The Value of Normal

Markus stood there for a moment, completely mesmerized by the sight before him. It looked like it was ripped straight from a painting. The gentle glow of the setting sun shone through the silvery-white strands of the girl's hair, making it appear as if a halo of light surrounded her. Later on, Markus could only describe the scene as “angelic”. He wanted to burn the view into his brain and preserve it forever. He stood there, taking it in until the last rays of the sun disappeared behind the horizon. The setting of the sun seemed to bring him back to his senses. Markus glanced down at himself and realized he had been staring for at least a few minutes now. He quickly and quietly hobbled away, blushing fiercely.

“What would you have done if she turned around and saw you there?” he thought to himself. “You probably looked like a stalker or something! Jeez, keep it together, man!” He kept berating himself, barely noticing the trek down to the lobby. He struggled to get the girl out of his mind, despite not even being able to see her face. As is usual with men, he idealized the scene upon recalling it. In his mind, it shifted to an image the real world could never match, which only added to his inability to forget it.

When he realized he reached the end of his journey he tried again to pull himself together. No matter how hard he tried, though, he just couldn’t get that stunning vista out of his mind. It was like the world’s catchiest song had gotten stuck in his head. It was pleasant to have it there, but he also knew he had to get rid of it for his own good. He lingered in the lobby for a while, trying to think of anything else. It took the gentle prodding of one of the nurses to shake him from his thoughts and finally get him to go back to his room. The route back seemed to drag on forever. He passed another vending machine and lamented the fact that he didn’t have any money on him.

“I’d kill a man for some gummy bears,” he muttered softly. He was staring longingly at the package inside the machine, a thin layer of glass all that separated them. His arms fell to his side as he resigned himself to going without his fix of sugar. On the way down they grazed against his phone. Due to the hospital gown’s lack of pockets, he’d resorted to tucking it into the waistband of his underwear. His eyes lit up, and he quickly pulled the phone out and removed its case, revealing a single bill inside.

He had put it there for emergencies, and he felt that a lack of sweet gelatinized bears almost definitely qualified as one. With a wide grin he bought two bags of gummy bears, exhausting his emergency cash, then he happily set off back to his room, snacking as he went. His lifted spirits froze mid-flight when he came face to face with the threshold of her room again. Instead of the warm glow from the setting sun, a cold blueish light now illuminated the hallway in front of her room.

“Why am I so nervous, I’m just walking by,” he thought. He gathered his resolve for what felt like the hundredth time that day and took a step forward. He knew he should have just continued on to his room, but he couldn’t resist stealing a glance at the vista that had captivated him so. He quickly came to regret that decision. The girl wasn’t asleep, as he had hoped. She was standing by the window again, the warm glow the sunlight had given her now replaced by the cooler glint of moonlight. Unlike earlier, her back was to the window. She was looking right at him. Their eyes locked almost instantly, and Markus very quickly felt like he was out of his depth. He had always thought his brown eyes were rather dull and compared to hers they may as well have been grey. Her face was adorned with two vibrant green eyes, glistening like emeralds. They seemed to stare straight into his very soul.

“Hi,” he said, the word squeaking out of his throat. Something about this girl put him on edge. He wasn’t sure if it was just her eyes, how the moonlight made her seem cold and distant, or if she just had a threatening aura. Either way, he felt like he was walking on eggshells.

“What do you want?” she asked, walking to her bed. Her tone wasn’t angry. It wasn’t even dismissive. She sounded defeated, as if she expected Markus to deliver some awful news.

“I’m Markus,” he replied, unsure how to answer her question. At that moment, what he wanted was a rather complex issue. Part of him wanted to keep talking to her. Another wanted to walk away and pretend he’d never seen her. He tried to think of something more to say, but she beat him to it.

“Go back to your room, Markus,” she said. “You don’t want to be around me.” Despite aligning perfectly with one of his contrasting wants, Markus couldn’t bring himself to agree with that statement. The girl looked at him for a moment, then shrugged and climbed into her bed, facing away from him. Markus stood there for a few more seconds, trying to think of anything to say to her, but nothing came to mind. He slumped his shoulders and limped out of the room, accepting defeat. His thoughts were in turmoil until he reached his room.

“What the hell was that?” he asked the empty room, the only conversation partner he had. He collapsed onto his bed with a sigh. “You couldn’t even get a word out!” He slapped himself on the forehead. A sigh escaped him as he replayed the encounter with the mysterious girl. He tossed and turned some, before resigning himself to sleep. “I should probably just let it go.” he thought, as he drifted off to sleep. He knew better than to stick his nose in someone else’s business.

The next morning Markus woke up with steel in his eyes, fire in his blood, and a smile on his face.

“I am not letting it go,” he said, once again to the empty room. He was getting used to talking to himself. He quickly jumped out of the barely-comfortable bed and made his way to the bathroom. He brushed his teeth and combed his now-overgrown hair with his hands. Once he was as presentable as he could possibly make himself given the hospital’s lackluster grooming supplies, he shot himself some finger guns in the small cabinet mirror, immediately cringing and glancing around to make sure no one saw him. He then grabbed his crutches and walked out.

