The Immortal

“Now get in those beds, and stay there.” Rachel ordered sternly the moment Frank and I had crossed the threshold into our hospital room.

“Aw Doc we were just havin’ a light.” Frank sighed as he heaved himself back up into his bed. I had to admit, for such a small guy; he had tremendous upper body strength.

“A light?” She demanded, her tone only becoming more harsh. “I come in this morning to find two of my patients missing from their beds, I turn this hospital upside-down looking for them and all you two have to say for yourselves is that you were ‘havin’ a light’?!”

“Whoa easy Rach,” I said, holding up my hands in defense. “We’re sorry alright? We didn’t know you’d-”

“What did you just call me?” She asked, her expression suddenly changing from angry to slightly… scared.

“I called you Rach.” I said, cocking my head to the side to look at her strangely. “You know, it’s short for Rachel?”

The remaining color in her face drained and her bottom lip trembled slightly.

“I…I’m sorry I have to go.” She said quickly before rushing out of the room to leave Frank and I staring mouth agape after her.

“What did I do?” I asked, looking over to Frank for some sort of explanation for what had just happened.

“I dunno.” He said, mirroring the confused expression on my face.

“I’m gonna go find out.” I said as I moved my legs over the side of the bed to get up.

“Wait for me I’m comin’ too.” Frank said as he started shifting on his bed to get back to his wheelchair.

“Uh-uh.” I said, walking quickly to the side of the bed where his wheelchair was. “You stay here and rest.”

“What?!” He yelled as I pulled his wheelchair away and put it in the far side of the room where he couldn’t get to it. “No you bring that back!”

“Go to sleep Frank.” I said, trying not to laugh at the dumbfounded expression on his face. “I’ll be back in a little bit.”

“But what if I gotta take a piss?” He demanded, stopping me before I walked out the door. “I need that chair!”

“There’s a bedpan underneath your bed.” I said, smirking at him before I started to pull the door to the room closed.

“Son of a-”

Click.

I laughed as the door closed, cutting him off and I turned around to start walking down the hall. But where I was going exactly I didn’t know. Where could she have gone? And why did me calling her Rach make her react that way?

She was nowhere to be found down the corridor my room was in but I didn’t expect her to linger around here. I walked past the nurses’ station, trying to draw as little attention to myself as possible but there wasn’t really a need to do that. Only one was there at her desk and she looked to be up to her elbows in charts and had a pair of headphones on so she couldn’t hear me.

I doubted that Rachel would have taken the elevator; it being used so frequently for incoming trauma patients, so I passed the three sets of grey double doors as I walked further down the hall. I came to a fork at the end and looked to the signs on the wall for some sort of an idea as to where to go. According to the signs if I went left I’d find myself in the maternity ward. I highly doubted that if Rachel wanted to be someplace alone she’d go in there. Now right led to the staircase. That sounded more promising than a ward full of screaming children so I turned right.

About halfway down this corridor I spotted the large grey door with a sigh on it reading ‘stairs’. Ingenious these hospital people. There was a small glass window next to the sign and I peered in. Lo and behold; there was Rachel sitting on the steps with her arms wrapped around her knees. Tears were slowly making tracks down her face but it seemed she had given up wiping them away a long time ago.

I turned the handle down slowly and pushed the door open. A small gasp escaped her lips and she looked up as I walked through the door and closed it behind me.

“G-Gerard.” She stammered, trying furiously to wipe away her tears on the sleeve of her white coat so I wouldn’t notice she had been crying. Of course I noticed. “Wha- what are you doing here?”

I didn’t answer her question, but I crossed the space between us to sit on the steps beside her. I wasn’t about to ask the question I knew she was expecting. Of course I knew she wasn’t alright; she was crying for God’s sake.

It always bothered me when people asked if a person was ‘okay’ when that person was clearly not. The question bothered me almost as much as the answer. It was always ‘fine.’ The person always lied and said they were alright to ease the concern of the other person. So I said nothing. I knew if she wanted to talk, she would. And I was right. A minute later she opened her mouth.

