The Immortal

I was yet again, left in my hospital room without anything to do. There wasn’t a television set in the room, but I was never one for watching it anyway. I could hear the traffic outside my window and I suspected that it was around five o’clock judging by all of the noise and swearing. After about eight minutes I couldn’t take it anymore. I had to get out of that bed.

I kicked the blankets off of me and got up. My curiosity got the better of me and I went to the big cabinet on my right to have a look inside. Just as I suspected, there were extra bed sheets, pillows, and to my immense delight; extra pairs of light blue scrubs.

I smiled and grabbed a pair of bottoms with my good hand. Pulling them on was a little harder than I hoped though. It’s not easy tying them with only one hand, but I finally managed. I slipped the hospital dress over my head and set it down on the chair next to the cabinet. I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to pull one of the scrub shirts on with my arm in a sling and my chest bandaged so I closed the cabinet door again. Before going back to my bed, I grabbed my sketchbook and a pencil off of the small wooden end table.

I had probably only been drawing for about a half hour when I heard a noise from outside my doorway. I looked up to see a older looking scrub nurse wheeling a food cart. She was a heavier set woman, with light, almost white blonde hair and dark brown eyes. From where I sat I could see crinkles around her eyes that became more prominent when she smiled which I could tell she did a lot just by looking at her. She glanced in my room and stopped to look at me a moment before she smiled.

“Oh good you’re awake! I came in here at lunch time but you were still unconscious.” She said as she wheeled the food cart into the room. “You hungry?”

Now that the matter of food had been called to my attention, I realized I actually was hungry.

“Yes.” I replied gratefully as I watched her place a tray of food on a small table with wheels before pushing it towards me. “Thank you, um Mrs….”

“Oh you can just call me Donna hun.” She said. “Everyone else does.”

“Nice to meet you Donna, I’m Gerard.” I said.

“Well there’s a name you don’t hear too often.” She said. “Gerard…I like it.”

“Thank you.” I laughed.

“Well enjoy your dinner Gerard.” She said as she walked back towards the door with her food cart. “I’ve gotta get back to makin’ my rounds.”

“See you around Donna.” I called after her.

I tossed my sketchbook and pencil aside and looked down at the tray of food I was given. Well, at least it was all identifiable. That was a good sign. On the tray was a bowl of vegetable soup, what looked to be a turkey sandwich, an apple, and a bottle of water.

The food was surprisingly good and I was almost finished with my apple when Dr. O’Connell, or Rachel now, walked into my room.

“Why hello Rachel.” I said pleasantly. “See? I’m still alive.”

“Yes I can see that.” She laughed. “How’s the food?”

“Really good.” I said as I took another bite of my apple. “Have you come to take my temperature again?”

“No, to move you actually.” She said. “We need this room for incoming traumas. Can you walk alright?”

“Sure.” I said, rolling the tray of food away from me so I could get out of bed. “How far am I going?”

“Just down the hall.” She said as she helped me roll the tray of food away. “You don’t mind having a roommate do you?”

“Not at all.” I said, getting out of the bed.

“Where did you get those?” She asked, referring to the blue scrub bottoms I was wearing.

“Well I wasn’t about to wear that God awful dress the whole time I’m here.” I said, rolling my eyes. “And I got them in that cabinet right there.”

She scowled at me and turned to walk out of the room.

“Bring your stuff.” She called back. “And follow me.”

I laughed and picked up my sketchbook and clothes before following her out into the hallway.

“Doctor O’Connell what on earth are you doing?!”

I looked around to see who was shouting and my eyes fell upon a short irritable looking woman with jet-black cropped hair and cold steel eyes. Something about her told me I was not to cross this one, and I immediately disliked her.

“Relax Doris I’m just moving him to a different room.” Rachel said, rolling her eyes.

“Then why is he walking?” The woman, Doris demanded.

“Uh, because he can.” Rachael said.

