2

Nathan woke up in a different room, and he heard the beeping of a machine going off behind him. He looked around and saw a strange woman sitting in the chair next to him. He had to look her over again. He did know her from somewhere, but he couldn’t place where. His head was still fuzzy, and he had no idea where he was.

“Don’t move.” She said softly as she looked at him. “You’re in the hospital at the university.”

“Who are you?” he forced himself to say as he looked her way.

“Kathleen Williams.” She said with a small smile. “I am a student nurse at the clinic you walked into and then promptly passed out. Right before you did, you asked if I could stay with you. As you can see, I did. Do you have anyone I should call? Your parents maybe?”

“What happened to me?” Nathan asked.

“You have a small stab wound in your shoulder. It looks like it was made a few days ago by the amount of healing it did. However, the knife must have been coated with something because the infection that is there has grown pretty fast. I believe the fever that you talked about when you came into the clinic was a symptom of your infection. They have you on some strong antibiotics at the moment because it got into your bloodstream.” Kathleen said as she reached up and touched his hand. “You are starting to cool off.”

“So I should be released soon?” Nathan asked as he looked at her.

“Probably tomorrow if all goes well,” Kathleen replied. “Now, do you want me to call someone for you?”

“No,” he said as she shook his head. One night away from the house, and no one would care. He was twenty-one, after all. Any more than that, and he would have issues. “You don’t have to call anyone but thank you for the offer.”

“Well, I should be going,” Kathleen said as she stood up.

“Do you have to?” Nathan asked as he looked at her as she stood. She was no bigger than his seven-year-old brother, it seemed. His mother, Sophia, was also rather small but not quite like her. She filled out her uniform rather well in all the ways a man would care about.

“I do need to go back to the clinic now that you’re awake. I have to finish my charting. As it stands, it will take me a few hours to do.” She smiled at him. “Some of us don’t have access to money like you do, Mr. Akechi. We need to work for ours.”

“You know who I am?” Nathan asked surprised that she would know.

“I had to look in your wallet,” Kathleen said. “We needed to make sure you weren’t allergic to anything before they started the antibiotic.”

“Look, if it is about money, I can pay you to stay with me,” Nathan said, and Kathleen smiled.

“Thank you, but I need to go back to work.” Kathleen said with a half-smile, “Be good, Mr. Akechi.”

Kathleen walked out of the room and smiled at the nurses that she hoped to be like one day. Today was just one of those days where it seemed any of her goals were far out of her reach. She walked out into the dusk light that was greying everything, making it look like a stone as she moved toward the clinic building that wasn’t too far away.

The crisp air was nice to take the deep breaths she needed to as she smiled to herself. It must be nice to be able to buy someone’s company. That was something she would never know too well. As she walked into the clinic and saw her co-worker, she knew something was wrong.

“Your phone kept going off. I am sorry I answered it.” Lilly said as she looked at Kathleen.

“That’s fine. Who was it?” Kathleen said.

“I believe it was your uncle,” Lilly said softly. “He was ranting and raving about how you were going to get it tonight for not paying the electric bill again.”

“I did, though,” Kathleen said, and she looked back through her receipts that she had taken to get from the older man. “See here.”

“Kathleen, I believe you, but I don’t think you should go home tonight.” Lilly said, “He was pissed and wanted to know where you were. He kept saying he was cutting off your funding for school to show you the errors of your ways.”

“Wonderful,” Kathleen said. That was the last thing she needed to worry about. She knew she had paled as she looked around. “I will go and finish my charting.”

“Kath, you don’t have to do anymore,” Lilly said.

“I do,” Kathleen said as she walked down the hallway to the small cramped office. As she sat down in the chair, she knew this was going to possibly be the last time she would be in the office. Her uncle might have gone off his rocker about everything when it came to pulling his assistance for college, which meant his name behind her. She would lose everything. She knew it was a matter of time.

She worked for the next few hours when the doctor she worked for walked into the room. He had a look on his face, and Kathleen just nodded. “I understand.” She said as she let her head hang low.

“You have to understand it isn’t personal.” The man said.

“I know,” Kathleen said as she started to pack up her belongings, which weren’t all that much. “He always gets his way.”

She walked out into the darkness of night and wondered where she was going to go. The small amount she made at the clinic had gone to pay a lot of the bills that her uncle had because he seemed inapt of paying them himself. The man was completely loaded, but he was a miser when it came to money. For his patronage and the use of his name, he had allowed Kathleen to pay his bills leaving the young woman with nothing but rising debt.

She shook her head to clear it but had found herself in front of the hospital. She did have a place to stay for the night. She could even make a few dollars out of the deal if she played this right.

She walked up to the floor she had left a few hours ago. She walked into the open door that she knew he was there, and he turned to look at her.

“You’re back?” Nathan asked.

“Looks like I need a job after all if you’re still paying,” Kathleen stated.