She Said, She Said

As Noel, Lacey, Sylvia, and I strolled out of the cafeteria, I couldn’t help but stare at Noel’s legs. His shorts covered only half of them, and from what I could see, they were pale, and twisted. Just looking at them made me wince. I began to wonder what was wrong with them when Sylvia snapped her fingers in front of my face.

“Earth to Valerie!” She yelled, and grinned.

I rolled my eyes. “What?”

“Nothing, I thought you were in shock or something,” she chucked and winked at me.

“Why would I be in shock?”

She waved her hand around, and muttered under her breath, turning around. After a minute of silence, she spoke again.

“Noel? Where’s Rex?” she asked in wonder.

“He wasn’t feeling well,” he mumbled and looked at her from the corner of his eye.

Sylvia gave him a look, and then laughed. “When are any of us ever feeling well?”

Noel’s cheeks reddened and he shrugged. “Clara said he was sleeping.”

Sylvia nodded and we continued on in silence. I wondered who Rex was but decided I’d ask Sylvia later. We all went into the elevator and Sylvia pressed a button. As we started moving, my eyes wandered over to Lacey. I was facing her back so I couldn’t see her face and, for some reason, I wanted to. I wanted to ask her how she lost her arm but I couldn’t. So I kept my mouth shut and, my eyes on the floor.

“Well, this is good-bye,” Sylvia exclaimed, pretending to wipe away an invisible tear from her cheek. We all got out of the elevator except Noel who rolled his eyes at Sylvia. She grinned and waved.

“I’ll miss you!” She shouted as the elevator doors closed. I thought I saw Noel smile but it could’ve just been my imagination. I shrugged it off and followed Sylvia and Lacey who were already ahead of me.

As we waved good-bye to Lacey and entered our room, a question popped up in my head. I turned to Sylvia who was looking through her closet.

“Are we going to have the same sessions?”

She turned around and shook her head, “Probably not. You’ll just have see tomorrow.”

I nodded, and went over to my closet and peered in. Aunt Debra had indeed hung up all my clothes. They weren’t hard to reach so I grabbed my pajama bottoms, and an oversized shirt then wheeled myself over to the bathroom.

It was small and simple with white walls, a sink, a toilet, and a shower. I noticed there was no bathtub and smiled. The baths I had to take back at the hospital had been awfully painful. The counter was especially small and, I noticed, came up only to my neck even when I was sitting down. I quickly grabbed my toothbrush, and toothpaste so I could brush my teeth.

“Move over.”

I looked sideways at Sylvia and then moved over so she could also use the sink. We both brushed our teeth in silence for a while. I spit out the foamy water, washed my toothbrush, and put the clothes I’d brought in on the counter. Sylvia did the same a minute later, and turned to look at me.

“Taking a shower?” she asked glancing at my clothes.

I nodded. She nodded back, and wheeled herself out. I shut the door behind her, and slowly started to take off my hospital gown.

*

That night Sylvia and I lay in our beds, all tucked in, and watched the news on TV. Sylvia made a comment here and there when she saw something interesting but other than that, it was quiet. I wasn’t really paying attention. My head was swimming with memories of my parents, and as much as I tried to stop thinking about them, I couldn’t. My eyes were blurring slightly and my throat was burning but I refused to cry. Ever since yesterday, I tried to stop thinking about them. It wasn’t because I didn’t want to remember them. It was because if I thought about them now, I would cry. This wouldn’t have been a problem if I was still back at the hospital. But now, with Sylvia around, I couldn’t let my emotions control me. She wouldn’t understand the pain I was going through, no one did.

“Lights out!” A voice yelled from outside the door, and I jumped. Sylvia yawned, and looked at me, chuckling. I looked at the clock; 10:30.

“Time to go night-night,” Sylvia said lazily, and turned off the TV with the remote-control. She then clapped her hands and the lights went out.

I clapped my hands and the lights came back on. I grinned. Sylvia scowled at me.

“What? It’s fun,” I pouted.

“Yeah? Too bad,” she clapped her hands again and the lights went out.

I clapped my hands and the lights came back on again.

Sylvia and I looked at each other, and burst out laughing.

Our laughter finally died down, and Sylvia clapped her hands. I blinked and tried to adjust my eyes to the sudden darkness. I pulled the covers up to my nose, and stared at the ceiling. As my eyes closed, images of Sabrina flashed in my mind, and I snapped my eyes open again. The tears, that were already threatening to fall out, slid down my cheeks. I sniffed and tried not to sob. Clenching my fists into balls, I gulped.

“Hey,” Sylvia whispered. My eyes widened. I thought she had fallen asleep.

“What?” I croaked out.

“I’m not sleepy anymore,” she whispered back.

“Oh-,”I tried to say more but I choked. Tears were still falling down my cheeks, and I finally let out a strangled sob.

