ally recognized as one of her father's colleagues and it detailed the report that the officer had put into laymen's terms. Her mouth closed at the thought of waking up and realizing you no longer had use of your legs. It didn't occur to her that he had no idea that it had happened until then, but it would make sense. The report otherwise gave little details to the actual crash, which she was most curious about, but the medical notes made her sick to her stomach, so she closed the report and shook her head.
She was startled by his voice, "Enough to give you nightmares, right?"
Austin was looking at her from the bed, bleary eyed with a wry smile. Seemed ironic that he could even joke about what had only recently happened to him.
"I'm sorry," she said after carefully choosing her words, still a bit taken back by the ordeal.
"That's it?"
She immediately returned to her defense. What did he mean 'that's it'? Did he want her to come to his beside and sob with him or something? It was a terrible thing to happen, but she didn't have much else to say. She didn't know him; she couldn't understand where he was coming from. She knew enough to not push it further.
But then he said, "Really."
Not a question, more so a challenge.
She fired back, "You were drinking! You can't expect me to feel completely sorry for you."
He snorted, "Yeah, because getting into a car drunk makes it alright for me to end up in a wheelchair for rest of my life."
"Yes," she stated, angry at how ridiculous it sounded. "It makes you an incredibly selfish person to put the lives of others on the road at risk because you were foolish enough to drink and drive. Most people know better than that." She stuck up her nose and he just snorted. "And who says that you'll even be in a wheelchair the rest of your life?" she demanded, throwing a look to the door in case they had garnered an audience. Thankfully, the nurses seemed to make themselves scarce unless they were needed. "I do believe your nurse said yesterday that the extent of the damage can't be seen yet."
He rolled his eyes, looking toward the window. She noticed how distracted he seemed in those moments, and she wondered briefly if she should back off. He had started this argument though and if he wanted to be a jerk, she could too.
"Well, I'm not feeling all the well fantastic about my prognosis right now, so thanks."
A normal person would've came to his bedside, pleaded with him to remember that there was still hope. She was annoyed by him and his comments, not understanding where exactly he was coming from. Why did he bother her so much? Glancing toward his bed, he had his head completely turned from her, as if looking at the brunette caused him physical pain.
After a moment, he stated, "Look, clearly you're only doing this for whatever credit you get from being here," he said darkly. "So if you stay out of my way and I stay out of yours, we'll fake whatever fucking rainbow conversation we need to have and I'll make sure I don't tell the nurses what a miserable, angry bitch you are, and in turn, you can hop off to med school in the fall and we'll never have to think about each other again." He turned back to her with a twisted, angry smile. Seemed ironic that he came from a religious family when his mouth was so vulgarly spoken. It took all she had in her not to make a comment about that. He broke her thoughts, "Deal?"
She could agree to that. "Fine by me."
"Great."
