Before I could start in on the cookies, tiramisu, and torte, I slurped my soup that Jiro insisted I had to eat .
Uhg, zucchini, who put that in here?
The doctor popped his head in the door way.
"Hey, there. I see your family came to visit. Good good."
I nodded, scooting some of the nastier of the plant life in my soup, over to one side of my bowl.
Jiro, of course, spotted my selective eating and grumbled.
"Kari, don't pick out the zucchini, it's good for you."
The doctor raised his eyebrows.
"Is this a good time to talk?"
Jiro grabbed an extra plastic spoon and tried to nudge the squishy vegetables back into the tasty part of the soup.
"Yes, of course Dr. Micheals. You had something to say about Kari's condition?"
I parried Jiro’s spoon and tried to scoot them back out again.
The doc cleared his throat.
“Uh, well, we’ve done some basic motor skills evaluations, and Kari passed those with flying colors, so there doesn’t seem to be much lingering paralysis.”
Jiro nodded at the quack’s words, but scowled down at my bowl.
“Mmm, good.”
Jiro’s spoon swooped down underneath mine, and did a few quick turns in the soup, making a tiny vortex, slurping up the nasty veggies that I had already nestled up against the side of the bowl, and mixing them into the soup again.
Damn it.
I skimmed my spoon over the splashy waves of soup churning around in my bowl. Dipping my plastic weapon just below the surface, I snatched out the mushy plant bits, and plopped them down on the side of my bowl.
Heh heh! Good bye veggies.
Then in one smooth motion, Jiro slid his spoon along the rim of my dish and knocked every last one of those planty bits right back into my soup.
The doctor squinted at me and Jiro's on going battle of the bowl. Me trying to spoon the veggies out of the soup and onto my napkin, while Jiro was frantically trying to keep them in.
"R-right. Uh, Kari seems to be doing amazingly well, considering her condition twenty-four hours ago.”
I scowled at Jiro, narrowing my eyes to teeny little slits.
This means war!
The doctor kept yapping, but I was barely listening.
“But of course we still need to do more in depth tests to ensure that this recent development is permanent. We don't want to send Kari home and then have her relapse."
Jiro nodded, sliding a big chunk of onion back into my bowl, which I instantly deflected once Jiro looked up to talk to the doctor.
"Of course, we want Kari to be healthy and safe."
Okay, that got my attention.
Wait. What?
I'm not going home today?
I turned big unhappy eyes up to Jiro.
"You're making me stay?"
Jiro knows how much I hate hospitals.
His eyes softened looking down at me.
"It's for your own good, Hime."
I flinched at the "plop, plop" sound from my bowl. While I was distracted, Jiro had grabbed my napkin and up ended it, dumping all of my carefully excavated veggies back into the soup.
Damn it!
I looked around the room, hoping that someone would say something, point out that I totally shouldn't stay here even longer than I already had, but all I saw was nodding heads and serious faces.
The twins, they want me to go home tonight, right?
Reno was the first to chime in.
"Yeah, doc, it's better to keep her where she's safe."
What?!
Tina was too busy noshing on my green cookies to keep up with the conversation.
Hey, we were supposed to share those. Share!
Angie, no surprise there, was nodding and totally agreeing with this.
Noah! He would totally be against this. I turned to the fluffy haired elf by my side.
He patted my hand and whispered gently to me.
"We'll come and get you tomorrow."
Gee thanks.
For people that claimed they were happy to see me up and awake, they sure weren’t interested in taking me back.
The doctor popped his head in the door way.
"Hey, there. I see your family came to visit. Good good."
I nodded, scooting some of the nastier of the plant life in my soup, over to one side of my bowl.
Jiro, of course, spotted my selective eating and grumbled.
"Kari, don't pick out the zucchini, it's good for you."
The doctor raised his eyebrows.
"Is this a good time to talk?"
Jiro grabbed an extra plastic spoon and tried to nudge the squishy vegetables back into the tasty part of the soup.
"Yes, of course Dr. Micheals. You had something to say about Kari's condition?"
I parried Jiro’s spoon and tried to scoot them back out again.
The doc cleared his throat.
