The Youngest in the Precinct

Escaping The Hospital

It was two weeks before I was allowed to leave the hospital. Kevin and Holt arrived early in the morning to help me run through some stretches that the doctor had informed them would speed along my recovery. I had been barred from walking after an incident wherein I'd tried to go for a stroll through the halls, thinking I didn't need assistance, took two steps from my bed, and fell. I tore open the stitches on my side, front and back. When Terry got back from his coffee run he found me on the floor and panicked, he'd called Holt before he called the nurses and ever since then, either Holt or Kevin was stationed by my bedside at all times.

"Did you bring clothes for me?" I asked, pushing myself to sit up, an action which still caused me a lot of pain. The doctor told me that the bullet had torn through some ligaments, I was grateful that the wound in my neck was less complicated. Admittedly, I still found it difficult to breathe without experiencing discomfort, and my voice had been slightly higher pitched lately, but I was pretending that I didn't notice.

"Of course," Kevin reached over to my knee that was furthest from him, his other arm bracing my back as he spun me quickly so my legs hung off the bed. My feet touched the cold floor, and I gasped, yanking them up to escape the cold. I groaned in pain and almost fell back onto the bed, I would have if Kevin's arm hadn't been there. "My apologies, I should've put your socks on first." He knelt in front of me and offered his hand to Holt, who opened the bag he was carrying and pulled out a pair of thick woolly socks.

"Wow," I hummed. "They're so fluffy!"

"Indeed." Holt approached, his arm replacing Kevin's at my back. "The doctor told us that if you'd be trying to walk, these would help." He added.

"Why?"

"Well, he didn't really say much. Simply that it would be better, until you're sufficiently healed, to practice  walking on soft surfaces. It'll cause less pain to the damaged ligaments." Kevin spoke quickly. He reached his hand out to Holt again, and this time, to my horror, he dropped a pair of my underwear into it.

"Nooooo," I whined, I threw my head back and clenched my eyes closed as hard as I could.

"There is no need to be embarrassed, Tessa. You can not get dressed by yourself. The girls were not able to come today, so Kevin and I will assist." Holt patted my head with the hand that wasn't propping me up.

"Hold on a minute, just because I can't stand up without support doesn't mean that I can't dress myself. Stop. Stop, stop, stop, stop." I covered my face with my hands as Kevin pulled the underwear up to my knees. "I can get it from there, Kev." He ignored me, looking to Holt who gripped me by the waist at both sides, just softly enough not to irritate my stitches, and raised me about an inch off the bed for Kevin to finish pulling up my underwear. "Oh my God! Oh my God!" I mumbled repeatedly under my breath.

"Hush, Tessa, there's no need to fuss," Kevin looked up at me fondly as Holt lowered me back to the bed. "You couldn't have done that if you tried, despite the exercises and stretching your legs are not strong enough to support you after you've been off them for two weeks. Especially not this one." He patted my left leg twice before standing once again. "However, as you still have perfect use of most of your upper body, you may dress your top half before Raymond and I help you with your trousers."

"Well! Thank God for that!" I threw my hands up in frustration, accepting the bag of clothing from Holt and then throwing my head back with a loud groan when I saw a pair of red satin guest pajamas within it along with my most modest bra. "Should I not be wearing proper clothes if I'm going to be outside?" I asked indignantly.

"No," Holt and Kevin turned their backs to me as Holt answered. "We are concerned that if we dressed you in clothes appropriate for the outdoors, you may try to run away."

"Why would I try to run away? I can't even walk." I sighed. My chest felt heavy as I fastened my bra and slipped my arms into the silk shirt. A tear dripped down my cheek, quickly followed by another and another until they were coming so thick and fast that I could feel the burn of salt water on my neck wound whilst I fastened the shirt. I left the top few buttons untied, leaving a deep but not immodest v-neck. I opened my mouth to tell the men that I was decent, but a loud sob escaped before I could stop it that had them both spinning to face me.

"Oh, you're crying." Holt seemed perplexed.

"Why are you crying?" Kevin asked, hurriedly moving to sit beside me. I leaned into him, accepting his warm kindness and nurturing presence.

"I can't run away. I can't walk. I can't do anything. I'm useless." I turned my head as far as I could towards him, which was not very considering the stitches, and waited for him to lean his head forward so that I could see his face. "I got shot, Kevin. I've been lying here in this bed talking to my friends as though it doesn't affect me, but the truth is it doesn't affect me the way they want it to. I don't care that I got shot, that it hurt, that I got in the way of Charles. All of that I would do any day. Hell, it didn't even bother me a bit when they told me the bullet in my neck clipped my jugular." I hiccuped as my tears began to slow. "I'm bothered by the fact that no matter how many times the doctors have told me why I can't use my left leg yet, I don't understand. I'm bothered that I can't walk because I hate being still. I'm bothered that I can't run away because it makes me feel trapped. Most of all, I'm bothered because everyone else is looking after me, and I'm not good enough to do the same. I'm broken." A mirthless laugh fell from my lips, growing hysterical as the silence in the room drew itself out. "You should put me down like the legless animal that I am." I spat.

"Tessa Cole!" Holt barked, interrupting my onslaught of self-destructive thoughts. "You will stop that at once!" I turned to watch his thunderous approach.  He reached for me with both hands, pulled me to my feet, and let go. For a second, just a second, I thought that he was trying to tell me that I could stand on my own. Then I was falling, I threw my arms out in front of me to catch myself when I realised that both men were going to let me fall. I let out a pained cry when my knees hit the floor, jarring my injuries, and another when my hands met it too. My neck felt stretched, and my side was on fire. I couldn't move, frozen in my position as the pain rendered me immobile. Then suddenly, I was standing again. Only this time, both Kevin and Holt were holding me steady, one at each of my sides. "This," Holt shook me by left shoulder. "Is support. It is something you need to get used to accepting from us because we will not stop offering it. If we did, you would inevitably fall."

"You can trust us, Tessa. We can help you learn to walk again. We can teach you to run faster than you ever did before." Kevin told me. "You are not legless. You simply have no current working legs. Though, I do agree with Raymond. There will be no more talk of your death. We've already come too close to that."
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I was quiet. There were no thoughts in my head, I couldn't focus on anything for any length of time. I knew only two things, one that Holt was pushing me along in a wheelchair and the second that Kevin was walking beside me and holding my hand as though I would slip through his fingers. I had been administered a final dose of extra strength pain killers that had rid my body of the remaining strength it had.

I was only vaguely aware when we made it to the exit of the hospital. Kevin lifted me into his arms bridal style and walked slowly in what I assumed was the direction of their car. The soft sway of his walk caused dizziness to grow and loopiness to develop in my mind.

"Woo, hoo, hoo, hoo!" I giggled. One of my hands touched something soft, but I couldn't tell what it was, whether it was up or down, and my eyes still weren't focusing.

"Tessa, honey, you need to let go of Raymond so that we can get in the car." I did as I was told despite every fibre of my being not wanting to. I had a feeling that the damned painkillers were going to turn me into a real handful.