I can't believe that thing's broken again.
The incessant beep of her neighbors alarm clock kept waking her up. The thin paper walls made every bit of noise audible, especially when she was trying to sleep. Eliza tried covering her head with her pillow, marveling at the softness of the fabric against her skin, but it still did nothing to make the noise more bearable.
She opened her eyes grudgingly, realizing the annoying noise came from a heart monitor from somewhere down the room, and that she was actually laying on a gurney and not on her bed back at home.
She let her head back on the hospital's pillow, wondering what really hurt the most, her stomach, her head, or her insides as she remembered the whole scope of what had happened. Officer Heath probably thought she was a maniac. And Teri, even if she was likely the most unprofessional trainer she had ever come across, had not been far from the truth.
Eliza was, in her core, a coward. She'd known that for a long time. It just had been awhile since anyone noticed. Or at least told it to her face.
"Eliza Burrich?" She tipped her head at the mention of her name, recognizing Doctor Haig, the from when she first came to District 13. "I've examined you before, haven't I?" She asked, as if reading her thoughts. "How are you feeling?"
Like going to sleep and waking up one hundred years into the future.
Like I'm about to throw up a pile of sand.
Like shit.
"I feel fine. Just a bit sore."
"Great! Great that you woke up earlier than expected too. We'll just have to run a few tests. Can you stand up?"
She gave it a go, feeling the drowsiness fade while following the doctor's instructions. Repeating the movements she showed her. Walking to the end of the room and back. Keeping her eyes open while she pointed a tiny flashlight directly into them.
Eliza thought it would be ten minutes at best. They'd dispatch her with a bit of pain medicine, if she was lucky, and it would be the end of it. Experience told her she'd feel much better in a few days, and there wasn't much to worry about, given she'd pushed through much worse than Teri's beating before.
Doctor Haig said something similar, about writing her a note off of work for a day, and off training for a few more. When Eliza thought she was finally being dismissed, she added, "Since you're already here, we'll do the examinations you had scheduled for a few weeks from now, at once." She smiled and patted Eliza on the back before heading out.
She waited for a while, laying back on her gurney and counting the dots on the ceiling's insulation to keep her mind from wandering off to something tragic all over again. Her exercise was interrupted by a nurse taking her to a different room to meet with her gynecologist and perform the scariest exam Eliza had been through up until then.
"Is this your first time?" The doctor asked. She was short in stature and had a lovely melodic voice that somehow only made Eliza want to evade into the void even more. "Don't worry, it'll be just a second." She said and pointed at the frightening torture device-like gurney for Eliza to lay on, helping her set her legs in place.
The examination could not have been longer than a few minutes, but definitely felt like a couple of hours. When she was dismissed, the nurse from before took her to another room, this time preparing her to draw blood and urine samples, and once she was done, as she glued the band aid on Eliza's arm, she let out, "Just wait here a bit. I'll see if they're ready for you in orthopedics."
Eliza waited, thinking what more could she do when the lack of food in her stomach combined with a headache and the blood freshly drawn out of her system didn't really excite her to move. She dozed off to sleep on the armchair, jolting back up at the sound of the door opening.
"Eliza Burrich? Please come with me." A different nurse said, calling her with her hand.
Later, she wouldn't remember the way to the orthopedic unit, as much as she wouldn't most of the conversation she had with her new orthopaedist. He allegedly analyzed the state of Eliza's right hand, ran a few exams, analyzed those, and then looked at her hand again. He asked a zillion different questions and by the end of it, Eliza could barely remember her name anymore.
"I believe that with the right treatment you'll start to feel improvement in no time." He stated, typing on his computer. "I've prescribed you something for your chronic pain, and in a few weeks we'll check back to see if there's progress."
Eliza sighed with relief, not knowing what pleased her the most, the promise of painkillers, or that she was finally free to go.
"The sooner you start the treatment, the better. There was a last minute opening for physio. You'll just have to wait for half an hour."
