by Hatchett
‘John and Paula Barrington? Who are they?’
This was all very confusing and frightening for Jess and she just wanted to switch off, block everything out and go back to sleep.
“John and Paula were devastated by the loss of Nick, but they wanted to do everything in their power to help you recover. They’ve been paying for this room and all the medical care since the accident.”
Jess was about to drop off when the door opened, and a large man entered the room with a hopeful smile on his face. He approached the bed cautiously, as if he didn’t believe what he’d obviously been told. When he saw Jess look at him, he broke down with huge racking sobs, his whole chest heaving as tears streamed down his face. Di got up from the chair and moved around the bed to give the man a hug, rubbing and patting his back as she held him tightly.
‘This must be my Dad,’ Jess guessed, but again, there was no recognition.
Damian Richardson was fifty-two years old and was six feet two inches tall. He was self-employed and ran his own courier company, although he now delegated a lot of the day to day running of the business to his partner. He had put on some weight over the past eighteen months, mainly because he had given up the active sports life he previously used to enjoy. Life had lost a lot of meaning for Damian, especially as his wife had gone into her own little world. To say that the crash had devasted all their lives was an understatement, but here he was, and his prayers had finally been answered as his daughter had awoken. He just worried that the battered young lady lying in the bed in front of him was not the same person as she had once been.
Damian disentangled himself from his wife and approached the bed, picking up Jess’s left hand and looking her straight in the eyes.
“My beautiful, beautiful girl,” he uttered before leaning forward to kiss Jess on the forehead.
Jess didn’t feel anything and slowly closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep.
3
The next morning Jess awoke to find her mother still occupying the seat to her right and her father now sitting in another seat to her left. The room was not as light as before; the sky outside the window looked fairly overcast from where Jess was lying and there were droplets of rain on the window pane.
The same two doctors from the previous day, or was it the day before that, she was already losing track of time, were fluttering around the room checking the equipment, looking at Jess’s notes and prodding her with instruments and carrying out other tests.
‘There’s something still not right about him,’ Jess thought, staring at the doctor she hadn’t been able to focus on before. She still couldn’t for some reason, and yet she could see the second doctor clearly, and everyone else who was in the room for that matter.
Once they had finished what they were doing, the two doctors left and were replaced by a nurse who came in to plump up her pillows, fill the water jugs and generally tidy up a bit. As she finished and was about to leave the room, a man and a woman entered. Both Di and Damian rose from their chairs to approach the couple.
“John, Paula, how are you?” Di asked as they kissed cheeks and shook hands. “Thanks for coming.”
“We’re fine,” Paula answered, turning to look at Jess, “and we wouldn’t have missed this for the world. We’re just so, so pleased that Jess has come back to us all.”
Paula approached the bed and took hold of Jess’s left hand.
“We’ve been praying for you every day, Jess, and Thank God our prayers have been answered,” she said with a smile on her face.
“And we’ve bought you a present!” John announced as he approached the bed and stood behind his wife, looking around her shoulder and gently patted Jess’s leg which was under the bedsheet.
Jess didn’t feel anything but looked from one to the other to see if she recognised them. She didn’t.
“Oh John, I’m sure she not interested in that at the moment!” Paula admonished him.
Jess studied Paula and John. They appeared to be roughly the same ages as her parents, around the fifty mark. John was well dressed, around five feet seven inches tall with a wide round and cheerful face, strong nose and a double chin, which went with his not inconsiderable gut which was straining against the buttons of his smart shirt. With his light coloured and thinning hair, he wasn’t a picture of health, but Jess could tell he enjoyed life to the full.
Paula, on the other hand, was slim, slightly taller than John and was a good-looking woman with a chiselled face, blond hair cut in a bob and bright blue eyes. It was clear by her clothes and jewellery that she liked to spend money, and Jess wouldn’t have been surprised if some of that money had gone on some cosmetic enhancements, especially if the bulge around her chest was anything to go by.
“What have you got her now?” Di asked with interest, breaking Jess’s concentration on Paula and John. “You didn’t have to get her anything. You’ve done more than enough already.”
“Oh, it was nothing,” John replied, “but the doctors told us she wouldn’t be running around for a while, so we thought she’d need some transport. So, we’ve gone and got her the best wheelchair money can buy. It’s back at the house.”
‘Wheelchair?’ Jess’s heart sank and she closed her eyes.
Obviously, she knew she couldn’t move just yet but never? The thought of a wheelchair had such a final ring to it, and she despaired that this was all she had to look forward to. A solitary tear ran down her cheek and was noticed by Paula.
“I think she’s crying,” Paula pointed out, looking over her shoulder as Di and Damian gathered around, before turning back and gently wiping the tear away.
“Maybe it’s tears of joy,” Di suggested, although she didn’t sound convinced. “She can obviously see us and hear us but has no way of responding.”
“I’ve got an idea,” John nearly shouted as if he had just had a ‘eureka’ moment. “I’m surprised the doctors haven’t thought of it.”
