Crossing Into Forever

Chapter 22

Nicholas decided against holding class and walked in to let the students know. He had a teacher's assistant come in and sit with them until the bell rang. They were instructed to study or work on any assignments they needed to get caught up on, as long as they were quiet.

He made his way down to the infirmary. Ella was in the bathroom getting a gown on that Maggie had provided for her. As she came out, she saw him talking to Maggie. She was hoping it would be later this evening before he came back down. He glanced over at her without a smile and with a point of his finger, motioned for her to get in her bed. She was surprised earlier when he had been so kind to her. He didn't scare her as much when he was like that. But now without a hint of a smile, he seemed so cold and intimidating. Unfortunately, this is how he usually looked.

As he finished talking to Maggie, he came over to check on her. "How are you feeling Ella? I will say you look much better."

"I feel much better, thank you. I don't think I need to stay here for the entire night. I really do feel fine." She was hoping she could go back to her dorm room.

"I would feel better for you to be watched by someone tonight. If you do well, we will consider letting you go back to your normal routine tomorrow evening. We are starting you on some steroid medications and we will do more nebulizer treatments. Tell me, have you had a cough, or had you been short of breath in the past day or so prior the asthma attack?"

She hesitantly shook her head no. She hated to lie, but if he knew she had been having problems, she was afraid she would surely be in trouble for not coming to him or Maggie about it. She also had been feeling more tired the past few days, but she thought it was because of everything that had happened to her in the last few weeks.

"Any other problems or changes you have noticed?"

He went through his entire verbal assessment, asking all kinds of questions. She answered everything else truthfully. She was glad when the questioning was over.

"Well, let's have a listen, shall we."

He pulled his stethoscope that he had hung around his neck. She braced herself for his touch because it always made her feel funny. He made her take deep breaths while listening to different places on her back, then moved the stethoscope to her front. First, he told her to breathe normal while he listened to her heart, then he instructed her to take deep breaths so he could listen to her chest. As he listened, he explained to her that she still had a lot of wheezing, even though she may not be able to tell. He pulled out the otoscope he had in his pocket and looked in her ears, eyes, up her nose and then made her say aahh, and looked in her mouth. "It seems you have some irritation in your throat and nose. Do you have allergies?

"No." she spoke in a soft voice.

Alright, lie back for me please." His words sounded much more stringent than he had intended. Her eyes widened and an uneasy look crossed her face. Noticing this, he softened his words, "come now, I'm not going to hurt you. I just need to listen to your belly and press on it a couple of times." Hesitating a little, she did as he asked. He used the stethoscope to listen to different parts of her abdomen and then used his hands to press around, asking her if anything hurt. She told him no, again.

"Well, everything looks good, so we will start the medication and I'll see you this time tomorrow. If you need anything, please let Maggie know. If you need me, also let Maggie know."

He walked over and spoke to Maggie for a moment and then turned to look at her before walking off. "Have a good evening Ms. Xander.