“Valerie? Are you okay?” Sylvia whispered, sounding alarmed.

“Yeah, fine,” I lied and gulped.

Sylvia didn’t reply. I finally controlled myself and called out her name.

“Yeah?” she asked, sounding somewhat shocked.

“Would you mind if I asked you why Lacey and Noel are here?” I asked, hoping she didn’t get angry.

“No, why would I?”

“I don’t know . . . Maybe they don’t want me to know?” I tried and turned on my side so I was facing her. I heard shuffling, and figured she must’ve done the same.

“I don’t think they’ll mind,” she whispered.

“Alright,” I said.

Silence.

“Well? Are you going to tell me?” I asked, irritated.

I heard her chuckle and smiled.

“Okay,” she said, clearing her throat. “Noel . . . Well, from what he’s told me, his legs are twisted ever since birth. Nobody really knows what’s wrong with them but the thing is, he can’t walk without . . . what do you call them? Oh yeah, crutches. He can’t walk without them, so his parents sent him here.”

“When did he come here, exactly?”

“Before me, I suppose. I’ve been here for almost a month now,” she said in wonder.

I nodded, forgetting she couldn’t see me.

“And well, Lacey,” she continued, “doesn’t have one of her arms. I’m sure you’ve noticed. She had some kind of infection in her arm when she was ten, and her doctor told her mother that it had to be taken off before the infection spread through the whole body.”

“Wow,” I said, shocked at how young Lacey was when she had to give up her arm.

“And you know what the weird thing is?” she asked, and I waited for her to continue. She cleared her throat before finally starting off again, “She doesn’t care. I mean, she’s still pretty bummed out about how she has only has one arm but she says that she’d rather have no arm than be dead.”

I smiled. “Wow,” I said again. “That’s pretty brave of her. She’s only, what? Twelve?”

“Thirteen,” Sylvia answered and laughed quietly.

“Okay . . . Well, tell me more about these ‘sessions’ I’ll be taking.”

“Well, it’s pretty much all about learning to cope with how to walk, dress, un-dress, all that usual stuff,” she said. “Did you know we’ll be having our own little helpers?”

“No . . . ” I trailed off, waiting for her to explain.

“There’s a Boys’ Rehabilitation Centre just close by,” she began, “Except its slightly different. They’re not like us,” she let out a bitter laugh, “they’re what you’d call the ‘Bad Boys.'”

“Go on,” I urged for her to continue.

“It’s not like they want to be here with us, helping out a bunch of crippled kids,” she said, bitterly. “They have to. It’s part of their punishment.” She gave a dry chuckle.

“What if you don’t want a helper?” I asked. I didn’t want to be around someone who may have possibly done something illegal like, say, kill someone! What else would they be doing in a Rehabilitation Centre?

“Too bad,” she said, sounding tired. I heard her yawn but she continued, “Their coaches are probably trying to teach them a lesson, and I’m guessing we have to help out. Don’t sound so worried, they’re not going to pull out a knife and stab you. They have it worse than we do.”

“Yeah?” I asked, yawning. “Who’s your, err, ‘helper’?”

“His name’s Samuel,” she said. “He got picked up by the cops twice before they finally took him in.”

“What’d he get picked up for?”

“Selling drugs,” she replied, and this time she sounded like she was half asleep.

“Well, I’m going to go to sleep,” I yawned again, “Good-night, Sylvia.”

“G’night.”

*

I felt something tickle my nose, and shook it off.

Poke. Poke. Poke.

I fluttered my eyes open to see Sylvia’s face.

And screamed.

“Do I really look that scary?” she pouted, and laughed as I rubbed my eyes.

“What time is it?” I asked lazily.

Sylvia glanced at the wall behind me, “Six.”

My eyes widened, and I was pretty sure there was smoke coming out of my ears. “What’d you wake me up for?” I yelled.

She looked at my face, and started laughing again. “You – You –,” she choked out before going into another fit of laughter.

I waited for her to calm down, my face emotionless.

Sylvia cleared her throat, and held up one hand. “Sorry,” she grinned, “It just that you looked so funny… And to answer your question, it’s because we have to have breakfast at eight thirty so I thought I’d wake you up a bit early since it’s your first day and everything.”

I glared at her.

“Okay, fine. I was just trying to be nice,” she huffed, and went over to her bed.

“Did you already take a shower?” I asked.

“Yup,” she grinned, and pulled out a book from under her pillow. As she flipped open the book, and started to read, I decided to get dressed. Getting into the wheelchair was the tricky part. I slowly slid off to the side so my knees were hanging off the bed. Then, carefully, I made the wheelchair face me, and held it in place.

“Need help?” Sylvia asked, glancing up from her book.

“Yes, please,” I mumbled, giving up.

