Blank Slate

After a week of her ban from the hospital Adelyn's life was starting to feel empty barely paying attention at work and finding it extremely tedious to work with customers. She finds herself a good pencil and begins sketching out an idea for her next client.

"Yeah, I want horns on it and one of those...um.... things." the young man moves his hands around gesturing to some unknown mythical appendage. Adelyn sketches out a rough image of what she believes he is describing.

"Yeah that, perfect. yo man your work is sick! So yeah I want it on five shirts for our band, and the name Physio Therapy on the back. " he points to his back.

"Alright sir we will have your order ready in about a week" Adelyn places her pencil in her pocket and stands up to get back to her desk when the boy stops her.

"A week? That's way to long I need these shirts like tomorrow man. "

"Well there's an option to make it top priority, for a fee of course. " she points to the order placement receipt with the disclaimer explaining that orders may take up to a week to process.

"Damn, how much is it to get it done faster? " he swishes his long hair to one side.

"About a hundred dollars for next day pick ups." her voice monotone knowing very well what he is going to say next.

"That's outrageous dude, I don't have that kinda stacks just laying around. " he throws his hands up and let's then drop to his legs with a thump.

"I'm sorry sir but we have a lot of orders that were place ahead of yours, would you still want it expedited or is regular good?" waiting for the other shoe to drop she braces herself.

"nah man I'll go somewhere else to get it done, just cancel my order." he walks out of the building in a huff.

"Well that was a waste of my time. " she says to no one in particular as she returns to her desk. Unable to concentrate Adelyn doodles in her sketchbook thoughtlessly until interrupted by inquiring minds. "Is this who has you so distracted?" the sound of one, Mrs. Len, hungry for gossip.

"On the prowl again I see" the words slipped through her mind and out of her mouth before she even realized what she had just said.

"Excuse me miss Tracey, is that any way to talk to your boss? " the tone serious and bitter. Adelyn's face wore the shock of horror. but then she noticed a smile creeping up Mrs. Lens cheeks.

"Now tell me about this woman you've been drawing all day while you should be working." knowing she has Adelyn by the short hairs she goes in for the goods.

"What? Who are you talking... " Adelyn glances down at her sketchbook and realizes it's covered in drawings of Sandra, some of her laying in bed sleeping soundly, others of her intense gaze seemingly full of desire. Adelyn hurriedly closes her booklet and slides it into her desk drawer. "She uh.. is a friend that's all. " a blush rising to her cheeks.

"Well whoever she is you mustn't distract yourself while at work, with that said if she looked at me like that I may be distracted as well." with a chuckle and a sideways glance she retreated back to her own work obviously satisfied with the information she acquired.

The bus ride home seemed to draw out for hours as traffic was backed up. A blast of sound from a strangers phone caught Adelyn's attention "Car crash on Olive Boulevard resulting in a year long coma..... " the owner quickly turned the volume down to a whisper. "Just my luck" she sighs a long bellowing breath 'The bus for the hospital would have dropped off by now' her thoughts caught on the day Sandra woke up, her eyes so full of wonder not a bit of sadness tinged them "So beautiful." Adelyn's voice a low murmur.

"Um thanks? " the man standing in front of her replies.

"huh? Oh I was... uh Sorry." realizing she had just said that out loud she become flustered "so embarrassing."

"Hey, no worries gorgeous. I've never been called beautiful before but I'll take it. What's your name? " the man leans forward obviously trying hard to look manly, his stubbled chin holding up an exaggerated smirk that pushes his lips out slightly. "It's gonna be a long ride, we could get to know each other better"

Adelyn attempts to ignore his advances while whispering to herself "A very long ride indeed." trying to let him down easy she says "I'm really sorry sir I was lost in thought and spoke carelessly."

"Hey now, don't be that way. I just wanna know your name, is that to much to ask?" his eyes seemed to undress her as he spoke.

'How did I not notice this creep in front of me this whole time? ' she rolls her eyes and pretends to scroll through social media on her phone hoping he will get the hint and back off.

"I'm talking to you here, What? you come onto me and then pretend I don't exist now?" his voice raised loud enough to be heard across the bus. The other patrons glanced over briefly before turning the other way seemingly entranced by other things, looking out the windows or staring intensely at their phones.

"Hey you're that babe on the news aren't ya?" The bus was packed as it was, so there was no moving out of the man's way when he decided to move in closer.

"Listen, I think we got off on the wrong foot" he reaches out his hand and caresses Adelyn's arm. She visibly shudders from his sudden invasion of personal space. She let's out a nervous chuckle trying not to upset the stranger. Not knowing what to do she keeps trying to ignore his advances hoping desperately that her stop will come soon. The man obviously didn't understand because he took it as an invitation to get closer. "You cold? Here I can fix that."

