A Nightmare's Fate

The Park

Chapter Ten: The Park

A nurse comes inside the room and helps me up to go to the bathroom to change. I feel a lot better today, I'm still weak but I'm moving around. I sit on the edge of the bed as she comes around and wraps her hand around my arm and picks me up. We slowly walk to the restroom a few feet away from the bed, and as the door opens and closes, I sit on the toilet and pee. After the urine enters the bowl of water, I grab some tissue and wipe while the nurse helps me put on my underwear, pants, bra, and shirt. I pace myself to the sink and wash my hands before she walks me over to the bed again so I can get on my shoes.

            Preston comes in with a smile and sits on the nearest chair from me. "Good job keeping the blood flow, Raven." I can't help but smile as my face burns with embarrassment. "Just keep resting for a few days and all with be fine."

            I nod while tying my shoelace.

            He stands and starts to the door but stops. "And I am sorry about . . . your fiancé." Then he leaves.

            Once I'm done with my shoes, the nurse helps me up again and motions me outside the room where a wheelchair is and I sit on it. She wheels me into an elevator as it dings and we get inside. It's a small squeeze, but we fit with four other people. It's silent and awkward, but I don't say anything anyways. The elevator door opens and we get off since it's the first floor. As we go through plenty of hallways, we finally end up at the front as the sliding doors open and it reveals the outside world, where I feel like I’ve been trapped forever in this hospital; like I’ve never seen sunlight beam down onto life.

            Jessie stands next to her truck and she smiles, running up to me with her arms out, ready to embrace me in her arms. She hugs me while she bounces on her feet. "I'm glad you're out of there!" she announces and I roll my eyes.

            "I wasn't in jail, Jessie. C'mon and help me." I hold out my arm as she pulls me out of the chair and I thank the nurse while she nods and leaves. Jessie escorts me to the truck while putting me inside.

            I buckle up and she does the same when she gets in, then she puts the truck in “drive” and we head out of the hospital parking lot. "How are you feeling?" she asks while stopping at a red light down the street.

            "I feel better and a bit happier," I say. My weakness strengthens up and my sadness turns into smiles. I don't know if the hospital has those happy-pills, but I feel like they gave it to me.

            She sighs. "You better feel happier because I'm sick and tired of your grief,” she mutters underneath her breath, but I'm so close to her that I know exactly what she said.

I feel a pinch of sadness run through me as my friends don't even like how I'm sad, that they don't treat me the way I should be treated, for niceness. They just give me excuses and pick fights with me which as a friend; they should be supportive, caring, and forgiving. But for Freddy, Periwinkle, and Jessie, it isn't like that at all.

            "It's grief. You can't tell me when to heal," I snap, my eyes on her.

            She pulls the truck over to the side of the freeway and turns off the car. "You just keep acting like you're never going to move on and––"

            "And what? Kenton was my fiancé! Is it a crime to be sad and act like I'm never going to move on? It isn't like you care––"

            "I do care! We all care about Kenton. He's the one who made me feel better after my horrible breakup, which in fact almost got me to where you are!"