The First Sign of Something Odd
1696 Words
“Are you going to need help changing?” Jackie asked me.
The answer was probably yes, but instead I said, “No, I’m sure that I can manage.” My damn pride. That was all there was to it. I have a pride that seems impossible to deny.
“Are you sure?” she asked, handing me my clothes. There was a slight bit of concern on her face. She clearly wanted me to say something. I could see that she almost thought about fighting me on this, but I think she seemed to know that it wasn’t the best idea. Or maybe it was that someone can only fight so much in a moment.
It took a lot of my energy, but I lifted my arm up and placed it on her shoulder. “I’m fine. Calm down. I’ll be out in a few minutes and then we can head out. Out of the hospital and then out of this town shortly after. I’m ready to leave.”
Jackie had to help me remove my arm from her. “Ok, but maybe we can stop for some lunch first.”
“I guess it will be around lunch time, so sure, I don’t see why not. I don’t think that I am going to be very hungry, but I can see that you probably will be, so of course we can get some food,” I said, walking toward the bathroom. My stomach was still a little bit in knots. It was starting to calm down, but my stomach had been in knots for hours. Actually, it felt like it had been in knots all night. All I wanted to was get on the road and leave.
Getting dress sucked. It was an absolute nightmare. Taking off the night gown took five minutes. My side just kept feeling like it was going to pull from my rib cage. Putting a bra on took another ten, I had debated putting one on at all, but knew that someone like me needed it to be appropriate, and getting pants on, twenty. All in all, it probably took me at least forty-five minutes to get dressed. “I am sorry it took so long,” I said, when I finally re-emerged from the bathroom.
“It’s alright,” she said. I knew that she wanted to say that it would have taken less time if I would have allowed her to help, but she didn’t say that and I was thankful for that. She knew that me asking for help would have taken more pride than what I had left. I needed to keep something. There had to be a bit of my pride, she knew how independent I can be.
“Can you brush my hair though?” I asked her. This was an easy ask. She does it more enough anyway.
“Of course,” she said, patting the bed, as she got up. She walked over to my bag, and grabbed my hair brush.
“You can pull it into a ponytail when your done if you want to,” I said, knowing that I wasn’t allowed to be picky with my hair at the moment, nor was I really ever picky with how my hair looked for that matter. It was a few minutes of silence before I asked her, “Where did you want to eat?”
“There is a great dinner just inside town,” the nurse told us. “That’s where your car is anyway.” How did she know that?
Actually, there was a better question. I looked behind me to look at Jackie. “What does she mean by our car is in town?”
“Remember our blown tire?” Jackie asked, pushing my head forward gently. She was being gentler with me than normal. I appreciated that fact.
I closed my eyes for a second. “Yeah,” I said, finally opening them again. “That was how all of this started.” The memory seemed to be slightly elusive, but I could pick through some of it and get a few details.
“Well, a towing company took the car to a shop to put new tires on it for us,” Jackie said, pulling my hair a little harder than I had expected. She had been so gentle, but I think that she was a little frustrated in the situation herself and it came out in my hair. Which I guess was not exactly what I wanted, but it was preferable to her making a scene to the towing company.
“Ouch,” I said, before taking a breath. “So, how are we going to get into town, and how long until our car is fixed?” I tried to look down at my hands, but she gently pulled my head back up.
“Those are two very different questions,” she said, pulling on my hair a little more. Or maybe it wasn’t the fact that she was frustrated at them at all, and maybe she was just getting to the crazy knots in my hair.
“They both need an answer.”
“I called them up and they just got into the shop now…” Her voice started trailing off. I knew what she was trying to hide.
I sighed. I cleared my throat. “Ok, so how long did they say that it could take to change the tires?” I asked, knowing that it hadn’t taken me more than an hour when I had done it myself.
Jackie pulled my hair just a little more. I still wasn’t sure if it was from knots or from her frustration. “Well, they had a few other cars ahead of us, so they said that it might take a couple of hours and they would call me when they were done.”
“A couple hours,” I whined a little, before knowing that I was whining. I fixed myself. “Well, good thing that you wanted to go get food. That still leaves the question of how are we supposed to get into town. This town seems a little small to have a ride sharing company.”
“It is,” the nurse said, looking at us. “But you guys are in luck, if you can wait about fifteen more minutes, I’ll take you guys into town.”
“That would be…” Jackie began.
“Too kind,” I said, looking at Jackie. “And I am sure an inconvenience for you.”
“It’s fine,” the nurse told us. “I don’t mind helping you guys out.”
“That would be so kind thank you,” Jackie said, and I was unable to stop her. She even pulled my hair a little more as I started trying to talk back. Seriously, what was she thinking?
“Great, by the time that you guys are done with paperwork, and fixing her hair I should be ready to go,” the nurse said, walking away from us.
“Was that a good idea?” I asked Jackie, when I knew that it was just the two of us. Jackie looked at me and she needed me to continue. I sighed. “Stranger danger,” I said, looking at her.
She pulled my hair again. “We aren’t ten? You don’t trust her?”
“Something like that.” I tried to look at my hands again, but Jackie again, pulled my head back up again.
“Well, what is it?” She stood up and put my hairbrush back into my bag.
“Do you remember what I told you last night?” She looked at me for a few seconds, and in those few seconds I knew the answer so I continued. “Well, I told you that she should have been off duty hours ago, then why is she still here? How is she still here?”
“Maybe she had a long shift?” Jackie grabbed my bag and made sure that everything was in it.
“I came here when?” I wasn’t letting this go. I couldn’t without the answers.
Jackie didn’t even bother looking at me, as she answered. “A little before 7.”
“And she was working when I got here, yes?” I tried to stand up for a second, but I got dizzy and had to sit back down.
“Yes,” Jackie said, shaking her head.
“That means that she probably started before that right?” I needed to lead Jackie down the rabbit hole that my mind was already going down.
“I would assume so.”
“Well then, that’s over twelve hours yes?”
“Well yes, but…”
“It’s also over 16 hours, yes?” I said, before she could continue.
“Well yes, but…”
I interrupted again before she could continue, “Does that not strike you as odd?”
She finally turned to look at me. There was a wheel that was slowly going through her head. “Well maybe a little, but I am sure…”
I again interrupted her before she had the chance to finish. “You are sure that a stranger that we have hardly met, that has weird and unexplainable happenings, is perfectly normal, and has no intention of killing us?” Jackie walked back over to me with a hair tie, and pulled my hair tight. “Ouch.”
“You are letting your imagination run wild again,” she said, curtly. “She is one woman, yes?”
“That we…”
Jackie didn’t let me continue. “She has been perfectly kind to us.”
“Yes, but…”
Jackie gave me a glare and I shut up. “That’s right. Now, there is reason to be cautious. I will keep my eyes open and at the first sign of trouble I will let us leave.”
“If we have that time.” I made sure that I had that one fact in her mind.
- Writer