As the others looked at him in confusion, John gently moved his wife out of the way and sat on the side of the bed, the mattress sinking an alarming amount. Jess stared at him, wondering what he was about to do as the others gathered around closer.
“Jess,” John began. “You can obviously see and hear us. Now we’ll see if you can understand us. I want you to blink once for ‘yes’ and twice for ‘no’. OK?”
Blink
“Great, you understand,” John said, smiling brightly.
“Do you know who I am?”
Blink Blink
Do you know anyone in this room?”
Blink Blink
Jess heard her mother gasp in surprise before quickly asking, “but you know who I am?”
Jess looked at her mother.
Blink
“But you don’t remember me or your father, do you?”
Blink Blink
Di smiled sadly.
“I hope you will remember darling. Give it some time. You’ve had a terrible accident and its going to take a while for you to recover. Do you remember anything about the accident?”
Blink Blink
“Well, I suppose that’s a good thing,” Di continued. “Do you remember anything before the accident?”
Blink Blink
“Well, hopefully it’ll all come back to you in time,” her mother said sadly.
There was a brief lull in conversation as all four parents in the room considered the many questions they wanted to ask, but because Jess had lost her memory, the majority of the questions were currently redundant, at least for the time being. They pondered what they could ask before Damian spoke up.
“Are you ok, Jess?”
Blink, then Jess closed her eyes for a second before opening them and blinking twice more.
“Yes and no?”
Blink
“We need to find a way to communicate better than just ‘yes and no’, John suggested.
“Ouija board?” Paula queried.
“No chance!” John replied. “I wouldn’t want one
of those things in here, even if I knew where to find one. I was thinking more like Scrabble tiles or writing large letters on some card and getting Jess to spell things out.”
“How do we know if she can read?” Paula asked.
“Only one way to find out,” John replied. “Anyone got a pen and paper?”
“I’ve got a pen and a diary,” Di offered as she reached for her handbag.
John took the diary and turned to the first week in January. He then took the pen offered by Di and proceeded to write ‘JESS’ on the page. He turned the diary so that Jess could see what he had written.
“Do you understand what this says?” he asked.
Blink
“Good. Then let’s do this properly. Do you mind if I tear out some of the pages Di?”
“Of course not, you can tear the whole thing apart for all I care!”
John started writing on five different pages then carefully tore them out and placed then on the bed. The others saw that he had written the alphabet, spaced out in five groupings as follows:
ABCD / EFGH / IJKLMN / OPQRST / UVWXYZ
“How do you know what you’re doing?” Damian asked as the pages were moved around so that they faced Jess and were in order.
“I don’t,” John replied, “just trying to be logical about it. There’s only five pages to pick from and each contains a vowel so it should speed things up. Di, can you write what I call out?”
Di took the pen and diary back from John and prepared to write down the letters.
“You know there are machines you can get which allow you to speak without using your hands?” John noted. “A bit like that Stephen Hawking fellow. Bright as a button that guy. I’ll have to look into it when I get home. But, for the time being, we’ll have to go back to basics.”
John turned back to Jess.
“Are you ready, Jess?”
Blink
“Can you see the cards?”
Blink
“Ok. I’ll point to a page and you blink when I have the right one. Then blink again when I touch the right letter. Ok?”
Blink
“Right, do you want to ask us anything Jess?”
Blink
“Damian, I’ll be pointing to the cards, so it’ll be quicker if you just tell me to stop when Jess blinks. Saves me having to look at the letters then her all the time.”
“No problem,” Damian replied.
“Ok, here we go.” John started pointing to the cards while Damian shouted ‘stop’ whenever Jess blinked, then John would read the letter and Di would write it down.
After a minute or so Jess had spelled out ‘HOWOLDAMI?’ then looked towards her mother and waited patiently for an answer.
“She’s finished,” Damian noted.
Di looked a little puzzled before she figured out that Jess was asking how old she was.
“I guess I forgot to include the ‘space’ page,” John noted with a chuckle.
Di tore out a blank page of her diary and handed it to John before looking at her daughter.
“You were nineteen when you had the accident, and you’re twenty-one now.”
Jess looked back at John, waited until she caught his eye then looked back down at the pages on the bed. John got the message and started pointing again.
‘WHEN DO I GET TO TEST DRIVE THE CHAIR,’ Di read out.
John laughed.
“She’s still got her sense of humour. As soon as the doctor lets you, but I’ll have to read the instructions and check out how it works first. I may need to get it adapted, like steering it with your eyes, if that’s even possible.”
There was a quick tap on the door, and it opened to allow the first doctor to enter. He walked up to the bed and saw the sheets of paper lying on the top.
“What’s going on here then?” he asked rather abruptly.
“We’ve figured out a way to talk to Jess,” John replied enthusiastically.
He noticed that the doctor’s name badge said ‘Raven’.
“Really? Are you sure?” he asked sceptically.
“Yes, Dr Raven, and she’d like to know when she can get out of bed and into her new wheelchair.”
