The Trouble Toddler

Chapter 8: goodbye

When we were all waiting for our turn for the scans we had to go through, like the CT, PET and MRI scan, we heard some surprising news. The small girl, Alice, managed to make quite the attempt to escape. Rumour has it she made it to the front gate. I did not know she had it in her to do such a daring thing.

Although I felt bad for her. Her attempt only confirmed how much she wanted to go home, poor girl. Nancy and I had hoped she would come back to us, but Dennis told me she had to be supervised twenty-four seven. I missed her, Nancy too. She looked nice, she looked precious. She was so pure, I hoped she would get a better family. A family that deserved her.

During those two weeks, many times her name came up in the cafeteria. Even the head of the programme told us, she understood if we were feeling homesick, but escaping was not the solution.

Today I had my last tattoo removal treatment. Dennis was again present during the procedure. And when they were done, he had put his hand on my back to comfort me.

Normally Nancy would be waiting for me and tell me a funny story to help me with the pain. Only the room was empty. I turned towards Dennis, "Where is Nancy?" I said in a distressed voice.

He sighed. I did not like his behaviour. Where was Nancy? Where was my Nancy? "Please, tell me. Where is Nancy?" I pleaded.

"I'm sorry Lexi. I tried to delay her procedure or move your treatment earlier so you could say goodbye to each other. Unfortunately, as you can see, it didn't work." He looked apologetically at me.

"No! No, you can't just take her without us saying goodbye to each other." I yelled out loud. He put his arms around me and hugged me. I struggled. I did not want his comfort. I wanted to scream at the whole world. I did not know what overcame me, I cried. I cried hysterically into his chest.

As my body grew weaker, I felt him picking me up and laying down on my bed. He tucked me in and got the zebra of the ground, putting it next to me. He caressed my hair and said soothing words to me.

First Ashley and now Nancy. Never during my time here, I thought of the fact I had to say goodbye to Nancy as well. With her being beside me here I did not mind leaving my life behind because my bestie was next to me. Leaving her was, letting go of Ashley all over again.

I slept for hours and was woke up by a nurse, saying breakfast was ready in the cafeteria. After washing up, I walked into cafeteria which missed a couple of teenagers. They had probably already got their procedure done.

I felt alone.

The next two days were horrible. More and more teens went through the procedure. If I managed to have a nice talk to someone, they were gone with the next meal. Dennis came everyday to talk with me, but nothing came out of me.

The third day he came by I asked why it took so long for me to get the procedure. "It is because of you tattoo removal. Your skin on your arm is still too sensitive and your body needs to be in top condition. We have to wait until it has healed enough."

I just nodded my head and laid back down on my bed, rotating the zebra in my hands. The stuffed animal had become my friend during these lonely days. "Have you named it yet?" Dennis asked while caressing my head.

"Nany."

He sighed. "Things will get better, I promise." I closed my eyes and let him comfort me. He had stayed with me for an hour until I was fast asleep.

The following day, after lunch a nurse and Dennis picked me up. I knew when we did not walk to any part that was familiar to me, they were taking me for the procedure. We walked into a hospital room and they told me to take a seat on the bed while the nurse was getting the doctor in charge.

"Are you nervous?" Dennis asked me. I shook my head. "No? Really?" He asked now in disbelief. "I feel too down to be nervous, I just want it to get over with."

"I understand," was all he said. After that, the doctor who gave the welcome speech walked in. "Dennis good to see you and... Lexi Miller, right?" I nodded my head. "Well Lexi you are all ready for the procedure now. Are you nervous?"

A quiet 'no' left my lips. I saw him looking at Dennis and he shook his head. "Well, before we get started, I will shortly explain what is going to happen." Two nurses entered the room now as well. "First, we will hook you up to a couple of machines. Then we give you your anaesthetic and the best part, you will sleep throughout the whole procedure. When you wake up everything is done. Any questions?"

I again shook my head. "Oke then," he clapped his hands and looked at his file, "we will regress you into a toddler of two years old." Dennis nodded his head, and the nurses went to work. Short after, Dennis holds my hand and said one last time it was going to be oke before I fell in a deep dreamless sleep.

Thanks for reading and stay safe!