Take Me From This Hospital Bed

There was a muffled voice rising over the speakers, announcing that room B2424 needed Doctor Gucciolo. The sound of wheels squeaking followed. There were a lot of hurried feet walking about; they were trying to find their loved ones, trying to save loved ones, trying to make it look like things were better than they were. A hospital held a lot of sick people in it. And not sick as in perverts and disgruntled, though there were a few of those that tried to sneak by. Sick as in dying. Sick as in hope of recovering from illness. Sick as in a simple cold.

Then there were those like Rowan who were screwed. They were either dying or diseased. Nothing could save them and nothing could cure them. Maybe Rowan Malestrom’s illness was treatable, like most around these days. So far, he wasn’t lucky to have been told of a cure. He wasn’t lucky to have gone more than a week without an attack or outbreak. He was lucky, however, that his attacks had become less and less massive. But this time, his attack carried a bad bacterial infection and bedridden him for two days now.

Rowan was used to the beeps of monitors, the soft voices of nurses who had no idea how depressing this all was for him, the lousy channels the television got, the horrible food the cafeteria served him, and the arrogant tones of the doctors who told him it would be over soon. Rowan had been in and out of hospitals since he was twelve years old. Now, nineteen, he just wanted to be left alone. He didn’t like hospitals. He hated nurses. He despised the doctors. And he loathed the other patience, especially the ones who complained about their illness when it was totally curable. Yes. It was all the same. Every time an attack happened. Rowan tackled his thoughts and tried to hog tie them and keep them still.

Rowan grew to distaste the world around him and peoples’ pitying faces. He hated everyone’s disgusted expressions even more. It was just what he needed, to be looked at like he was a monster when he already felt it. So he would get a bad rash every now and then and his skin became splotchy, red, or even bumpy. So he chose to wear a surgical mask from time to time to hide the mouth sores he dealt with once in a while. So he didn’t feel like doing his hair one day. It was no reason to dehumanize him. Rowan’s case wasn’t nearly as bad as some people’s. But when you got looked at like your body was being openly dissected, it made it seem like that.

A floor below, in the family waiting area, an impatient girl sat on an overly puffed chair. She blared music through her head phones and into her ears. Of course, she was worried. She just didn’t want to show it to anyone. Kadence Holiday waited with her mother and father, aunt and great-uncle. Her grandmother was having surgery to repair her left lung and to get her right lung replaced. It was a scary thing. Kadence recalled how hard it was getting for her Grandma Jo to breath. Kadence did the research on the computer about the surgery. She wished she hadn’t. She now knew the risks of it, and they double since her grandma was already going on sixty-two. Every time the door opened to the lounge, Kadence’s steel blue-grey eyes darted to it, her heart stopping for second at a time. She dreaded seeing a doctor in green surgical clothing with a sad face.

Another family was on the other side, a much larger group. From what Kadence had heard, the parents’ eldest son was in a bad accident and life-flighted to the hospital. He had been in surgery for a while now already and a nurse came in one in a while to keep them up to date. She informed them that the surgeons were doing everything that could and he was stable. For now. Kadence had caught the dreary tint in the nurse’s eyes. Kadence didn’t want to see it again, especially not when she was being told of her grandma.

Kadence shifted in her seat and sighed. Her mother looked up from her book, her dark blue eyes were as anxious as how Kadence felt. She gave Kadence a reassuring smile and went back to reading, pulling her long, light, brown hair over her left shoulder. Kadence shuffled on her playlist and started drowning her eardrums in Your Eyes Like Sunshine by Stephen Barnes. Kadence watched her great-uncle get up and stretch. He blew his breath out and twisted around on his axis.

The door opened again. Kadence could see it out of the corner of her eye. An older man with salt and pepper hair wearing green came in. Everyone’s head shot toward him. His expression made Kadence’s heart jump and she held her breath. As he stepped closer, tears gathered in Kadence’s eyes though she tried to shake them out. The man stopped by the other family and spoke to the parents and the patient’s fiancé. A shrill broke over the silence as Kadence witness a family fall apart.

It was all she could take. Kadence stood and announced she was going for a walk. She headed out before anyone could stop her. She passed the grieving family and squeezed through the door and the surgeon. Kadence found a bathroom and splashed cold water on her face. She sniffed back her sorrow and sighed. Kadence moved her shoulder length, light, golden-brown hair around her face and flicked her bang out of her eyes. She put her ear buds back in and walked out the bathroom.

Kadence roamed the halls, passing the hospital’s church a few times. She debated whether or not to go in. Kadence stopped by a vending machine and got herself a water. She felt a presence behind her and stood up. She turned around to meet a pair of dark, brown eyes. It was as if they held no feeling what so ever. They watched Kadence tense up. The person they belonged to blew their breath out. He had a surgical mask on and looked as if he had a bad case of chicken pox up his right arm. He held onto his IV stand. It was a good couple minutes before either of the two even moved.

The boy finally asked, “Can I bum a couple bucks off you?”

Kadence realized she still had her ear buds in and didn’t hear what the kid and said, “H-uh?”

“I’ve been coopted up in a hospital room for two days now with crappy food,” the boy explained. “I don’t have any money to pay you back.”

When Kadence’s mind caught up to reality, she smiled at the guy and said, “No problem.” Kadence shoved her mp3 player into her pocket, pulled out a five and handed it over to the boy. “They actually have a McDonald’s here. But of course you knew that.”

“Are you offering to get fast food with me?” the boy’s tone soured, as if it was a sham for someone to do something like that.