He had gotten used to his crutches pretty quickly, and soon after he was cruising down the halls as if they’d always been a part of him. He tried to keep his enthusiasm up as he spun into her room, determined to make a better second impression. He walked in right as a nurse pushed the syringe of an IV into her arm. He arrived with such speed and intent that it caused the nurse to jerk slightly, missing the vein she’d been aiming for.

“You shouldn’t be rushing through the halls like that!” the nurse scolded, removing the checking the girl’s arm to make sure she didn’t do any damage.

“Sorry,” Markus said, a lot of the wind robbed from his sails. His hopes of making a good second impression were lost to cruel reality. The nurse frowned as she tried pushing the needle in again, hitting her mark this time. She kept up the glare and walked out of the room.

“What are you doing here, Markus?” The girl asked, rubbing her thumb lightly on the part of her skin where the needle made contact.

“You remember my name?” Markus asked, trying to hide how pleased he was with that. Maybe his first impression wasn’t that bad. His confidence returned slightly, and he walked deeper into the room

“Of course I do, you just told me last night,” she said, turning her eyes to Markus. Her face didn’t seem to carry any emotion. Markus didn’t even see her wince when the nurse jabbed her with the needle.

“Yeah, and I recall you never told me yours,” Markus said, sitting in a chair in the corner of the room. He carefully chose this seat since it afforded him a view of both the girl and the window, giving him somewhere else to look aside from her emerald eyes.

“Why should I bother?” she asked, reclining into her bed and staring at the ceiling. “And speaking of, why are you bothering? Isn’t there some other bedridden girl that you can try to make a move on?”

“There is, but she’s on the next floor,” Markus said. He pointed to his leg in the brace. “Elevator’s out of order, and stairs aren’t really my strong suit at the moment. Sorry, but until I’m healed up you’re stuck with me.” To his surprise, his attempt at humor managed to get a giggle from her. The laugh was subdued and sounded strained, as if she was out of practice making the sound.

“Aren’t you expecting any visitors?” she asked. She looked at Markus now, a smile now gracing her face. “You should really get back to your room before you worry them.”

“I’ve got nothing but the walls waiting for me back there,” Markus said, knocking lightly against the wall beside him to drive his point home.

“Well it would be rude to keep them waiting, wouldn’t it?” the girl asked. It was Markus’ turn to chuckle at her joke. He was amazed at himself for carrying the conversation as smoothly as he did.

“They’re not going anywhere,” he said. “I’m sure they won’t mind me hanging around here for a while.” He punctuated the sentence by sinking deeper into his seat, making it clear that he wasn’t planning on leaving.

“Fine,” the girl said, turning her attention back to the roof. “Suit yourself.”

“I’d rather call a tailor. I’m no good with a needle and thread,” Markus said, eliciting another laugh. He liked hearing her laugh, and it felt good that he was the one making her laugh. He wasn’t sure why, but he felt like she didn’t get a lot of chances to do that.

“You’re a funny guy, Markus,” she said, pulling herself fully upright and giving him her full attention,

“And you still haven’t told me your name,” Markus said, pointing an accusatory finger at her. “Or should I just call you Random Girl at the Hospital?”

“Hm, Random Girl at the Hospital has a really nice ring to it, so let’s go with that,” she said. Markus gave an exasperated sigh. He was not going to let this go. He pressed her some more, and she blocked him at every turn.

“Ok fine,” Markus said after trying for the better part of half an hour to pry her name out of her. “You don’t have to tell me your name, but you gotta give me something here.”

“Well, ask away,” she replied, crossing her arms. “You came to me, so you can carry the conversation.”

“Oh, I will,” Markus shot back. “Let’s start with the basics. How old are you?”

“Don’t you know it’s rude to ask a lady her age?” the girl asked him with mock indignation in her voice.

And so the day continued, Markus trying to learn more about the girl, and the girl sidestepping all of his attempts. Still, Markus enjoyed talking to her, and it seemed like she enjoyed talking to him. Their banter continued well into the day, and soon morning became afternoon, and afternoon became evening. Before they knew it an entire day had flown by with them talking about nothing of substance.

“It’s getting late,” The girl said. “You should head back to your room, for real this time. I’m sure those walls are worried sick waiting for you.”

“Fine,” Markus said, dragging the word out as he pulled himself to his feet. He grabbed his crutches and hobbled his way to the door, but turned around before exiting. “I had a lot of fun talking with you today.”

“Me too,” she said lying down and clearly intent on sleeping. “I hope you heal quickly, Markus.” With that she rolled onto her side, facing away from Markus. He took this as his cue to leave and walked back to his room with a wide grin plastered onto his face. For the first time since the accident a year ago, he felt like he’d really connected with someone. He hadn’t realized how starved he was for real human contact, or how much he’d missed just talking nonsense with someone.

After coming into his room he wasted as little time as possible before getting into bed. His eyes gleamed as he planned out the next day.

“Just you wait,” he said as he closed his eyes to sleep. “I’ll get a name out of you yet.”