Wheelchair Races

Chapter 5: New faces

What was that irritating that sound? Wait, was that a duck?

Oh right, my alarm is a duck. I made it a duck because ducks are just thee cutest little animals ever. They're all like "look, there's bread yum. Quack quack." I mean, who wouldn't want to wake up to the sound of cuteness.

After my moment of reflection on ducks, it dawned on me that today is the big day. It was my first official day at Sharp Memorial and I would meet my temporary family for the next couple of weeks. I groaned as I dragged myself out of bed and into the bathroom to start finishing up.

I put on my outfit that I had chosen last night; a blue high-low dress. It had the right amount of cute and maturity that I hoped it would make a good impression. That and it went well with my blonde hair.

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The ride to the hospital was silent but a comfortable silence. Neither Doc nor I spoke. I think he knew that I was way too occupied with thoughts and worries of my own. I think I was lost in my thoughts because when I returned to reality, I was walking down the cold white passage of a hospital.

We weren't in a surgery room or anything, in fact we were apparently on our way to an office, but no matter what, I still had a horrible feeling.

I got the feelings from my worst memory. It was the day of the test, the way that the nurses smile was like a hot flame that melted away my courage, the unreal smoothness of the cold needle, the hum of that machine and that horrible smell of sterilizer. Oh no, what if I threw up on someone important!?

...

So here I am, sitting in an office spacing out the very now and then but what the neck, I'm sure we'll be braiding each others hair before I know it. Besides me, there was only two other women in the room. The one was a doctor, Dr Evans, she seemed cute. Short and chubby with a mousy coloured hair that was in a bob. She walked around like a hen would if a hen could be human but yeah, that type of bustling around.

The other woman was much younger, maybe close to my age. She was also a volunteer in the program just like I was. She was nineteen or twenty so, somewhere around  there. But what made her stand out was her beauty. She was really pretty with her tanned skin and chocolate course hair. But she also seemed friendly so I doubt she would stalk the halls and be the cliche mean cheerleader type of thing if the hospital was actually the setting for a chick flick.

It was easy to see the other two volunteers even before the introductions. They were a boy and an older guy. The guy hadn't shaved and was sporting a 5 o'clock shadow at 10 in the morning. He had pretty blue eyes that made his outer appearance of about 24 seem old for the childishness the shone in his eyes.

The boy actually scared me. He couldn't be a day over ten and yet here he was, putting everything t risk to help find. Cure for this ugly thing that made us family. While sitting there silently in the waiting room, consumed by my thoughts, the biggest adventure of our lives were starting. And little did I know that one day we would be tighter than a family.

"Hello everyone, my name is doctor Kevin Swan. Yes, like the bird. Now, before we do anything, I think we all need to give these four brave kids a round of applause for their bravery. Mrs Finbury, kids, this is your new tutor." The man that was speaking now was the man in charge of everything. He looked like a Santa clause, even just as jolly which was strangely refreshing. Mrs Finbury was an average looking woman, it she seemed pretty young to be a Mrs.

The doctors left us with some sweet looking nurses as they went off talking in an array of medical terms. Really, sometimes I wondered how these people could be so smart then I remember that there are tons of smart people, but I still saw doctors as being among the smartest. 

The nurses led us each to our rooms. Because we were going to be here so long, we wouldn't be staying in a ward. This was great news to me. I hated hospitals so much and it was even worse when I had to spend nights in wards filled with people that were sick. It wasn't a good motivation to keep fighting. In fact, seeing people in horrible places was actually depressing to me. 

These rooms were white but each room held one bed, had a TV and two chairs by the window. It wasn't much but this was going to be my room. "I know it's really plain right now, but you can decorate or put some personal touches to it if you like. Usually management doesn't allow that but you and the other three are different to our usual guests." 

"Thanks, I think I might just take you up on that offer." I was really grateful to the nurse for being so sincere. She smiled and then left me to make myself at home, or at least that's what she said. 

I was just standing their thinking about my future and what all this meant to me as a person and... no I'm not that serious. I just saw a ladybug on the window and found myself staring at it. But I'm sure I looked super serious and deep in thought as I communicated with the bug through telepathy. 

"Hi there." I turned around and saw the volunteer girl again. Up close she looked like a really sweet person. "Hey" I didn't really know what exactly to say back to her seeing as neither of us have ever been in a situation like this before. I decided to remember my mother and the way she raised me. "I'm Amanda, but everyone just calls me Mandy." I offered my hand to her which she accepted and shook. "Hi, I'm Belinda. People just call me Be or even Linda but that sounds a bit too old for my liking."

Yeah, we were going to get along just great, I knew it.  

I know this sounds cliche but the next thing I know, Be and I are sitting comfortably on the chairs by the window just chatting about stuff. By stuff I mean ourselves. I learned that her favorite colour was red and she had an older brother. She was in fact nineteen and in her final year of high school. She explained that because her birthday was so late in the year, she had to stay behind a year in school.

The more time we spent together that day and the more we spoke the more comfortable we were with each other. The best thing about her was that she had an infectious smile and was the definition of cheer and positivity.

After a few moments she said, "you know, if we're going to be stuck here we may as well make it unforgettable. I rate we document our time here." She was trying to make a hard situation easier for us both. "OK, what do you think we should do then?" I didn't really know what she was getting at but was curious to see what she had in mind.

"We can take before and after pictures, maybe decorate our rooms wildly and definitely give a few of these nurses some grey hairs. Are you in?"

How could I not want to be a part of something that could be great fun.

"OK, I'm in."

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Hey everyone, so, the late update is an oops on my side but hey, I didn't get those comments. I admit I'm a person who just reads and votes but I don't always find time to comment. On that note I will accept votes. Come on people! Let's get some life and see a reaction!!