She held the wheelchair for me while I got on. I thanked her, and went over to my closet. I didn’t know what to wear so I closed my eyes and picked out a shirt – a trick I had learned from Tamara. I opened my eyes to see a white tank top. Shrugging, I pulled out jean shorts, some undergarments, and deodorant.

When I had shut the bathroom door behind me, I wheeled myself over to the mirror, and stared at my reflection. Slowly, I reached out and touched my blonde hair. It felt smooth against my skin but I didn’t like it. I wanted to rip it off. Disgusted, I turned away, and got into the shower.

*

We strolled towards the cafeteria as Sylvia continued to complain about how hungry she was.

“I swear, Valerie, there are monkeys jumping around in here!” she exclaimed, patting her stomach.

“We’re almost there. Hold on!” I shouted pretending she was giving birth.

She rolled her eyes at me as we entered the cafeteria. Right away the smell of pancakes and maple syrup met my nostrils, and I grinned. I spotted Noel, where he was sat on his chair, hunched over. I picked up my hand, and waved. He saw me, and gave me a smile. Sylvia and I got in line as I looked around the cafeteria.

“Next!” I whipped my head around to see the woman behind the counter smiling at me. I grinned back at her, grabbed a plate, and brought it towards her. She gave me a questioning look so I held up my fingers indicating I wanted two pancakes. She nodded, gave me the pancakes, and as she moved onto the next person, I got myself some maple syrup, and some forks then walked over to the table where Lacey, Noel, and Sylvia were sitting.

“No bacon?” Lacey asked, smiling.

I shook my head, and dug into my pancakes.

“So,” Lacey said, swallowing, “Sylvia tells me she has already told you about us?” I nodded. “Well? What about you? Why are you here?”

I looked down at my plate, and suddenly felt uncomfortable. Could I tell them? Should I tell them?

“Well . . . I’ll be getting Prosthetics soon, so I guess I need to get used to them,” I said.

Noel and Lacey nodded.

Noel looked at me and asked another question, “Why… I mean, how’d you lose your legs?”

I shifted in my seat. “I was in an accident.”

“We figured that much,” Sylvia chuckled, trying to lighten up the mood. “Details?”

“I . . . My parents, my brother, my sister, and I were coming back from a restaurant when a truck came right at us and . . . ” I trailed off, and cleared my throat, “My dad . . . he didn’t see it coming at us. None of us did, I guess.”

“What about your parents, and your brother, and sister?” Lacey asked quietly. Noel gave her a sharp look, and she looked at her plate.

“They’re dead.”

An uncomfortable silence settled over everyone. Sylvia cleared her throat, and said, “Well, sessions will be starting soon. Let’s go!”

Everyone nodded, including me, and we went to put our dishes away. As we were exiting the cafeteria, Clara walked towards me, and stopped. Noel, Sylvia, and Lacey stopped to see what she wanted as well but Clara gave them a look, and they strolled away without me.

“So!” Clara chirped happily. “Let me show you your class.”

I nodded, and followed her down another hallway. We stopped outside a door, where two guards were standing. She smiled at them, and knocked before walking in. There were people all over the place, some in wheelchairs, and some not. I found Sylvia talking to a tall guy who was nodding and smiling at her. His back was facing me so I couldn’t tell who it was but I guessed it was the Samuel guy she was talking about. Lacey was also off in a corner talking to a well-built guy who looked to be about seventeen. He was crouched down, and holding her leg in his hand, moving it slowly.

I looked around and saw Clara talking to the man at the front of the room. He was smiling at her, and occasionally looked my way. Clara came over to me.

“Well, I’ll leave it up to Mr. Stubbs to introduce you to everyone,” she smiled, and left the room.

Mr. Stubbs came over to me, and turned my wheelchair so it was facing everyone. He clapped his hands, and everyone turned to look in our direction. Sylvia grinned at me, and Lacey waved. I smiled at them both.

“Okay, guys. This is Valerie,” he pointed down at me, “and it’s her first day in sessions so make her feel welcome, alright?” A few people waved, some of them murmured a ‘Hi,’ and others looked away. When everyone went back to what they were doing, Mr. Stubbs turned to me. “Alright, Caleb will be your partner for now, okay?”

I nodded.

He smiled at me, gave me a thumbs-up, and walked over to someone who had raised their hand. I looked around and saw a boy – who looked to be about my age - walking towards me. He was thin with black hair, bright green eyes, and slightly tanned skin. I noticed there were a few freckles across the bridge of his nose.

“Hi,” I mumbled. “So. You’re my ‘partner,’ huh?”

He glanced at me, then at my legs, and back up to my face again. “Whatever.”

I pursed my lips together and glared at him. I had to spend my whole day with this guy? Great. Just freakin’ dandy.