Feeling of suffocating as his scent surrounds her, the over application of axe was evident as it was increasingly more difficult to breath without the sensation of burning in her nostrils. The bus slows down for the next stop. Adelyn decides to make a break for it. The doors open to rain pouring down, drenching anyone in its wake. Stepping out she notices the man move to grab her arm. Adelyn jerks out of the way throwing her off balance. she slips and falls onto the cold, flooded curb landing directly on her previously injured arm "crack" she hears a snap like a twig breaking then, to her dismay, she sees the man standing before her. "Yo, you alright?" he goes to help her up when she slaps his arm away.

"Why won't you leave me alone!" she exclaims anger and pain coursing through her.

"Hey I'm just trying to help bitch, that's what I get for being nice. damn! "

Noticing the anger in his tone Adelyn becomes painfully aware of her situation, she is alone, soaked through to the bone, and in a strange place with possibly a broken arm. She steadies herself taking a few deep breaths "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have yelled at you but I think I broke my arm can you call an ambulance?" trying to diffuse the situation she speaks slow and precise.

"No need, I got a buddy that can come pick us up. " he pulls out his cell phone and starts dialing some unknown number.

Adelyn stands up cradling her arm and politely refuses "You really don't have to do that. Please sir, I just want an ambulance." she fumbles around in her pockets with her one good arm frantically searching for her phone hoping it wasn't drenched as the harsh storm raged on. The skies covered in a blanket of gray allowing only fog like rays surrounding the area. Cars passing by spit up waves from the street pouring over the sidewalk. Unfortunately the bus stop was a sad little bench with no covering near a larger intersection proving to be quite full of traffic. "Shit, I must have left it at work" her heart is pounding in her ears.

"Hey man it's John, I need you to do me a favor....yeah so it's like this, there's this fine girl who needs a ride to the hospital....no I didn't do anything! She tripped and fell, thinks she might be hurt pretty bad..." he continues chatting and laughing then hangs up. "My buddy said he'd be here in a minute."

"Um.. Okay" realizing he is not going to call the ambulance she contemplates her escape, feeling very uneasy as time ticks by she looks for an opening. Fearing how long she may have left, a car pulls up next to them and honks, the man walks up to it first as the driver rolls his window down part way. The stranger gets hostile "What the hell you looking at? Never seen a guy and a gal waiting at a bus stop in the rain before?"

The driver rolls down his window more allowing his face to be seen clearly, his beard full and luscious, his deep voice bellows "Adelyn?"

Adelyn walks closer to the car to see whom the familiar voice belongs to, her heart jumped for joy when she recognized the stocky man sitting in the vehicle. "Lukas!" she runs over to the car "Thank god."

"This your boyfriend or something? " he juts his chin forward pointing towards the man before him. He speaks to him "Yo you should know your girls a hoe, she be hitting on guys and shit." the man backs off, slinking away from the car walking backwards slowly with his hand grabbing at his crotch.

Adelyn quickly gets into the vehicle and Lukas speeds off. Awkward silence permeates the air. Lukas seems deep in thought while at the same time hyper vigilant of the road, meanwhile Adelyn is clutching her left arm the throbbing pain seeping in after the adrenaline subsided.

"What are you doing way out here? " his inquiry startled Adelyn who has been focusing solely on not passing out.

"I was.." she pauses for the pain "..I was trying to go home, "another pause and a low hiss escapes her teeth "when I slipped off the bus and busted my arm." the pain shot up her nerves like a thousand fire ants rapidly marching through her arm and up her shoulder.

"Your gonna need to get that looked at, lucky for you I was headed that way anyways." his deep tones soothed her anxiety.

"Um so...." she looks away deciding against asking questions about Sandra "Never mind. "

"Sandra doesn't remember much but she seems to remember you." reassurance bathed his words.

"Oh?"

"Yeah she keep asking about you and we all hear talk about your absence from some of the other guys at the hospital, you must have really made an impression." hoping to ease the tension in the car and spark a conversation.

"I guess so, I do kinda miss it there. It's been a part of my life for a year, but it was my choice and I gotta live with my choices." she says with a heavy heart.

"Well some things can't be fixed, that's true, but if you let it all weigh down on you, you won't be able to fix the things that can be." his words of optimism and inspiration like always.

"What do you mean?" her brows scrunch together in consideration.

"I mean it's clear as day you two have a connection that's unbound by words or reason. I don't claim to know everything but something about you brought her back from the brink and I believe that your the only one who can understand what she needs right now."

"I'm not so sure Lukas, I feel like all I am is bad luck for everyone around me, including myself." she glances down at her scars on her newly broken arm.

Silence over takes the car once more and remains that way for the rest of the drive.