A Brush with Life

“It’s a miracle that this kid’s still alive,” the surgeon said, waiting for the anesthesiologist’s go-ahead. He had severe doubts he could do anything with his tools that would hurt more than what Markus had already gone through, Around him, other doctors and nurses were already working to close wounds and set broken bones. The operating theatre was a scene of perfectly organized chaos as everyone worked to save Markus’s life. His body was more broken than not, and the longer he remained that way the less his odds of surviving were. After hours of intensive work, they finally managed to get Markus’s body into a state where the simple act of existing wouldn’t kill him. As it stood he was almost more bandage and plaster cast than he was human, but he would live. He was moved to the intensive care unit, where he spent the following eight weeks, without the slightest signs of waking up.

As the weeks went on the number of wires and tubes running into his body lessened, and skin started to reclaim areas where once only bandages were visible. Eventually, the only traces left from his traumatic experience were some new scars and a brace on his left leg. He had healed exceptionally quickly, and looking at him now one couldn’t imagine the wound-riddled version of him from weeks prior. It was in this relatively undamaged state that his eyes finally fluttered open.

Markus dragged himself upright, taking in his surroundings. He quickly realized he was in a hospital, but he couldn’t remember why. He closed his eyes and tried his best to focus, but he was still groggy, and he struggled to collect his thoughts. His eyes slowly opened again and drifted to his leg. He frowned at the brace as if it could feel his disapproval of its existence. After a moment of giving the medical aid the stink eye, he reached his hand to the side of the bed, blindly searching for the small controller he knew he’d find there. He used it to alert someone that a patient needed something, then he fiddled with the controls to get his bed into a sitting position. Just as he got comfortable, an elderly lady in a nurse uniform came in.

“Oh, it’s so good to see you awake,” she said, giving Markus a kind smile. Markus tried to smile back, but the muscles on his face felt stiff. “The doctor will be so happy to see that. Here, let me get you some water.”

“Thank you,” Markus said, his voice much raspier than he expected. He gratefully accepted the water and quickly downed the entire glass. “How long have I been out?” he said, speaking a bit slower than usual to make sure his voice was alright.

“About eight weeks,” the nurse said, her cheerful demeanor dropping a little. “You were hurt pretty badly. Honestly, it’s a real miracle you survived.”

“What exactly happened to me?” he asked, glancing at the brace on his leg.

“You don’t remember?” she asked. “You got hit by a truck. If you don’t remember then there might be some damage we didn’t catch. We should let him know quickly.” Markus closed his eyes and thought for a moment. The mental fog had cleared up a bit, and it was easier to think. He nearly recoiled into the wall behind him when the memory of the truck barreling down on him flashed into his mind.

“I remember now,” Markus said, grimacing. He tried to remember more of what happened before the accident. Like a movie playing in reverse, it all slowly came back to him, and he couldn’t help but laugh.

“What’s funny?” the nurse asked.

“It’s not really that funny,” Markus said, shaking his head. “It’s just, I remember the last thing I thought before I got hit. I wanted some more excitement in my life.” He gestured to his leg. “I guess I got my wish.”

“It’s a good thing that you have a sense of humor about this,” the nurse said, her kind smile firmly affixing itself on her face again. “Means you probably aren’t suffering from any severe trauma because of the accident. I’ll leave you for now. Your doctor will be around in a bit. Let me know if you need anything.” She began walking out of the room but was stopped when Markus called to her.

“Did I get any visitors?” he asked. His smile had disappeared, replaced by a flat expression. He didn’t know why he asked. He already knew the answer. Why would anyone come to visit him, after all? Surely no one even noticed that he’d vanished for eight weeks.

“One woman came around quite a few times,” the nurse said. “Almost every day, in fact. She said she was your teacher if I remember correctly.” Markus couldn’t contain his surprise, nor could he suppress the smile that crept onto his face, even the stiffness in his cheeks unable to keep it at bay.

