The Hand of Fate Part Two
Lucy Knight wheeled her wheelchair down the hospital corridor. It had been three weeks since the incident, but she still hadn't regained enough strength to walk on her own. There was a long road ahead of her, and she knew it. She was just thankful to be alive.
"Hey, slow down," the nurse walking beside her said. She had only conned the nurse into letting her wheel herself, stating that it would build up her arm muscles. She would be in physical therapy forever as it is. Her arms were about all she could use. "Why don't you let me push for a while?"
Lucy willingly let the nurse push. She wouldn't deny it, she was in a hurry. Carter finally woke up from his coma four days ago. For the past few days, only family could see him. However, they were *finally* letting her go up there. For days after, she thought that all of the doctors were just sparing her pain. That Carter really hadn't made it. They were telling the truth, though.
The nurse wheeled her into the room and told her she'd come back up in a little bit.
"Hey," Lucy said, a bit shyly.
"Hey, Luce, you look good," Carter said quietly.
"Well, I haven't been sleeping for three weeks," she joked. The both shared a quiet chuckle. Lucy tried to act happy around Carter, not wanting to bring him down. When, on the inside, she was the scared and sad little girl. "How are you feeling?"
"Okay, considering. You?"
"Same. By the time I'll get back to my room, I'll be exhausted. I'm beginning to get used to it, though. Has everyone downstairs been up to see you?"
"Yeah. I don't know what to say to them, Luce."
"Me either. I'm sick of everyone saying they're sorry. They can't change it. When do they think you'll be out?"
"A week or two. I heard you were worse off than me."
"Yeah, but we're fighters, eh? Carter, when ... when everything happened, I thought we were both goners."
"Me too, Luce. I thought for sure I'd never get to see you again. It's a miracle we both made it."
"The hand of fate liked us that day, huh? For the past few weeks, I haven't been able to get the image of you laying on the other side of the bed out of my head. Hearing you scream. We didn't think you'd wake up."
"I guess I surprised everyone."
For a few moments, the two just stared at each other. Both of them wanted to talk about it, but each was too chicken to make the first move. Finally, Carter said, "Luce, I can't sleep here. They've had to give me medicine to knock me out. Every time I try to sleep, I can't. I'm always afraid he's here somewhere, even though they have him locked up."
"I can't sleep either. They were going to move me to another hospital, but I was unstable, or a million other excuses. It wouldn't matter, I'd be scared anywhere. They finally just gave me the drugs too. I talk to someone from psych every day, and it helps, but I'm still terrified."
"How are we going to go back to work? They said I could be back at work by the end of this month or the middle of next, but I don't know what to do."
Lucy didn't say anything for a while. Come on, Lucy, you have to tell him, she thought to herself. "Carter, I'm not coming back."
"What?"
"I can't. I won't be able to, I know I won't. I'm not even going to finish med school."
Carter looked at Lucy like she was crazy. "You're not?"
"No. I'm going to move back in with my mom in Indianapolis for a while. I know I've thrown almost eight years down the drain, but I can't do it."
"Lucy, you would have made a wonderful doctor, but I understand why you're leaving. Don't say you've thrown all that time down the drain, though. Haven't you learned a lot? It doesn't matter if you ever use it again in your next profession, but it's all good stuff to know."
Lucy looked at him and said seriously, "I've learned more here than I ever have anywhere else. You'll have the strength to go back to work here. I've only been here one and a half years. You've been here forever. I never really felt like I fit in either."
"What are you talking about?"
"I don't know. Aside from you, I haven't really befriended anyone here. I was thinking about leaving Chicago after med school, this has just made me reconsider the whole doctor thing. When I was little, I always wanted to be a teacher. Maybe I'll go back to college eventually for that. Who knows."
"Lucy, you'll be good at whatever you do."
She smiled. "Thanks. Have you talked to psych yet?"
"They're sending someone down later today."
"It helps to talk to them. Try not to put on that stubborn facade, okay?"
"Under one condition," Carter said.
"What?"
"You have to write to me from Indiana. Many people moved away who I was close to and I never kept in touch. I don't want that to be us."
Lucy smiled. "Sure thing, I'll write you. I won't be that far away. I won't be getting out of here for at least another week anyway."
The nurse came back in and abruptly ended their conversation. "You both need rest," she argued. So, Carter and Lucy said their good-byes and Lucy promised to come back to visit tomorrow or the next day.
While she was being wheeled back to her room, she thought of something Carter had said to her a while ago. "Sometimes you have walk away knowing you fought the good fight." They had fought the good fight. They would get over everything eventually. Life goes on.
The End