Five days after Avery had made her decision, she stood under the scrutinizing eyes of one colossal lumberjack. His massive hand held the office door open although he seemed to be rooted in the doorway. "You're Avery Swartz?" He asked her for the third time now, refusing to believe she was indeed who she claimed to be.
"Look, Mister—"
"Keith. I'm your super."
"Right... Keith. The Super. I just need somewhere to sit my bags down, so if we could hurry this up that would be great." Her shoulders burned something fierce, with the weight of her backpack on one and Milo's carrier hanging from the other, they had surpassed their limit. She worried her back would ignite at any second.
His eyebrows shot to his hairline, "Oh! Crap! Sorry. I just expected someone older... not a lot of people your age can afford a year's worth of rent upfront, you know?" Avery did know, but at the moment she couldn't care less. It had been a long flight and she still had a lot of things to do before she could rest. "Uh, yeah, lemme get your keys." The door fell closed behind him, leaving Avery alone to readjust the extra pounds her frame was forced to support.
She had chosen this town, Eaton Heights, blindly. After living in New York for so long, she wanted somewhere a bit more quiet and laid-back. With a population barely over five thousand people, it fit the bill. It reminded her of the towns back in Indiana—large enough to host a variety of name brand department stores, restaurants, a couple parks, and a movie theater, but small enough to feel more like a close knit community.
They even had their own hospital—Avery's soon-to-be new place of employment. They had called and interviewed her in under an hour of submitting her application online. She wasn't entirely sure if she should be bothered or not by their eagerness for employment.
Eaton Heights was also only a thirty to forty-five minute drive to three major cities, so if the job didn't pan out, she could easily find another. Right now though, it would do just fine.
The super barreled out the door, his thick bear blowing in the wind. "Got it. Follow me." Avery found that easier said than done with his long legs making bigger strides than her's. He never did offer to carry anything she held.
"You got a lot of packages this week," he yelled over his shoulder as he climbed the stairs to the second floor. "I put them in your living room."
She leaned into the railing, her head far too light for comfort. "Thanks," she croaked, swallowing gulps of fresh air. Her lungs would definitely need some time to adjust to the higher elevation of Colorado.
Stopping in front of apartment 2B, Keith dangled two sets of keys in front of his enormous chest. "This one is for your car." He dropped it in her hand, "It's parked in your assigned spot, thirteen. Came just yesterday." Avery silently thanked the car gods, and Carvana by proxy. She didn't know what she would have done had they not delivered it until tomorrow. She needed it today.
"These are your apartment keys," he held them up, waiting patiently for her to pull up the polyester straps that had fallen off her protesting shoulders. "One is a spare. I do have to emphasize that if you give them to someone—roommate or whatever—they need to fill out an application for approval. We can't just be handing out extra keys all willy-nilly like. Don't need no riff-raff up in here, you know?"
How about ghosts, Keith?
Keith must have gotten tired of waiting on her as he pulled the keys back and unlocked the door himself. "Welcome to Eaton Heights," he grumbled as he skipped down the stairs and disappeared around the corner.
Avery sat her things down. Stretching, she put her hands on her hips, easing her back muscles out of their rigid position. Her eyes followed the layout of the new space, pleasantly surprised.
She had opted for a one bedroom this time, a bit cheaper than the monthly payment for a studio in New York. While she knew it was going to give her more room, she also understood that photos could be deceiving when it came to square footage. She hadn't known what to expect when she applied but now, she was glad she had chosen this unit.
It was an open concept, with the kitchen, dining room, and living room in one large area. That area was currently filled to the brim with boxes but she could still discern how big it really was. To her left was a closet and a small hallway leading to a bedroom, directly across from a full, spacious bathroom.
Immediately, she headed toward the boxes. She needed to locate her mattress and Milo's litter box first. The cat's toilet needed to be found pronto, for obvious reasons. He had already spent six hours in that crate and she didn't want to push it longer than necessary. He was probably parched as well. He would definitely be hungry. That damn feline could eat her out of house and home if she let him.
The mattress she had ordered was folded and sealed in an airtight package and would need hours, if not a full day to unfurl before she could sleep on it. It wasn't the most ideal, given she was more exhausted than she thought she would be, but it was what she had to work with.
Everything else could wait until she returned home.
***
Julie Matthews was a petite woman, with a small frame. She had been working pediatrics since she graduated college, her normal chocolate curls graying at the roots and fraying at the ends. Life had put her through the ringer as of late and it showed the most in her sunken brown eyes and gaunt skin, but that was exactly why Avery was here.
