den's story

 hmm whats next, another order , ha.. another story to tell.. hmm I've been trying to sit down and put this to paper. 

        With in that six months I spent with Den. I learned a lot about the world I've never seen since. I watched her parents crumble under the changing world. You see the eighties were a boom decade. The boom trickled down into the nineties and with it, the stress's of paying mortgages, layoffs and repossessions. Den's medical cost were sinking the family. they had to move her out of the hospital and into their home. A home the  the bank foreclose on.  Den's father between jobs, her mother drinking endless amounts of booze. 

    about a week after they moved Den, they fired the nurse and sent her home. they truly couldn't afford it, not with all the cash they spent on booze and bills they already had.  I offered to help where I could. turning her in the bed, cleaning, monitoring machines. writing in charts and submitting over the phone to her doc. it was simple enough work. once a day a nurse from hospital would come in and do the med stuff or anything requiring more advanced knowledge.  

    I spent great care for my friend. I fed her, changed bandages and spent my time learning the skills to help  even more.  By the second month, Dens parents had officially failed in life. The bank's and sheriff were at the door, legal papers in hand. They yelled and fought quite hard. In the end we had to move Den to my families house. I still don't know what happened to the rest of her family. It was like they just gave up, walked away. After we had den settled in, i heard  her mother was arrested for assault against the police,  the last time I saw her father he was getting into an old 79 Chevy long box and drove off. her brother I've never met. he was never home. he never came home either.

    I had larger problems tho. den hadn't woken up in almost 4 weeks,  by the end of the 3 months, the paper work to have Den placed under my families care wasn't finished, the doctors all said there was nothing they can do, as we had no right to her file, or information. horrible, but legally they were not wrong and couldn't afford to chance a law suit. we had to wait. 

    day 4 of the 3rd month of recovery- I'm in the waiting room. Nurses busing themselves with chores and charts. medical equipment  chiming and beeping at random. The Air, still, weighted heavily with disinfectant.  Den had finally reach a point the doctors could do their thing.  i watch the minutes tick by like hours. fiddling with school work long past due, I couldn't tell you what the work was. i must have passed out, i was brought to conscious world when I felt a strong old hand patting my back.
    " I can't tell you much, giving your not family. but I can tell you she will pull through." A tall Man in a white coat, his hands tucked deep into the pockets now. looked me square in my eyes. 

    "Look, i know you care and want to help your friend but you can't keep this up for much longer. She will be out for some time, and I don't know if your family is prepared for the burden, certainly not with cost of the legal work. you have to make a choice, your family has to make this choice. If you choose to bring her back to your place, you will need to have proper basic first-aid or triage training. i wish I could tell you more, i wish I could give you the answers you need. Until the papers are sorted this is the best advice I can give you. " I nodded and told him we've already paid for patient transport and thanked him for his help. 

    Nothing really changed for me and Den, until she opened her eyes in the beginning of December. The machines, IV's and what not come off, and returned to the hospital. I spent days and days helping her get caught up on her school work. i spent the same time, helping her deal with the loss of her family. I had manged to save her stuff, and used it to decorate her new room. I think, I know this was the hardest of all the challenges we've ever faced. she wouldn't cry, or show the hurt or the resentment inside her. I would ask questions, poke here and prod there. nothing. nothing but heated, mean words fired at me like searing hot rivets being nailed into my heart. I stood my ground. 

    in the nights, while she slept. i cried, i prayed. i wrote letter after letter to her, to her mother and father. I pleaded with my self to make sense of the burns inside me from all of this.  

    Christmas had arrived. i snuck into Den's room early in the morning, quietly replaced the little xmass tree by her night stand. putting the decoration back into place and was about leave a gift, when i was startled by Den's voice. " Weak." a single word, i looked directly at her. my hands were shaking, my pulse booming away in my ears.   

    " I don't want to be here you know." she announced

    " I guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree" I replied.  she felt the insult before I could finish it..

     " you know what, I'm so sick of you acting like some hero for having me in this house and quote Helping me unquote. you must look like a real fucking saint to the rest of the town." she quickly spat back at me. I could help but chuckle.