“Uh, well, we’ve done some basic motor skills evaluations, and Kari passed those with flying colors, so there doesn’t seem to be much lingering paralysis.”
Jiro nodded at the quack’s words, but scowled down at my bowl.
“Mmm, good.”
Jiro’s spoon swooped down underneath mine, and did a few quick turns in the soup, making a tiny vortex, slurping up the nasty veggies that I had already nestled up against the side of the bowl, and mixing them into the soup again.
Damn it.
I skimmed my spoon over the splashy waves of soup churning around in my bowl. Dipping my plastic weapon just below the surface, I snatched out the mushy plant bits, and plopped them down on the side of my bowl.
Heh heh! Good bye veggies.
Then in one smooth motion, Jiro slid his spoon along the rim of my dish and knocked every last one of those planty bits right back into my soup.
The doctor squinted at me and Jiro's on going battle of the bowl. Me trying to spoon the veggies out of the soup and onto my napkin, while Jiro was frantically trying to keep them in.
"R-right. Uh, Kari seems to be doing amazingly well, considering her condition twenty-four hours ago.”
I scowled at Jiro, narrowing my eyes to teeny little slits.
This means war!
The doctor kept yapping, but I was barely listening.
“But of course we still need to do more in depth tests to ensure that this recent development is permanent. We don't want to send Kari home and then have her relapse."
Jiro nodded, sliding a big chunk of onion back into my bowl, which I instantly deflected once Jiro looked up to talk to the doctor.
"Of course, we want Kari to be healthy and safe."
Okay, that got my attention.
Wait. What?
I'm not going home today?
I turned big unhappy eyes up to Jiro.
"You're making me stay?"
Jiro knows how much I hate hospitals.
His eyes softened looking down at me.
"It's for your own good, Hime."
I flinched at the "plop, plop" sound from my bowl. While I was distracted, Jiro had grabbed my napkin and up ended it, dumping all of my carefully excavated veggies back into the soup.
Damn it!
I looked around the room, hoping that someone would say something, point out that I totally shouldn't stay here even longer than I already had, but all I saw was nodding heads and serious faces.
The twins, they want me to go home tonight, right?
Reno was the first to chime in.
"Yeah, doc, it's better to keep her where she's safe."
What?!
Tina was too busy noshing on my green cookies to keep up with the conversation.
Hey, we were supposed to share those. Share!
Angie, no surprise there, was nodding and totally agreeing with this.
Noah! He would totally be against this. I turned to the fluffy haired elf by my side.
He patted my hand and whispered gently to me.
"We'll come and get you tomorrow."
Gee thanks.
So here I was, all alone for the whole night, stuck in my hospital bed being bored to death, with a stupidly achy head, and nothing to do but wait.
Seriously, why didn’t they want me back?
Had I really been that terrible to be around?
I knew I was hard to live with, I knew that.
There was a thousand reasons for them to not like me, but I thought things were pretty good between us.
Right?
We were a family, right?
Most people naturally don’t like me on sight. I’m not cute at all. I look like a vagrant. I’m grouchy, snide, sneaky, smug, and selfish. I’m constantly trying to break the rules and getting into trouble. I can barely even keep myself alive if left alone. I have so many issues, and there’s really no reason to like me. . .
But my family was supposed to be different.
They were supposed to love me.
Even if no one else ever could.
A breath slammed into my lungs as I suddenly gasped. I bolted up right in bed so fast, I nearly bounced myself off the shitty thin hospital mattress. My heart was beating against my chest, and I couldn’t seem to suck in enough air.
A screaming pain blazed through my skull so sharp I had to grab the side of my head just to be sure my noggin didn’t crack.
I was still at the hospital and the lights were low, it must have been the middle of the night.
As the pain in my head ebbed away, the frozen claws of the dream that woke me shivered along my skin.
The details of the dream were already lost, like wisps of smoke in a breeze. The only thing I could grasp was the sound of feathers rustling against each other, and even that tiny shadow of the dream was fading.
Another nightmare.
Frick’n figures.
I gave the side of my head a little rub to sooth away the last remnants of pain.
I’d had nightmares just about every night since my parents were murdered when I was twelve. I had hoped that with their killer finally gone, that maybe I would be done with my nighttime entertainment.
Guess not.
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