My Warrior

Don't Come Back

The nurse shook Ari gently when she came in with her lunch and Ari groaned at the sight of it.

"Young man do me a favor and make sure she eats as much as she can ok?" The nurse asked of me.llo

"Sure."

Thankfully it was a different nurse than the one who tried to hit on me earlier. I watched her pull out a small table from somewhere along the side of the bed and placed it in front of Ariana to put her tray on.

"Click that red button if you need any help and ask for Nurse Mary."

"Is that you?"

She smiled, showing her bright white teeth. "Yes."

I nodded and she left. Ari sat up in her bed and frowned at a lump of potatoes.

"Jake I don't want it."

"I know." I sighed. "But you have to eat as much as you can."

She layed her spoon on top of her pile of steaming potatoes and then licked the spoon. "I'm done."

I laughed and scooted my chair closer to her. "Ari, that wasn't even a scoop. Eat."

She stuck her tongue out at me. "I thought you would be fun to have here, I thought you'd let me get away with stuff."

I shook my head. "Sorry, I care too much about your health. Eat."

She groaned loudly and ate a real scoop of her potatoes. I watched her, silently begging her to eat more and she did. She didn't even touch her meat or corn before moving the table out to the side.

"Are you alright?" I asked, already knowing what she would say.

"No. I-I...Jake." She gagged and I jumped out of my chair to open her bathroom door. She had no problem running inside to the toilet.

She coughed harshly and lost all the food in her stomach. I rubbed her back and let her finish. Still bent over the toilet she pushed me lightly.

"Get out. I'm ok now."

I wanted to stay but I knew she didn't want me to so I walked out and shut the bathroom door. I tapped my foot on the floor as I sat in the chair beside her empty bed. Should I hit the red button? Did I need to? Would she be mad if I did?

The room was silent for a little while and then I could hear that she started throwing up again and coughing. I panicked and hit the red button. In a matter of seconds in came the pale Nurse Mary with her short blondish gray hair bouncing as she ran up to me.

"She ate, but couldn't keep it down. She's in the bathroom and doesn't want me in there."

"Ok sweetie." She said caringly after touching my shoulder. "Just hang tight."

I sat back in my seat and watched Nurse Mary knock on the door.

"Ariana! It's me, Mary! I'm ganna come in now!" She said.

Her pale, wrinkled hands opened the door just enough for her to squeeze past and then shut it behind her. My poor baby...she was in pain. She was suffering and I couldn't do anything to help.

They'd been in the bathroom for a long time and I turned on the tv and began watching SpongeBob. It was a pretty good distraction until I heard the bathroom door open and close behind me. I stood up and walked over to Nurse Mary.

"She's ok now, just washing her mouth out."

I smiled and took a deep breath. "That's great."

"Mhmm." She mumbled sadly and looked down at the ground.

"Mary what is it?" I asked.

She sighed before making eye contact again.

"Ariana has asked me to tell you to leave."

I bit my lip, but couldn't be angry. "Ok. I'll just come back tommorow."

"Um...actually she doesn't want you to come back tommorow."

"Well when?"

"I don't know." She frowned.

It hurt to hear her say that. If she didn't know then Ari didn't know, and if Ari didn't know neither did I.

"I see. Well please tell her I hope she feels better."

"Of course." She said, and I believed she'd give Ari my message.

"Well you have a nice day."

"You too young man."

I walked towards the door and stopped when I was almost in the hallway.

"Jacob. My name is Jacob." I told her.

She just smiled and I walked out into the hall. I sat in the parking lot for almost an hour before finding the strength to drive home, not knowing when I would see Ariana again.