The doctor stared at Jess without expression and it was difficult to determine exactly what he was thinking. He then broke into what looked like a forced smile.
“Well, it’s excellent news that Jess is able to read and think for herself – if she can, that is. Extremely positive and, I must say, wholly unexpected. We’ll have to do some more tests to make absolutely sure. However, I’m afraid she’s going to have to stay in bed for at least a few more days before we can even consider letting her get up. We’ve got many more tests and checks to do, and the hospital can’t be held responsible for any more damage if she were allowed to move or leave until we’re happy for her to do so,” he added as he carried out some of those checks, updated her clipboard at the end of the bed and left the room in a hurry.
Jess stared at John, and when she got his attention, looked at the pages.
‘THERES SOMETHING FUNNY ABOUT THAT MAN,’ Di read out.
Paula laughed.
“I didn’t find him funny. Cold and boring more like.”
‘NO, WEIRD.’
“Well, that’s doctors for you,” Paula commented.
‘SCARY.’
All faces turned to look at Jess, the laughing turning to concern.
“What do you mean Jess?” Damian asked. “Why is he scary?”
“I CAN’T SEE HIM.”
“What do you mean ‘you can’t see him’?” Paula asked. “You can see us and the diary pages so you must be able to see him.”
‘I CAN SEE YOU, BUT HE’S ALL BLURRY.’
The Richardsons and Barringtons looked at each other in confusion.
“Perhaps you’re tired Jess and maybe we’ve done too much for one day,” Damian suggested.
Jess badly wanted to shake her head and tell them that something just wasn’t right. But her father was correct in one respect, she was getting tired.
‘YES, TIRED BUT SOMETHING WRONG WITH HIM. TIME FOR SLEEP.’
With that, Jess closed her eyes and tried to sleep, her mind continually returning to Dr Raven and the fact that she couldn’t see him properly.
4
Later that afternoon, Jess awoke to find that her parents and Paula were still in her room. The sun had obviously come out as her room was now bathed in bright light and she could see another couple of chairs had been arranged by the side of her bed. She could feel a tingling sensation and it took her a few moments to realise it was emanating from her right hand which was resting in the sunlight.
As soon as they noticed Jess was awake, they quickly got the diary pages in position. Paula took the place of John and asked, “Are you ok?”
‘YES, DRINK.’
Paula carefully got a beaker of water with a straw and placed it to Jess’s mouth. There was nothing Jess could do, so Paula removed the straw and poured some water into her mouth, watching most of it come back out before running down her face and dripping off her chin. “Well, that worked well,” Paula muttered sarcastically.
“Try the spray,” Damian suggested.
Paula looked momentarily confused before she spotted what looked like a plastic plant watering spray container on the side of the bed. She took hold of it, pressed the nozzle between Jess’s lips and pulled the trigger. A fine mist entered Jess’s mouth and this time there was no spillage. “Better?” she asked.
‘YES, THANKS, CAN FEEL HAND’, Di read out. “She can feel her hand!” she almost shouted as the realisation dawned on her and she started to cry.
Damian was out of his chair to comfort his wife before Paula said, “She wants to say more.”
‘IN SUN, PINS AND NEEDLES.’
“Quick, get the cover off her and move the bed into the sun,” Paula suggested.
As Paula removed the cover, Damian quickly released the brakes on the bed and wheeled it until it was in the middle
of the room, careful to avoid pulling out any of the wires or tubes. Once Jess was fully covered by the mid-afternoon sunlight, they all returned to their seats.
“Better?” Damian asked.
‘YES, WHERE’S JOHN.’
“John’s out for a moment but he’ll be back soon.”
Jess looked down at her legs. If she could have cried and screamed, she would have done. Although she couldn’t remember what her legs looked like, she didn’t think they would look like the misshapen twigs in front of her. Once she had regained some of her composure she looked back at the pages.
‘MY LEGS.’
“That is to be expected darling,” Di replied. “They were badly broken in the crash so that’s why there are so many scars. You’ve had a number of operations on them and they’ve probably got more metal in them than the Bionic Woman. You’re not going to be able to go through airport security anymore without them alerting Special Forces.”
‘THIN.’
“Yes, because you haven’t been on your feet for eighteen months. When they’re not used, the muscles start atrophying so a pair of physiotherapists have been coming in daily to try and exercise your legs and other parts of your body, so they don’t waste away completely.”
A nurse entered the room and did a double-take, seeing the bed was no longer against the wall.
“What’s going on? Is there a problem?” the nurse asked, as she approached the bed and looked down at the broken young woman before her.
“Jess has told us that she can feel something in the sunlight,” Di explained.
“Well, if that’s true then its great news,” the nurse replied. “I’ll go fetch Dr Raven. I’m sure he’ll want to know about this development straightaway.” With that, the nurse left the room.
Within minutes, the door was opened again, and Dr Raven strode into the room, closely followed by John.
“What’s this I hear about the young lady getting some feeling in her hand?” he asked.
“She can feel?” John asked excitedly.
