Chapter 3 Three

3

JAMES

I snuggled into mum's touch. Her fingers played with my hair as we lay in the grass. The sun was a bright smiley face sitted in the clear blue sky.

Mum's hair danced to the warm gentle breeze. It had been a long time since I had seen her at peace. I did not wish for this moment to end.

"Mum," I heard my childlike voice squeak out.

It was at that moment I realized I was little James. The child with a mum. Before everything went south.

Whatever this was, I did not wish for it to go away.

"James. I have missed you, son," her voice sang.

I was sure my cheeks would burst from grinning so much. My small chubby palm held her chin. "Me too, Cherry." The name I fondly called her. I had missed saying that name.

Her green eyes reflected the sparkle in mine. "I have to go now, love. Be a good boy to your father. For me."

She had placed a kiss on my forehead and made to stand but I held onto her. "No. Not again, mum. Let me come with you." I pleaded, sitting up.

"It is not yet your time, love. There is so much more you still need to accomplish," she told me.

The sun's heat had increased in intensity, burning the grass around us away. I could barely feel my feet. Mum had even begun to fade away.

"No!" My shrill voice rung out. It was more of a command to my mum not to leave.

"I will always love you. Remember that, James." Her disembodied voice floated to my hearing.

My eyes peeled open, taking in my surrounding. Of course, I was in a hospital, again. I rolled my eyes.

I felt eyes at the back of my head. I did not bother to check who it was when I voiced out, "You are burning me with your stare. Did your mother not teach you not to stare at people?"

I heard the weirdo clear their throat and speak up. "I am the nurse assigned to you."

Dragging my eyes from the machine that will not stop beeping, I stirred to take in the appearance of the female nurse at the foot of my bed.

Her hair stood in a composed bun atop her head. Her hazel eyes would not meet my gaze, they focused on the writing pad in her hands instead.

"I would appreciate it if you would cooperate with me so we could hasten your healing process and you get to leave here as soon as possible." Her small lips moved. I watched every movement, enthralled.

I especially liked how her scrub hugged her perfect body, showing off every deep and curve.

Getting a grip on my racing thoughts, I reminded myself I should not get distracted. I had one goal, and no one was going to stop me from achieving it. Including this very hot nurse.

"What is your name?" I enquired.

Her gazed whipped to mine. There was an emotion in those eyes I could not fathom. "Mira. Nurse Mira," she breathed out.

I was certain that after now, I would not be able to get out of my head the soft voice. Or the contour of those well shaped lips that lifted in a smile.

"Nurse Mira." I spat out the name with all the bitterness I could muster, when in reality I wanted to moan it instead. I did not like this new reality. What was happening to me?

"I do not wish to recover," I confessed. "I need to die. Whatever you have planned out would be a waste of both our time. Please do not make it harder for me." I warned.

Her smile dropped as she gaped at me.

"Why would you want to die?" She asked, concern evidence in her voice as she approached the side of my bed.

For her, I wish it was that easy to open up.

"From what I have here, you have attempted eight times already," she continued, flipping the pages on the file. "Suicide is not the solution to whatever it is you are going through." She admonished me.

I barked out a sardonic laugh. She had no idea how many times I had heard that bullshit.

I shook my head and looked away from her, "You would never understand."

When she held my palm, I felt a jolt of warmth course through it. I jerked away from the contact.

"We can only help you if you let us in." She expressed, glancing at my withdrawn hand, confusion written all over her face.

"I cannot be helped," I spelt out.

"I will call your psychologist then. I am sure he will," she told me and turned to the door.

"Do not do that. I would rather be alone." I said, raising the duvet to my chest. "At least now I know my babysitter."

"Babysitter?" She stopped and turned to glare at me. "I am a professional nurse, mister."

"You trained for years only to end up a babysitter. Touche." I taunted.

It was a delight to watch her huff.

"Just so you know..." I droned on regardless. "...the last babysitter died while trying to prevent me from committing suicide. So do not try to stop me." I laid on my side and closed his eyes.

If she was smart enough, she would take my warnings seriously and ask for a reassignment. She was too much of a pretty face to die stopping me.

****

MIRA

Was it possible for one's Christmas gift to arrive on the first day of December? Was there even a set time for gifts to arrive?

Those were my first thoughts when I saw James.

It was so embarrassing to be caught red-handed staring that when he mentioned it, I coughed and quickly averted my eyes to the file in my hand.

I could not get out of my head how long and cute his lashes were, how his honeyed voice was music to my ears.

I had felt empathy towards him when I had read his file and found he had attempted eight times.

But now, as I walked out Ward 11, I wished I could strangle him myself. How dare he call me a babysitter?

I remembered the last words he uttered and shuddered, chills running down my spine.

What psycho patient did Dr. Einstein hook me up with? I hoped this dude would not give me much trouble.

I huffed and puffed and exited the ward, closing the door so forcefully that I thought I had removed the door handle.

I should tell Dr. Einstein I did not want this patient. I did not want to die yet. There was a lot I still needed to do in life.

But then I was a nurse, whose responsibility was to help people like him. This should be an experience for me. I would not back down now.

He could not be my gift from Santa, I told myself. Santa did not give out wrecked or broken gifts.

My feet had led me to the reception. I had not known until Kathy called out my name. I looked up at her and brightened up.

"What's up?" She asked me, coming to meet up with me.

"The sky," I replied and she laughed.

We sat in the lounge. "You look like you have seen a ghost." She implored.

"I just got one hell of a patient. He seems like a handful." I divulged.

"Tell me about it." Her ears perked as her interest piqued. And I did tell her about it.

Halfway through the conversation, we noticed most staff running towards Ward 11. Dr. Einstein burst out from his office and looked around. He approached me hurriedly when his eyes zeroed in on me.

"I asked you to look after a patient, did I not?" He asked me gruffly.

I swallowed. Was I in trouble? "Yes, doc. I checked up on him and went to attend to other duties of mine."

"And this other duty of yours involves you chit chatting at someone else's duty post, while your patient is at the verge of jumping off the hospital window?" He reprimanded.

"What?" But before I could ask further, he rushed off.

I looked to Kathy and she was already by my side.

"Come on, let us go," she tugged at my arm and we ran off.

We got to Ward 11 to find James lazily stretching on the window sill. He looked carefree, like he was having fun.

But we knew better. We all knew what this psycho was capable of doing.