Inter Mundos (Between Worlds)

Twenty Four: Visitors

Hospitals. I hated them. The very word made me nervous. They held nothing but bad memories for me.
"Mommy, when can you come home?" I remember by young self asking.
My mom nodded sweetly at me. "Soon, I promise." What was she to tell me? The truth? The truth was: she was never going to come home.
I woke up from my dream about the past and stared up at the white ceiling until I saw someone at the corner of my eye. At first, I thought it was Jim, but his hair was little bit darker and his shoulders not as broad.
It was Lucard. He was hunched over, sleeping at the foot of my bed with his head resting on his arms. And then he stirred in his sleep, waking up and rubbing his tired eyes. "Oh, hi, Briar." He yawned.
"What are you doing here?" I asked him.
He gave me funny look. "What am I doing here? I thought that would be obvious. I came to check up on you."
I strained to sit up right. My back still ached from the accident. "Thanks," I said. "Where is Maria?"
Lucard stood up and poured a cup of water. "Are you thirsty?" I shook my head and watched him gulp the water down. "Maria went to get something to eat." He told me as he walked over to a near by chair with a couple of books and note pads sitting on top. "These are your notes for the classes you have to study for. I heard you get an extension resulting in what happened. I thought that maybe since you were cooped up in here someone had to get you your notes. Think of this extension as a cheat sheet."
I nodded. "Right. Thanks. I'm in no mood to study, though, sorry."
Lucard shrugged and sat back down next to the bed. "That's okay. It's here if you want to."
"How did you hear about the accident?" I asked, not wanting the silence to linger too long.
"The accident spread like fire all throughout the academy. There are all sorts of rumors going around."
I rubbed my head. "Oh great...more of a reason for people to give me a hard time."
Lucard chuckled nervously. "Actually, no. People are scared of you now. Scared that if they hang around you they might be targeted by pirates, too."
I was surprised. "And you aren't?"
Lucard smiled at me. "Nope!"
"Why?"
"I'm too smart for my own good." He simply told me.
This time I laughed. "Its that big head of yours that's going to get you into serious trouble some day."
"You have no idea." A silly grin spread across his face. "By the way, I like your hair. It makes you look younger."
"Are you saying I looked old before?" I teased.
Lucard's face flushed. "I-what-no!" He stammered. "I just really like how your hair looks, that's all."
I laughed, forgetting for the moment about the pain in my back. "It's fine. I'm just joking around with you."

At that moment someone knocked on the door a nurse walked in. She told Lucard to leave and she gave me some medicine to help with the pain in my back. When she finished she called in Delbert and he scanned my body again.
"You're making a wonderful recovery, Briar. I think you will be out of here with the next fort-eight hours." Delbert told me. "And may I suggest you get some sunshine? It will do you some good."
"I didn't know I was allowed to go outside." I said truthfully.
Delbert smiled at me. "As long as you have an escort with you at all times it shouldn't be a problem."
"Great! I don't suppose you'll join me?"
Delbert left my question hanging in the air when the suddenly opened again. It was Jim. He smiled at me. "Hey, Briar. Glad to see you're awake."
"Briar is making a great recovery." Delbert said to Jim. He then averted his attention to the nurse. "Jot the medicine dose down, will you?" He asked.
The nurse nodded. "Of course." As soon as she did she left the room, leaving just the three of us now.
Delbert cleared his throat. "Jim, I have some important matters to attend to. Will you see to Briar? She wants to get some fresh air."
"Wait!" I started to protest. "I mean, it doesn't have to be now. I don't want to inconvenience anyone." But Delbert was already closing the door behind him. I looked up at Jim shyly.
"How are you feeling? The last two days you were asleep when I came to visit."
I shifted my bottom as I continued sitting in my bed. "According to Dill Pickle I'm doing great."
Jim laughed at my nickname for Delbert. "And you're back to telling jokes, too. You must be feeling better."
I blushed. "Y-yeah. I guess so."
Jim gave me his hand. "How about we go outside? Its really nice today."