“Thank you,” Markus said, turning away so she couldn’t see his goofy expression. The nurse nodded and walked out of the room. Markus cast his gaze out of the window, admiring the view, and feeling slightly guilty for thinking no one would worry about him. A few hours passed, and the novelty of what had happened wore off, being replaced by boredom.

“How long is that doctor going to take?” he asked the empty air. As if on cue, a loud sneeze rang out from down the hall. A few seconds later a man in a white coat walked into his room.

“Good to see you’re awake!” the doctor said in a cheery tone. “I’m Doctor Hughes. I’m sorry to keep you waiting, I got caught up treating a young girl.” Markus tried his best not to let his boredom show, plastering a fake smile onto his face.

“It’s fine,” he said, waving Doctor Hughes off. “Is the girl going to be ok?”

“She just got into a bit of a scuffle with a dog,” Doctor Hughes explained. “She’s going to be just fine.”

“That’s good to hear,” Markus said, the fake smile he wore becoming ever so slightly more genuine. “What about me?”

“Well,” Doctor Hughes said. “You got really lucky. You had a lot of injuries, but none of them were very severe. You’re young, and you heal fast. All that’s left now is a small fracture in your ankle. Aside from that, you’re in perfect health. You’ll need some physical therapy, but we should be able to discharge you in a week, and you’ll be back to normal in no more than a month.”

“Seems like I got off easy,” Markus said. “Thanks for… well, saving my life, I guess.”

“You’re welcome,” Doctor Hughes replied, with an almost impossibly-bright smile. “Now get some rest. We’ll move you to the general ward first thing tomorrow morning, and get you started on physical therapy.”

“Sounds good, Doc,” Markus said, lowering his bed so he could lie down again. Even though he couldn’t remember the majority of his stay, he was already sick of the hospital, and couldn’t wait for the day he would be discharged. He closed his eyes and drifted into a restless sleep. Although he began to feel certain it wouldn’t, the sun eventually rose again, beckoning in the next day. He could hear people moving about in the hallways, and shortly after life returned to the building a nurse came into his room with a wheelchair.

“Let’s get you out of here,” the nurse said, patting the backrest of the wheelchair. Markus complied with the unspoken instruction, pulling himself out of bed and onto the wheelchair. The whole time he was careful not to put pressure on his left leg. The last thing he wanted was to cause more damage and prolong his stay. The nurse wheeled him out of the room and down the hall.

“Well, this is anticlimactic,” Markus thought. He didn’t know what he was expecting, but he was hoping for something a little more than to be pushed to his new room like groceries in a cart. He was still lamenting the mundaneness of his life when a silvery-white flash tore him from his thoughts. He spun his head around, trying to find the source of what he saw, but he found nothing.

“Are you ok?” the nurse pushing his wheelchair asked, slowing slightly.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Markus replied, settling back into the wheelchair. “I guess I just imagined something.” The nurse didn’t dig deeper into the subject. A few minutes later Markus was settled in his room.

Later that day Doctor Hughes brought him a pair of crutches, and he was told to walk with them, but only a little bit.

“This is going to take a bit of time,” Doctor Hughes had told him. “Don’t rush it, and don’t push yourself too hard, ok?”

At the time Markus had nodded his agreement, but finally gaining his mobility back had put a pep in his step, and he immediately started pushing himself too hard. At first, he could do little more than hobble around his room while he got a feel for the crutches. Once he got accustomed to them he took a much-needed trip to the bathroom. He probably could have called for assistance, but he wanted to make it to his porcelain destination on his own. With the amount of effort it took, he found himself quickly being worn out.

“I guess being all but dead for two months will do that to you,” he thought to himself. He resigned himself to taking it easy and got back into bed. “Too bad I don’t have my phone with me. This boredom is gonna end up killing me before I can get discharged.”

Markus had fallen asleep but was woken up by a knock on his room’s door. He slowly opened his eyes and tried to force them to focus on the source of the noise. It took a few seconds for the blurry image of the room to crystalize. In the door stood a nurse who wasn’t familiar to him, along with a woman who was.

