Chapter 3
After cleaning up myself and the hallway, I spent most of the rest of the morning freaking the freak out. Most of my floor probably thought I was losing my mind, on drugs, or both. I must have asked nearly every person I came across what time it was. And they all answered the same time my phone and every single clock in the hospital said, which couldn’t have been right.
I knew I had woken up late, that I had gotten to work after 10am, over 5 hours late for my shift. But here I was, working my shift at 8am or so, no tardy on my record for the day. How had this happened? Was I really losing my mind? Well, turned out I wasn’t, but I wouldn’t find that out until later. Things would get a ton weirder first.
The next strange thing that happened was when I was doing my rounds. There was an elderly patient with a broken hip assigned to me that day. Her name was Ruby and she had been holed up there for a couple weeks since her surgery. We got along pretty good, and she was sweet as could be. No, we didn’t hook up! What the heck is wrong with you? Seriously, no more interruptions. This story is going to take forever to tell if you don’t just listen. Jeez Luh-weez!
So, anyways, Ruby was a cool lady, a real spit-fire. She pressed her call light and I responded. Asking what she needed, she answered as she began to struggle towards the edge of her bed.
“Well, hon, I need to use the bathroom and I’m sick of using a damn bed pan. Now get over here and help me to my wheelchair.”
I knew I shouldn’t have let her get up into her chair. She was beginning to do some transferring, but that was still strictly PT’s department. But, what can I say? I admired her spunk.
Holding her arm with one hand and wrapping my other around her back and shoulders, I assisted her to her feet. As I attempted to turn her to transfer her, she tried to take a step on her own and spun out of my grasp. I remember thinking bad things as I watched her fall to the ground. She was going to break her hip again, and this time it could be damaged beyond repair, or worse, she could die from complications of the break or the next surgery.
I began to reach for her, but realized I would never get a hold of her in time. My heart sank as I knew she was going to get hurt, all because of me. Closing my eyes for only a second, I imagined myself catching her and saving her from the terrible injury that was about to occur. I wished there was something, anything, I could do to keep her from hitting the ground. The next thing I knew, Ruby gasped.
Opening my eyes, I looked down at her and realized she had stopped falling, but she wasn’t on the ground. She was floating. Seriously, I kid you not. Ruby was just hovering in mid-air. Although I was shocked and confused, I was also ecstatic that she was okay. I’m sure the look on my face was complete relief. The look on her face was not, she was terrified.
Grabbing hold of her, I wrapped her in my arms and lifted her into a cradle hold, like a parent would hold a child. She wasn’t a big woman, but she wasn’t small and frail either. But I swear it felt like I was holding an infant in my arms, light as a feather. I wasn’t even straining as I placed her back into her bed. Not one to work out, I was confused as to how I had been able to lift a 150-pound woman with ease. Even more confusing was how she had stopped falling and started floating. I leaned towards Ruby, placing my hand on her shoulder.
“Are you okay, Ruby? That was quite a scare, huh?” I asked.
Ruby looked pale as a ghost as she just stared up at the ceiling, still visibly shaken by what had happened.
“Yeah, I’m okay. Yes, hon, that was very scary. What the hell happened, Colby?” She asked.
I didn’t know, so I was honest.
“I don’t know, Ruby. But all that matters is you’re okay. Guess we should just stick with the bed pan then. I will go grab it.”
As I turned to head towards the bathroom, my shoe skidded through something wet. Without looking at me, Ruby answered.
“No need for it, hon. As you can see since you just stepped in it, I went when I started…floating. You are going to have to clean me and the floor up. And your shoe. Sorry.”
Alright, alright, yuck it up. I’ll give you this one, I would laugh too. It was pretty funny. Okay, now listen to what happened next. What happened with Ruby was pretty wild, but what happened a couple hours later was just insane.