“Aren’t you going to ask me if I’m okay?” She asked, lifting her head to look at me. Her tears had subsided for a moment, but I could tell more were threatening to push through by the way her voice cracked.

“Why?” I asked simply.

She looked at me oddly and wiped her eyes again on her sleeve before answering me. “Well, when someone’s crying, another person usually asks if that person is okay.”

“But you’re not okay.” I stated. “You were crying. That means you’re not okay. So why would I ask?”

She opened her mouth to say something but closed it again as she thought about what I had just said. I waited as she looked ahead at the wall across from where we were sitting and then back at me.

“I’m not okay.” She said quietly.

“I know.” I said as I started to get back on my feet again. “Are you going to tell me why, or should I go back to my room now?”

“No.” She said quickly before I could stand all of the way up. “You can stay.”

She answered just as I thought she would and I sat back down on the step beside her. Sometimes people are extremely easy to read. It’s all about asking the right questions. I looked at her expectantly and she let out a long sigh.

“It’s stupid.” She half laughed. “I don’t even know what came over me.”

I said nothing but listened as she went on.

“My dad, he…he used to call me Rach.” She said quietly. “No one else, just him. He was the only one I would let call me that.”

I wanted to ask what had happened to him but I knew how irritating it was to be interrupted so I remained silent as she started again.

“Aren’t you going to ask what happened to him?” She asked, pausing to look at me curiously.

“I figured you’d tell me if you wanted.” I said quietly.

She sighed and stared ahead at the wall in front of us.

“He died.” She said finally. “In this hospital, on my operating table.”

“I’m sorry.” I said quietly.

She smiled halfheartedly at me before going on.

“I wasn’t even supposed to be operating on him that day. Conflict of interest you know?.” I nodded and she went on. “But we were short staffed with it being the holidays and all and I knew I could do his surgery. It was a routine slipped disc correction, one I had done a million times. Well halfway through the procedure something went wrong. His heart couldn’t take the strain, and…and….”

“You don’t have to finish.” I said, putting a hand cautiously on her shoulder as I saw more tears starting to roll down her cheeks. “I know.”

She wiped her eyes once again on her sleeve and looked up at me.

“Thanks.”

“I’m sorry for upsetting you earlier.” I said.

“That’s alright you couldn’t have know.” She answered quietly. “Besides, it’s been three years. I have to get over this sooner or later.”

There was an awkward silence between us for a moment before she spoke again.

“I saw your chart, you were orphaned?” She asked.

“Um…yeah.” I said, not being entirely honest with that answer.

“No brothers or sisters?”

“No.” I said quietly.

“Don’t you have any family at all?” She asked, looking up at me finally. “Foster parents? Siblings?”

“No.” I said.

The expression on her face fell and she looked at me sympathetically.

“I’m sorry.” She said.

I wasn’t really sure how to answer that statement so I just looked ahead at the grey wall.

“Does it get lonely?”

That question was one no one had asked me before. But I guess no one had talked to me long enough to ask that question.

“Sometimes.” I answered. “What about you? Do you have any other family?”

“My mom left when I was nine.” She said, her expression turning hard as she stared ahead at the wall. “Dad was all I had.”

“And now?” I prodded. “Any friends? Boyfriends?”

She turned her head to look at me oddly.

“Oh, erm…girlfriends then?” I asked uneasily.

She laughed genuinely and smiled before answering. “No, I’m a doctor remember?” She asked still laughing slightly. “That doesn’t leave much time for friends.”

“Well then you still have me.” I said. “I can be your friend.”

Friend? You’re not sticking around long enough to be friends. Besides, she’ll just get hurt later. Don’t get her hopes up Gerard.

Something about her expression was odd to me. It looked…disappointed. Maybe I was just imagining things. I had no experience with human emotions like this. But as fast as the disappointed look had appeared, it was replaced with a smile.

“Friends.” She said, holding a hand out to me.

I returned the smile and shook her hand. I had a friend. For the first time in a very long time, I wasn’t completely alone. There was someone here with me just as in need of a friend as I was.