He turned around and faked a smile. “There’s a recreation room. It’s filled withvideo games, arts and crafts and even movies. Do you like movies, Nelandez?”
I shook my head. I was confused. I wasn’t getting the answers that I needed.
“Where’s the woman? I want to see her.” I demanded. I was even a little surprised bythe tone of my voice. I got no answer. Frustrated, I screamed.
“Where is she?”
Dr. Vaskin walked back into the room. Alarmed, he looked over at Nurse Johnsonbefore he asked.
“Is everything alright?” he asked Mr. Johnson, who was hovering in the corner.
There was no more laughter coming from the other side. I could imagine the familykeeping silent with their ears perked like a deer in the forest, working hard to overhearthe crazy girl with the broken leg and split mind. I tried hard to fight back the whirlpoolof emotions inside of me. I felt like the pain was exacerbating my fear, causing mytemper to explode like bolts of lightning. My fist clenched; my ears burned and turnedbright red. I bit down hard on my lower lip until I felt the warm, salty taste of blood.
“What’s going on? I heard Mr. Johnson say.
“I don’t know, I think that she’s having some kind of hallucination. Quick! Call Dr.Ontarian.” Dr. Vaskin said with a sense of urgency.
“Who?” Mr. Johnson said.
“Dr. Ontarian, the child psychologist.” He snapped.
“Don’t come near me you fucking cock-sucker. You faggot son of a bitch, don’ttouch me.” I screamed in a voice that was a couple of octaves above a soprano. Dr.Vaskin continued to move forward.
“Stay away from me?” My voice was loud and vibrated throughout the room and thehallway. I felt big hands, encased with latex gloves as they jimmied my arm out. Icouldn’t move. I couldn’t talk.
“Do it. Now!” Dr. Vaskin quipped.
They pierced my arm with a large needle. My head fell back onto the pillow. Mymouth felt dry. I felt like someone had dropped an atom bomb into it. My mouth began tofizzle and fuzz like a glass of Alka-Seltzer. I could feel the vapors traveling through mybody, intoxicating my mind, numbing my spirit.
“Nelandez.” There was a woman’s voice but it sounded so far away.
“I’m Dr. Ontarian and have given you an injection. It’s going to make you sleepy.Don’t try and fight it, just doze off and everything will be okay,” she said.
I tried to look at her, but everything was so blurry. I tried to talk to tell her that all Iwanted was to see the woman again, but there was too much saliva and the words justgargled in my mouth. I rolled my eyes back into my head. I couldn’t fight it anymore. Iclosed my lids and fell off to sleep.
~ ~ ~
Chapter Four
Piss, Piss, Piss.” I opened a lazy eye to see that the elderly woman was standing overme again. I was so happy to see her again.
“Where did you go? I asked.
“Shush. Keep your voice down,” she said as she pulled back the covers. “I didn’t goanywhere. I‘m always going to be here for you,” she said. I could feel her warmth and hersmile in the night.
“What’s going on?” I whispered, sitting up and rubbing the sleep out of my eyes.
“We got to get you out of here; you belong with your family,” she said rolling over awheelchair.
“I can’t leave here by myself.” I protested.
“You’re not by yourself, honey; you’re family is here with you,” she said. I didn’tmove. I was still a little weary about leaving the hospital with a broken leg.
“Home is where you belong. I promise you, Nelly, everything is going to be okay,”she said smiling. I could see her teeth in the night. I shook my head, for some reason, Itrusted her. I tried to sit up and climb into the wheelchair. My arms felt like they werelaced with jam. She reached over and lifted me out of the bed and gently placed me intothe wheelchair. Wow! This woman had some unbelievable strength.
“How did you do that?” I asked while I watched her adjust my feet plates on thechair.
“Do what?” she said while looking up at me.
“The wheelchair thing.”
Her smile faded, and she stood up, spun me around and started to wheel me out ofthe room.
“Like I said, we got more power than what we give ourselves credit for.”
The rest of the night was foggy. It was almost like I blacked out. However, I doremember getting into my father’s pickup truck. Ali and Mom were in the front seat. Imaneuvered my leg, and Ali laughed as I did all these acrobatic moves to sit comfortably.My mom giggled and my daddy looked at me with a half-smile. When we got to thehouse, my dad and brother lifted me up and carried me up the stairs. I laughed and actedlike a diva, barking out demands as they maneuvered my little body up the stairs and intomy bedroom. I like this, being the center of attention.
My eyes popped open. Someone was nudging me.
“Nelly! What the hell are you doing here?” I sat up in my bed and looked at my momand Ali; they were staring at me, like I was some kind of stranger.
“What do you mean? You brought me home,” I said, smiling, but it slowly fadedfrom my face. There was a lot of fog in my head. I worked hard to try and remember theevents that had brought me to this place, to this moment. I shook my head and lookedover at my mother. She was staring at me with a deadpan expression, like her face hadbeen molded out of wax. She leaned over my bed and grabbed me by the shoulders.
“You have got to be kidding me. How in the Hell did you get home all by yourself?”she asked with her voice dripping