For Kadence, she ignored his sudden snappy attitude because a distraction like this was what she could go for. Kadence shrugged and said, “It’s up to you I guess. If you’re too sick…”

“Let’s go,” the boy said and turned away from her.

The annoyance level rose in Rowan but he was perplexed at the girls subtle persistence. Her earlier look had scorned him. It must have been the rash on his arm that grossed her out. But then again, she didn’t stay grossed out. She stared at his face. It was the mask then. The girl was wondering what kind of disease he had that he had to wear a mask. Of course, she would find out why he had a mask on when they went to it. That’s what Rowan waited for, to see her horrified look when she saw mouth sores that lined his lips. Maybe there were only a couple, but no one liked having even just one.

The two reached the area that had a McDonald’s, a Dunken Donuts and an Arby’s. Rowan immediately acquired stares from the visitors and some nurses that had taken their lunches. He was probably going to get reported but he didn’t care. On meal with actual food was worth it. The girl turned to him, her blue-gray eyes questionable. She sighed and glanced around sheepishly.

“Do I have something on my face?” she asked Rowan.

“Is that some kind of joke?” Rowan retorted with a glare.

The girl drew back and shrugged, dropping her gaze. Rowan realized she was trying to take the pressure off Rowan, to make him more comfortable. Somehow, it made him feel bad that he snapped at her. But he shouldn’t care. The girl just pitied him. She was her out of pity.

Kadence walked up to the counter and ordered herself a cheeseburger, fries and coke. She stepped aside for the boy who seemed unsure at first as he looked up at the menu. He then gained some composure and ordered himself a McChicken, fries and sprite. He handed the lady the five Kadence gave him and Kadence paid for the rest. They waited for their food at the end of the counter. The lunch area started to fan out as people started to leave to go back to visiting or work.

Kadence picked up the tray and followed the boy to a small round table. The boy set out Kadence’s food for her. She smiled in appreciation. Kadence watched as the boy slowly reached up and pulled off his mask. To Kadence’s shock, there was nothing but a few sores around his mouth. She thought that he had something worse hidden under the mask. She caught the boy’s eyes as he glanced at her unamused expression. There was something off about the situation to Rowan. Maybe they gave him a higher dosage of pain medication. He actually smiled at the fact that the girl before him hadn’t cringed and was already scarfing down her food like there wasn’t some disgusting sitting in front of her.

Rowan picked up his sandwich and started to eat. It was a bit awkward to be sitting with someone and not have a conversation of some sort. Though, it never bothered Rowan before. It was like an urging feeling that made him want to snuff it. But after the girl pretty much paid for food for him, it was as good as repayment.

“So, why are you here?” Rowan asked the girl.

She wiped her mouth and said, “My grandma’s getting surgery for her lungs.”

“Oh,” Rowan replied, his tone a bit snarky. He couldn’t help it though. It wasn’t that he truly didn’t care about the girl’s grandmother. He just didn’t know how to express the right feelings into the right words.

Kadence shrugged and kept eating. She refused to ask the boy why he was there. She didn’t know if she could bare his reason or not. They finished eating and Kadence threw the garbage out while the boy stood by holding their drinks. He handed her hers and they left the lunch area. Kadence followed the boy down the halls to pass time. It was clear he was getting irritated by her presence but Kadence would mind to bicker right now. As far as she knew, her grandma still had an hour left in surgery and she still couldn’t see her for another two to three hours afterward.

Kadence took out her mp3 player and started listening to her music. She bobbed her head to the beat. Rowan glanced back at her to see she was hardly paying attention to where he was going anymore. He started to leave her behind when the ding of the elevators caught his attention. The doors opened up and a horde of nurses came rushing out with a crash cart. They raced toward him. Rowan got out the way but when he looked back, the girl was still out in front. She hadn’t even noticed them yet. Rowan blew his breath out and grabbed her, earning a squeak of surprise form her. He pulled her to the side and the nurses trampled by them.

Kadence sighed and looked up to see the boy, his expression relieved. His arms were wrapped around Kadence like a protective blanket. It made something pang in Kadence’s heart. She shook the feeling off. Rowan realized he was still holding onto the girl. He quickly let go and turned to her in anger.

“Watch where you’re going,” he ordered.

A nurse came toward them, her expression scowlding. She had her hair in a messy bun. Rowan cursed and drew away from Kadence. The nurse stopped in front of him and shook her head. She asked, “Just where have you bee, Rowan?”

“Places,” Rowan replied.

“I see you took your mask off,” she noticed with questioning eyes.

Rowan realized he had never put it back on. He forgot all about it. It was hard not to when the person you were hanging with didn’t give a reason for him to be hiding anything. Rowan shrugged at the nurse. The nurse looked at Kadence who finished stuffing her pants with her mp3 player.

“And who are you?” The nurse asked. “A friend of Rowan’s?”

“My name’s Kadence,” she introduced herself. “I just took him to get something to eat.”

“Well, that’s nice that Rowan has visitors,” she mused. “Try to keep in mind that he’s on a strict diet to keep his sores from getting worse, nothing too salty and no acid.”

“It’s okay,” Rowan said as he looked back at Kadence. “She won’t be visiting again with her grandma getting better.”

Rowan walked away, the nurse following closely behind. Rowan’s words ignited something in Kadence. She didn’t like the way he made it seem like he was nothing to her. Though, they just met. Kadence would like to have been friends with him. Kadence narrowed her eyes in the direction that Rowan had gone.

“I’ll make a liar out of you, Rowan,” Kadence promised before stomping back to the family waiting area.