Needing more time with her family, Julie requested an aide, a runner really, to relieve some of her more mundane duties—the ones that didn't require a degree in nursing. Someone had to make sure the patients got everything they needed, from pitchers of fresh water to clean towels and bedding, and this would fall to Avery.
"This floor is Pediatrics, as you know," Julie proceeded to give Avery a quick tour, talking faster than the blonde could absorb her words and walking faster than her leg muscles could tolerate. She scurried to keep up but to no avail, her whole body craved nothing more than sleep. The red eye flight from New York had been a bad idea. "We specialize in patients under the age of eighteen. It doesn't matter the diagnosis, we take them all. So, you will find a large range from lymphomas to simple surgeries." She stopped suddenly, allowing Avery a stolen moment to catch her breath.
Julie hardened her features, "This is a tough floor to work on, Avery. You will see things that will tear your soul apart and some days, you will go home and cry yourself to sleep. But there are good days too... and plenty of reasons to celebrate even the tiniest milestones. Hold on to those, okay?" She gave Avery a light squeeze on the shoulder before her road-runner legs inflicted their maltreatment once more. "Let's go meet some patients, shall we?"
***
They traveled from room to room, starting from one end of the hospital and working their way to the opposite side, looping around in a big semi-circle. Julie relayed the patient's history, giving Avery a short explanation before entering. Those patients that could converse with her did so, though the introductions were kept to a minimum, most too frail to exert much energy for long.
Avery did not fail to notice the lack of parents sitting in the room of the long-term patients. Julie claimed that most have resigned to once a day visits, watching their child whither away and die too draining on them. She seemed to understand their struggle but Avery did not. If that was her kid, they would have to install a permanent bed for her in the same room. "I used to think that too once," Julie spoke softly with a far off look in her eyes but did not offer a reason as to why her outlook had changed. Avery worried she would become desensitized to it all one day too, and that thought terrified her.
"This is Tyler. He's fourteen and a bit puckish so watch out." Julie shook her head, "he's a good kid though."
Opening the door, she revealed a small, red-head boy with a gapped tooth grin. "Hey Miss Julie!" He cheered at her with burnt orange, freckled-fanned cheeks.
"How we doing today little man?" She asked.
That grin instantly turned upside down, the corners of his mouth set deeply with his delicate chin, "I'm not little." But he was. For fourteen-years-old he was rather small and frail. Julie didn't give her the information on his diagnosis and she didn't ask, assuming she would find out sooner or later.
However, when he finally focused his large, green eyes upon Avery, his ornery mirth returned full force. "Who's the hottie Miss Julie? Early birthday gift?"
A little taken aback by his forwardness, she bowed her head, strands of blonde hiding her flushed face. "I'm Avery."
"Avery will be helping me out around here so please, I know this is a lot to ask, but try to be on your best behavior—can't go scaring her off on her first day." She wanted to assure Julie that the antics of a teenage boy would not send her running for the hills, but she had always been under the impression that redheads were the most mischievous of all so she reconsidered making such a promise.
Tyler arched a wicked brow, smirking slyly, "What do I get in return?"
The older woman's jaw went slack before adopting a more contemptuous expression, "When did we resort to bribing, hm?"
"I promise I'll be good, " he earnestly assured her. Where he went wrong, losing absolutely all serious credibility is when he made the decision to add, "As long as you hand the sponge over to her."
Avery choked on her spit.
"Going for the older women now, I see." Undeterred, Julie reminded him that he was capable of walking to the shower and no longer needed sponge baths. Tyler retorted that he suddenly couldn't feel his legs. Their playful banter continued for a short time before Julie decided it was time to resume the trainee's tour.
But he wasn't finished yet. "Oh, hey, Miss Julie?" He spoke gently now, something that froze the woman in her tracks, as if she knew what was coming next. Avery noted the immediate tense of her muscles. "How's Sebastian? Any change?"
The familiar name sent a flutter through her stomach. While Avery knew Sebastain was with her, he couldn't converse with her, which was a good thing. She imagined he would gloat, like he often did, "See? Best name ever! Have you ever run across another Avery? No? Then I rest my case."
Not that Sebastain was any more common of a name than her own.
She did miss him though. They had come up with a new, and endearingly ironic, way to speak to each other outside of her dreams. She was anxious to get back to the apartment and sift through all the deliveries to find that specific item. It would be much less time consuming to fall asleep and talk, but Avery couldn't spend her the majority of her life in bed. They had to explore other tactics.
"No change yet, but we're hopeful." Julie flashed him a stiff smile.
Stepping a few feet to the next door, Julie halted. She stared blankly at the knob, her hand hovering just above it as if she was debating whether to go inside or not. "This is Sebastain's room... he's my son," was all the patient history Avery was given before Julie opened the door.