“Don’t you get smart with me.” Doris snapped. “He should be in a wheelchair! Not walking about this hospital.”

“What for?” Rachel asked. “His legs are fine.”

“Get him in a wheelchair.” Doris said though gritted teeth before turning on her heels to stalk off.

Rachel glared after her but then turned to look at me.

“Stay here.” She ordered.

She walked away leaving me in the empty hallway but returned not two minutes later pushing a wheelchair.

“Sit.” She said darkly.

“No it’s fine.” I said. “Really, I can walk.”

“I don’t want that pterodactyl breathing down my neck any more than she already is.” She said. “Now sit, before I break something so you’ll actually need a wheelchair.”

“Okay.” I laughed as I sat down in the chair. “I take it you dislike that woman?”

“Dislike?” She asked as she started wheeling me down the hall. “That woman is a creature. The only reason why she’s here is because she’s the best cardiac surgeon in the country.”

“And what do you specialize in?” I asked.

“Orthopedics.” She replied. “So, bones.”

“That means I’ll be seeing a lot more of you then right?” I asked. “I did break a lot of bones.”

“Yes.” She said.

I couldn’t be sure if that was an answer to my question or if she was just agreeing with my statement but I didn’t linger on that thought as she turned the chair into a room.

This room was bigger than my old room and had a bathroom attached to my right. There was a television set in this room in the far left corner of the room that hung by the ceiling and half of the adjacent wall. There were two beds in this room, an empty one closest to me, and a currently occupied bed near the big bay window against the far wall.

The man in the bed looked around my age. Well…the age I was supposed to be. He had dark brown, almost black hair but that wasn’t the first thing I noticed. Both of his arms were heavily tattooed and I guessed he had a lot more that were covered by the blanket that covered him from the waist down.

“Hey!” The man complained, looking over my shoulder at Rachel. “How come he gets to wear pants?”

Though I couldn’t see it, I could tell Rachel was rolling her eyes judging by the tone in her voice when she responded.

“Gerard, this is your new roommate Frank Iero.” She said. “He likes to talk, get used to it.”

“You say that like it’s a bad thing.” Frank said as I got out of the wheelchair and went to get on the empty bed.

“It is a bad thing.” Rachel said.

“Watcha in for?” Frank asked, turning to me.

“Got hit by a truck.” I replied as I tossed my sketchbook and clothes on the small wooden end table that separated our beds. “You?”

“Fell down a flight of stairs.” He shrugged, gesturing to his legs which looked to be in casts judging by the odd shape underneath the blanket. “Again.”

“Frank’s a regular here if you haven’t already guessed.” Rachel said.

“Yeah, me and the Doc are good pals now aren’t we?” He asked.

“Unfortunately..” She muttered.

Frank either didn’t hear, or chose to ignore her comment because he turned his attention back to me.

“So a truck huh?” He asked. “It wasn’t like a suicide attempt or something was it?”

“Might as well have been.” Rachel said before I could reply. “He jumped in front of a semi truck.”

“You did?” Frank asked, looking at me with wide eyes. “What for?”

“There was a little girl in the street.” I said.

“Men.” Rachel scoffed. “Always having to act the hero.”

“But he is a hero now.” Frank said. “Right? Was the little girl alright?”

“She scraped her knees on the sidewalk but that was it.” She answered.

“Well then yes.” He said. “Gerard’s a hero.”

“Hero with a death wish.” Rachel said as she grabbed one of her charts to write something down n it.

“You have no idea.” I muttered.

“What?” She asked, looking up at me. Frank’s quizzical expression mirrored hers.

“Nothing.” I said quickly.

She shrugged and flipped her chart closed again before tossing it on the small table behind her.

“Alright guys I gotta be getting back to work.” She sighed. “Gerard page a nurse if you need morphine or something for pain, and Frank?”

“Yeah Doc?” He asked.

“Try not to scare him.” She said, motioning to me.