Haunted by the Past

Chapter 13: Night Terrors

Copyright 2017 © Rosesareforever

Haunted by the Past

Chapter 13

'Night Terrors'

The white walls surrounding her were closing in on Stephanie, more and more with every hour that passed. She needed to get away, needed to leave that clean and cool environment before she'd go entirely nuts. Never did she think that she would miss the chaos of her own apartment as much as she did. She simply couldn't relax or even get comfortable in the immaculate room. Ever since fully waking up from the coma she'd been put in, she hadn't been able to sleep for more than a few hours at a time and the lack of sleep was slowly starting to catch up with her. She felt drained and gloomy.

Fortunately, her doctor had stopped by only a moment ago to offer her discharge papers. She was free, free to finally leave this serene place and return to normalcy. There was only one issue remaining. The Doctor had advised her to stay at a friend's place and make sure that someone would look after her the next couple of days. With her balance issues and the headache that seemed to remain after the accident, it was best if someone observed Stephanie and made sure she stayed out of harm's way. After further examining her, the doctor assured her that her body was functioning normally again, except for the balance disorder she seemed to have.

Perilymph fistula. Two words that completely changed Stephanie's life, two words she'd never even heard of before, but impacted everything she ever dreamed about. Perilymph fistula was a balance disorder that could occur after a head injury, dramatic changes in air pressure, physical exertion, ear surgery or chronic ear infection. Basically, it meant that Stephanie had a leakage of inner ear fluid into the middle ear. It could cause unsteadiness that usually increased with activity, along with dizziness and nausea. In other words, chances were small that she'd ever be able to dance again – certainly not professionally. Being a teacher was completely out of the question as long as she couldn't perform for at least an hour without becoming dizzy or nauseous.

The knowledge wrecked Stephanie. Dancing was part of her, she didn't know if she'd be able to live without it. It was her second nature, her passion. Her greatest fear always had been an injury that would physically retain her from being able to dance and now her nightmare seemed to be coming true. It was safe to say her mood had only decreased after talking to her doctor. Stephanie honestly didn't know how to cope. Her world was spinning on its axis and she couldn't seem to make it stop.

"You're free to go now, Ms. Hoffman," the nurse called out, smiling kindly. "I assume this is your ride?"

Stephanie looked up to see David standing in the doorway, towering over the cordial nurse. Before he could enter, however, Jade bypassed him and rushed inside. "I'm so glad they finally released you!" the woman exclaimed, enthusiastically throwing her arms in the air.

Well, she wasn't the only one, Stephanie thought. Four weeks were more than enough to spent in a small, white room. The doctor had told her she was lucky. That most people had to stay much longer to fully recover from the trauma they had experienced. Stephanie didn't necessarily feel lucky. Nothing they had tried had seemed to help with her balance issues, nor did her headache fully disappear. The only stuff that had healed were her broken wrist, strained ankle, cracked ribs and ruptured spleen. Physically she was doing great. Emotionally, however, she was a complete mess.

"Are you the one Ms. Hoffman will be staying with?" the nurse asked Jade, making Stephanie curse inwardly. The doctor might have advised her to stay over at a friend's place, but she'd never planned to ask anyone to help her out. She didn't want or need help. Her entire life she'd managed just fine to take care of herself. There was no reason for that to change.