She was dismissed, again, and got up from the chair as if it was the last thing she wanted to do.
I really shouldn't have gotten out of bed this morning.
It was only a few wards walk to the waiting room in the Physical Therapy's department, but the waiting seemed endless, as she sat on the plastic chair, wishing there was someplace she could lay on while waiting.
Eliza knew she was being ungrateful, and mostly indulging in self pity. A few months before she would never even dared to dream about going to the doctor. Now, she was receiving top tier medical care and the only thing she could think about was sleeping. At least, she was trying to. Other memories attempted to plummet down her brain, but she would hold them out for as long as she could. There was no space for another public freakout.
When her name was called for the millionth time that day, Eliza looked up at a tall guy with glasses and a hospital attire different from the nurses and doctors. He stood a few feet away, and raised his eyebrows at her when she looked at him. Something in his face reminded her of someone, but she couldn't really put a finger on it as she followed him down the hall.
"So, I've just read through your file." He said, as she sat on the chair he indicated. He pulled a stool for himself, taking a look at the clipboard on his hand. "It's very severe damage, but Doctor Ward seems confident you'll recover a lot with the right treatment. I should warn you though, it will be difficult, and will require commitment from your part as well."
His tone was a bit icier than the other staff had shown up until then, and Eliza wondered why she felt like she was being scolded by a person she'd just met.
"Okay." She answered simply.
"How did you hurt your hand?"
"I-ah, it was a couple of years ago. I fell."
"You fell? And did something fall on it as well?" He took her hand in his, looking at it closely.
Something in his inflection of it made her uneasy, and she stuttered out, "Y-yes."
"What?"
"Hum...just a rock." He seemed to know she was lying, by the way his eyebrow flinched, but didn't ask any further questions.
His fingers felt through her hand for a few more seconds, sending a shiver through her skin when the memory of Gale's hand in hers came to her all at once.
Gale.
He'd gone to District 12 early in the morning. Was it possible they were already back? That everything went according to plan?
Eliza looked everywhere for a wall clock, counting down the hours in her mind to what would be the likely time for the trip to be over.
"Did you hear anything I just said?" Her new physiotherapist asked, without much effort to hide his frustration. She turned to him once again, noticing the rubber ball he now held, and shot him an apologetic look. He just sighed, proceeding to walk her through the therapy exercises.
Eliza tried to focus. She really did. But Tom, whose name she eventually realized was on a tag on his t-shirt, wasn't exactly the liveliest of people. Her mind kept meandering inbetween memories of the night before in Gale's room, while Tom corrected her posture time and time again. By the end of the session, he seemed as happy as Eliza to let her go.
On any other day she would have minded it, regretted her behavior and who knows, maybe even apologized for not being considerate enough of his time. But when the nurse told her she was free to go, Eliza rushed to her room without entertaining that thought for more than a second.
At every step she took, an overwhelming sadness crept up her body, growing as though it was trying to clog her throat and choke her. By the time she finally reached her room, she was ugly crying. She tried washing her face in the sink, hoping for some comfort coming from the cold water. Looking at her reflection in the mirror, she held on to every part of her face that reminded her of her mother, wishing so badly she was there. Instead, she was met by her own pitiful look, with a swollen and darker cheek to top it all off.
The only thing it served to remind her of was her mother's face the night her brother died. At the time, her mom would have cried herself to death if that was possible, and now, Eliza felt like she was close to doing the same. She missed her so much it physically hurt, and longed for the comfort of her embrace as she let her body sink in her bed.
The crying sound was faint at first, and Eliza tried to ignore it, covering her head with her pillow, thinking her mother ought to get to Joni soon, nursing him back to sleep in a second.
"It's alright sweety, it's alright." The voice sounded nothing like her mother though. Eliza opened her eyes despite how swollen they felt, only to find out she was not back at home, and that it wasn't Joni whose cries she'd just heard.
