NightTide: The Girl With Red Eyes

I can say rehabilitation is painful. I worked hard walking around the day before but this, it was something else. They kept having me walk back and forth between these two metal bars. I couldn’t rest, they said if I did it would take longer. They had me doing that for four hours before I could take a break, I collapsed when they said I could take one.

Jessica was watching, when I fell down I heard her walking over. “You ok?”

I was face down. My voice sounded slightly muffled. “I’m tired…”

She laughed. “I’m sure you are, you’ve been sweating this whole time. It looks like they’re working you pretty hard… Well if they’re working you this hard you might be out of here in a week.”

A whole week of this I turned my head and saw her feet, she was wearing blue and white sneakers. “What?! It’s going to take that long?!”

Now she was laughing. “Yes, don’t worry it’ll get easier as it goes on.”

Well she wasn’t lying. The second day was just as bad, the third got easier… By the fifth day I was doing it without those bars.

It was the eighth day when the doctor came in. “How are you feeling today?”

I felt pretty good. “Good, I don’t feel tired at least.”

He smiled. “That’s good to hear, it looks like you’ll be getting discharged soon.”

I didn’t know what that word meant. “What’s that mean?”

He did that frown again. “We’ll be letting you out… Um, try to keep an eye out. Jessica’s essentially going to be your caretaker and she’s proven to not be the best at it… I’ll see you when you get ready to leave, until I have things to do.” He walked out.

It was another two hours before anything happened. The doctor walked in with Jessica.

He looked like he was in a hurry. “Are you ready to go?”

I nodded. Jessica smiled at me and she had some clothes. “I got you some clothes put on.” She tossed me a white t-shirt and blue jeans, generic I guess but it’s better than black.

They stepped out of the room and I changed. When I walked out the doctor was gone but Jessica was still standing there. She was still smiling at me. “Well I guess it’s time to go.”

Yah. “Yah, finally.” This time around I felt better, like a lot better. Maybe it was because I was finally healthy. I was following her, she seemed to know her way around. “I guess it’s nice to be walking on my own. At least now if you get angry I can try and hide.”

She turned around quickly when I said that. She was far to cheerful with how she said that. “I can guarantee you that you won’t be able to outrun me.” She spun back around, it sent another chill down my spine.

Unfair. “That’s not fair. There’s a big difference between us, you should at least go easy on me.”

She spun back around and was walking backwards as she talked. “I already went easy on you, I broke your ribs. I’ll have to treat you like a baby if I don’t want to kill you.”

Did she just insult me? “Heeyyyyyyyyyy!”

She started laughing and then fell over. It made me laugh and then she glared at me.

I looked off the side when I said this. “Don’t get mad at me if you fall when you walk backwards.”

She huffed and then we started walking again. I saw that building with our rooms in it. I guess that’s where we were going.

It’s the twentieth I think. “Hey Jessica, you said your birthdays in December, right? What day?”

She seemed surprised by that. “Oh! Uh, I just do it on the first.”

She said she’s seven I think. “So, you’ll be eight, right?”

She sighed loudly. “Don’t say it like I’m an infant, but yes it’ll be the eighth year since I’ve been around. I’ll be eighteen though.”

I wonder what she does. “So, what do you do on your birthday?”

She seemed to be getting uncomfortable. “I don’t really do much. I finish up my paperwork early and then, go out. I usually get a beer or two.” Right, she does drink occasionally.

I didn’t ask her anything else about it. I didn’t want to push anything. We got to the building and went inside. She unlocked the door to our rooms and I went and checked out mine, it was clean. Did she clean it? I checked the closet and it had clothes, they were about my size. I guess we wear the same size so they could just be hand-me-downs. She was shuffling through things in her room but I didn’t want to bug her, I sat on the bed… It was soft, like the hospital best. I think it’s some sort of foam.

I got up and decided to flop onto the bed, I look towards the doorway and Jessica had stuck her head to see what I was doing. She vanished after I saw her, the bed was far more comfortable then the hospital bed, it was softer. Something heard a small clang land next to me. I looked and saw it was two keys.

I got off the bed and turned around, Jessica was standing there. “The gold key is to this building, always make sure to lock it behind you, it also unlocks the hallway to our rooms. The silver key is to your room. Don’t lose them.” I was confused at first but nodded. I put them in my front pocket.

After I put them in my pocket I asked her a question. “Why’d you trust me with these?”

She crossed her arms. “Are you going to give me a reason to not trust you?”

Good point… “I’d rather not get hurt again.”

She looked at me blankly. “Then I hope that answers your question. Now I have paperwork to do, you can sit around here. I can’t really have you help me with that but there is work tomorrow that you’ll be able to help me with.” I nodded. It was boring the rest of the day…