Lenore was fitful. Awake, asleep, awake, asleep.
She was having the craziest dreams.
Now that she had groggily opened her eyes yet again, Nurse Ned came into focus.
“Would you like someone to help you to the bathroom before you go back to sleep?” Nurse Ned asked Lenore, who was still strapped to the bed.
“I’ll take the bathroom help. It will be good to stand up,” Lenore said.
Ned rang a bell and Nurse Diana entered the room. She looked Lenore up and down. She patted Lenore’s head and pushed her hair back. Diana had a small smile on her face as she poked around. She unhooked the IV.
“Lenore, you’re healing so fast. I can’t believe you’re already up and walking,” Diana untied Lenore’s wrists. Lenore rubbed them as she sat up. What was Diana talking about?
Diana helped Lenore from the bed and to the bathroom, although Lenore didn’t need her help that much. Lenore was dizzy and lightheaded but still keeping her balance. She had so many questions racing through her mind.
“How long have I been here?” Lenore asked.
“Three days.”
“Huh,” Lenore finished her business. She flushed the toilet and clung to the wall while Diana lurked, and made her way to the sink that was outside the toilet area. She picked up her toothbrush and toothpaste that maybe Quincy had brought. Diane watched Lenore squeeze out the paste onto her brush and brushed her teeth. Lenore spit. “Three days.”
Three days.
Lenore made her way back to the bed, leaning on Diana. Diana helped her organize her blankets as she lay back down. Diana reached for the restraints that would fasten Lenore’s legs.
“Is that really necessary?” Lenore asked.
“You’re quite the kicker,” chimed in Ned from the corner of the room where he was writing notes with Matt. “It’s better this way.”
“I’m not hurting anyone kicking in my sleep.”
“But you could flail around so much that you might fall out of bed,” Diana said quietly.
Lenore watched as the nurses fastened her ankles and then her arms.
“I feel like you’re hiding something from me,” Lenore said.
“Don’t worry your head about anything. You’ve been through so much,” Diana said quickly. Lenore watched her, Ned, and Matt exchange glances.
“Stop the games, what are you hiding?”
“We told you, you were thrashing around with nightmares, hurting yourself, kicking anyone who came near you.”
“I didn’t hurt anyone, did I?” Lenore asked.
“It doesn’t matter right now; let’s get you comfortable.”
Lenore groaned, partly from pain, partly from the worry that she’d hurt someone and didn’t realize it. Once she was tightly secured, Matt left to continue his rounds.
“Before you go, I forgot to ask, where are my belongings?” Lenore asked.
“In that locker over there. I wasn’t here when they signed you in, so I don’t know what’s there. And your friend brought you your toiletries, as you saw,” Ned explained.
“Can you show me what’s in the locker?” Lenore asked.
“I’ll go through it with her,” Stella said as she entered the room. “Is that all right with you, Lenore?”
Lenore nodded.
“You can go check on the others,” Stella nodded. Ned and Diana left.
Stella went over to the locker and opened it. She gasped through her mask.
“What the hell?”
Lenore gagged as the smell first reached her nose and then it didn’t seem so bad.
“I don’t know what you have in here but wowsie.” Stella put on a fresh pair of gloves to lift out the bag of belongings. She pulled a smaller bag from the bag that seemed to be mostly the clothes Lenore had been wearing when she was brought in. Stella dropped the smaller bag on one of the mobile meal trays and wheeled it over to Lenore. She adjusted it so that Lenore could see it.
“You really want me to open this thing?” Stella asked.
“Yes.”
Stella peeled open the bag with her gloved hands. A gasp escaped from her lips as she lifted out a soggy, furry, something. A claw. A furry claw clutching a giant stone. A necklace of some sort as it was in Lenore’s bag of personal belongings.
“Um…is this yours?” she asked.
Lenore stared at the hideous necklace that the child had given her. It seemed like a lifetime ago when it was passed to her. It was soggy. And having been in a plastic bag for a few days, smelled horrific.
“What should I do with it?” Stella asked. “Do you want it back in the bag?”
Lenore looked at the hand, at the stone.
“Maybe you could leave it on the windowsill to dry out? The sun might dry it out.”
“Well, it’s nighttime now but I can put it there for you. If you don’t mind the smell.”
“I’m sure once it dries, it will be fine. It didn’t smell so horrible before.”
Stella sighed as she picked it up and put it on the window sill.
“Hopefully the smell won’t last. Are you sure you don’t want me to put it back in the bag for now? That way, no one can lift it while you sleep.”
“I think we’d better get that thing dried out,” Lenore said. “It smells like death, but hopefully not forever.”
“As you wish,” Stella said. “At least you have a private room today. We have to keep moving you as conditions change and the bed situation changes.”
“I’m just grateful to have a bed at all, even if you did tie me up.”
“Maybe the nightmares will stop, and you can have a peaceful sleep…but we have to wait and see. Safety first.” Stella gave the claw a bit of side-eye. She put the charm on the window sill and made sure the blind was up a bit even though it was evening.
“Can I get you anything else before I continue my rounds?” Stella asked as she hooked the IV back into place through Lenore’s arm.
“No. I’m fine,” Lenore said. “Is that painkillers?”
“Yes,” Stella said.
“Good. Crank it up so I can pass out, and maybe I can get out of here sooner than later.”
Stella smiled as she adjusted the medication. When she had finished noting on the chart, she turned back to Lenore.
“Have a good rest.”
“I’ll try even though you have me all bound up like a kidnapping victim.”
“It’s not forever,” Stella’s words trailed as she left the room.
Better not be.