A Happy Marriage?

Chapter 22: A Gift

The first few days being home was anything but simple and relaxing for Beth. Being used to being in control and nonstop working, she finally understands what it feels like to be cooped up. Every time she goes in her office and tries to work, her brain decides to stall and flood her nerves with pain. Looking at numbers makes her queezy, and working on electronics causes her head to spin. What really has been making her more depressed was the sight of her peach fuzz buzzed head. Her hair is trying to grow back from the supplements the doctors put her on, but not at a rate she's happy with.

Sitting in her bed with a cup of coffee Daryl placed there before going to work, she sips it as she looks over the newspaper. However, the words on the page seem jumbled and blurry. It's as though her brain decided to toss all the words together on the page and said 'Go Fuck Yourself'- only it looks more like '€qFnc£ Jm&l ¥Vnlxf'.

Setting the paper down, she closes her eyes and lays her head back against the headboard. Sighing, she looks over and finds Mouse sadly looking at her.

"I know what you're thinking. What a pathetic creature I am." She says with a matter of fact voice and the dig twists his face up. "Well you're right. I am pathetic. I can't even read my horoscope to make fun of it. It probably says that I will experience great failure for years to come."

The dog barks and Beth covers her ears.

"Too loud, Mouse." The dog lowers its head and lays back down with sad eyes. "I know, you didn't mean too. Do you need to go out? Is that it?"

The dog whimpers and Beth feels a little uneasy about taking the dog out.

"I can barely function without the wheelchair...but I don't want to bother Tara to take you out. It's not her responsibility. Huh, I'll just give it a try I guess." Slowly moving her legs to the edge of the bed, she grabs the arm of the wheel chair and stands herself up with her arms still firmly planted in the locked wheelchair. "Wait...how am I gonna get the chair down stairs? I didn't think this through too well."

Looking around, she notices that there is enough sturdy things along the edge of the room to hold onto. Leaning forward, she wabbily walks to the wall and clutches the dresser before slowly moving to the door. Mouse is now off the bed and jumping around excitedly.  As she gets to the hallway, she leans against the one wall and slowly slides her body across it to get to the stairs. Reaching the stairs, she gulps nervously before lowering to her butt and scooting down the hard wooden stairs. Mouse by passes her and is now by the door prancing. Crawling acrossed the floor, she feels her stomach tightening and a burning feeling running up and down her throat. Closing her eyes quickly, she stops and takes a few seconds to stop the room from spinning before she continues on to the front door. As she finds her shoes and puts them on haphazardly and pulls on a baseball hat to hide her head, she slowly stands up and puts the leash on Mouse. When she opens the door, Mouse is pulling her down the hallway aggressively. She stays on her feet as long as she can, until her balance leaves her and she falls, then Mouse drags her all the way to the elevator. Beth lets go of the leash and lays pained on her side. Mouse continues to prance and jump around.  Beth is so weakened and sickened by the movement that she can't even sit up. The room spins even faster and her world goes black.

Opening her eyes, she's laying on the couch and Daryl is siting on the floor beside her, holding her hand. When she looks at him, he smiles softly and she is so confused.

"What...what happened?"

"Tara found You and Mouse in the hallway. You were sprawled out on the floor unconscious and Mouse was pissing in the potted plant." Beth looks around for Mouse and finds him in his dog bed by the tv.

"He just started running."

"You shouldn't have tried taking him out. He's too strong..."

"So I'm weak. That's what you're saying?" She angrily says and Daryl is taken aback by her accusations.