“Hey, Miss Anderson,” Markus said, sitting up and rubbing the sleep from his eyes. His hands were almost immediately pinned to his face, stunning him, as he found himself wrapped in a tight hug. When Miss Anderson released him, her face quickly twisted from worry to anger.

“Don’t just ‘hey’ me!” she said, leveling a finger at him. “You were hit by a truck! They told me you were going to die!”

“They told you I might die,” Markus corrected.

“Drop the tone,” she said, jabbing the accusing finger at him. “I was really worried about you after our talk, and then you just walk into traffic!”

“The truck ran a red light!” Markus said defensively. “What was I supposed to do, never cross the road to get home? Just… walk around the school for the rest of my life?”

“Look both ways!” Miss Anderson said, countering his defensive tone with even more accusation. “You’ve been taught that by every adult in your life since kindergarten!” The nurse by the door cleared his throat and gestured for them to be quieter, before stepping out.

“I’m sorry,” Markus said, taking the initiative and clearing the air before another argument broke loose. “I know you were worried, and I should have been more attentive while I was walking.”

“It’s not your fault,” Miss Anderson said, the finger finally dropping. “I shouldn’t have gone off on you like that. You couldn’t help what happened.” She hugged him again. “I’m just glad to see you’re alright.”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Markus said, slightly uncomfortable. He wasn’t used to people getting into his personal space. Miss Anderson didn’t seem to care, though. She had taken on something of a maternal role in Markus’s life, much to his own chagrin. After a few seconds, she finally released him from the hug.

“I can’t stay any longer,” Miss Anderson said. “I snuck out during a free period.”

“Go Miss A, rebelling against the system!” Markus said, clapping his hands half-sarcastically, half genuinely impressed.

“Yeah, yeah, rage against the whatever,” Miss Anderson said, waving him off. She reached into her bag and handed Markus’ phone to him, along with a charger. He looked at her questioningly. “They gave it to me when I first visited,” she explained. Markus nodded his understanding and gratefully took the phone. The screen was cracked to hell, but it still worked.

“Thank you,” he said. He paused for a moment, then more softly added, “And thanks for worrying about me.”

“You're welcome,” she replied, giving him a kind smile. She quickly gave him one more hug, then walked out of the room.

“Since when was she that touchy,” Markus asked the now-empty room. He thought back to his memories of her class, replaying key moments. His eyes widened as he came to the realization that she was always like that, he just never noticed. She had a very close bond with all of her students, and everyone loved her, but he somehow never saw it even with the extra attention she gave him.

He had let so much of the world just pass him by. This realization helped om steel his resolve. He was determined to try to live differently once he was discharged. He wouldn’t let his life trickle through his fingers again. He was going to grasp it with all his strength and live a life he could be proud of. That all started with a few literal steps.

Markus grabbed his crutches and got out of bed. He took a few paces to get adjusted to the feeling again, then left his room. He paced down the hall, all the way to a vending machine that he marked as his checkpoint. He was already feeling weary, but he wanted to push himself. Once there he turned back. By the time he got back to his room he was exhausted, but he was filled with new determination. He fell back onto the bed to take a short break, then set out again, this time pushing till the end of the hall and back. He repeated this cycle, each trip taking him a little farther from his bed. The sun gradually lowered. As it approached the horizon, he pumped himself up for one last trip for the day.

“All the way to the lobby,” he thought to himself. “If I can make it there, I can make it anywhere.” His logic was flimsy, but it gave him the motivation he needed. He began his trek. Past his bathroom and out his door. By the vending machine, and around the bend at the end of the hall. He pressed on, filled with blind determination to push himself harder than he ever had before. He walked past a room. From the outside, it looked just like the many rooms he’d walked past already, but something inside this one drew his eyes. The view inside froze him solid in his tracks, his quest for the lobby quickly forgotten.

The sun cast brilliant yellow and orange rays through the window, bathing the room in a warm glow. Outside the cityscape formed a perfect backdrop for the thing that drew his eyes the most. Inside the room, facing out the window, was a girl, with almost silvery-white hair.