I was awoken when the door to my ward creaked open. I could only make out
complete darkness, so it must have been night. Footsteps issued from the
doorway, where the person was walking. Just a night-nurse, I guessed. I tried
to get back to sleep, but the footsteps stopped when they were right next to
me.
"Psst…wake up!" a female voice
whispered in my ear.
I groaned and pointlessly opened my eyes,
"What time is it?"
"Erm…sometime past 1am," she
answered. "Look, I heard you had an accident."
"Yep, but so have half the people in
here," I replied. "What makes me so special?"
"Everyone knows about it. I came in here
to help you," she claimed.
I sighed, "I don’t need a doctor. I need a
miracle!"
"What’s wrong with you?" the girl
inquired, concerned.
"I’m blind for life, that’s what! Now, if
you don’t mind, I’d like to get some sleep!" I told her irritably. I was
getting very edgy lately.
"Blind? Geez, that serious?" she
exclaimed quietly.
"Yes, now go away!" I ordered.
"I can still help," she claimed.
"Look, are you gonna leave or do I have to
call somebody in here?" I threatened.
"I promise, I can help you!" she
insisted.
I frowned in the direction of her voice. How
could she help me out at all? I was told this was irreversible.
"Who are you, anyway?"
"That’s not important, just lie
still."
I did as she told me, and she put her hand over
my eyes, "OK, now this might hurt a bit, but don’t worry," the
stranger reassured.
Suddenly, I felt a cold chill go right through
me, but I felt relaxed under this girl’s influence. Like the stranger had said,
there was a sudden, numbing pain at the back of my eyes. Yet as suddenly as the
pain had arrived, it disappeared, and the stranger removed her hand.
"There. I have to go now," she stated
moving away from me.
"Wait! What did you just do?" I
asked, sitting up.
"You’ll understand in the morning,"
she told me.
She continued to walk, but her footsteps were
not alone. There sounded like another set had joined her.
"Is there someone else there with
you?" I questioned.
"Well, sort of. He’s not a person,"
she informed.
"You mean he’s your pet?" I asked,
surprised. "You’re not allowed animals in here!"
"I wouldn’t call him my pet, but you’ve
got nothing to fear from young Tohja, here!" she reassured.
"Strange name," I commented.
There was no reply, but more footsteps, and the
new footsteps sounded like a dog’s footsteps.
"Hey, what’s your name?" I demanded,
"Who are you?"
"One of your fans!" she whispered,
before closing the door and leaving me in silence. Slightly shaken, I lay down
and drifted back to sleep.
The next day
Brian’s point of view
I sat nursing my broken arm in the waiting room, wondering if Nick was any
grumpier than he was yesterday. It was about 7:00am, and AJ, Howie and Kevin
were still fast asleep. Leighanne had woken me up at about 6:45 when she went
to get some coffee, and Kristin had gone with her.
AJ, who had managed to sprawl himself across
three seats, turned over dreamily. Still asleep, he wasn’t aware that the seats
ended where he was turning. Falling off his makeshift bed, he woke himself up,
as well as startling Howie and Kevin into wakefulness. I managed to laugh
lightly at their bewildered expressions.
"I wish I had a camera right now," I
stated, grinning.
Kevin rubbed his head and then started to look
around him.
"What you lost, Kev?" Howie inquired,
while proceeding to hit AJ with a cushion.
"Kristin. She was right here!" he
claimed, pointing to the empty seat beside him.
"Relax, Kev. She went with Leighanne to
get some coffee," I told him.
Kevin relaxed and sunk back into his chair. AJ
stood up and dusted himself off, "Have you been to see Nick?"
"Not yet. You wanna come?" I offered.
"Yeah, might as well. Save me from getting
killed for waking these two up early," AJ agreed, gesturing to Kevin and
Howie.
AJ’s point of view
Brian and me walked down the corridor to Nick’s ward. We both expected him to
tell us to take a hike. Still, we had to see him to make sure he was all right.
We entered the ward
to find Nick just sitting up in his bed, and it looked like he was in shock.
Brian ran up to Nick’s bed, and I followed. A nurse was seeing to Nick, trying
to get some reaction from him.
"Mr. Carter, are
you alright?" she asked, "Is something wrong, Nick?"
"Yo Nick!"
I attempted, "Say something!"
He just sat there but
then turned and looked at both of us in turn, "This can’t be real,"
Brian didn’t know what to say in reply to this. I didn’t either, but I noticed
with amazement that Nick’s eyes didn’t have the blank, sightless sense about
them anymore…