Him

(The Sequel to Her)

"I can't believe you! You had to try to be my hero. I never asked you to stick your neck out for me, but you had to let your ego get the best of you. I bet you were trying to impress one of the barbie crew, huh? Well now look at you. No fake-baking bleach blond doll is going to give you a second glance!"

A compacted, squat nurse no taller than 5'6 scuttled in with a clipboard in her arms, clucking her tongue behind her teeth as she prepared to listen to the boy's heart with a cold stethascope. "Humph" was the only audible noise she offered the shunken girl who sheepishly watched the woman's expressions through hanging strands of hair. No form of any affirmation was offered, and the nurse was out the door without any acknowledgement of the girl's presence. The girl bowed her head and continued with lowered eyes.

"See, even caretakers don't notice me. I've always been invisible except to you and look where it's gotten you! In a thin cot with tubes inserted everywhere. I'm supposed to be the ghost. You know, earlier today before you talked to me--this morning I mean, this morning I was inventing creative ways to commit suicide? Yeah, insane, right? I wanted to come up with something unique so people would at least mention me. Kind of like my 10 minutes of fame. I guess you could say my priorities are--"

Her voice withdrew into her throat as the nurse returned with a taller man clad in dark blue scrubs. He had on rubber gloves which were used to probe the boy's mishapen face. Neither eyes were definable as such. They were surrounded by welts, cuts, and a tricolor of blue, purple, and sanguine. His left nostril was split open so that the inside of the nose was exposed. Half his hair was matted in blood, dirt, and grass after being stomped on seven times by his former best friend. And his mouth, the thing that both ruined him and saved her, was now misaligned so that a couple of his lower teeth were jammed into his upper lip, and his jaw protruded in a grotesque manner.

The doctor sighed deeply before saying, "Kids can be so cruel anymore. There's no good reason for kids to do this to another kid. They're not even men yet for heaven's sake. It's sad, isn't it?"

The nurse responded with an absent-minded "yeah" which struck the doctor as coldly indifferent.

"I won't give up on him just yet, anyway. I've seen recoveries in worse cases but I've also seen patients give up so easily. He seems like a tough kid, though. You'd have to be if you decided to stand up to a handful of boys on your own."

"Humph. Tough is one word for it," is all the nurse could manage to say. The doctor warned her with a quick glance of his eyes before they departed from the room. The girl hesitated momentarily, frozen in a paroxysim of churning emotions. Finally she shot her hands out and grabbed the metal railing of the cot. She had unwittingly clutched a loose screw with her right hand which forced her to make a hissing noise through her clamped teeth as she squeeze her hands tighter on the railing. The cot began to shake.

"How could you do this! I am miserable enough! Now I have the weight of your death of my chest. And worst of all, I have to live! People are going to blame me for it! There's the girl he died for, and why? WHY! I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHY! WHAT AM I GOING TO SAY? HOW AM I GOING TO ANSWER?"

She shook the cot uncontrollably before finally letting go. A red line stained the underside of  her arm, but she hadn't noticed. Sobbing heavily, she began again.

"I'm so sorry I came across your path. You're the only good thing in this world and I've ruined you. You are a hero...to me, no matter how insignificant I am. You're the best thing in my pathetic life, and it took a whole two hours before I ruined you. For Christ's sake, I don't even know your name."

Hear tears had stopped with her words, but her heart was pounding hard in her throat. Five silent minutes dragged by without a movement from her. Then, delicately pushing the tangled hair away from his ear she whispered into it, "I suppose there's only one way to find out."

The nurse opened the door, oblivious to the solemn young woman who sidestepped past her with glassy eyes.

© Mikal Minarich