Finding Alaska

2

Alaska

I scan the room from left to right. The hospital bed is perfectly centered with the call it's against. Tobi's rolling chair is still to the left of my bed. I scoot it out of the way and turn my body to dangle my feet over the bedside. There's a horizontal rectangular window interrupting the blank white walls. You'd think there would be diagrams and posters like some college infirmaries do.

I move to get up but feel the tug of my IV and grunt. The equipment holding my IV drip is stationed to the right of the bed. I flip my legs around and scoot off the right edge of the mattress. Slowly, I stand using the IV drip to support me as I gain my balance. I spare the door a glance and see darkness on the other side of the door's slim, rectangular window.

I move the IV drip with me around the bed and towards the horizontal window. My jaw drops as I take in the vast woods laid out in front of me. From the angle of this window, I couldn't see where the trees ended. What the hell did I get myself into this time? This is not campus. A wave of nausea hit me like a train. Desperately, I scoot as fast as I can to the small trash can near the cabinets and sink in the far-left corner of the room. Unable to hold it back any longer, I projectile vomit into the tiny trash can. At least I have good aim.

For as long as I can remember I've had health issues. Some are mild like acid reflux. Others are intense and unsolved. About a year ago, I had a three-month streak of being unable to keep anything down. I was nauseous all the time and nothing helped. I was miserable all the time, day in and day out emptying the contents of my stomach and dry heaving when there was nothing left. I'd get a few hours of sleep only to wake up at exactly five in the morning to start vomiting all over again. It's mellowed out over the past year. They always thought I was pregnant, but that definitely wasn't the case. I've always been too busy with studying and saving money for college to date. It's not that I didn't want to, I just had other priorities. This time, I'm pretty sure the nausea is just my concussion. That's when I remembered the nausea medication I left in my bag. I could really go for one of those right now. I scanned the room a second time but failed to find anything that belonged to me. They must have locked it all away for safekeeping. I'm wiping away the puke that dribbled down my chin with a paper towel when Tobi walks back in with a metal tray.

"Girl, what are you doing up? Sick already?" I nod. She sets the tray down on an adjustable bedside table stationed to the right of the bed before rushing over. She retrieved a bottle of bright blue liquid, poured some into a paper cup, and handed it over, "Swish and gargle!" She chimes and guides me to the sink so I can spit.

"Tobi," I pause and dread the answer she might give me, "where am I?" She briefly bites her lip and shifts her weight anxiously. I didn't pin her to be shaken so easily.

"Well, uhm" she trails off in thought, "you're in my nursing facility," and another pause, "located in a private community." My jaw dropped for the second time today.

"Oh my god. Did I trespass? I'm so sorry I have no idea how I got here," my eyes are met with the clock on the wall by the door, "I-I'm supposed to be in class!" I was over twenty minutes late to my Child Abuse II class. It's a mandatory class for a scholarship program I've been trying to get into for the last year and a half. You only get one absence before your letter grade starts dropping. Nausea hits me again as I think about dropping a letter grade for every day I've missed, "How long have I been here?" my heart starts racing.

"You're fine darling," she gently guides me and my IV drip back to the right side of the hospital bed where she settles me back down. "How about you get some food in your stomach, and we can chat a little later? I'll see what I can find out by talking with the guys that found you. I'm thinking we can sit down within the week to talk. I want you to rest up a little more before we talk about a stressful topic." Tobi redirects my focus to my rumbling stomach before scurrying away.