Still Life

Recovering

I was laying in bed bored out of my mind. I was in the Intensive care unit with a bunch of old geezers who smelled like rotten cheese. The women to my left snored at night. The man on my left constantly farted. I looked like a homeless person and my I don't know when I would walk again. Jude came in through the open door and said hello to the lady next to me. "How is everything Mrs. Williams?" She told him about an ache in her back and he called her doctor to check it out. 

He closed the curtains around my bed and sat in the chair closest to me. "So, tell me about yourself Arianna." I looked taken aback. I think he likes me I thought, but another part of me thought he was  just doing his job. "Well, the day of the accident I was visiting my friend Breanna here at the hospital. She has leukemia you know and I told her that I quit school, she went ballistic and ordered me to leave immediately." I took a breathe and paused. "Then I was heading home my phone it~" I stopped. My phone I was talking to Breanna before the accident. Did she hear it all? "Uh, Jude did they find a red Iphone anywhere near the scene of the accident?" I asked him curiously. "Oh, I can ask the police if they found anything the phones probably smashed to bits though." I sighed. great my new I phone is probably in a million pieces.

"If there is anything you need just press the button on the side of your bed and I will come." He got off the stools and opened the curtains. The older woman next to me said something that got my attention. "He sure is cute Jude, He would be perfect for you." I smiled at her. "Thank you, uh Mrs. Williams."

"You can call me Carey." at least I had someone to talk to. "I heard you were in a terrible accident." She told me. I nodded. "That must be hard having a friend with cancer, my mom was diagnosed when she was sixty she only lived for a few years.I loved her my mom we were so much alike."

"I just can't look at her. You know? I just can't seem to fathom what she is going through."

"You will soon learn that, that is normal, oh here is my doctor nice talking with you Arianna." Her doctor was a women.with a very set face and a stern look in her eyes.She was probably in her late forties. She closed the screen.I wanted to walk around anything to keep me busy but I couldn't move.

I eyed up a wheel chair that was behind my bed. It had a support for my leg I pulled it up to the bed and slowly climbed on it. It hurt my Left leg allot but I managed to make no sound. I gritted my teeth against the pain and wheeled myself out of the room.I headed for the washroom. I splashed water on my face from the sink and washed my face with hand soap.

There was a long scratch going down my left cheek, I traced my finger along it feeling the rough edges. My eyes had dark circles around them. my hair looked the dirtiest it had been in months. I rubbed a hand through my hair feeling the grease. I desperately wanted to wash it. Would the gift shop have shampoo? I thought.

I decided to wash it with hand soap. I finished washing it and wheeled my way over to the cancer ward. I knocked on Breanna's door. She came and opened it. "Arianna!" she squealed "Your okay!"

"Could I borrow your brush?" I asked her. "She nodded and grabbed it off her bedside table and handed it to me. I brushed all the knots out. "So how did you wash your hair?" she asked. "Uh with hand-soap in the women's bathroom" I replied sheepishly. She laughed. "Aren't you on bed rest?" she asked me curiously. "Uh yeah don't tell anyone I kind of snuck out."

"You what?! You have to get back and I mean it." I left her room and went back into the Intensive care unit. Jude was waiting by my bed. "Arianna Miles, what are you doing out of bed." He looked unhappy. "I was bored and-" He cut me off. "Don't do that again you hear me?"

"Okay." He helped me back onto the bed and checked my bandage on my leg. "Arianna you have done it this time."

"What, what have I done?"

"You ripped open a stitch."

"Oh, could you fix it?"

"No, only your doctor can. I will go get him. Would you like to tell him or shall I?"

I nodded. "I will."

"Good." and he left .I felt bad Jude was mad at me. I mean who wouldn't be bored if they had to stay in bed all day and stare at the ceiling. I noticed that my red cellphone was on the bedside table. I picked it up noticed the large crack on the front. I turned it on. It still worked. I  checked to see how long the call was.  Eight minutes and forty forty seconds.

She heard the whole thing! I dropped the phone onto the floor. My mouth was open.  Jude came back with Dr. Reynolds. I was still sitting there mouth agape when Jude walked in. "Uh, Arianna are you alright? You look kind of shaken up." A tear fell down my cheek. The tears kept flowing. I put my head into my hands and let it all out.

"Arianna, I'm not mad at you for what you did. You wanted to visit your friend who is sicker than you and I get that.That's why I arranged for you to be transferred into her room." I removed my hands from my face and smiled. "Thank you Jude." I said.

"No sweat." He left and Dr. Reynolds began removing my bandages from my left leg. "I see where you ripped it. Let me just numb the area while I fix it." He injected me with a numbing cream and fixed the stitches. He then re-wrapped the bandages around my leg. "Arianna first thing tomorrow morning you will get transferred okay?" I nodded and smiled. I would be sharing a room with my best friend.

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It was getting late and I closed my eyes. for what seemed like hours later I looked at the clock on the wall. "2:30 in the morning great." I mouthed under my breathe. Carey was snoring loudly and I was having trouble falling asleep. I rubbed my eyes.

I put my pillow over my head and tried falling asleep. It worked I was asleep within minutes.

I was having another terrible nightmare. I was falling ,deeper, deeper down a spiraling hole. I fell and hit the floor hard. I picked myself up and looked around. I was in the front waiting room of the hospital.I could hear very loud yelling. "There's nothing we can do Mrs. Micheal's, we have to pull the plug."

"But please, you can't she has to live." I ran towards the voices my feet reverberating off the long hallway. I stopped in front of Breanna's door. I peered inside and I could see the same doctor who was helping Carey. She pressed some buttons on the monitor then pulled the plug. I was screaming violently.

I ran through the door and just as I was about to kill the doctor I awoke. I was drenched in sweat and I started to scream. "Breanna!"I screamed. "Breanna!" I started to sob uncontrollablyy. I pressed the button on the side of my bed.

I wanted Jude. I wanted him to hold me and tell me everything would be alright. I wanted to feel his body against mine. In through the doors came Carey's doctor. I stopped. She came up to me. "Is everything alright Breanna?" She asked. I screamed at her. "You killed Breanna! I hate you. I hate you!" I was panicking

"I didn't kill her, look you must have been having a bad dream." She was coming closer to me. "Don't touch me." I yelled angrily. She backed away. "If you want I can get your doctor...."

"That would be nice now leave!" I screamed. She left the room and I started to cry harder. My life was a complete mess.