Lauren - Part 2

The visit announced by Dr Lloyd arrived in the early afternoon. Someone knocked hard on the door. Lauren hastily straightened up, causing a painful twinge to twitch through her right leg.

"Come in!" she called out a little tensely.

Who would be the person to attend to her? The door was then opened immediately and a tall young woman stepped in. Her most distinctive feature was her long, deep red hair tied back in a ponytail. She also wore glasses with black and white rims. As she turned to Lauren and smiled, Lauren noticed her dark green eyes and the mischievousness in them. Just as striking as her hair was her clothing: a predominantly black motorbike jacket. The jacket was open, revealing a white shirt with a logo Lauren was unfamiliar with. Under her arm, the visitor held a helmet matching the jacket. She was also wearing tight jeans. What had Lloyd said? Someone with a similar fate? This obviously very active woman was supposed to be like her? Lauren must have had her confusion about the stranger's appearance written all over her face, because her smile grew even wider. She approached Lauren's bed and extended her hand somewhat formally. When she introduced herself, however, she sounded quite amused.

"Hi Lauren. I'm Samantha, but you can just call me Sam. That's what most people do. I make myself available to amputees if they need someone to help them cope with this new situation."

Puzzled, Lauren shook the hand offered to her. Her fingernails were painted white.

"Oh...um. Thanks, I guess." She tried a smile. She really hoped it looked like that and not a grimace.

"I can see how confused you are, Lauren," Sam laughed. She grabbed a chair from the small table in the room and sat down next to Lauren's bed. The helmet remained on the table.

"I'll clear everything up in a minute. But first, how are you? Apart from obvious things."

"Quite okay...I think."

Sam nodded thoughtfully.

"Good. Well then. Believe it or not. I was in an accident a while back. Motorbike accident. I was careless and collided with an oncoming car. It wasn't entirely my fault, though, but that's beside the point. Anyway, I woke up a few rooms away from here. No legs below the knees though."

With those words she lifted her right leg and pulled her jeans back a little. Lauren now saw what she hadn't been able to notice from her bed. Between Sam's sneakers and the pant leg, her ankle should normally have been visible. Instead, there was a metal tube and various carbon components. While she was still staring at it speechlessly, Sam pulled her jeans even higher and revealed a kind of cap or container, also made of carbon. The pipe led into it.

Lauren involuntarily put her hand over her mouth, she was so surprised. Sam really had no legs. And this had to be one of her prostheses!

Sam confirmed this assumption.

"I later got some new legs, prosthetic legs," Sam continued, "and learned to walk again. Well, and today I even ride a motorbike again!"

After getting over her surprise, Lauren was quite impressed. With these things, these...prostheses...Sam could actually walk again. And how! She hadn't even noticed it when Sam had entered her room. A natural gait.

"Wow, that's pretty cool!"

"Yeah, right? Here, watch this."

Sam actuated something on the inside of the prosthesis. Then she held it and ... just pulled the leg out!

"Here, hold this." And with that, she casually pushed her prosthetic into Lauren's hand.

"What...how...do you want me to...?"

"Yeah, here, take it. It won't bite."

A little embarrassed, Lauren took it. It was lighter than Lauren had expected with all the metal and carbon.

"The big carbon part at the top is the socket. That's where I put in my leg," Sam explained. Again she lifted her leg and showed her a pin of metal at the end. Lauren noticed that it did not come out of Sam's skin but a sort of white sock around the stump.

"This pin here I can lock into the socket." She tapped her finger against the pin.

Lauren turned the prosthesis in her hands. On the inside she caught sight of a small set screw. This was probably how Sam locked and unlocked the prosthesis. Lauren looked at all the screws and parts. With a prosthetic leg like this she would walk again, she promised herself. How would it feel to walk with it? Like balancing on stilts? Sam doesn't seem to have any problems with that. Maybe...

"Um, Lauren? Can I have my leg back?"

