A Second Chance
Chapter Twelve
~*~*~*~
Brian pulled into the parking lot of the home where Nick was being cared
for. It had been over a week since he had last visited him. Over two weeks
since Kevin had given him that drink hoping that he would come back to
them. He sat in the car for a few moments, not wishing to get out and walk
into that place. He dreaded every visit because every visit was more of a let
down than anything with Nick’s condition failing.
Sighing loudly, Brian turned off the engine and grabbed the book he had
bought along to read while he sat in Nick’s room. He clicked the buttons on
his key ring and locked the car and then walked up the dark brick sidewalk.
Brian made his usual stop at the information desk, making sure that Nick was
still in the same room he had last seen him in.
“He’s still in room 209,” the girl at the desk stated after she looked Nick’s
name up in the computer.
Brian nodded and walked down the hall towards Nick’s room, trying to push
out the visions of the people sitting in wheelchairs, looking lost or sleeping.
Instead of finding Nick in his bed, Brian found a girl from housekeeping
making up his bed.
“You looking for Nick?” the girl smiled at Brian.
Brian gave the girl a nod and a slight smile. He was worried that Nick wasn’t
in his room.
“They have him down in the recreation room, do you know where that is?”
“Sorry, no,” Brian apologised.
The girl dropped the sheets onto the bed. “Follow me, I’ll show you, it’s not
too far from here.”
Brian followed the girl down the hall towards the big, brightly lit room.
there were several tables with people in wheelchairs pushed up to it and a
television set blaring in one corner with people sitting on couches watching.
Brian’s eyes swept over the crowd looking for his best friend.
“There he is,” the girl pointed to a table where Nick was sitting with three
other people, an elderly woman and two elderly men.
Nick appeared to be totally engrossed in cutting a piece of construction
paper, his tongue slipped out of the corner of his mouth while he manuevered
the scissors on the orange sheet of paper.
“Nick?” Brian said cautiously as he walked closer to the table.
A big grin spread over Nick’s face. He wanted to say something to Brian but
he knew that his speech wasn’t still perfected. Instead, he set his scissors
down and picked up a bottle of glue and lightly dabbed dots of glue on the
cut paper.
Brian looked at the sheet of paper. From the person that used to be able to
draw beautiful pictures laid a sheet of paper with different shapes that
looked more accidental then incidental. As he watched Nick hammer with his
fists, another sheet of paper onto the larger one, Brian couldn’t help but
feel helpless in the situation and saddened.
Nick’s doctor came over and took a seat at the table next to Brian.
“Hi, I’m Dr. Vanessa Prutill. Nick has been making some miraculous progress.
He is steadily getting better and better each day,” the doctor cheerfully
stated as she looked at Nick. Has he spoken to you yet?”
Brian shook his head. “No, not a word.”
“I think he will by the end of the week, he is growing stronger each day, I
can’t believe his pogress,” Dr. Prutill stated. “Ever since his one friend, the
tall one, well, he’s been here everyday and he has been giving Nick his
favorite drink, he’s been getting better and better. There isn’t a scientific
reason for all of this.”
Brian stared at Nick, watching him glue the pieces of paper as his doctor
spoke. He then suspiciously looked at Nick’s food stained tee shirt and his
unwashed and uncombed hair. “When was the last time they cleaned him up?”
“He’s been feeding and cleaning himself up, we have been encouraging it,” the
doctor explained.
Brian’s face furrowed into a look of disgust and anger. “I really think you can
care for him better than this, I mean look at him, this isn’t acceptable. I
want to take him out for a drive, can I do that?”
“If you’re on the secured list, I see no reason why----”
“I’m on the list, get the papers around,” Brian interrupted as he pulled Nick
away from the table.
Nick managed to yell out, “HEY!” as Brian pulled him away and down the hall.
Leaning in closer, Brian explained to Nick that he was going to take him on a
little drive to get some fresh air and sunshine. Nick understood most of it,
but he was a little confused as to why he had to leave his artwork behind.
+Chapter 13+