She Said, She Said

" . . . Okay, I'll show her around . . . "

My eyes fluttered open upon hearing the voice that seemed to be coming from somewhere close by. I brought my hands up to my face and rubbed my eyes.

"You're awake!" A voice – the same one as before? – exclaimed, surprised.

I turned my head to see a tiny redhead staring at me. She was sitting in a wheelchair, her hands folded in her lap. Her eyes were a warm green. Unlike me, her skin was tanned a soft brown. She smiled at me, her nose crinkling.

"I'm Sylvia, and you are?"

"I'm . . . uh, Valerie,” I croaked and managed to sit up.

“I knew that, I was just testing to see if you were going to talk any time soon,” she smirked.

I gave her a confused look, though she didn’t seem to notice and continued talking.

“You’re wondering how I know your name right? Well, of course you are!” she chucked. “Clara – you know the nurse? – told me that you were going to be my new roommate. Well, I’m glad, to tell you the truth. It gets a bit lonely in here with nothing to do but watch TV. Ever since Marcia – my last roommate – left two weeks ago, I’ve been here all alone. The others thing I’m ‘lucky’ that I get the whole room to myself but really? It’s not all that fun. Oh, I forgot to ask! What are you in here for? I mean, I’m just curious.”

I looked at her in amazement. How could she talk so much?

“I . . . uh, need to get used to Prosthetics so I don’t need a wheelchair all the time . . . ” I trailed off, not really knowing why I was even talking to this stranger.

“Oh! Well, I see . . . ” she smiled again and her nose crinkled – the way it had before. “Do you want to know what I’m in here for? Wait, no! First of all, how old are you?”

“Uhh . . . ” I said and then stopped. Had my birthday already passed? I couldn’t believe I didn’t know how old I was!

Sylvia looked at me like I had two heads. “You don’t know how old you are? Well, that’s a new one!” she chuckled and then stopped. “Seriously? Well . . . I’m sixteen, just so you know. Can you believe I had to celebrate my ‘Super Sweet Sixteenth’ here? That is whacked!”

I nodded and felt my face heat up. What if I was already sixteen? But that couldn’t be, could it? I had only been in the hospital for a month or so. “I’m fifteen,” I finally mumbled.

She nodded and then wheeled herself over to her bed. I watched as she tried to hoist herself onto the bed but fell with a thump. My eyes widened and I gasped.

“What?” Sylvia looked up at me from where she was sitting on the floor. “Don’t worry, it happens all the time. I’m used to it,” she mumbled, after noticing the look of horror on my face, and then climbed onto the bed, groaning.

“There!” she exclaimed, a look of victory on her face. She then turned to me. “So do you still want to know what’s wrong with me or no?”

I nodded.

“Is that a ‘yes, I want to know more,’ or ‘no, I couldn’t care less’?” she smirked, obviously enjoying the way my face turned red.

“The first one,” I mumbled and played with my hands.

“Okay,” she cleared her throat, a look of mock seriousness on her face. “I was in an accident. Not in a car accident, no. In a motorcycle accident. It was my first time, too. I needed a ride so I thought ‘what the hell, right?’ But, of course, I turned out to be wrong and ended up losing my leg,” she motioned to her left leg, “It’s still there but I don’t control it anymore. It just hangs there . . . ”

“Oh.” I didn’t know what else to say.

“But, you see, my right leg is pretty useless, too. I can wiggle my toes and move around a bit but I’m too weak. And my back starts to hurt when I do so,” she said in disgust, sniffing.

I nodded. A sudden knock at the door caused both of us to look up. “Dinner time! ” a voice yelled from outside.

“Well,” Sylvia exclaimed and started getting out of her bed, “I guess that’s that!”

I looked out the window and realized it was already dark out. I guess I was so busy talking to Sylvia that I had lost track of time. I also realized I hadn’t taken a shower for a whole day. I crinkled my nose in disgust and looked around trying to find a door.

“You coming?” My head snapped to the side to see Sylvia almost out of the door.

“Where’s the bathroom?” I muttered, looking around again.

“Don’t you see that door?” she motioned to a white door I hadn’t noticed, “That’s where it is. But don’t go take a shower now, alright? We have to go eat or the food will get cold.”

