Summer of Possibilities

Chapter 1

How is she?” the middle aged nurse asked, dragging her overworked body through the door. Her grey hair, once tied in a tight bun, was now barely holding her hair loosely in place.

“Not too good,” the doctor shook his head sadly at the girl lying on the nearby bed. “The boy just left a minute ago.”  Her whole body was bandaged up like a mummy; the only recognizable feature was her face, half covered by an oxygen mask, “The poor girl…she’s better off dead than alive.”

“The boy blames all this on himself,” the nurse whispered quietly, adjusting the bed cover. “I can see a trace of tears every time he leaves her. He’s pleading the girl for forgiveness, asking her to wake up, begging me for an answer that she can make it. I can see that he's losing it.”

“There’s not that much time left,” the doctor said gently, taking her by the arm, “It wouldn’t be good if you get too attached to her…she’s bound to die soon, and you know it.”

“Don’t say that!” the nurse snapped.  Her tired eyes sprang to life, anger clearly visible in them.

“You know it’s the truth. There’s a limit to what we can do at this point, you were there. We tried our best. It’s all up to her now whether she decides to come back or not. But it has been almost a year. She’s been holding on for too long now, the possibility of her waking up is almost,” he paused, and a melacholy quiet filled the air,“None.”

But the nurse was not listening. She was looking at the girl lying so soundlessly on the bed. “I wonder if it is the boy that’s keeping her alive at this point,” the nurse whispered to herself as she sat down on the chair next to the bed.

The doctor shook his head, sighed once again and left the room, leaving her all alone with the girl.

While adjusting the mask, she wondered that maybe the doctor was right. Maybe it was best not to get too close. But something about the girl attracted her attention.

“You must have been very pretty without all of these bandages covering you up,” she whispered, pulling strands of hair off the girl’s face.

The monitor besides the girl beeped ever so slowly, giving the nurse chills. She analyzed the name tag next to the monitor. “Avery Maeder….it’s a very nice name…Avery.” The nurse smoothed out the bed covers and once again turned around to leave when the door opened ever so gently, and a tall brunette girl walked in. The expression covering her face was pitiful and sad.