I was forced to stay seated in a wheel chair as the nurses and doctors did not want me to strain my body. Jim pushed me as we made our rounds about the hospital courtyard. There were cherry blossom trees and small ponds everywhere and tiny flowers littered the ground. It was so pretty!
"Your friends at the academy miss you." Jim told me.
"That must make about three people: Lucard, Maria and Lynn."
"What about me?" At first he looked at me like he was insulted, but quickly changed his attitude as he gave me a grin.
"And you too." I finally said, rolling my eyes and smiling stupidly. "By the way, I really think this wheel chair is unnecessary." I forced Jim to stop and used the strength in my arms to hoist myself up. My legs were a bit wobbly at first and Jim stood behind me in case I fell. "See? I'm fine." I rubbed my butt that was getting numb from sitting down for too long.
"Are you sure?" It was nice that he cared so much. It made me happy.
I nodded and smile. "You bet. I'm built pretty tough." I told him this as I reached for a blossom on the three, but I was too short.
"Here," Jim picked a blossom for me and put it behind my ear. "I never got to tell you how much I like your new look."
My face flushed and looked down at my feet. "Y-you like it this short?" I asked him.
He thought for a moment. "I miss the length you had it, but short hair looks really good on you also."
I built up my courage and looked at him. "Thank you." The light from the sun shined down through the cracks of the tree in just the right places, giving Jim that handsome and mysterious look. What felt like an eternity as I got caught up in Jim's blue eyes, only lasted a few seconds before someone interrupted us. It was Maria and Lucard.
"So this is where you got off to." Said Lucard. "I leave for one second and you get lost." He said jokingly.
"I'm not lost. Jim is with me." I turned to face the two.
Maria gave Lucard a playful push. "Stop teasing, you dork."
Lucard gave one of his silly grins again. "So its okay to be out here?"
I nodded. "I got the okay. As long as I'm with someone the doctors and nurses don't mind."
Jim cleared his throat, joining the conversation. "Shouldn't you two be at the academy?" He got them there. They were definitely skipping.
Lucard crossed his arms and leaned to one side. He wasn't able to keep his eyes on Jim. "This is more important, don't you think?" He almost seemed embarrassed to say it.
"Lucard wouldn't stop talking about coming to see you." Maria chimed in. "He was really upset when he heard about the accident."
Lucard's face flushed red. "Maria! I told you not to say anything!" Maria only laughed at this. A playful banter of teasing back and forth erupted from the two for a minute before Jim finally spoke up again.
"You two should really get back to the academy. I appreciate you checking up on Briar."

When the two reluctantly left Jim took me back to my room. I didn't want to go, and I told Jim this, so we walked back slowly, enjoying the outdoors while we still could.
"I'm surprised you came." I said after a moment of silence.
"Really? Why? I told you I'd come visit you every day, didn't I?"
I nodded to this. "True. But with pirate business I figured you'd be too busy."
Jim scoffed softly. "There are more important things." He paused and then said, "Unfortunately, I think there will always be pirates. The galaxy is just too big to control."
"An endless battle." I said.
Jim opened the door to my room and I wheeled myself in. He helped me sit down on chair next to a window overlooking the courtyard. "Will you be all right?" he asked.
I yawned, putting my elbow on the armrest and resting my head in my palm. "Yeah," I said lazily.
Jim chuckled at this. "You'll be back to normal in no time." Jim said goodbye to me then and I was alone until it came time to eat again.
The nurse who gave me my food was different this time. Come to think of it, this was my first time seeing her. "You're food, miss." She set up a stand for me and put my tray of food down i front of me.
"Thanks." I said.
She smiled. "You're welcome." And she left.
As I dug into my food, which resorted of a roast beef sandwich and vegetables, I found a folded note sticking out from underneath my plate. I opened it to see what was inside and held my breath as I did so. It was just initials on it and they read: J.S.
I smiled a little. John Silver. That old scalawag was still around.