Lauren hadn't realised how lost in thought she'd been sitting there, holding the prosthesis in her hands.

"Sure, of course. It's a great thing. How long did it take you to be able to walk with it?"

She handed her leg back to Sam and she put her stump back in. It clicked softly.

"A couple of weeks. First standing and then walking slowly with support. Then alone with crutches and so on. They have a great team here in rehab."

She adjusted her jeans and stood up.

"Well, that's it for today. I can come back tomorrow if you like. It's the weekend, so I have all the time in the world. And then we'll see about getting you out of here. A wheelchair would be great, don't you think?"

A wheelchair was definitely great! Better than lying around here.

"If I can do it, I'd love to!"

"Do you feel like you can't?"

She lifted her bandaged left leg as a test. Her lower leg began to throb menacingly. Then she bent it a little. She drew air through her teeth in pain.

"Definitely hurts!"

"Careful, careful! Don't do anything in a rush! I'll see if you can get the wheelchair yet. You can always delay an excursion."

Sam pushed the chair back into place and picked up her helmet.

"Well then. It was nice to meet you, Lauren. See you tomorrow?"

Lauren smiled at Sam.

"Same to you, Sam. See you tomorrow."

Sam waved goodbye and left the room. Lauren was smiling with joy. And how she would learn to walk with prosthetics. As fast as she could, oh, faster! She would be back on her feet so quickly that everyone would be amazed. She looked again at the remains of her legs. Her non-existent ankle meant to dampen her joy with a renewed stabbing pain. Lauren clenched her fist. It was going to hurt, but that was nothing new anymore. Nothing and no one would stop her, especially no imaginary fucking ankle!

The following night she didn't sleep a wink. As if to mock her new joy in life, the ghosts of her lost legs plagued her nerves. Sharp stabs in her foot alternated with dull throbbing and pulling in her calf. Her right knee reported boiling water, her left big toe tingled as if ants were walking on it. When the nurse came to help her with the toilet the next day, Lauren had slept no more than two hours. She was totally exhausted. Even cheerful Sam, who brought over a wheelchair, couldn't improve her lousy mood. Sam gave her some advice, then quickly disappeared again, as it was obvious Lauren wasn't going anywhere today. Frustrated, Lauren sparkled at the stump of her right leg. She would have hit it if she didn't know better. The nurse had reduced the bandages around her thigh today. They were tightly stretched but no longer so bulky. At least the healing seemed to be progressing. The pain in her left knee also seemed to be easing and she slowly flexed it to exercise the tendons and muscles. With supervision and help, she still practised getting into the wheelchair in the afternoon. It was exhausting, but she didn't want to give up. In the evening, exhausted, she let herself sink into the pillows and then quickly fell asleep.

Lauren woke up in her bed. The bed in her flat. Surprised, she straightened up and realised that her legs were there! Her own healthy legs, flesh and blood. Her field of vision blurred and she felt tears on her cheeks. The pillow was all wet too. Why was she crying? From joy that her legs were back? Back? Why back? She hadn't lost them, had she? How could she, she saw them right here in front of her. But she had lost Marie. Her field of vision blurred again. Suddenly she felt cold. She stood outside, the wind tearing the tears from her eyelids. At her back she felt the rough hard bricks of a brick wall. A rustling sound reached her ear. Masses of air, displaced. Screeching, of metal on metal. She turned, but there was no longer a wall. Instead she was looking into an opening in the brick wall, a tunnel. Light penetrated towards her from the other end. The screeching grew louder and louder. Someone was shouting. The light came closer, headed straight for her. She wanted to move, but could not. She wanted to scream, but couldn't. The light caught her, the shrieking became an overpowering sound.

Lauren woke up again. And cried softly into the darkness of her room. She just couldn't bear it! But she had to! The pain and loss wrestled with the joy of being alive and the prospect of being able to walk again. She thought of Sam laughing and even riding her motorbike again despite her accident. She could do that too, if only she didn't give in. With that thought, she fell asleep again.