Chapter 88: Baby Steps
Adam sits there, in his wheel chair, staring at the floor, his hands resting between his knees. The twin rail poles are in front of him, waiting for him to make the first move, the walking pad waiting for him to take his steps.
"Take your time..." And grey-haired elderly woman said, looking at Adam through her glasses, with her own clipboard, overseeing this session. Adam looks at her for a moment, before looking back to the bars. He takes a deep breath, and reaches for them. His hands grasp the poles before him, using soley his arms strength to pull himself up from the wheel chair.
"Hnnh..." Adam grunts as his arms shake and tremble, supporting his whole weight, his toes barely skimming the walking pad as he moves.
"Don't rush through into it." The woman said, "Take it very easy, you are still beginning at this."
Adam gives a pitiful glance to her, breaking a light sweat as his straining arms grip the poles with each inch that he moves, his irks as his feet barely swipe at the pad, just a hair away from collapsing on himself.
Then, he pauses. He sighs as he droops his head down. Adam plants both feet onto the walking pad, and turns to the physical therapist, "Look, are you sure this is really necessary?" He asks her, "I've been able to walk just fine for at least a week and a half now."
"PUT YOUR HANDS BACK ON THOSE BARS THIS INSTANT!" The old crone yells, point her pen and Adam. He sighs again, closing his eyes and shaking his head.
~~~
Adam puts a few pieces of a puzzle together in a room with several patients, being tested again with his hand-eye-coordination.
"He's doing surprisingly well at his stage." A doctor said, standing next to Luther and watching the patients through an observation window, "His motor skills are completely perfect, he's been getting good exercise, his diet is agreeing with him, and he's even made a record with the physical therapy routine... As well as the number of saline and I.V. drips consumed in this time frame."
"My boy's a fighter." Luther says as he nods. "He's been beaten down before, and we're here to make him stronger." If all else, always go with the cliché small talk.
"His recovery is nothing short of remarkable, in fact." The doctor said, "Theoretically, he shouldn't be able to have full range of his left arm or his right leg, but the broken knees seems to have been completely mended, and his fingers and arm fractures are coming along nicely."
"Anything else I should know?"
"He seems to have a problem with dehydration." He reported, "As I mentioned, he's set a new record for having taken in as much saline as he had, and he drinks at least 10 bottles of water in a day, yet urination is fairly at a regular basis. Has he had a history with water consumption?"
"No, not to my knowledge." Luther shook his head.
"He is not diabetic, correct?"
"No, he's always been a healthy kid."
"It just seems a little unusual then." The doctor said.
"And... The bad news?"
"His mental health needs work." He said, "He's reported having nightmares on a almost regular basis."
"He is?" Luther said as he looks in the room, "His face looks ok, he looks like he's been getting sleep."
"The rate seems to be once every two nights. He also has mood problems."
"Mood problems? Like, as in mood swings or something?"
"He exhibits behavioral depression that lasts almost half a day before it passes. He claims he doesn't know why he's been having these times of sadness, only that he has feelings of sorrow, loneliness, and longing, like he's being deprived of something, but no one's been able to make any significant hypotheses."
"I see..."
"He has also been having migraines. Dr Yuri has reported that Adam suffers severe headaches from time to time, usually after a close friend leaves after visiting him, most likely due to recovering from his head injury."
"Alright..."
"At any rate, your son has reached a physical point where he can released back home, with prescribed medications for any fractured bones left in his hands and arms, as well as any damage remaining in his ribcage."
"My wife wants him to stay here." Luther said, "Especially after being notified about his mental health."
"Then, I am suggest that you will have to make arrangements at the psychiatric ward next door to the hospital. His injuries no longer require him to stay in the hospital."
"Hahhh..." Luther looked down, "We... Can't really afford that..."
"He is allowed to stay for one more day. But by then, we need his room to go to another patient." The doctor says, looking at his charts.
They watch as Adam gets up from the table, laughing with a couple of patients as he helps one of them with her wheelchair, "Your son is a good man. He's lucky to be in good hands."
--Several Weeks Before--
"Adam? Are you ready?" A voice asks. Adam's head tilts up, his eyes half lidded and dulled.
"Kay..." He mumbles. He is helped out of bed, still staring into nothingness as his foot pushes onto the cold floor, feeling a lot of discomfort into his knee, "A-Aahhhh-"
"Hold on, hold on," Says someone as they seat him into a wheel chair, "We're going to be taking you to the porch. Get some sunlight."
"Right..." Adam responds. His mind is blank, everything is an unidentified color or sound, nothing grips his attention. All he can know is he's moving. To where? No one knows...
Merrick pushes the wheel chair out of the door, while Donna and Yuri look after him, "Yuri... Just what is in those doses you keep giving to Adam?"
"It's a special compound that is supposed to recover certain types of brain damage."
"But... He's not saying anything. It's like he's not even there. I'm worried, Yuri."
"Donna, I-I assure you, it's fine..."
"You don't sound so convinced yourself." Yuri hesitates as she tried to find an answer. "Yuri, give me a definite answer."
"Donna, I've given him the best medicine we have. The side-effects are causing his brain to slow down in order to cope with the vaccination compounds."
Donna leers at her, trying to pinpoint any tell Yuri might have, trying to shift through anything that might show her she is not being totally honest.
"... Yuri. I am his Mother. If there's anything you're not telling me..."
"And I'm his doctor, Donna." Yuri said, "Anything that happens to him is on me. Do you really think I'd give him anything less than my best?"
