HURT FOR ME

Chapter Two - Remember

"We do not remember days, we remember moments."

‒ Cesare Pavese

Olivia Bennett

Over the next week, job applications and hospital bills piled up on the small table to the side of my bed. Coffee shops, music stores, libraries, I even applied to the fanciest restaurant in all of Seattle when it's rumored their employees are treated like complete garbage.

A physical therapist helped me learn how to use my legs again during these seven days. The routine we practiced the first two days was a chair exercise. Stand up, secure my balance, gently shift my body weight to one side and then switch. We did this for about an hour on both days but her exercises got increasingly harder as I progressed.

The next three days were spent working on mental exercises. You never realize how much your brain helps with walking until you're relearning it. She explained that by closing my eyes and focusing on each of my movements, my brain would take in that information and keep it stored somewhere.

On the last two days of my physical therapy, she helped me walk up and down the stairs. I had already gained all of the strength back in my legs by day two but it was still quite the challenge. She instructed me to take a step and breathe before taking another and that's what I did.

Step

Breathe

Step

Breathe

Step

Breathe

When she was confident with my walking ability, she alerted the doctor that I was cleared to walk around on my own. That felt like the longest week of my life. Relearning to walk has to be top ten on the list of the hardest things to do in the world.

Dr. Kavanaugh approached us with a big smile on his face and took my file from the physical therapist before sending her on her way. I'd never learned her name although I was incredibly grateful for her and all of the time she spent with me.

"Well?" Kavanaugh looked at me and his short question insinuated he wanted to know how the physical therapy went.

"It was okay," I stated dryly.

He shook his head before returning his attention back to the binder in his hands, "you know your parents aren't around, right? You can speak."

He must have observed the way I communicated when my parents were nearby, short and simple, but never sweet.

"I liked it," I began. "It was much harder than I expected it to be but she was nice." I raised an eyebrow at him, hoping he'd know what I was trying to get out of him.

"Anna." A low chuckle fell from his lips as his eyes returned to me, "she's our best physical technician I must say."

The way his eyes softened when he spoke about her was the sweetest thing I'd witnessed since waking up. Either he was just really passionate about his job or there was something happening between the two of them.

There was definitely something happening.

"That's why I put her on your chart," I cocked my head at his statement. "because she's the best."

I smiled at his confession. He chose to put the best physical technician they had on my case. It was a sweet gesture and I really appreciated it.

I decided to change the subject because watching his eyes light up as he spoke about Anna made me feel sick to my stomach. I'd never find that kind of love in this life and I didn't want to be reminded of that.