I nodded and started getting out of bed. Wait, I thought as I looked at my wheelchair, I don’t know how to get out of my bed! I felt myself panic and looked at Sylvia. She was staring at me in amusement.

“What’s wrong?”

“I don’t know how to get out of bed!” I exclaimed and blushed, realizing how stupid that sounded.

“You haven’t done that before?” she asked me, looking shocked. I shook my head. “You’d think they would’ve taught you that,” she muttered as she wheeled herself back into the room and over to the telephone. She looked over at me and then picked up the receiver.

“Hello? . . . Yes, this is Sylvia . . . We need someone up in room 289 . . . Why? Because I’m dying, that’s why! . . . No, err, Valerie needs help getting out of bed . . . Okay, thank you,” she finally hung up and glanced at me. “Someone’s coming.”

I nodded and slumped back onto the bed to wait.

A few minutes passed by and neither of us spoke. When we heard the knock on the door, I sat up and watched as Clara, the nurse from before, came in, smiling.

“Need a little help, do we?” she asked motioning to my wheelchair. I nodded. “Well, don’t worry. Since you’re new here, I’ll help you. But you’ll probably be joining the sessions soon anyway so you’ll learn.”

I nodded and watched as she came over and helped me into the wheelchair. She then smiled at me and walked out of the room.

“Let’s go,” Sylvia said and started moving again.

I stopped again and she turned around, clearly annoyed. “What now?!” she groaned.

I looked down at the hospital gown I was wearing and back at her. She rolled her eyes. “Well? You want to change?”

“I do! But I need help . . . ” I muttered, ashamed that I couldn’t even dress myself.

“Well, do it later, alright? The food is getting cold!” she whined and wheeled herself out of the room. I was angry now so I wheeled after her, cursing under my breath. I tried to cover myself as best as I could and shouted to Sylvia, “Hey! Wait for me!”

Sylvia, who was already halfway down the hallway, turned and stopped, watching me as I fumbled with the strings on the piece of cloth I was wearing. She rolled her eyes at me as I caught up to her and we got into the elevator. Sylvia pressed a button and we started moving.

When the doors opened, I was met with the familiar scent of cinnamon. I followed Sylvia as she went down another hallway. I could hear voices and as we got closer to the room marked with the words Cafeteria the sound seemed to become louder. Sylvia turned and strolled into the room and I soon followed.

The cafeteria was sort of like the one I had had at my school. It was a big place crowded with people, tables, and chairs. I wheeled myself in and looked around for Sylvia but she was already lost in the crowd. I panicked, not knowing what to do. On one side of the room was where they were serving the food. The counter was really low seeing as most of the people in the room were on wheelchairs. I decided to get some food since I was hungry. I rolled the wheelchair over to the women and grabbed a plate.

“There you are!” A voice exclaimed and I turned around to see Sylvia. She was holding a plate filled with food, which was placed on her lap. She beamed at me but I ignored her and turned back around. The woman behind the counter poured me some soup, some spaghetti and moved to do the same for the next person. I moved along and grabbed two boxes of apple juice.

“What? Are you angry with me?” Sylvia asked from behind me. I ignored her.

I looked around and tried to find an empty table but Sylvia blocked my way.

“Come on!” she whined. “I can’t stand the ‘Silent Treatment.’"

I rolled my eyes at her. “Well, where are we going to sit?”

She smirked in victory and turned around. I watched as she wheeled over to a table where several people were already sitting. One of them was a girl who looked about twelve. I noticed her left arm was missing which made my eyes widen. She was chubby, with shiny blonde hair, and pale skin. She was covered all over in freckles but it just made her look cute.

To her right was a boy who looked to be about the same age as Sylvia. He was thin, and pale with big blue eyes. His hair was a very dark brown, almost black.

“Hi guys!” Sylvia said as we neared their table. Both the boy and the girl stared at me and I looked away, my face heating up. Sylvia noticed and smiled. “This is Valerie. She’s my new roommate.”

I looked back at them and waved, muttering a ‘Hi’ in greeting. The girl smiled at me. “Hi! I’m Lacey.”

“And I’m Noel,” the boy said in a quiet voice.

I nodded and slowly moved to sit on the chair. When I finally got on, I couldn’t help smiling in victory.

Sylvia sat next to me, opposite Noel, and immediately started talking about the weather.

I looked at Lacey and then at Noel. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad here after all . . .