3

She looked beautiful, like a perfect porcelain doll lit by the growing moonlight. Broken doll, though.
Beautiful? Shut up, man, I say to myself. Those aren’t the thoughts I am meant to be having.
An intern pokes his head around the curtain interrupting my thoughts. “Mr…? Um.”
“Just call me K,” I answer, not talking my eyes off the woman.
“Um, okay, Mr… um, K.”
“What?” I snap.
“Well, we have the results of her tests.” He stops, as if not sure how to continue.
I brace myself, “Well? What do they say?”
“Um, Mr. K… are you, er, are you family?”
“No.” I turn and stare at him, daring him to challenge me.
He squirms and look away, fidgeting with the clipboard in his hands. “Then I’m sorry but I can’t…”
I cut him off, “I saved her when two thugs had a knife against her neck, had stabbed her in the back and slit her collarbone, so without me she’d be dead. So, you can consider me her goddamned guardian angel and cut the bureaucratic red tape bull shit and just fucking tell me if she’s okay.”
He opens his mouth, then closes it. Geez, he looks like he’s going to cry.
I inwardly roll my eyes and try again, softening my voice as much as I can. “Sorry, it was a tough night. Look I just want to know that she’s okay.”
He sighs and looks a little sorry for me. Pity. Great. Well, whatever gets me what I need.
“She… um, she should be fine. She doesn’t have any bleeding in her brain, and the knife wounds are just flesh wounds. Once she wakes up, we’ll probably keep her here for a couple of days for observation and then she can go home.”
There’s a rush a relief through me. “Thank you, doctor.”
“You can… um, I mean, if you want to keep an eye on her, you can stay overnight. I can get a nurse to set up a cot for you.”
I look at him, peering through the opening of my hoodie, not answering. He squirms again, shuffling his feet and clearing his throat.
“Do we know her name yet?”
He shakes his head. “No, the police haven’t found her identity yet. The thieves were gone when they got there and they’d taken her bag with them, so no ID has been found.”
“So, you don’t know if she has insurance?”
“Um, no, but that…”
“Print out the bill for me. I’ll pay it.”
“Well, the accounting department has to work that out. I can send it to you…”
“No, I’ll come back for it. Just remember, I’ll take care of it. She’s not to be burdened by it.”
“Yes sir.”
He smiles at me with a weird look in his eye and leaves.
“And get her a fucking private room, now!” I yell after him.
I hate having to repeat myself.
HER
“No! Let me go!” I scream, bracing against the wall in the dead-end alleyway.
“Give us the money!” He pants in my face, catching up with me and grabbing me by the shoulders, shaking me hard.
“I don’t have any, please, let me go!” I beg.
“Shut her up!” A deep voice orders from behind him.
“Open wide,” the one holding me taunts and grabs my chin, shoving a handful of sawdust into my mouth.
I try to spit it out, choking as it catches in my throat, spluttering trying to breathe.
“Is she okay?” I hear a far-off voice say. It’s a male voice that’s only vaguely familiar.
“Yes, she’s okay, just dreaming.”
“Okay, I’ll be back tomorrow.”
It’s dark again and I sleep.
A while later, I don’t know how long, I feel a soft cool hand press against my forehead. My eyes open and then slam shut again, getting used to the light.
I can just make out a figure by the bed, stocky and dressed in white.
“Where…” I try to speak, but my mouth feels like… huh, feels like sawdust.
“Aw, sugar, hang on, let me get you some water, you must be absolutely parched, the poor dumpling,” the cheery voice says. “Here you go, just go slow, don’t you go choking on my watch now.”
She holds the plastic cup to my lips and I drink fast and long; I’ve never tasted water so delicious before.
When I finally have my fill, I close my eyes and lie back on the pillow. “Thank you,” I say, hoarsely, the water slowly seeping into my lips and tongue. My head is pounding and I just want to sleep.
“You know where you are, sugar?” she asks as she fusses around me, lifting my arm and checking my blood pressure.
“Hospital?” I reply, unsure.
“Haha, well, it sure ain’t heaven, cos I would not be wearin’ vomit splattered shoes if it were!” She belly laughs, appreciating her own joke.
“I’m Ruby, by the way. You call me if you need any damn thing. You’re at Lenox Hill hospital, have been for two days now.” She writes something on a chart and then tucks the blankets tight around me.
“Two days!” I’ve never slept that long in my life. “What happened to me?”
“You got a guardian angel, that’s what happened to you, sugar,” she nods seriously, and then grins, showing her row of bright white teeth. “A gorgeous guardian angel if you get me.”
I can’t help but smile even through the throbbing headache, her joviality is infectious. “I don’t remember anything. My guardian angel is gorgeous, you mean?”
“Well, if his body is anything to go by. My my, if my old man was still alive I’da left him for a piece of your angel, but,” she stops and looks ponderous, “can’t really say I’ve seen much of his face. It was covered most of the time by his hoodie.” She turns back and winks at me, “but sometimes, you don’t really need to look at his face at all, do ya, sugar?” She makes a show of elbowing me and throws back her head and laughs again as she grabs my chart and goes to leave.