"Erica?" She sat on Sabrina's bed, cradling Sarah in her arms.
"Oh, you're awake!" She got up that second, but stopped at another loud cry from her daughter. "It's okay, sweety, it's okay. I'm so sorry, bringing her wasn't the best idea, but otherwise I couldn't come."
Eliza's head pounded at the baby's shrieks, but she was thankful to see her friend.
"What time is it?"
"Just a little bit past six. I just had dinner." She said in between Sarah's snivels. "Are you hungry? We can still make it to the canteen, I think. I'm sure they'll give you something, if you say you came from the hospital."
"I'm fine." Eliza pushed her covers away and tried to put her legs on the ground, but the dizziness sent her back almost immediately. "I mean, kind of." Her hand went to her head again, feeling out the side Teri had hit.
The effect of the painkillers was definitely gone, but the lack of food in her stomach probably wasn't helping either. Eliza felt Erica sit next to her, once Sarah had quieted down,
"How are you feeling?"
She could see the worry on her face, but couldn't bring herself to explain, so just shrugged her shoulders, covering her face with her hands once again and trying out a deep breath. She couldn't lay out her misery on Erica like before. Her friend had her own child to take care of now, and didn't need Eliza to worry about as well, especially when there was nothing she could do to help her.
"It was... It was nothing serious, honestly."
"Eliza, you were sent to the hospital, and now I find you with a face of someone who has been crying for days. How is that nothing?" Erica pushed the hair away from her face gently, making Eliza's lip tremble. She held the tears back, and shrugged again.
"I don't know, I just—"
The door opened before she could finish her sentence, letting Sabrina in, quickly followed by Mindy.
"Sorry, I found Mindy on my way back, and she said she wanted to see you." Sabrina said, sounding a bit unsure. "I told her you probably wanted privacy and peace and quiet."
"Look, I don't care if you want peace and quiet! You already blew me off this morning, and now I find out Teri punched you?! I need to know what happened. That airhead should never have been promoted. I'll punch her myself if—"
"Be quiet! You'll wake up the baby, can't you see!" Sabrina said in a hurried tone, which ironically, got Sarah to open her eyes, and let out a displeased shriek.
Mindy rolled her eyes at Sabrina, while Erica tried to quiet the baby back to sleep. "So your trainer was the one who hit you?" She asked. "That's ridiculous!"
"It wasn't that bad. She was just trying to get me to react. It was an exercise."
"It is a stupid exercise, especially if you're just a civilian. That idiot Teri… She's all muscles and no brains. I bet she was just trying to impress Heath and—" Mindy continued to complain.
"While you're much better than that, aren't you?" Sabrina's tone was much more bitter than Eliza remembered ever hearing in her voice. "You could start by teaching everyone how to steal military gear."
Mindy was going to answer, but Eliza cut her back before she could,
"It wasn't all Teri's fault. I was...well, I wasn't really helping. I couldn't do anything and then she punched me and..." She quivered at the memory. "When Officer Heath got closer to me, I just felt..."
She couldn't bring herself to finish her sentence, taking a glance in Erica's direction. The look on her face saddened, but before she could say anything, Eliza waved the matter away with her hand. "I don't want to talk about it anymore. There is nothing we can do."
"We can punch her back in the face." Mindy stated.
"No!" Eliza heard Sabrina utter it out at the same time as her. "There is no need for that, please."
Mindy rolled her eyes and shrugged. "If you insist. I just hope Heath doesn't let this go without notice. He can be such a softie sometimes."
"Will you need something for your face? It looks a little swollen." Erica noted, changing the subject.
"The doctor said it will be fine. But at least I'll have a few days off from training." Then she couldn't hold back from asking any longer, "Look, did any of you hear from the visit to District 12 today? Are they back already?"
"They're back." Mindy confirmed. "They docked not that long ago, actually. I think—"
But she never got to finish her thought. Her voice was cut off by the deafening sound of a siren.