Floating in the Abyss ✔️

Chapter 13

After almost 30 rounds of Monopoly Deal, Laura suggested we take a break.

"Then you won't be sick of it." She reasoned, so we both agreed. Morgan seemed to be getting pretty tired, which was understandable since she'd had surgery late last night, so the medication would still be strong. I remembered feeling like that, so I didn't want to disturb her.

"Let's go to the gym, Ash."

"The where?" I frowned.

"The gym."

"What's that?" I asked, noticing Morgan had already drifted off to sleep. Her parents still hadn't come up to our room yet.

"I'll show you. It isn't far, do you want to try and walk?" She suggested and I nodded. I wanted to regain strength because I didn't want to draw any attention to me at the airport by having to go in a wheelchair, if that was even possible, but I wanted to look normal.

She helped me up, and I went into the bathroom to put some cleaner clothes on. Laura had gone out again and bought me some black shorts and a few more t-shirts and hoodies, all brands she said were well-known such as Nike and more Champion, so I was happy. I put on the black shorts and a grey champion hoodie, then got Laura to quickly brush my hair before putting on these new white runners she had also bought me. Then we slowly made our way to the gym. I could walk, but it was tiring, and I was still slow. Apparently, the gym was going to help with this.

After what felt like hours but was probably less than fifteen minutes, we made it to the entry. Inside I could see a lot of hospital workers, in their labelled uniforms, and then many people who had all sorts of injuries and illnesses. To them, I probably didn't look sick at all.

"Hi Laura, how are you?" A man asked, which began some polite chattering, whilst I stood there tiredly. "And you must be Ashlyn." He said to me. I nodded, giving a small smile.

"Can I sit somewhere?" I asked, before he could say anymore.

"Of course." Laura responded instantly looking for a chair.

"Let's go into my office, then." The man said, and we walked a few meters into a room. There was a desk with a computer and some stray pieces of paper, along with 2 other chairs. There were pictures of athletes running covering his walls, which instantly caught my eye. "They're cool, aren't they?" He asked, noticing my interest.

"Yeah." I nodded. The runners fascinated me.

"Alright, lets get down to business. So we want to do 2 sessions daily until you leave this place, correct?"

"Yes, if that is possible." Laura responded, whilst I zoned out, focussed in the picture. The runners were so skinny, yet didn't look sick, or unfed like I did. They looked healthy and happy. They looked like they were enjoying themselves.

"So should we get started?" The man asked. Turning to look at him properly, I noticed there was a name tag, which read 'Ben'.

We walked back out of his office and into the gym, where people seemed to have disappeared, and others joined. There must have been a layover of sessions.

He took us over to a machine called a treadmill and showed me how to use it, and even let me press the buttons.

"If you need to stop, you hit the big red button, alright?" I nodded. We started the machine off and I walked slowly. He had his hand on my back for encouragement and to make sure I kept walking, and the other was used to adjust my posture. He commented on many things, about the way I was walking, and moving, and my stance, but they were mainly directed at Laura, so I didn't take much notice of it. "Let's go try something else. We will start our sessions with this treadmill each time."

Ben led Laura and I over to another machine which I didn't recall the name of, but it was basically just a chair that slid up and down. He put it on the very lowest weight, so I really was just lifting myself, but to begin with he was holding the chair as I used my legs to push my weight and the chair upwards. I was shaky to begin with but slowly got it and he was finally able to let go, as I could do it on my own.

"We can try increasing the weight and resistance..." I zoned out. I couldn't stop thinking about the runners on the wall.

We went around trying a few more different machines and I enjoyed myself. It felt good to be doing something, rather than just sitting in bed, eating, sleeping and watching Peppa Pig, as well as reading. I was on my second round of reading the Little Women set and I loved it more than ever.

After the gym, Laura helped me shower and put on some clean clothes, since I was sweaty and gross, before I got back into bed, exhausted. Morgan wasn't there but was apparently at another follow-up appointment because her Dad had only just arrived and wanted answers to his burning questions.

"Good job today, Ash, I'm glad you did it."

"Thanks." I smiled, tucking down into the bed.

"I promise we're going home soon. Just a few more days and it won't be like this. Everything will be perfect." When Laura said this, I felt content, but what she didn't realise was that everything was already perfect. I had someone who cared for me, I had begun to make a friend, who I hoped was real, and I was soon going to go and live with my brothers. Real siblings. I thought everything was perfect already.

I shut my eyes and slowly let myself drift into sleep.

"Goodnight, my love." Laura kissed my forehead and sat down, continuing to stroke my head as I fell asleep. "Sleep well."