Chapter 14: Three Weeks!

When I made it to Ellis Sanitarium, I was reminded that It was family day. I have no idea how that managed to slip my mind but here we are. A rare occurrence every month but I knew that Willow’s parents would not be coming either way. They had both called me last night on speaker before bed to ask that I go in place of them since they had to go out of town for business.

If I was being honest, I knew the real reason was that they just couldn’t bear to see her like that. Since she had been hospitalized, I had not once seen them come visit her. They didn’t realize how much that affected Willow leaving her hopeful every day that one day they would make time to visit her. She doesn’t talk to me about it, but I know Willow and how close she is with her parents they tell each other absolutely everything. Everything from when she got her first period, when she finally decided on her college major, and she even told them the night she got her first kiss from Evan Miller in 7th grade.

Once I checked in, I was escorted to Dr. Evans's office who was the chief physician of the entire hospital. Willow was already seated in her wheelchair when I walked in and Dr. Evans was sitting across from her in his chair.

“Welcome, Luna! Jennifer and Tom have already notified me that you would be coming in their stead.” Dr. Evans stated.

I quickly nodded my head in his direction, “Hey Willow! I have finally arrived. Did you miss me?” I bellowed.

I knew she wouldn’t answer but I knew that it would at least make her happy even if she couldn’t show it. When I looked back at Dr. Evans, he motioned for me to take a seat next to willow on the couch to her right. I leaned into the couch and stretched out my legs in front of me.

“Are you comfortable?” he asked, beginning his assessment.

I decided no answer would probably be best because what I really wanted to say to him would not have been taken very well. There was no hesitation from him regarding my silence. He looked down at his notepad and began scribbling something on it.

I crossed my arms defensively in response and queried, “What is that you quack write in those notebooks anyway? Are you secretly drawing a dog acting like you know what you're doing? Is that how you get paid the big bucks?”

A booming laugh escaped his lips as he admitted, “Psychologists... not quacks as you called us. We like to keep documentation of the sessions because it can help us analyze the patient's situation, emotions, and reference it later when working on the patient's rehabilitation. Not all of us use notebooks, some use video and tape recordings but that's just not in our budget at this location.”

My mouth remained open in shock at his answer. Let's be real for one second. I was not expecting for him to sincerely answer my question in the first place. As in the movies I assumed he would have just answered a question with a question and that would have started me on a tangent. This would have led nowhere. But on the other hand, Willow would have been proud. Sneaking a look at Willow I smiled knowingly.

Dr. Evans put his pen down on the notepad, “I’m glad you could make it out here to support Willow today. It’s always good that the patients have a good support system and I can tell that you and Willow were really close.” He assessed.

My eyes began to get teary-eyed as I whispered, “Yes, we were.”

Uncrossing his legs, he leaned forward to hand me a tissue as he commented, “Based on our past therapy sessions with Willow there has been no progress when we talk about her parents. However, when we talk about you or show her a picture of you, she becomes more responsive.”

I wiped the tears from my eyes, “What do you mean by she’s more responsive? How is that even possible? Look at her she can’t even move” I cried.

He gestured for me to give him a moment as he stood up, walked over to his desk, and grabbed his laptop. When he came back, he took a seat to my right and placed the laptop in front of me. A video started playing on the screen as he announced “From the recording, you can see two different videos. The one on the left is the video of Willow and I converse. The one on the right is the EEG Test that gets conducted on all patients to check for brain activity with any patients experiencing paralysis due to serious medical conditions. As you can see in the video when we talk about her parents there is hardly any brain activity”. His finger grazed across the screen.

The EEG looked like just a bunch of small squiggly lines. I learned later that those were called EEG Tracings which is used to see if there is still brain activity, especially for comatose patients. He moved the cursor to fast forward the video and stopped on a screen with bigger squiggles like a line chart.

When the video started playing, he interjected, “This was about the time that we started talking about you and some of the memories you wrote down for us. See these lines here?”

Intrigued I shook my head yes and leaned in closer, “This is what happens inside her brain anytime we talk about you. Willow is still in there and she remembers everything. That’s a good thing that means the sooner we get her out of this paralysis the better chance of minimal brain damage.” Dr. Evans informed me.

Of course, I had already known all this from spending time with Willow outside of the clinic while dream walking, but it was nice to hear. This time I cried tears of joy and not tears of sorrow.

I looked over at Willow and warned, “It better stay that way you hear me, Willow? No funny business. I want my best friend back safe and sound.”

When I turned back to Dr. Evans, he looked as if he was hiding something because there was concern etched all over his face.

More alert than I had ever felt before I couldn’t hide the desperation in my voice, “What is it? Tell me. Please!”

He appeared to be debating with himself on whether he should tell it to me or not. I could feel the sense that internally I was losing the fight against his internal debate on whether he should behave ethically or not.

I reached both his hands, “Please Dr. Evans! She’s all that I have!” I pleaded.

He pulled away freaked out that I contacted him and got to his feet in order to walk to the other side of the room. Knowing I had acted rash I gave him a moment but stared at him almost as if I were imploring him to trust me with the truth.

Once his eyes met with mine, he began pacing back and forth as he warned, “I’m not supposed to be saying this to you because you're not actually family. However, from what Willow’s family have told me you and she are inseparable, and they consider you as a daughter already.”

His hands gripped the back of his chair in front of me until he continued, “Willow’s case is not like any others that we have witnessed before. Believe me when I say I have experienced comatose patients, those with cerebral palsy, and those with so much brain damage they cannot even put together a full sentence.”

Dr. Evans began to scratch his scalp as he continued, “This case however is one that I have been following with extreme caution. Willow’s brain has started deteriorating rapidly and we cannot find what’s causing it or how to even stop it from progressing. We estimate that within three weeks your friend's brain activity will be minimal until it is missing entirely. I am sorry to say that even if your friend's paralyzed condition would somehow find a way to cure itself the old Willow that you once knew would be no more. We are working with...”

I could no longer distinguish any of the words he was saying as I stood up from the couch. It felt like the world around me was spinning. Three Weeks? How was I going to be able to convince Alec to change her back to normal in three weeks! I needed more time. I started feeling like my head was pounding, which brought on a whole new feeling of dizziness. Before I could get another word in, everything around me went black, and then I was down for the count. Three weeks just sounded like a death sentence and I could either be a witness to her death or I could kill the executioner. But how?